The valley was unspeakably beautiful: honey-colored hills flanked by mountains covered in pine trees. Dark shrubs dotted the expanse, as did wandering cows, temples and clusters of 108 white Buddhist prayer flags. Relatives of the dead plant the flags — thin strips of fabric that run the length of tall poles — during the 49 days it takes to guide and protect the soul as it moves toward the next life.
Every time I’d see those flutterings of white, I thought of the effort and devotion that had gone into covering this landscape in so many acts of love.
My energy levels were close to empty when I arrived in Bhutan’s Phobjikha Valley, far enough east from the only international airport in this lush, underdeveloped Himalayan kingdom that it had taken many, many hours of driving to get to.
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From top right: A farmer and her child on the road to Punakha Dzong; prayer wheels at the ancient Jowo Temple of Kyichu in Paro; the Great Buddha Dordenma statue overlooking Thimphu; view of Tiger’s Nest Monastery.CreditJada Yuan/The New York Times
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Mosquitoes mostly rely on their keen sense of smell to identify their favorite food source: People.
If you aren’t already aware, and you don’t happen to have the smelling capabilities of a mosquito, the things you eat can greatly affect the chemicals you release and, therefore, your scent. Some of the fragrances created by your diet are unappealing to mosquitoes or otherwise mask your natural aroma.
Mosquito repellent foods can make it more difficult for mosquitoes to find and feast upon you. Below are some quick and easy methods to keep mosquitoes at bay, without having to cover yourself head-to-toe in unappealing chemicals.
Franklin’s nephew Vaughn, niece Cristal, granddaughter Victorie and grandson Jordan delivered comments, musical tributes and readings for their family’s beloved matriarch.
Jordan choked back tears as he honored his grandmother.
“Dear Grandma, I love you. I know in my heart that you’re happy now and that’s all that I care about,” he said. “Thank you for loving me. Thank you for believing in me as much as you did.”
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ANGELA WEISS via Getty Images
Aretha Franklin’s grandchildren Jordan and Victorie Franklin embrace.
The palm beach of Vai (Greek: Βάι) is one of the largest attractions of the Mediterranean island of Crete. It features the largest natural palm forest in Europe, made up of Cretan Date Palm (Phoenix theophrasti).
For tourism Vai was discovered at the beginning of the 1970s by Richard White and friends from North London, Belfast and Bavaria, at the end of that decade it was popularised by the last hippies who fled the hot-spots Matala and Preveli. At the beginning of the 1980s Vai was full of backpacker tourists from the whole world, leading to a mixture of chaotic campground and garbage dump. Vai was enclosed and declared as a protected area. The unique forest recovered, the beach became clean.
The palm beach, which belongs to the Moni Toplou, is the touristic center of East Crete, with thousands of visitors each year. Vai lies close to Palekastro, Sitia and the Dionysades islands.
A mind-controlling parasite found in cat feces may give people the courage they need to become entrepreneurs, researchers reported Tuesday.
They found that people who have been infected with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite are more likely to major in business and to have started their own businesses than non-infected people.
The parasite, which makes rodents unafraid of cats, may be reducing the fear of failure in people, Stefanie Johnson of the University of Colorado and colleagues said.
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A new study links the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, found in cat feces, to entrepreneurship.Justin Sullivan / Getty Images file
It’s a shame that Merwin K. Hart’s life has drifted into obscurity, because in his prime he was a real dazzler, one of the brightest stars from the Golden Age of American Paranoia.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Hart ran an organization called The National Economic Council. Neither a government agency nor a laboratory for research, the NEC served as a propaganda funnel for the anxieties of the postwar corporate elite. Men of fortune, like the du Ponts (chemical magnates) and the Pews (of Charitable Trust fanfare) would turn over large sums of money to Hart, who would in turn blast out warnings about the “three million” immigrants who had entered the country “illegally” at the close of World War II, causing a “housing shortage.” Or the “deceit” of international Jewry. Or the hidden subversive content in certain college textbooks.
Hart’s favorite freakout was socialism, and how terrifyingly close the United States was to a socialist dystopia. “Our country grew great through freedom,” he warned hundreds of university trustees in 1948. “Do we want the United States to drift into a Socialism like that of Britain ― which many of us feel is only a transitory stop on the road to State Absolutism such as that of Russia?” Once upon a time, England and the Soviet Union were considered comparable evils on the American right.
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.
From top right: A farmer and her child on the road to Punakha Dzong; prayer wheels at the ancient Jowo Temple of Kyichu in Paro; the Great Buddha Dordenma statue overlooking Thimphu; view of Tiger’s Nest Monastery.CreditJada Yuan/The New York Times
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The palm beach of Vai
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