For this Seventh Anniversary post, we will be looking at a very important piece of copper equipment. Approximately 10% of American women of childbearing age use “long-acting reversible contraceptives,” including IUDs. While the copper (non-hormonal) kind is less common, it’s the kind I’ve had for almost a decade. I even participated in a clinical study to test a smaller “more comfortable” model for FDA approval.
Circadian rhythm can be disrupted by seasonal changes and travel across time zones. I often have trouble sleeping on a plane when my body thinks it’s the middle of the day, but several new technologies incorporated into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner help with those transitions. It was cool to see my body respond to subtle clues from the plane’s lighting and windows.
Just about one century ago, airships were rising to prominence as the luxury option for long-haul travel. Today, some companies are touting airships as a climate-friendly alternative to airplanes. We may be set to see a renaissance for this slower, more intentional means of travel, but we also need to consider unseen and upstream costs that can still contribute significantly to its carbon footprint.
Is it possible to reduce our resource consumption without abandoning a certain quality of life? The 2000 Watt Society thinks so. I first encountered this group in a near-term climate fiction novel following the lives of people trying to avoid the worst of climate change impacts. A recent trip to Switzerland showed me it can be done better than we’re doing it back home.
Love it or hate it, McDonald’s is a global powerhouse in the food industry, and from a business standpoint, it does an amazing job of balancing menu consistency with cultural relevance across its 119 host countries. I have visited locations in at least 16 of them and make a point of checking out the locally inspired menu items whenever I’m abroad.
Physical exercise, play with others, and mental down time are all critical to build resilience to stress, but the majority of us abandon efforts to adopt healthy New Year’s behaviors before the end of January. With record levels of stress in my life and on the world stage, I for one am in desperate need of resilience, however I can manage to create it.
“Good vs. evil” stories may be fun and comforting to watch, but they aren’t representative of reality and therefore don’t prepare us to navigate reality effectively. Historical fiction, especially, is full of embellishments and details that have been changed for a reason. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy art, but it does mean we should consume it with our brains turned on.
Countries I have called home (and that my ancestors called home) have problematic aspects to their histories, and I worry that celebrating the good can seem like I’m ignoring the bad. After wrestling with history, optics, intention, and impact as a tourist in Germany, I think there’s an effective way to elevate what we’ve learned from darker days and celebrate efforts to do better.
I was thrilled to discover that a friend in Germany baked the same Christmas cookies my family has for generations. The popular origin story of the cookie has been debunked by food historians, but what’s far more interesting is how beloved recipes persist with only small variations across centuries and continents. With no kids to receive my family recipes, I’m starting to share them.
Many widespread Christmas traditions originally come from Germany, including some that are especially dark (or fun, depending on your inclinations), such as Krampusnacht. One of our favorite shows highlighted this out-of-the-ordinary Christmastime festivity in an out-of-the-way location. Consequently, in an effort to better understand how culture spreads across national borders, we wound up visiting the curious German-speaking Italian province of South Tyrol.