Oregon Rainy Day Woman: December 2025

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

10 Worst

It's getting to be that time of the year when wherever you go you hear the same old annoying Christmas songs over and over until they give you very un-Christmas like feelings. Everyone has their least favorite but did yours make the 10 Most Annoying list as compiled by data from Google Trends and polling adults in the US?

Monday, December 8, 2025

In the Fold

A 14 year old New York teen just won $25,000 for a research project based on an origami fold known as Miura-ori which is known for collapsing and expanding with precision. The teen spent months determining whether the strength to weight ratio of the Miura fold could be leveraged to improve deployable structures used in emergency situations. He got the idea reading about natural disasters like the California wildfires and hurricanes. The tents used in those situations were sometimes strong, sometimes compact and sometimes easily deployable, but never all three, which is where his design comes in as it has all three qualities. Today's post is a perfect example of why a diverse population plays a big part in the strength of a nation.

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Talking Turkey

An advertising executive had been handed the task of promoting Butterball Turkey, of course today we know how that turned out, but back in 1981 it was a daunting task to make one turkey brand stand out above all others. She finally had a brainstorm which she presented first to her company, then to Butterball, they could create a toll free line for people suffering from "turkey trauma". The first year 6 women fielded 11,000 calls and even though today a person could find how to help on YouTube or several other online tutorials the Butterball hotline is still going strong, from November 1st through Christmas Eve there are 50 Butterball experts answering over 100,000 calls. What keeps the hotline alive? They say it's the personal aspect of talking to a real person who is knowledgeable and sympathetic.

Saturday, December 6, 2025

Toy's Story

A Massachusetts woman has collected discarded items she's found on the beach on her morning walks for the last 10 years. It all started when she found a plastic doll's head embedded in the sand and took it home, after than morning she started collecting other items she found, including straws, plastic cutlery and micro plastics. Though she has found several odd things about three quarters of the finds are plastic. She recycles the things that can be recycled and throws the rest in her trash except the treasures of course which she cleans up then incorporates into her Museum of Lost Toys and Curiosities. Surprisingly people enjoy the museum in a nostalgic way and most also realize the underlying marine pollution message.

Thursday, December 4, 2025

Red Light, Blue Light?

Today's post features another driving/law enforcement innovation, this time instead of purple parking spots it's blue lights being added to the standard red, yellow, green lights. They are not mounted so the drivers see them but rather on top of the red light oriented in the opposite direction allowing police officers to more easily identify red light runners. So far only Florida and Minnesota have implemented the blue lights but the results show a significant reduction in red light running and in Florida alone the yearly average for fatalities at intersections is 800 with 94,000 resulting in injures.

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Purple Spots

Most of us are familiar with the blue ADA parking spots usually indicated with a white wheelchair symbol, but there are also purple parking spots in some states and they started appearing around 2015. They are often found around government or public buildings and are designated as Purple Heart parking spaces for veterans who were wounded in combat while serving in the US military. There isn't a lot of difference between the ADA spots and the purple spots except the fines for the purple spots are decided on locally and the veterans using them feel a sense of pride instead of pity.

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

The King and the Sponge

Starting today Burger King is teaming up with "The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Square Pants" to launch the new SpongeBob menu, available at all US Burger Kings while supplies last. The menu features:

SpongeBob's Krabby Whopper: A ¼ pound beef patty, flame grilled on a yellow square bun stacked with melty American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, and a splash of ketchup and mayo.
Mr. Krabs' Cheesy Bacon Tots: Crispy, coin-shaped tots filled with gooey cheese, savory bacon bits, and fluffy potatoes, served in a treasure chest carton.
Patrick's Star-berry Shortcake Pie: Strawberry shortcake pie slice with strawberry and vanilla flavored creamy layers, a crunchy cookie crumb crust, shortcake cookie crumbles, and pink star-shaped sprinkles.
Pirate's Frozen Pineapple Float: Icy refreshing frozen pineapple-flavored beverage topped with tropical flavor cold foam.
Bikini Bottom Bundle: Can't pick just one? Enjoy all four items in a Pineapple-shaped Under the Sea Box, complete with a medium float and 8-piece Cheesy Bacon Tots.
King Jr. Meal: Burger King is offering a special-edition King Jr. Meal in a pineapple-shaped Under the Sea Box, featuring one of six collectible SpongeBob toys and a limited-edition SpongeBob crown.