NOW YOU KNOW

Americans think a family of four needs an annual minimum of $58,000 “just to get by,” according to a new Gallup poll. That’s twice the 2012 poverty threshold for a family of four, which was about $24,000 a year. CNBC.com

DOING GOOD

A Newark, N.J., kindergartner saved his father’s life this week by using spelling skills he learned at pre-school. Nathaniel Dancy Jr. was in the car when his dad suffered a stroke behind the wheel, just managing to pull the car off the road. The 5-year-old dialed his grandmother and mother for help and was able to spell out the letters of a nearby store sign, allowing rescuers to locate the car in time to send an ambulance to the scene. “They saved each other’s lives,” said mother Janelle Blackman. “My husband knew to pull over. My son knew to take action.”

MORE DINING OPTIONS

Talk about bad taste.

A South African "fly factory" that uses larvae to convert tons of blood, guts and other farm waste into protein-packed animal feed recently won a United Nations innovation award—a somewhat creepy reminder that insects will someday make up a lot more of what we eat. (click below to read more)

TIME FOR A CONSULT

PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

Two burglars accidentally “butt-dialed” 911, enabling police dispatchers to listen in as they allegedly broke into a car. Police said Nathan Teklemariam and Carson Rinehart, both 20, were driving around Fresno, Calif., when one of their cellphones shifted in their pocket and dialed the emergency number. A 911 operator listened for 40 minutes as the duo allegedly boasted about breaking into cars, and dispatched officers after hearing the sound of a car window being shattered. After being arrested, one suspect said, “This phone really called 911? Dam

TODAY IN HISTORY

MAY 30
1416   Jerome of Prague is burned as a heretic by the Church.
1431   Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by the English.
1527   The University of Marburg is founded in Germany.
1539   Hernando de Soto lands in Florida with 600 soldiers in search of gold.
1783   The first American daily newspaper, The Pennsylvania Evening Post, begins publishing in Philadelphia.
1814   The First Treaty of Paris is declared, returning France to its 1792 borders.
1848   William Young patents the ice cream freezer.
1854   The Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals the Missouri Compromise.
1859   The Piedmontese army crosses the Sesia River and defeats the Austrians at Palestro.
1862   Union General Henry Halleck enters Corinth, Mississippi.
1868   Memorial Day begins when two women place flowers on both Confederate and Union graves. 1889   The brassiere is invented.
1912   U.S. Marines are sent to Nicaragua to protect American interests. 1913   The First Balkan War ends.
1921   The U.S. Navy transfers the Teapot Dome oil reserves to the Department of the Interior.
1942   The Royal Air Force launches the first 1,000 plane raid over Germany.
1971   NASA launches Mariner 9, the first satellite to orbit Mars.

TRIVIA

If you bounce three balls off a very rigid surface, one ball made entirely of glass, one of rubber and one of solid steel, which will bounce highest? Which will bounce second-highest?
(click below for the answer)

THE FIRST WORD

austerians

An economics paper by a pair of Harvard economists suggesting spending cuts could lead to growth was cited by many prominent "austerians," as Krugman calls them...

The word "austere" can be traced back to a Greek root meaning "dry." This term is meant to be a play on the "Austrian" school of economics, and is credited to Rob Parenteau, the editor of the Richebächer Letter.

NOW YOU KNOW

The Congressional Budget Office says the Department of Education is expected to make a record $51 billion profit from student loans this year. That’s more than the profits of companies like Exxon Mobil and Apple, and roughly equal to the combined net income of the four largest U.S. banks. HuffingtonPost.com