Veggies are good for us - but some households can’t buy them, and others don’t want to. What is it that will get eaters more interested in buying and eating their vegetables? One answer may be: the color black. Plus: the Vent Haven International Ventriloquist Convention is getting underway today in Erlanger, Kentucky. 

Backed in Black: How to get people to buy more produce (Brigham Young University)

Vent Haven International Ventriloquist Convention

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A growing number of people are heading to the airport not to catch flights, but just to hang out at the airport itself. And why not, given how many cool amenities airports have added over the years? Plus: a top destination for Instagram travelers is maybe not quite what it appears to be. 

Airports Open Up to Terminal Tourists Who Just Want to Hang Out (Bloomberg Quint) 

Nine weird and wonderful airport amenities (The Independent)

Instagrammers Are Swarming This Turquoise Lake. It's Actually A Toxic Dump. (Buzzfeed)

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Going over Niagara Falls with or without a barrel is a bad idea and you shouldn't do it. It’s safer, easier and a lot more fun to cross over the bridge between Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario - or, if you’re a daredevil, to cross the falls themselves on a tightrope, as Nik Wallenda did in 2012. Plus: the story of the time 50 years ago that Niagara Falls stopped falling.

Man who went over Niagara Falls may have been saved by high water levels (Buffalo News)  

Daredevil completes walk across Niagara Falls (CNN)

The Year The Army Stopped Niagara Falls (Gizmodo)

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Coffee grounds can be recycled in all kinds of ways, including lots of products. And the most meta product of all is from KaffeeForm, which uses coffee grounds to make coffee cups. Plus: if you can't wait a couple years for the Little Mermaid remake, why not head to Sacramento for the California Mermaid Festival? 

6 Amazing products made (almost) entirely from recycled coffee grounds (Inhabitat)

California Mermaid Festival

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Wisconsin’s most fearsome folk monster been in Harry Potter and tangled with the Scooby Gang, but the Hodag is beloved in the community of Rhinelander, where it's the high school team mascot and there are many Hodags to find around town. Plus: it's  a big day in the community of Joensuu, Finland: the first-ever World Heavy Metal Knitting Championships!  

The Legend Of The Hodag (Wisconsin Life) 

World Heavy Metal Knitting Championships 

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Patrouille Swiss is the official aerial acrobatics team for Switzerland. Last weekend they were in fine form as they flew over the community of Langenbruck for a festival honoring a local aviation hero... except for one thing: they weren’t actually over Langenbruck. Plus: New York City is now home to  Poster House, the first American museum that’s fully about posters and their history.  

Swiss aerial display team flies over yodeling festival by mistake (Deutsche Welle)

WoodyFest in Okemah, OK  

Poster House Is the First Museum in the United States Dedicated Exclusively to Posters  

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In Japan, there's a little white robot swimming through rice fields, imitating a duck! It's actually helping to grow the rice by aerating the water and stopping weeds from growing. Plus: if you prefer non-robotic ducks, then you’ve got some options with the World’s Largest Rubber Duck, which is on tour this summer.

 Taco Bell says it’s been dealing with a tortilla shortage. Those craving inexpensive tacos and burritos at odd hours are bearing the brunt of this crisis, but it’s affecting all of us - after all, tortillas have been a part of our culinary lives for thousands of years. Plus: the story of a man who brought a great deal of change to Phoenix, Arizona - literally.

Taco Bell restaurants hit by tortilla shortage that is affecting burritos and quesadillas (USA Today)

Testin’ Tortillas in San Antonio: From Moctezuma to Mass Production (San Antonio Current)

Food For Space Flight (NASA) 

Arizona man builds pyramid out of 1 million pennies in world record attempt (New York Post) 

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It’s day one of the Roswell UFO Festival in New Mexico. Whatever happened there in 1947, the incident put Roswell on the map - and other towns that have their own UFO stories have been increasingly playing up those stories, including through historic markers. Plus: this weekend, Sheboygan, Wisconsin will race thousands of rubber ducks down the Sheboygan River in the Ducktona 500. 

Roswell UFO Festival  

Historical marker commemorates reported alien abduction (Tuscaloosa News)

Betty And Barney Hill UFO Abduction Story Commemorated On Official N.H. Highway Plaque (Huffington Post)

Reward offered for return of stolen UFO alien grave marker in Texas (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) 

Ducktona 500   

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It's the 243rd birthday of the United States, and we've done a lot of celebrating over those years. But what were people doing on the Fourth of July before American independence? One of the most interesting stories is from July 4, 1054 - in China. Plus: check out  a different kind of July 4th celebration - the Sidewalk Egg Frying Challenge in Oatman, Arizona! 

Supernova 1054 - Creation of the Crab Nebula (SEDS) 

Sidewalk Egg Frying Challenge in Oatman, Arizona 

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