Posts by Matt Gilligan

Firefighters have one of the absolute toughest jobs out there – they put their lives on the line every single day to keep everyday citizens safe from a number of awful things that could happen. So when they talk, we should pay attention. Period. Here are 10 important things that firefighters think you need to...

Well, this oughta get a whole lot of people arguing due to the current political climate in this country, but what the heck! Let’s do it anyway! A researcher and psychologist from the University of California, Davis named Dean Simonton put together a list of what he estimates IQs of the American presidents to be...

Let’s get into a little bit of Hollywood lore here and learn about some pretty cool instances of when things ended up in movies that were not only not in the script, they weren’t close to part of the plan. I just love happy accidents, don’t you?!?! Let’s take a look. And if you know...

Kids today…are pretty great, as it turns out! At least, some of them are. On only the third day into his internship at NASA, a 17-year-old named Wolf Cukier (awesome name) discovered a new planet that is being called “TOI 1338 b”. The planet is 6.9 times larger than Earth, and the folks at NASA...

Alex Trebek has hosted the hit TV show Jeopardy! since 1984, and in those three-and-a-half decades, he’s become a beloved figure. His name and face are so synonymous with the television program, it’s hard to imagine anyone else hosting the show. https://www.instagram.com/p/B63KgTxhgwP/ It was revealed last year that the 79-year-old Trebek has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and...

Whoopsy daisy…one minute you think you got your child a cool Christmas gift, and the next, the whole neighborhood is about to go up in flames. That’s exactly what happened: a 12-year-old boy in Texas got a magnifying glass for Christmas – and then accidentally set his family’s lawn on fire. I can tell you,...

I’ve been dealing with this since I was a little kid. My mom doesn’t care if hundreds of men, women, and children get maimed or killed in a movie, but if a dog dies (or even gets lost or inconvenienced for a little while), everyone in the room is going to hear about it. Let’s...

It’s important for kids with disabilities to see themselves in pop culture, whether it’s movies, music, TV – or even the toys and dolls they play with. That’s why this announcement from American Girl should make a lot of kids and parents very happy. American Girl rang in 2020 with a new doll, and this...

Australia is full of terrifying creatures that you would never want to encounter on a pleasant walk through the woods. Spiders and crocodiles and dingos, oh my. Well, now you can add jumping snakes to the list. Yes, you read that correctly. Australian tree snakes belonging to the Dendrelaphis genus can JUMP from tree to tree,...

Ahhhhh, kids today…they’ll never know some of the struggles or the joys we experienced back in the day, now will they? I’m not talking about the old “I walked uphill both ways to school in the snow every day.” I’m referring to more recent stuff, like 1980s and 90s technology and culture and other stuff...

It seems like old, classic Hollywood movies get a free pass, doesn’t it? Like we’re supposed to just accept their brilliance and not question it on any level. Well, NO MORE OF THAT… People on Buzzfeed got pretty fired up about old movies that critics think are incredible and life-changing…but these folks definitely don’t feel...

By now, you’ve no doubt heard about the awful and massive fires burning their way through huge swaths of Australia. On top of the terrible damage to the land, it’s estimated that 1 BILLION animals have died in the blazes. People from all over Australia and the world are pitching in to help in any...

Starting off a new year is always a mixed bag. On one hand, you want to do your best and start over in some areas in your life. On the other hand, sometimes you get bogged down with all the new excitement and you don’t even know where to begin. Oh, and the weather usually...

I think most of us can safely say we’ve felt this kind of stress before: stress about being broke or very close to it. But how does this stress affect us, physiologically speaking? We all have a fight-or-flight response system in our bodies that developed when our ancestors were roaming the land trying to avoid...

Have you ever been totally obsessed with a place from afar? Like you had some totally romantic and idealized version of what it would be like even though you’d never been there? I felt this way about New York City when I was growing up. I finally went for the first time when I was...