http://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/world/asia/japan-covid-smiling-lessons.html Japan Is Unmasking, and Its Smile Coach Is Busy After three years of Covid-era masking, some Japanese people feel their facial expressions are a bit rusty. Enter Keiko Kawano, smile instructor. Keiko Kawano, a smile coach in Japan, has been helping her clients learn to smile again.Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times By Hisako Ueno and Mike … Continue reading Has mask wearing affected your ability to smile? Perhaps
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Here’s a paint that could help prevent urban heat islands
http://www.wired.com/story/lightest-paint-in-the-world/ SCIENCE Published in Wired on MAR 22, 2023 7:00 AM This Is the Lightest Paint in the World An energy-saving coating needs no pigments, and it keeps the surface beneath it 30 degrees cooler. DEBASHIS CHANDA HAD trouble finding a physicist who could paint. The researchers in his nanoscience lab at the University of Central … Continue reading Here’s a paint that could help prevent urban heat islands
Earth-grown diamonds facing a huge challenge from lab-grown, perhaps more ethical, diamonds
http://www.wsj.com/articles/this-wedding-season-diamonds-face-a-challenge-171c9e7 This Wedding Season, Diamonds Face a Challenge Man-made stones are falling in price and appealing to more shoppers who also see them as a socially conscious purchase Is it man-made? A round brilliant 0.82 carat diamond, seen through a jeweler’s loupe. (And, yes, it was grown in Skydiamond’s lab.) By Suzanne KapnerFollow | Photographs by Max Miechowski … Continue reading Earth-grown diamonds facing a huge challenge from lab-grown, perhaps more ethical, diamonds
Americans gentrify parts of Europe for good life on the cheap and as investors
http://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/17/realestate/europe-homes-sale-americans-lisbon-barcelona.html Americans Head to Europe for the Good Life on the Cheap Home sales to Americans have increased significantly, giving them a chance to enjoy a lifestyle they could not afford in major U.S. cities, but the influx risks upsetting local residents. The Mitas family is part of an influx of Americans moving to European … Continue reading Americans gentrify parts of Europe for good life on the cheap and as investors
Biggest loss from First Republic Bank disappearing into Chase
https://www.wsj.com/articles/first-republic-bank-collapse-swag-free-umbrellas-b46fc45f? First Republic Bank Will Be Missed…For Its Free Umbrellas The coveted giveaway for clients was the forest-green umbrella. Carrying it around ‘makes me feel like a proper Englishman.’ A First Republic umbrella F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL By AnnaMaria Andriotis and Ben Eisen May 5, 2023 5:31 am ET Ed Beardsworth got a tall box in the … Continue reading Biggest loss from First Republic Bank disappearing into Chase
Another amazing Ukraine feat as Russia tries to wipe its people out
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/24/how-ukraine-railways-keeps-people-and-presidents-moving ‘Rail Force One’: how Ukraine railways got Joe Biden safely to Kyiv Alexander Kamyshin, head of the service, doesn’t get much sleep, but his team coordinated the president’s visit without a single leak Peter Beaumont in Kyiv @petersbeaumont1Fri 24 Feb 2023 06.00 EST Alexander Kamyshin, the head of Ukraine’s railway company Ukrzaliznytsia, doesn’t get much … Continue reading Another amazing Ukraine feat as Russia tries to wipe its people out
Will Gen Z and younger be unable to read handwritten materials from the past?
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/10/gen-z-handwriting-teaching-cursive-history/671246/? GEN Z NEVER LEARNED TO READ CURSIVE How will they interpret the past? By Drew Gilpin Faust SEPTEMBER 16, 2022SHARE It was a good book, the student told the 14 others in the undergraduate seminar I was teaching, and it included a number of excellent illustrations, such as photographs of relevant Civil War manuscripts. But, … Continue reading Will Gen Z and younger be unable to read handwritten materials from the past?
Spring-clean your life — 20 ways
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/apr/10/spring-clean-your-life-20-ways-to-discard-the-emotional-baggage-thats-holding-you-back Spring-clean your life! 20 ways to discard the emotional baggage that’s holding you back From creating a proper support network to practising saying no, experts suggest their best tips for a healthier, happier life Lizzie CernikMon 10 Apr 2023 05.00 EDT Learn something new Life changes can make us feel unsettled, taking away our … Continue reading Spring-clean your life — 20 ways
I’m not the only one who can’t understand Generation Z’s slang
http://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/gen-z-work-emojis/ Gen Z came to ‘slay.’ Their bosses don’t know what that means. Gen Z’s use of emojis, slang and punctuation is confusing older colleagues as workplace communications are increasingly online. By Danielle Abril Updated December 13, 2022 at 4:42 p.m. EST|Published December 12, 2022 at 5:00 a.m. EST When 24-year-old Mary Clare Wall read a message that … Continue reading I’m not the only one who can’t understand Generation Z’s slang
Is Judaism a younger religion than previously thought?
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/is-judaism-a-younger-religion-than-previously-thought-180981118/? Is Judaism a Younger Religion Than Previously Thought? A new book by an Israeli archaeologist makes the stunning claim that common Jewish practices emerged only a century or so before Jesus Andrew Lawler, Correspondent, November 15, 2022 8:15 a.m. If Yonatan Adler's theory proves correct, then Judaism is, at best, Christianity’s elder sibling and … Continue reading Is Judaism a younger religion than previously thought?
Parts of Mars were once habitable
ww.vice.com/en/article/4ax8wb/nasa-mars-rover-finds-very-very-strange-chemistry-and-ingredients-for-life NASA Mars Rover Finds ‘Very, Very Strange Chemistry’ and Ingredients for Life A trio of new studies using data from NASA's Perseverence rover confirm that Jezero Crater on Mars was once habitable. By Becky Ferreira November 23, 2022, 2:00pm IMAGE: NASA NASA’s Perseverance rover has been searching for signs of life on Mars since it landed … Continue reading Parts of Mars were once habitable
To warm the cockles of your heart (related to “Banshees of Inisherin”)
*The term warm the cockles of one's heart dates back to the mid-1600s, a time when scientific texts were often written in Latin. The Latin term cochleae cordis means ventricles of the heart, and most probably, the word cochleae was corrupted as cockles. https://grammarist.com/idiom/warm-the-cockles-of-ones-heart/I absolutely love what I grew up calling Aran Isle sweaters and have … Continue reading To warm the cockles of your heart (related to “Banshees of Inisherin”)
Abycats' Thoughts 