Thanksgiving is in ten days and consumers might be worried how much they will need to spend to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. Although experts say that consumers might have to spend a little bit more on Thanksgiving this year, it won't be a dramatic leap like in 2022. According to the American Farm Bureau, the average consumer spending for 2021 was $53.31 and for 2022, $64.05. Despite the increase in prices, Thanksgiving dinner must still go on although shoppers have expressed their displeasure about the rising costs.

Based on the estimates done by Olivia Evans and Kathryn Gregory of the Louisville Courier Journal, depending on which store you buy items from, you might expect to spend from between $40.03 to $108.54. In assessing these costs, they went to three local grocery stores: Kroger, Rainbow Blossom, and ValuMarket. They looked at the same 10 items needed to make the turkey along with sides and dessert. In picking the items, they bought store-brand items if available, otherwise, they sourced the lowest-priced products.

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For anyone who might still have a $2 bill in their possession, you might want to check the US currency price guide to see if your $2 note might actually be worth much more than its face value. Last July, somebody sold a $2 bill on Heritage Auctions for $2,400 which was later sold at $4,000. It's not uncommon for old, historical pieces such as these Jefferson notes to fetch for high prices because of their rarity. Despite being manufactured at the same cost as $1 notes, it just wasn't circulated as much and they supposedly became notorious for being used in betting and bribery in the mid-20th century.

Although $2 notes continue to be produced, there are some notes which become collector's items because of certain factors like unusual serial numbers or having stars designated on them, called replacement notes or star notes. Moreover, because $2 notes are rarely used, some have encountered problems regarding the authenticity of the notes. The most recent incident happened in 2016, when a 13-year-old girl in Texas used a $2 note to pay for her lunch at the cafeteria. She was later detained as it could not be ascertained whether the bill was genuine or not.

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Some books are banned by certain states or school boards for their content which they deem inappropriate for children of a certain age. But banning books just doesn't seem like the best solution. Perhaps, a proposal by the Cobb County school superintendent Chris Ragsdale could be a better compromise. By creating a rating system similar to that being used for films - G, PG, PG-13, etc. - Ragsdale hopes that it can provide a guide for parents and schools to know whether books contain language, scenes, or concepts that would require their supervision when their children read it.

However, there are some librarians and booksellers who say that such a system would be impractical and expensive. Given that there are millions of books being published each year, it would be an arduous amount of work to try and stamp each one with a rating. Furthermore, they argue that nobody should be in a position to determine or even dictate what people should be reading or not. One may even push the envelope a little further to the extreme and say that this is a way of policing knowledge and information, and chipping away at people's freedom to choose what they want to consume or not.

One can understand where they might be coming from, but it might even be unconstitutional as Texas, which wanted to pass a similar law, is awaiting the decision from a federal court which blocked the law from taking effect.

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In Heinz' newly released ad, they say that runners have been using ketchup on their runs, so that's why they have laid out routes on running apps for certain cities like Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, and New York in which they marked restaurants where runners can grab a packet of Heinz ketchup while on their run. It's a very intriguing campaign and while a packet of ketchup is very handy, is ketchup really the best source of fuel? A few dietitians weighed in on the matter.

According to Katherine Patton, endurance athletes generally need from 23 to 27 grams of carbs and they can usually obtain that through energy gels. This is because for anybody who would be exercising for more than an hour, the body would need energy which it draws from the carbs stored in the muscles. However, the amount that our bodies can store is limited, and thus the need for an added external source.

The problem, according to Amy Stephens, who is a sports dietitian as well as a runner, is that ketchup has too much sodium which could cause some gastrointestinal issues from the high acidic content. Furthermore, excessive sodium can cause headaches and make one really thirsty. Add on the fact that there might be logistical issues in using ketchup if one were to run for a bit longer like say, a half marathon, which is 13 miles.

For alternative sources of fuel, Stephens suggests honey gels or lemonade and iced tea if someone were to take a break at some point during their run.

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There are only three states in America which have covenant marriages - Arizona, Arkansas, and Louisiana - but what does it mean and how is it legally distinct from the usual marriage we know? Covenant marriages includes a stipulation in which the couple agrees beforehand to be bound by two provisions if they would later seek divorce. It's like a prenup for divorce. These two stipulations include that the spouse seeking divorce must first undergo marriage counseling and must prove that there was evidence of adultery, felony, substance abuse, child or spousal abuse, or that the spouses have been living separately for the past two years.

The first state to legally approve of a law allowing covenant marriages was Louisiana which were soon followed by Arkansas and Arizona. The intent of the proponents behind the covenant marriage law was to promote and strengthen marriages among many other reasons including curtailing the divorce rate and preventing children from being born out of wedlock. However, since its inception, not a lot of couples have entered into covenant marriages in the states where they were legalized. Furthermore, there are loopholes regarding out-of-state divorce which might render the law useless.

