If you are looking for a feel-good story, The New York Times recently found one. It seems the tooth fairy is real. Her name is Dr. Purva Merchant and she’s a pediatric dentist in Seattle, Washington. Which brings up the question, how did she get the job? It started with her boyfriend-now-husband who in 2004
What is the world’s most difficult job? I would vote for police officer. That’s especially true in this country, when there are so many complex situations that can arise, and most of them require split-second judgment — mental illness, drug addiction, spouse abuse, hostage situations. And the underlying assumption is that anyone, anywhere could be
Back in Colonial America, agriculture was the primary occupation for about 90% of the population (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture_in_the_United_States). But today, due to increased efficiency and other opportunities, less than two percent of the population is directly involved in farming. (https://www.google.com/search?q=percentage+of+people+in+agriculture+in+usa&sca_esv). And yet, despite the historic ‘loss’ of all those jobs, today’s unemployment rate has been consistently below five percent. I thought
It’s summertime! Are you happy? According to the World Happiness Report, you probably are if you live in Finland. On the Report’s 0-10 Happiness scale, Finland’s three-year average in 2024 was 7.736. In fact, all the Scandinavian countries score well — Denmark is second at 7.521. The USA? We don’t score as well; we’re 24th
We all know how a lot of things change with the seasons, including human behavior. But what you might not realize is this includes one behavior you might not have considered — divorce. According to a recent NPR report (https://www.npr.org/2025/06/05/nx-s1-5415880/divorce-months-seasons-why?), divorces tend to spike twice a year: in the early spring and again in the
Tired to hearing about how much food is wasted? There is an imaginative way to start taking advantage of leftover food at commercial establishments — restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores — especially if you like surprises. The idea is called Too Good To Go (https://www.toogoodtogo.com/en-us). According to its website, “Too Good To Go is a social
Do you have a superpower? Mine is turning a two-sided piece of paper into a one-sided piece of paper. Okay, it’s actually a mathematical trick (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-timeless-journey-of-the-moebius-strip), but middle-school students don’t know that, so I usually get away with it. Yes, humans can have superpowers, although maybe not the kind found in comic books. For example,
When I worked as “Christmas help” at the local Disney Store one holiday season, I learned that calling someone a “customer” wasn’t a compliment. Our patrons were our “guests” and “customer” was a code word for a suspected shoplifter. I was reminded of this after reading”14 Secret Code Words You Might Want to Know” by
If you’re not tired of articles giving advice on how to approach the new year, I’ve found something that has caught my eye. I receive an email from The New York Times entitled “The Morning”. On Saturday, December 30, it published “the best advice that readers of “The Morning” received this year,” with the logic
Occasionally I find an article in a major publication about a new way of growing food, perhaps announcing a new technology, or an indoor facility for producing vegetables closer to their markets to save transportation costs and energy. These ideas always sound promising and I wish them well. But let me cite some statistics to