Your Summer Belly… the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

1. With summer in full swing, our focus, whether inadvertent or not, often land on the abs. With bikinis at the beach, pool parties, shirtless guys and even the occasional half shirt, eyes are on those tummies. While you’re sitting around the pool this summer, here we have some fun, and some disturbing, information with which you can amaze and disgust your friends:

First, did you know your belly button is its own ecosystem of developing cultures? Through DNA analysis of microbes conducted by the Belly Button Biodiversity research team doctors, scientists are discovering organisms they’ve never seen before. Researchers have already found more than 600 previously undocumented species of microbes living in human belly buttons, with one particular navel yielding a system of organisms that has only previously been seen on ocean floors and in the soils of Japan. If you’re grossed out, take a brisk shower if you’d like. Or relax, and don’t be horrified by your “friendly” microbial neighbors. To read more about these findings, visit NewsType.com.

2. From the bizarre to the entertaining… On Friday, July 29, visit the Belly Dance Connection on Burnside Avenue in East Hartford from 6 to 10 p.m. and enjoy a unique evening filled with belly dance entertainment. Cover charge is $8. Coming up on Aug. 6 at the Cairo Café in Chicopee, MA, doors will open at 5:30 p.m. for an evening of belly dancing, dinner and cocktails. The cover charge is also $8. Visit BellyDanceConnecticut.com for additional details, directions and a list of other, upcoming belly dance shows.

3. And now something for those who want in on the belly button piercing craze but who are too young or perhaps too squeamish, there is a pain-free alternative, and you don’t even have to step foot into an intimidating tattoo shop to try it. Clip-on belly button rings are a great, fashionable choice to show off your belly this summer. Not only do some jewelry stores offer high-quality jewelry for your navel, there are also plenty of online shops to find them. Read more about it at this InfoBarrel.com link. Also visit some online shops, such as Body Sparkle, Body Candy andJoBananas Body Jewellery.

4. On this day in history, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was nominated to run for a third term. FDR, who began his presidency in 1933 would become the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms, ultimately serving four consecutively.

5. Showers and thunderstorms are likely late this afternoon. The high, however, should be a pleasant 90ºF. Storms should continue into the night as temperatures drop into the upper 60's, according to National Weather Service reports.