In the United States, thinking and talking about death can be somewhat taboo, with many people preferring to keep the end of life out of mind. This tendency — perhaps along with our collective enthusiasm for “living in the moment” — may have the unintended consequence of placing us at a disadvantage when it comes to […]
Imagine spending hours crafting a beautiful work of art — only for it to crumble to nothing less than 24 hours later. Welcome to a day in the life of a professional sandcastle sculptor: someone who creates beauty from impermanence. Janel Hawkins knows all about that life. The owner of Sand Castle University in Alabama,
Plenty of people enjoy spotting and snagging beach souvenirs — pretty shells, a sand dollar, perhaps. But for John Anderson, picking up treasures from the shore is more than a casual hobby. The Washington state resident has been beachcombing for nearly five decades, and he displays his countless finds in a makeshift museum that opens to
Quirky Pacific Northwest Museum Displays Nearly 50 Years of Beachcombing Finds Continue Reading »
In Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, some teenagers skip the lifeguarding and ice cream shop gigs and opt for a more unique summer job — one that involves leaping off a moving boat to deliver mail. It’s the only town in the U.S. that features this unique occupation, a tradition for over 100 years. The role entails
Starting in the fall semester, paying tuition will be one less thing to worry about for most medical students at Johns Hopkins University. The good news comes thanks to businessman Michael R. Bloomberg’s philanthropic organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, which donated $1 billion to cover tuition for students who come from households earning less than $300,000. Additionally,
It’s been six months since many of us passionately vowed to revamp our lives with positive new habits for 2024: eating more vegetables, saving more money, staying in better touch with loved ones. We won’t pry as to whether you’re among the vast majority whose resolutions faltered and faded away or the impressive few who
Mid-Year Resolutions: Tips for Revisiting (and Revamping) Those New Year’s Goals Continue Reading »
From 1984 to The Handmaid’s Tale, literature and media are rife with dystopias, imagined states that often act as warnings against perceived political or social dangers in the real world. Though perhaps appearing less frequently, their opposite, utopias, also grace our books and screens. It’s the third member of the hypothetical-future club that doesn’t seem
Every year for the better part of the past two decades, polling organization Gallup has been taking the temperature of the room, so to speak, with its Global Emotions Report. The results are in from its latest survey, and the news is positive, if a bit surprising: The world is feeling better. The findings were
Stress Is Down and Positive Experiences Are Up, Global Emotions Report Finds Continue Reading »
On a hot summer day, mowing the lawn is the last thing anyone wants to do — even when temps are cooler, it isn’t exactly an exciting activity. But for people with physical limitations, financial constraints, or mental health struggles, yard work can go beyond being just a tiresome chore and instead become a virtual impossibility.
An ancient Roman laundry facility, or fullonica, was recently uncovered near Vatican City in Italy. Archaeologists found the 1,700-year-old ruins during excavations of the Piazza Pia underpass, which is being modernized to prepare for more pedestrian activity. The findings offer a look at the day-to-day lives of Romans living almost two millennia ago. A series
