Every so often, it’s good to give the mind a break from the heavy stuff and wander into lighter territory. This Friday feels like a good time for that. A few curiosities worth mulling over to wrap up the work week.
The Penny
According to the Associated Press, banks and retailers across the U.S. are running short on pennies after the U.S. Mint stopped making them. The reason? Each one costs more than a cent to produce. So now, with no new supply entering circulation, stores are scrambling — rounding prices, offering “exact change only,” or skipping change altogether.
Pennies are still legal tender, but this no-plan rollout has created a mess. Some states even ban rounding up to the nearest nickel because it violates pricing-equality laws between cash and card customers. Once again, a government “fix” equals square peg, round hole.
A random thought: maybe those extra pennies from rounding could go toward paying down the national debt. It’s maddening to reward Washington’s incompetence, but if it knocks a few digits off the $38 trillion tab, maybe that’s an exception. In the meantime, if you’ve got a jar of pennies sitting around — they’re suddenly useful again.
“6-7”
Dictionary.com’s word of the year is 6-7. If you have no clue what that means, you’re not alone. Kids apparently love using it and mocking parents for asking. My best interpretation? It means nothing. Literally nothing. It isn’t a verb, noun, or adjective. Just… nothing.
It’s funny — decades ago, people feared Spanish might overtake English in America. Turns out, our own kids have done more damage to the language of Shakespeare with their — is it best called talk, catchphrase, slang — than any foreign language ever could. 6-7. (Did I use it right?)
Fall Back
Finally, don’t forget to set your clocks back Saturday night. Daylight Saving Time ends; standard time returns. And can we agree this twice-a-year ritual is nuts? Some states ignore it altogether. It disrupts sleep patterns, confuses schedules, and serves no modern purpose.
Congress should retire it; they’ve pondered the issue before but never acted. Shocker. Come on, folks — prove to the American people you can get at least one thing right.
Enjoy the weekend. Back to politics on Monday.