MOST DOG OWNERS SAY THEY’D RISK THEIR LIVES TO SAVE THEIR PET_ A study found one in three dog owners have put themselves in harm’s way to save their four-legged friend. Some have pulled off daring rescues from towering construction sites or dove into pools to save their dogs. One respondent says they got in between their hound and another angry dog. Another even took an electric shock from exposed wiring before their pup got too close. A survey of dog owners examined all the ways respondents show their love for their pooch. More than seven in 10 people (72%) said they would gladly put themselves in harm’s way to save their dog. It’s no surprise that respondents leaped into action when their pup was in danger since nearly four in five (78%) consider them a full-fledged member of the family. Our top acts of dog love:
• 49 percent let them sleep in bed with us.
• 46 percent let them get on the couch.
• 46 percent make them their own dinner with human food.
• 34 percent let them into the bathroom while we use it.
WHY DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME BEGINS AT 2AM _ If you happen to be awake and staring at your smartphone in the very early hours of the morning on Sunday, March 8, you’ll have the small pleasure of watching the time jump right from 1:59AM to 3AM — the start of Daylight Saving Time. But why that hour, specifically? The United States first adopted DST in 1918 as a way to conserve energy during World War I, following the lead of both England and Germany. When choosing exactly when to make the switch, officials were looking for an hour that could easily disappear without wreaking havoc on people’s schedules across the nation. Since no Amtrak trains departed New York City on Sundays at 2AM, losing that hour seemed a little less consequential than any other. According to the book Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time, Sunday morning at 2AM was when “[a time change] would interrupt the least amount of train travel around the country. The United States didn’t stick with daylight saving time after 1918 — partially because so many farmers opposed it — but it did resurrect the tradition during World War II, and Congress formalized the practice in 1966 with the Uniform Time Act (which also created the time zones we use today). The reason DST’s 2AM start time has remained standard through the years isn’t just because it prevents confusion among late-night train passengers. Considering that most bars and restaurants are closed by then, and early shift-workers won’t be awake yet, it’s a pretty quiet hour across the board.
COMPETITIVE EATERS STOMACHS WORK DIFFERENTLY _ Competitive eaters aren’t just good at stuffing their faces: Their digestive systems actually function differently from everyone else’s. A researcher (University of Pennsylvania) compared the eating habits of a leading competitive eater and a man who weighed 45 pounds more than the champion did. He scanned the two men’s stomachs during a hot-dog-eating contest. Normally, the digestive tract makes “wavelike” contractions, even when there’s no food in it. The process, called peristalsis, pushes food through the body. But the competitive eater’s body showed hardly any peristalsis, even after he’d eaten 36 hot dogs. Researchers said his stomach behaved “more like an expanding balloon than a squeezing sac.”
