Frosted Flakes: Cozy Coupe Cars, Cyborg Locusts, and Don’t Feed Pizza to a Moose

The following article about the Cozy Coupe Car, a kids toy, made me a bit nostalgic.

A Brief History of the Cozy Coupe | Innovation | Smithsonian Magazine
Invented by a former auto designer, the foot-powered kids toy still outsells engine-powered cars

My kids spent hours and hours playing with their car in the basement and outside.

At one time, my in-laws decided it was important for the ranchhands (all boys) to have diverse toys to play with. So, one year for Christmas a doll and a toy cleaning set (complete with plastic upright vacuum) made their way to our house. There were no complaints or issues raised, but it became clear from the beginning that the ranchhands were not going to play with the toys the way grandpa and grandma intended.

The doll was soon dismembered as the boys were fascinated with how it was put together. To figure that out of course, you have to take it apart (all three boys have since decided they want to be engineers). The toy broom became a favorite device for hitting balls.

The toy vacuum?

That sat alongside the ‘road’ the boys created among all those toys in the basement. Every now and then the Cozy Coupe driver would stop next to the vacuum, get out of the car, open the gas tank cover and insert the hose from the vacuum and pretend to fill the tank.

I still giggle when I think about that toy.

Frosted Flakes

‘68: The Year Nebraska Mattered | netnebraska.org
The story of how one of the most turbulent years in American history rippled through Nebraska politics

Former Husker OL Long retires from NFL | Sports | kmaland.com
Former Nebraska offensive lineman Spencer Long has announced his retirement from the NFL.

Back when he graduated from Nebraska, he intended to go to medical school. Hopefully, he gets that chance again, assuming he still wants to do that.

Nebraska Football: Predicting the Cornhuskers’ Captains for 2020
Since Scott Frost took over the helm of the Nebraska Cornhuskers football program, the yearly captain selection process has displayed some repeating...

Predicting captains seems like a futile exercise, but I guess that is all we’ve got right now...

Shatel: Was Big Ten right to call off football? Let’s ask a Husker with a medical degree | Husker News | omaha.com
Was the Big Ten right to cancel football for the fall? Tom Shatel asked a former Husker who also happens to be a doctor.

Even as Warren absorbs heat, Huskers shouldn’t get hopes too high | College | columbustelegram.com
Things I know, and things I think I know: When Nebraska football coach Scott Frost gathers his players for a team meeting Monday, I’d like to be a fly on

HuskerOnline - Kamonte Grimes commit: What does it mean for Nebraska?
Here are 10 quick takes and analysis on what the commitment of ATH Kamonte Grimes means for Nebraska.

Predicting the Next Plague

What would happen if a black hole fell into a wormhole? | Live Science
Astronomers might detect black holes falling into wormholes via ripples in space-time called gravitational waves, a new study finds.

You know that 2020 won’t go away quietly, right?

Cretaceous 'terror crocodile' crushed dinosaurs with banana-size teeth | Live Science
New analysis of the ancient crocodylian Deinosuchus confirms that this apex predator had jaws and teeth that were powerful enough to subdue massive dinosaur prey.

Food stockpiled during coronavirus means more weevils, moths in staples like flour and rice - ABC News
If you stockpiled pantry items like flour and rice in the early days of the coronavirus crisis, expect to find “extra protein” in them, because if we’re not using food as fast as we should be, insects can spread quite quickly.

Cyborg locusts could be used to sniff out explosives, scientists say | CTV News
Scientists have found a way to turn locusts into explosive-sniffing cyborgs by hijacking the insects’ sense of smell, according to a new study funded by the U.S. Navy.

Sportsin’ Stuff Outside the 402/308

These 3 Breakout Stars Are Making The Most Of The WNBA Bubble | FiveThirtyEight
In an Atlanta Dream offseason with plenty of splashy additions, including fourth overall draft pick Chennedy Carter and standout guard Courtney Williams, the si…

Big Ten must explain why it canceled 2020 football season - Sports Illustrated
Amid increasing pressure, Kevin Warren and the Big Ten need to start explaining their recent decision.

Alabama coach Nick Saban thinks opt-outs would turn spring football into JV
Alabama coach Nick Saban thinks any upperclassman with an NFL grade would opt out of playing spring college football, which would become “sort of a JV season.”

Tiger Woods’ 11-year-old son, Charlie Woods, crushed the competition at a junior golf tournament with a 3-under finish
Golf’s next up-and-coming star isn’t even a teenager yet — and his name should sound familiar to anyone who knows a thing about the sport.

It is ‘unclear’ whether Big Ten presidents formally voted to nix 2020 college football season - CBSSports.com
The Big Ten’s decision has created consternation among its players, their parents and fans

Dale Hawerchuk, Hall of Famer and former No. 1 pick, dies at 57
Dale Hawerchuk, a dominant center in the 1980s, was a No. 1 overall pick, rookie of the year and a Hockey Hall of Famer.

Another Week - Another Poop Article

A poop transplant helped cure a man who got drunk from his own gut - Insider
Auto-brewery syndrome is an illness where a person’s body produces alcohol inside their gut, which can lead to drunkenness without consuming alcohol.

More Noise and Other Disturbances

World's Last Blockbuster Is Now an Airbnb | Mental Floss
The best part? It only costs as much as a video rental.

Entire cities could fit inside the moon's monstrous lava tubes | Live Science
Vast lava tubes pock the surface of the moon and Mars, and could protect explorers from the elements. But first someone needs to explore them.

Versatile new material family could build realistic prosthetics, futuristic Army platforms | Texas A&M University Engineering
Texas A&M University and the Army Research Laboratory have created a whole family of 3D printable synthetic materials whose stiffness spans a 1,000-fold range. Not just that, these materials can self-heal, have shape memory and are recyclable.

Chinese man's big belly saves him from falling down well | Fox News
An overweight Chinese man found his big belly to be a lifesaver — after it got wedged in a well and stopped him falling down, according to officials.

I guess it pays to be fat sometimes?

Secret Gyms And The Economics Of Prohibition : Planet Money : NPR
Evelyn ducked in under the door and noticed a guy in workout clothes conducting a training and a small group of other guys in the back using exercise machines.

This app could end Apple's monopoly — and Steve Jobs would love it
Riley Testut’s app, AltStore, could transform the way we use iPhones and iPads.

Internet Explorer is dead as Microsoft kills off 25-year-old browser | The Independent
Microsoft has finally killed Internet Explorer

The Anonymous Lawyer Behind @nyttypos - The Ringer
In 2017, the Times dissolved its copy desk, possibly permitting more typos to slip through. Meet the man correcting the paper of record one untactful tweet at a time.

WTF, when will scientists learn to use fewer acronyms? - News and events - University of South Australia
Have you heard of DNA? It stands for Do Not Abbreviate apparently. Jokes aside, it’s the most widely used acronym in scientific literature in the past 70 years, appearing more than 2.4 million times.

Digital Content on Track to Equal Half Earth’s Mass by 2245 - AIP Publishing LLC
Eventually, we will reach a point of full saturation, a period in our evolution in which digital bits will outnumber atoms on Earth, a world “mostly computer simulated and dominated by digital bits and computer code,” according to an article published in AIP Advances, by AIP Publishing.

Then There’s This

Colorado Park Rangers: Please don’t feed pizza to moose | SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports
Park rangers in Jefferson county have a unique warning for visitors: please don’t feed the moose pizza.

A man was living in the luxury suite of a Tampa Bay-area stadium for over 2 weeks before he was arrested, police say - CNN
Daniel Albert Neja, 39, stole up to $1,000 worth of merchandise from the team store as well as $200 worth of food items.