What’s the trait you value most about yourself? I recently stumbled across some startling numbers. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), fewer than 10% of U.S. 13-year-olds read for pleasure “almost every day.” Let that sink in. Back in 2012, it was 27%. By 2020, […]
So apparently, there’s a 4% chance an asteroid could smack into the Moon in 2032. NASA scientists are already brainstorming ways to save us from a lunar mess. Like “kinetic disruption missions” involving nuclear explosives to blow it apart. Basically, high-stakes cosmic pest control. But honestly? I think […]
So apparently, residents in San Rafael, California, are living in a real-life horror movie. Forget “Jaws.” Forget “Cujo.” The menace of the season? A rogue squirrel. Yes, a squirrel. That fluffy-tailed park mascot has gone feral and is attacking people so viciously that some have ended up in […]
There’s this meme making the rounds that says: “Being nice gets you disrespected and stressed out. Being a good person is different.” And, it stopped me mid-scroll. Because, well. Yes. And also… hmm. See, “nice” is one of those slippery words. Nice is smiling when you don’t want […]
In my dreams,I am always packing.Suitcases lined up like soldiers,zippered mouths strainingwith clothes I’ll never wearto places I never quite reach. I set out,but the road splinters into side streets,detours,barriers that flash like neon reminders:“Not today.”And so I stumble off-rampafter off-ramp,carrying too much,getting nowhere. The ghosts wait for […]
“Personal tragedy has ways of focusing us in ways other things can’t.”Congressman Joseph Morelle, NY, recently said this, and oh boy, is that ever true. Focus isn’t always a calm, zen-like, candlelit process. Sometimes it’s a zap. A kick in the gut. A cruel nudge from the universe […]
What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you? So apparently, research says that if you ask for forgiveness using long words, people are more likely to believe you. Big, complicated, sesquipedalian apologies (yes, I went there) supposedly sound smarter and more convincing. But here’s the […]
Sometimes, science is serious. Penicillin. MRI machines. Vaccines. And then sometimes science is cows dressed up as zebras. Yes, a team of researchers in Japan actually painted cows with zebra-like stripes. Why? To see if it would cut down on pesky fly bites. Turns out, it worked. The […]
Welcome to the era where your smartest-seeming friend is also the one most likely to confidently pass onto you a made-up fact. Tech labs have been trying for years to teach AIs not to hallucinate. That is, to stop inventing stuff that sounds plausible but is flat-out wrong. […]
There’s a quote floating around the internet that gets attributed to Anthony Bourdain like most great quotes about food, travel, and life. Whether he said it or not, it sticks: “Be a traveler, not a tourist.” And oh, how true that rings. See, a tourist skims. They drop […]
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