Quick Bites: Ka-Ching!… Pant! Pant!… Splish-Splash!… OMIGOD!

* Intriguing: First Costco… then Walmart. Why have these major retailers suddenly begun selling gold? Click here.

* Weird: It’s not your imagination. 2023 was the hottest year since scientists began tracking global temperatures 173 years ago. 2023 saw global average temperatures of 14.98 degrees Celsius (58.96 Fahrenheit). That is 0.6 degrees Celsius (2.6 Fahrenheit) warmer than the average global temperature over the last 30 years. It is also about 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.5 Fahrenheit) warmer than global averages in the 50 pre-industrial years prior to 1900.

* Adorable: Capybaras taking a relaxing bath at a Japanese zoo. Click here.

* Impressive: I know. You’ve seen clips like this from me before. You get it. And, yeah, they look staged. So why do I keep including them in my blog posts? I have no excuse except I’m thinking that if I can’t get enough of them some of my readers may feel the same way. So click here to watch a nine-year-old violinist blow everyone away.