Category: Life Style

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Level : Intermediate

Melanie Allen | Wealth of Geeks undefined

Americans spend more than five hours every day on leisure activities and hobbies, ranking second only to sleep in the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2023 time use survey.

Though we all love leisure time, we don’t spend it the same way. Some pastimes are far more popular than others.

America’s Favorite Hobbies

A Statista survey of more than 60,000 Americans determined which hobbies we love the most. Discover something new to try as we explore America’s favorite pastimes. Because respondents could choose more than one hobby, reported percentages surpassed 100. Continue reading

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By JOCELYN GECKER Associated Press

Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college, with most saying they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction,” according to a new poll.

Overall, only 36% of adults say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, according to the report released Monday by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation. That confidence level has declined steadily from 57% in 2015.

Some of the same opinions have been reflected in declining enrollment as colleges contend with the effects of the student debt crisis, concerns about the high cost of tuition and political debates over how they teach about race and other topics. Continue reading

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By Maike Corbett | Wealth of Geeks undefined

Conventional wisdom says breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but a 2022 Statista report indicates only 35% of Americans actually stop to eat the meal each morning. The reasons for this vary. Some people say they’re not hungry in the mornings, while others feel they don’t have time to make something and eat it.

Is breakfast that important? The science doesn’t support an answer either way. It comes down to individuals. Some people can’t stand the thought of food when they first wake up. Some say they can’t get along without breakfast.

 

 

What Is Breakfast, Anyway?

The word ” breakfast ” has been around since the 15th century. Those who went to Catholic Mass each morning didn’t eat until after the service, so their first meal broke their fast from the night before. The word eventually came to mean the morning meal in general. Continue reading

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By Michael Dinich

The average American engages in five generous acts per week, totaling 260 random acts of kindness each year. What goes around comes around? That’s the belief of 84% of United States citizens asked by OnePoll on behalf of banking app Chime.

Another 84% say they will go out of their way to “pay it forward” whenever possible. This most often comes in the form of a special treat for their loved ones, generous tips, or helping out a neighbor, carrying their groceries, mowing their lawn, or helping them shovel snow.

Not all of these acts are attributed to karma, or an attempt to rebalance some cosmic scale. Some simply believe in the value of doing good deeds for others, regardless of whether or not they’re rewarded for it. Continue reading

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By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The world’s population is expected to grow by more than 2 billion people in the next decades and peak in the 2080s at around 10.3 billion, a major shift from a decade ago, a new report by the United Nations said Thursday.

The report — released on World Population Day — says the global population is then expected to decline to around 10.2 billion by the end of the century.

John Wilmoth, head of the U.N. Population Division which prepared the report, said the probability that the world’s population will peak within the current century is quite high – about 80%. Continue reading

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By MELINA WALLING Associated Press

Around 134 million people in the U.S. are under alerts as an “extremely dangerous and record-breaking” heat wave broils much of the country, according to the National Weather Service.

Regions that may see temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) or much higher into the triple digits (well above 37 degrees Celsius) include nearly all of the West Coast, the southern Plains, most of the lower Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley and parts of Florida, said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service.

The Pacific Northwest will see the mercury rising later in the weekend. Arizona will continue to sizzle as firefighters battle a wildfire near Phoenix, where some contend with burns from blazing hot asphalt, concrete or other surfaces. And more humid regions will see a muggy weekend. Continue reading

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BY JAN M. OLSEN

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden launched a groundbreaking new law on Monday, allowing grandparents to step in and get paid parental leave while taking care of their grandchildren for up to three months of a child’s first year.

The development comes after the Swedish parliament, the 349-seat Riksdag, approved last December the government’s proposal on transfer of parental allowance. This comes 50 years after the Scandinavian country became the first in the world to introduce paid parental leave for fathers and not just mothers. Continue reading

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By Melanie Allen | Wealth of Geeks undefined

Humanity has been creating art for millennia. The earliest known artworks predate civilization by 40,000 years. Artistic expression is clearly important for the human condition.

Our obsession with art only grew as we formed communities, then cities. As humanity learned the benefits of specialization, our artistic abilities flourished.

We cultivated talent, created schools focused on fine-tuning skills, dedicated state funds to promote artistic culture, and built massive museums, allowing us to store the most iconic artworks ever created for posterity.

These top art museums store some of humanity’s greatest treasures. Continue reading

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By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

The U.S. surgeon general has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people’s lives, similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes.

In a Monday opinion piece in the The New York Times, Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people.

“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy said. “Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.” Continue reading