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Stanley Zhong is an 18-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated high school with a 4.42 GPA, a 1590 SAT score, but was also rejected or waitlisted from 16 out of 18 universities, including MIT and Stanford. Despite his credentials, it must have been very disappointing to not get into 90% of the universities he applied to, but that's when Google offered him a job as an L4 software engineer, which is a temporary role, something that Stanley will do for a year before he enters the University of Texas.

In these kinds of circumstances in a child's life, parents must also be feeling the disappointment or discouragement that their children feel, and must be trying to console or empathize with them. So, it must have been a great relief and surprise to his parents when Stanley got the job at Google. Not for Nan Zhong, Stanley's father, who wasn't shocked at all upon learning that his son got a job. He says:

"I've seen him writing code since he was age 10. And along the way, he gave me enough shocks that I was no longer shocked [when he got the Google job]. He's been great his whole life."

For Nan, the No. 1 parenting rule he has lived by has been to take a hands-off approach. By that, he elaborates that he and his wife will support their son but will not push him toward one direction or another. Rather, they let him determine his own limits and find the motivation to seek and carve out his own path in life. Apart from this, Nan also shares other insights he gained as a parent raising Stanley over the years with CNBC.

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I happened upon this interesting brain challenge on the web. The goal is to make the highest possible number by moving two matchsticks. There are 18 matchsticks which form the number 308. Now, it doesn't really give any other restrictions, as long as you can form the highest number. However, it must be noted that when moving the two matchsticks, it should still form a number, therefore, just removing two matchsticks is not a solution.

For my part, I had thought that it was a simple and straightforward answer. I simply thought that making the number 999 would be the highest possible number that would solve this puzzle. However, that was not the case as the answer was actually completely far off from what I had expected. And no, it's not really very tricky either. I don't want to give any hints, except that the solution is greater than 1000. It might even be much higher than that. It's all about how creative one can be. If you want to know the answer to the puzzle, you may check out this video on Youtube from Simply Logical.

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Whether you're 16 or 60, taking care of your skin is about more than just looking good. The skin is the first barrier of defense against diseases and injuries. It also helps in regulating our body heat, so as to prevent the loss of moisture. Furthermore, it protects us from the harmful effects of UV rays. So, more than just the skin care products we apply on our face, we also have to consider the food we eat and how it impacts our skin health.

In particular, there are several foods of which we have to watch our intake. Processed foods and the ingredients that go into them as well as the manner in which they are manufactured could lead to inflammation, clogged pores, irritation, and excessive oiliness. Alcohol and caffeine are okay but only in moderation. Even healthy food such as carrots or pumpkin can actually produce a visible change in our skin color. To learn more about the relationship between our skin and our diet, read this article by Dr. Monica Allman who is an expert in skin diseases and aesthetics.

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Elks are herbivores and they seem to be gentle creatures despite the large antlers growing on their heads, so we might be tempted to approach and feed them. However, we should not forget that they are wild creatures as well as one of the largest deer species, and even though they won't bite, if they feel threatened or agitated, they could attack as happened to an Arizona woman on her property in the Pine Lake Community.

The attack happened on October 26th. Her husband found her lying on their backyard with a bucket of spilled corn nearby. She had sustained injuries akin to being trampled by an elk, and so she was quickly taken to the hospital, where she was put into a medically-induced coma. After hearing about the attack, the Arizona Game and Fish Department had advised residents around the area to avoid approaching or feeding the elk, to prevent another attack from happening.

Although this scenario proved to be fatal, there have been previous encounters with elks which also caused injuries. As a result, the AZGFD has warned the public not to feed wildlife as it endangers the community by making them dependent on unnatural food sources and increasing the risk of conflicts and dangerous encounters with wildlife. Their last reminder is very clear and direct: do not feed wildlife.

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Frank Borman was a NASA astronaut, and the commander for Apollo 8, which was the first mission to orbit the moon in 1968 before the eventual Apollo 11 mission in 1969. A proud resident of Montana, he passed away from a stroke on November 7th at the age of 95. After he and his team, which included fellow astronauts Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, returned, he said that he realized that the boundaries we have as humans are artificial, perhaps alluding to the fact that we are not limited to just the Earth and that there's much more unexplored areas in the universe.

While on the mission, Borman said that he was instructed to "do something appropriate" as there would be a live broadcast on Christmas Eve coming from them and he proceeded to deliver a message and recite a few passages of scripture from the first lines of Genesis. After going around the lunar orbit, the Earth came into view, and Bill Anders took the iconic photo of Earth as seen from the lunar orbit, which later became a stamp.

Before Apollo 8, Borman had been a test pilot and a fighter pilot, and upon returning home from the successful mission, he became a CEO and spent his latter years in Billings, Montana.

