Within five minutes of entering the Flowbuilt factory, north of Bellingham, Washington, I’m barefoot and standing on what looks like a copy machine. The blue light of a laser beam glides over my toes, and I take a couple steps across a spongy pad that measures pressure. Seconds later, I’m staring at a 3D rendering of my feet, with their bone spurs, flat arches, and busted knuckles, on the screen of a computer program called FitStation.
Right now, the FitStation setup—which is in 26 running stores across the country—can use that rendering to recommend existing shoes for me, as well as 3D-print custom $150 Superfeet insoles. In the future, once you’ve had your feet scanned, you’ll be able to load your data into the program and get your own version of the Brooks Genesys, which will be the first and (so far) only customized running shoe available in the United States. FitStation takes your foot shape, gait, and stance into account to shape the insole and determine the midsole’s stiffness. And Brooks is exploring options for making the shoes right here at Flowbuilt.
Clifton Springs is a village located in Ontario County, New York, United States.The population was 2,127 at the 2010 census. The village takes its name from local mineral springs. The Village of Clifton Springs is located primarily in the Town of Manchester, but the eastern part is in the Town of Phelps.
At the end of 2015, I found myself at an inflection point. The Bay Area housing market bounced back, and the owners of my rental decided to sell. I was 27 years old and working long hours at a startup, following a relatively traditional path. I moved all my possessions into a five-by-ten-foot storage unit and headed to Mount Hood in Oregon for a backcountry ski trip. On the drive back, I totaled my hatchback, sold it for cash, tucked my tail between my legs, and flew home to Minnesota. Like any good origin story, you gotta fall before you get back up.
This unlucky series of events felt surprisingly cathartic. Not having an address, car maintenance, or monthly rent was liberating. Over the holiday I started scheming, convincing myself that my late twenties was the ideal time to live nomadically. I worked through a year’s worth of finances, sketched a few camper designs, and made a spreadsheet of the parts I would need. This sounds pragmatic in hindsight, but it didn’t feel that way at the time. I went with it anyway.
Despite a long history of segregation and racism, America’s top pageants have broken racial barriers in recent decades. Vanessa Williams became the first black woman to win the Miss America title in 1984. Carole Gist won Miss USA in 1990. Janel Bishop won Miss Teen USA in 1991.
Each competition has had multiple black winners since.
Last week, for the first time, black women wore the crowns of all three major pageants simultaneously. tangie
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Nia Franklin, Miss America 2019; Cheslie Kryst, 2019 Miss USA; and Kaliegh Garris, 2019 Miss Teen USA. CreditCreditNoah K. Murray/Associated Press; Jason Bean, via The Reno Gazette-Journal; Miss Teen USA
All year long as Earth revolves around the sun, it passes through streams of cosmic debris. The resulting meteor showers can light up night skies from dusk to dawn, and if you’re lucky you might be able to catch a glimpse.
The next shower you might be able to see is known as the Eta Aquariids. Active between April 19 and May 28, the show peaks around Sunday night into Monday morning, or May 5-6. The moon will be close to new, which could make for good viewing in places with clear skies.
The Eta Aquariids are one of two meteor showers from Halley’s comet. Its sister shower, the Orionids, will peak in October. Specks from the Eta Aquariids streak through the sky at about 148,000 miles per hour, making it one of the fastest meteor showers. Its display is better seen from the Southern Hemisphere where people normally enjoy between 20 and 30 meteors per hour during its peak. The Northern Hemisphere tends to see about half as many.
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A photo of Halley’s comet during its closest approach to the inner solar system in 1986.CreditCreditNASA
Up to 1 million plant and animal species are on the verge of extinction, with alarming implications for human survival, according to a United Nations report released Monday.
The report’s findings underscore the conclusions of previous scientific studies that say human activity is wreaking havoc on the wild kingdom, threatening the existence of living things ranging from giant whales to small flowers and insects that are almost impossible to see with the naked eye.
But the global report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services goes a step further than previous studies by linking the loss of species to humans and analyzing its effect on food and water security, farming and economies.
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Moe Flannery of the California Academy of Sciences inspected a dead gray whale in Tiburon, Calif., last month, one of seven whales that have washed up on the shores of the San Francisco Bay and along the coast in recent weeks. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Meghan Markle is making her mark on the British royal family in many ways. She’s not only the first actress and the first American to be warmly welcomed into the family (rather than nearly causing a constitutional crisis à la Wallis Simpson!), many people believe her to be the first biracial person and person of African decent to marry into the family, too.
But as it turns out, Meghan, whose mother is black and father is white, may not be the very first biracial royal. That title likely belongs to Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who lived during the 18th century.
Charlotte was married to King George III and was queen for nearly 60 years, until she died in 1818. She’s the grandmother of Queen Victoria, the great-great-great-great-grandmother of the current Queen Elizabeth and the namesake for the American city of Charlotte, North Carolina. She also shares a name with the latest addition to the royal family, Princess Charlotte. tangie
Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, welcomed a baby boy on Monday. Prince Harry said, “I’m just over the moon!” The global media said, “Show us the baby!”
Some of the details — especially where the birth took place — are yet to be revealed by the palace or the couple, who sought to keep the delivery more private than the past public issues of Harry’s brother, Prince William, likely a future king.
Baby Sussex is seventh in line to the British throne and Queen Elizabeth II’s eighth great-grandchild.
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Prince Harry and Meghan, duke and duchess of Sussex, are doing things a bit differently than Prince William and Catherine, duke and duchess of Cambridge.(Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
You’ve got great social skills. You speak clearly and listen well. Everyone loves your engaging personality.
Even if you’re a dazzling raconteur, there’s one situation that’s especially tough to navigate: connecting with someone with dementia.
Different rules apply when you’re chatting with an individual who shows signs of dementia. If you’re unfamiliar with the disease, you may fall into traps that make matters worse.
Prepare to encounter speakers who repeat themselves (asking the same question every few minutes) and make illogical statements or faulty observations. Their emotions can swing wildly from moment to moment, leaving you wondering what could’ve triggered an angry outburst or crying spell.
If you’re a stickler for accuracy, it’s tempting to correct someone who misspeaks.
While working on his doctoral thesis at Harvard over the last few years, Omer Gottesman spent a lot of time at his desk crumpling sheets of paper, especially when he was stuck. He’d crumple a sheet, uncrumple it, stare into its depths, and think, “There must be something that would make all this mess look a little less messy.”
Crumple, uncrumple, crumple. Sheet after sheet landed in the recycling bin, each one blank but for its chaotically creased geography. In time, a semblance of order emerged.
Crumpled wads of paper are no doubt as old and commonplace as paper itself — “graves for failed theories,” Mr. Gottesman, a physicist, has called them. But for him, the crumpled paper itself was the research.
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Paper is an ideal model for studying other crumpling challenges, such as how DNA packs into a cell, or how best to cram a giant solar sail into a small satellite.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Custom Shoe Factory
An image of Clifton Springs
Indianapolis Museum of Art /Getty Images
James' World 2 