- Microwaving your broccoli might be the most convenient way to cook it, but to get benefit of this cruciferous veggie’s cancer-fighting properties, steaming it lightly is the better way to go. Researchers (University of Illinois) said broccoli eaten three to five times a week is a potent cancer-fighter, especially when steamed for two to four minutes, rather than boiling it or cooking it in a microwave oven.

- Eating too much fat and sugar as a child can alter your microbiome for life, even if you later learn to eat healthier. The study (UC Riverside) is one of the first to show a significant decrease in the total number and diversity of gut bacteria in mature mice fed an unhealthy diet as juveniles.

- From moldy meatloaf to smelly beans buried on the back shelf, the average American fridge is a horror show. A new survey finds there are at least five items past their expiration date in the typical refrigerator right now. Among the shocking finds, respondents in a survey say they discovered cream cheese that had gone pink, moldy cucumber water, and even insects hiding inside.

- Heard of sologamy? There’s polygamy (having more than one spouse at a time); there’s bigamy (having two spouses at the same time); there’s monogamy (having only one spouse at a time), and there’s also such a thing as sologamy, described as “the marriage of someone to one’s own self.”

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: SMUGGLER HAD NEARLY 1,000 CACTI STRAPPED TO BODY _ A woman who strapped nearly 1,000 succulents and endangered cacti to her body in an attempt to smuggle them into New Zealand has been sentenced to 100 hours of community service. Wenqing Li was caught bringing plants and seeds from China to Auckland International Airport, where the goods were seized on two occasions.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: BOA CONSTRICTOR STUCK IN CAR DASHBOARD _ A pet boa constrictor that became stuck behind the dashboard of a car in North Carolina needed the help of some animal control officers to wriggle free. The snake — about 5 feet in length — was ultimately released unharmed from its owner’s vehicle after some car parts were removed. How the snake got into the dashboard is not known.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: TWO-HEADED BIRD IN NOVA SCOTIA _ What has two heads, two wings and has been hanging around a Nova Scotia, Canada, home? No one knows. Bill and Earlene Gill say a two-headed bird visited their backyard (in Cape Breton) at least twice in January At first, Bill thought there were two birds roaming around his backyard. But on closer inspection he noticed there was only one plump little body — with two heads, two beaks and two wings. Gill said both he and his wife saw the bird. Both heads eat independently and peck independently. Bill said the wild bird appears to be a ruffed grouse.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: MAN ACCUSED OF ACCESSING PIZZA WEBSITE _ (CAUTION) A man has appeared in a New Zealand court (Rotorua) accused of accessing a pizza ordering website and dishonestly getting food and drinks. Gemini Rerekowhai Dixon is charged with directly accessing the Hell Pizza online ordering website and dishonestly obtaining food and beverages. No details were given but Dixion will no longer be allowed to visit Hell.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: ARMED AT RESTAURANT ONLY DEMANDED FOOD _ A man at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles in Pasadena, California, was denied service for not wearing a mask and returned with a gun. He showed up at the back entrance of the restaurant with the firearm, which confused the Roscoe’s staff because the cash registers were in front. It turns out money was not the object. The man walked into the kitchen and held a cook at gunpoint, demanding all of the chicken and waffles they could give him. The suspect took no money, but left with as much food and syrup as he could grab before he ran out.

WACKY-BUT-TRUE: UK AUTO INSURANCE CLAIMS _ Among some of the reasons given by drivers to support their auto insurance claims in the U.K., freak incidents involving animals topped the list of the more bizarre, closely followed by those involving food. One driver said a frozen squirrel had fallen out of a tree and crashed through the windshield while another driver blamed a wasp sting on the leg for a sudden surge in acceleration and a bump the car in front. One driver even blamed a potato stuck behind the brake pedal for the inability to stop. But of all the weird insurance claims, one really stood out. The claim read: “As I was driving around a bend, one of the doors opened and a frozen kebab flew out, hitting and damaging a passing car.”

Entertainment News

Question of the Podcast - Pull a card! The question of the podcast for listener participation for Wednesday is: pull a card! You can respond to the question on The Jason & Mindy Facebook page or the Lowtree Studios facebook page and we will feature your response on next Wednesday’s show.

Fun Facts

✓ For centuries, Europeans refused to eat potatoes. (They’re not mentioned in the Bible.)

✓ Bathrooms in British Ramada Inns are stocked with complimentary rubber duckies.

WHY YOU NEED A BETTER PASSWORD

Length of password: 6 characters

If it’s all lowercase: 10 minutes to hack

Add uppercase letters: 10 hours to hack

Add numbers and symbols: 18 days to hack

Length of password: 9 characters

If it’s all lowercase: 4 months to hack

Add uppercase letters: 178 years

Add numbers and symbols: 44,530 years

WEIRDEST WAY YOU’VE EVER HEARD SOMEONE PRONOUNCE SOMETHING?

EDITOR: Share your own story first. The relative who can’t say “spaghetti,” or the former boyfriend who insisted Porsche was pronounced “poosh”.

Some real mispronunciations from reddit users:

• A coworker was showing me how to send a fax with the multipurpose copier. The word on the machine is facsimile. He kept saying, “You just hit the button here that says faxy smile.”

• I know a girl who claims to not be able to say pink. She consistently says “pank”. She can say “pee” and she can say “ink” but I could never get her to say the two words together. She’s 25.

• I know someone who pronounces Chipotle “chi-po-latte”.

• My sister pronounces pillow as “pellow”.

• I work in a pet store and I’ve heard so many ridiculous variations of Eukanuba. I think my favorite is “eubie kanubie”.

• I know someone that pronounced mirror as “mirrow” did it for years until someone called her out on it, then stopped.

• “Triology” for trilogy.

• My Uber driver a few weeks ago pronounced Waze (the navigation app) as “wah-zay.”

Water cooler question

The average one of these is 101 degrees F. (Shower)