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Reports say that the water at Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge has become a bright magenta pink hue since at least October 30th, due to the intense drought that has been ravaging the island. As a result of the drought, the water's salinity spiked so high that it attracted tiny organisms called halobacteria which love such extreme environments. Officials from the US Fish and Wildlife Service say that the halobacteria are the cause of the water turning pink.

Even though there should be water flowing down from the Waikapu Stream which comes from the West Maui Mountains, that area has also been affected by the extreme drought and so, not enough fresh water has been running toward Kealia Pond, another factor explaining the rare phenomenon. Of course, we are more familiar with the 'red tide' phenomenon, in which an overgrowth of dinoflagellates causes a huge swath of a body of water to turn red. This is considered a harmful algal bloom as the dinoflagellates produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, and other sea creatures.

According to the University of Hawaii, the exact strain of the halobacteria is still under analysis and we don't know as of yet whether the pink water is harmful or not, but nevertheless, authorities advise the public to avoid drinking the water, swimming in it, consuming fish from the water, and letting pets drink it as a safety precaution.

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The Purple Heart is a medal awarded to those who were wounded or killed in service of the US military. The process of getting a Purple Heart for those on active duty are usually by recommendation from their chain of command. During the Vietnam War, Korean War, and World War II, the Purple Heart was often awarded on the spot. Requests for retroactive awards usually go through the National Personnel Records Center, where they refer to service records to confirm the claim.

For Earl Meyer, his claim to a Purple Heart has been rejected time and again, citing a lack of proper documentation. He suffered an injury to his leg when shrapnel struck him during a mortar attack. However, since he wasn't able to file the paperwork after he returned to the States, and nobody in his unit from that time had survived, there isn't enough conclusive proof that he can show to attest that his account of the injury was true.

Initially, he wasn't going to pursue the Purple Heart because he didn't consider the injury as serious as what his compatriots had experienced. But his daughters convinced to try and apply for it. In the end, the Army review board issued him a final rejection in April which led him to sue the Department of Defense and the Army in September. Read the full story on La Crosse Tribune.

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It's natural for us to fear being rejected. We are social creatures after all, and having a sense of community and belonging is part of what it means to be human. We don't want to be outcasts, and so we try our best to fit in. Of course, these days, we are encouraged to embrace our differences and individuality as strengths. However, we can't escape that feeling of anxiety over what other people are thinking about us. It's just there, and we can either worry about it, ignore it, or care about it. And yes, there's a slight nuance between worrying and caring.

When we worry about something, we become awash with negative thoughts and emotions. As a response, we become defensive, and at times, we might try to push back. That can spiral down and cause us to even become paranoid to a certain extent. However, a more proactive approach, as suggested on Jeff Haden's article, is to care about what people think. Because then, you shift the focus from yourself and perceived inadequacies about you to other people, and what you can do for them, or what actions you can do to make people perceive you in a more positive light.

And in that sense, we can turn the crippling anxiety of worrying into a productive other-centered mindset of caring.

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It was probably the best gift the newlywed couple received for their wedding, or the day after. The groom, who wishes to remain anonymous, gave his bride a $10 lottery ticket to celebrate their first day of wedded bliss, but it surprised the both of them when they found out that the ticket won them $1 million. Now, anybody would be shocked and wary whether this was real or not. The couple was in disbelief and they wanted to make sure that they had really won, so they kept reading the instruction over and over.

They decided to bring it to the Michigan Lottery where they opted to take their prize as a one-time lump sum which amounted to $693,000 instead of receiving them in annuity payments. Of course, the choice of whether to get it in cash now or get it in several payments over the years depends on the winners' preference. Some financial advisors might suggest to take the annuity option as it provides a long-term financial safety net. But, the couple's decision to take the lump sum is totally understandable as they plan on putting the money into investments instead.

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There have been many significant events and achievements that happened first in America or was done first by Americans. For example, the first selfie was taken by Robert Cornelius in 1839. The first toilet paper was invented by Joseph Gayetty in 1857, and the first skyscraper ever built was in the city of Chicago in 1885, the Home Insurance Building, which stood at 138 feet, designed by William Le Baron Jenney. There are many more "firsts" in America's history, and each state actually has an entry of their own.

Some of these firsts are quite historic such as that in Iowa, which was the first state to desegregate schools in 1867. The story goes that Susan Clark had been prohibited by Muscatine's Second Ward Common School because of her skin color. So, her father sued the school, and the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Maryland can be proud to say that they had the world's first airport. The College Park Airport was originally built so that the Wright brothers could train a few military officers on how to fly their plane. That led to a whole slew of other firsts brought about by the new technology.

There are some very fun firsts as well such as the world's first German chocolate cake in Texas, when The Dallas Morning News published the recipe in June 1957. Tennessee boasts the world's first cotton candy when William Morrison and John Wharton developed the cotton candy machine in 1897 and debuted it at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 as "fairy floss". To see all the other states' firsts, check out the Saturday Evening Post's two-parter here and here.

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