Southold, New York, police got a report of an active boat fire on Long Island Sound. A sergeant was about to board a patrol boat when the fire turned out to be on land. In Connecticut.

Here is how a 1922 toast compared married men and single men. Married men, it said, have the better halves.

— from More Toasts, 1922. Got one worse than that? Hit reply.

Eight ducklings, one kitten, and the gate is still closed.

Seen something funnier? Reply with a picture you took — a dog in a hat, a sign gone wrong, whatever made you laugh this week.

October 19, 1976: President Gerald Ford signed the Copyright Act of 1976. It replaced a law from 1909 and took nearly 20 years to write. Most of it took effect on January 1, 1978. Your song, letter or snapshot is protected once it is fixed in a tangible form, which means once you write it down or record it.

Also today: same date, 1955. In Rome, European TV and radio networks agreed to hold a song contest. It began in Lugano, Switzerland, in May 1956, with seven countries.

In 1976, how much did it cost to mail a first-class letter?

A) 8 cents
B) 10 cents
C) 13 cents
D) 18 cents

Answer’s at the very bottom. Try it first. 👀

Fifty years ago, half of all cancer patients in America lived five more years. Now that is 70%, says the American Cancer Society. It counted patients diagnosed from 2015 to 2021, in its yearly report, Cancer Statistics, 2026.

The cancer death rate fell 34% between 1991 and 2023. By the society’s estimate, that is 4.8 million fewer deaths than if the rate had stayed at its 1991 peak. For cancers that had already spread, five-year survival roughly doubled, from 17% to 35%.

These are averages across millions of patients, so no single case follows them. This is the society’s 75th annual report.

Keep smiling,
The Distraction Desk

C — 13 cents. The 13-cent rate began on December 31, 1975. It held until May 29, 1978, when a stamp rose to 15 cents.

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