Fonseca Trending 07/16/21
Did You Suffer from "Dead Butt Syndrome" Last Year?
Here's a new health condition to worry about. And it's got a catchy name you won't forget. Did you suffer from DEAD BUTT SYNDROME last year? Dead butt syndrome . . . or DBS . . . is when you experience pain, numbness, or tingling in and around your butt muscles. And it's usually from sitting too much. Doctors have seen it a lot more since the pandemic hit because we've been less active. And we've also been working from the couch, which doesn't help. Dead butt syndrome isn't a formal diagnosis. It's a catch-all term doctors use for various things that can make your butt feel like it's given up on you.
If it has ever felt like your butt fell asleep, that's kind of what DBS is like. But if it just happens once in a while, your butt is probably still alive and well. If it happens a lot and lasts more than an hour or two, you might have a dead butt. But the good news is it's reversible, and preventable. To reduce your risk for DBS, just stand up and stretch every 30 minutes. In general, more movement should help.
A Florida Man Was Arrested for Fighting an Alligator to 'Teach It a Lesson'
Remember in "Happy Gilmore", when he fights the alligator? Well, this might be the closest thing you'll see to it in real life . . . There's a mini golf course in Daytona Beach, Florida called Congo River that also has alligators you can feed. And yesterday morning, some guy STOLE one. Just after 3:00 A.M., police spotted a man FIGHTING an alligator on the street. And it turned out he'd stolen it from the course.
He's 32, and his name is William Hodge, but he goes by Bubba. Police posted a photo of him being handcuffed, and the alligator looks fairly small. Maybe four or five feet long. (Here's the photo.) According to the police report, cops saw him swinging it around by its tail and trying to toss it on the roof of a building. So they arrested him. And when they asked why he was doing it . . . he said he was trying to teach the alligator a "lesson." He also told them he jumped a fence into its enclosure, and had to wrestle the gator for a while. But it sounds like it's okay and back home now. Bubba's facing charges for theft, burglary, criminal mischief, and animal cruelty.
What Would You Do for an Extra Two-Week Vacation Right Now?
Dan Aykroyd's liquor brand Crystal Head Vodka did a poll to find out which drinks we're more likely to order when we're on vacation. At home, we're more likely to choose easy-to-make drinks, like gin and tonics or vodka cranberries. At parties, we prefer fancy drinks like a martini or old fashioned. And on vacation, we're more likely to drink daiquiris, tequila sunrises, and Moscow mules. They also asked people what they'd do for an extra two-week vacation that they could go on immediately. Here's what people said . . . 1. Would you take a bath in ice-cold water? 45% said yes. 2. Work every weekend for the next year? 43% said yes. (If you're talking Saturday AND Sunday, that's around 100 extra days of work for 10 days off.) 3. Not celebrate any holidays for a year? 38% claim they'd do it. 4. Take a 10% pay cut? 37% said yes. If you're on salary, two weeks' pay only represents around 4% of what you make in a year. 5. Give up your favorite food? 36% said they'd do it. 30% would also cancel Netflix . . . 27% would give up social media for a year . . . and 17% would post their worst selfie online.
This Week in Science: An 18-Year-Old Is Going to Space Next Tuesday
It's time for "Nerd News," covering the most important news for your brain you may have missed. Here's a quick rundown of this week in science . . . 1. Did Richard Branson really go to "SPACE" on his space plane last weekend? NASA has said 50 miles up is enough, and he went slightly higher than that. But it's generally agreed that "space" starts around 62 miles up. So there's a debate. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos's rocket WILL hit that 62-mile mark next Tuesday if everything goes to plan. And now the oldest AND youngest people to ever go to space will be on board. 82-year-old Wally Funk was announced as a passenger last week. And now an anonymous billionaire who was supposed to go backed out due to a scheduling conflict. So some other rich dude's 18-year-old son is going instead. 2. Lots of climate change news this week: Fires in the Amazon are now pumping out more CO2 than the Amazon absorbs. Death Valley had the planet's hottest 24 hours on record, averaging 118.1 degrees. Last month was the hottest June we've ever had in the U.S. And experts say we could see record floods in the next decade because of rising sea levels combined with a wobble in the Moon's orbit. 3. And in dinosaur news: Most experts agree an asteroid wiped them out. But were they already going extinct anyway? A new study found they'd been dying off in huge numbers for 10 million years before the asteroid hit.
"The Simpsons" Predicted Richard Branson Would Go to Space
At this point if something happens, we should just assume there's a "Simpsons" episode that predicted it YEARS AGO. Like the 2014 episode "The War Of Art", that showed RICHARD BRANSON kicking back IN SPACE. Even Virgin Galactic re-Tweeted a meme about it, saying, quote, "'The Simpsons' predicted it," with a handclap emoji. For the record, Virgin Galactic was founded in 2004, so this isn't necessarily their most astonishing prediction.
I mean, when a guy with a huge wallet and an even bigger ego starts a space company, it's not the most insane thing to imagine him being a passenger. But still, it's hard to not be impressed.
Today's Showbiz Highlights
1. MACHINE GUN KELLY went from having a poster of MEGAN FOX in his bedroom as a teen to now actually having HER. He said, quote, "That's some full-circle, 2. Are BEN AFFLECK and JENNIFER LOPEZ getting ready to shack up? They were house-hunting together in L.A. yesterday. One place they looked at is on the market for $65 million, and has its own bowling alley. 3. ASHTON KUTCHER would have been on Virgin Galactic's next trip to space. But he sold back his ticket because MILA KUNIS didn't want him to go. She thought it wasn't a good idea to go while the kids are young. 4. Your Alexa can now speak in the voice of either SHAQUILLE O'NEAL or MELISSA MCCARTHY. They join SAMUEL L. JACKSON, who's been an option since 2019. 5. Peacock is doing a scripted Christmas movie called "The Real Housewives of the North Pole". It'll star Beverly Hills housewife Kyle Richards and actress Betsy Brandt as two friends who have a falling out that causes chaos in the town of North Pole, Vermont. 6. "The Simpsons" predicted that RICHARD BRANSON would go into space on a 2014 episode. But since he founded his Virgin Galactic space company in 2004, it wasn't a complete stab in the dark. 7. NBC offered JAMES GANDOLFINI $4 million to join "The Office" after STEVE CARELL left. But HBO didn't want him to do it, so they paid him $3 million to turn it down. 8. MARK HOPPUS said he was diagnosed in late April with Stage 4-A Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. He remains optimistic and said, quote, "We're beating this cancer . . . it's just a matter of time."
9. A list of popular songs that sample from older ones includes: "Stronger" by Kanye West sampled from "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" by Daft Punk . . . "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X sampled from "34 Ghosts IV" by Nine Inch Nails . . . and "Look What You Made Me Do" by Taylor Swift sampled from "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred. 10. This week's CD Releases include new music from Willow, John Mayer, Barenaked Ladies, Pop Smoke, Chase Bryant, and a Charlie Daniels duets album. 11. ASHLEY MONROE did a cover of the BRYAN ADAMS classic "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You". . . and then posted it online one day after revealing her cancer diagnosis. She said, "This song hits me deeper now."