Agojie Women Warriors

Meilan Solly recounts the history of the Agojie warrior women of the kingdom of Dahomey.

-DD

Bird Beaks

Riley Smith explains how beaks helped birds survive when the dinosaurs disappeared.

-DD

Communication Between Trees

Stephanie Pappas investigates the claim that fungi connect some trees , forming a network by which trees connect with eadch other.

-DD

Caulk

Jeff Somers suggests multiple uses for caulk in home maintenance.

-DD

Psychological Pain of Debt

Allie Volpe addresses the stigma of indebtedness .

-DD

A Well-Lived Life

Philippa Kelly compiles the thoughts about a well-lived life from 100 centenarians .

-DD

Reading to Children

The Cleveland Clinic has a post about the benefits of reading to babies .

-DD

Sales Psychology

Meghan Jones explains the psychology behind windowless groceries .

-DD

Concerns About Teflon on Kitchen Pans

Yasmin Tayag writes about the uncertain effects of Teflon and other chemicals on non-stick cookware such as frying pans.

-DD

Mobile Phone Replacement

Alina Bradford offers tips on when to replace your mobile phone .

One of Bradford's points was that older phones may lack VoLTE technology. This means that they may still be able to send texts using WiFi, but these phones will not have the ability to connect with cellular carriers to provide voice service. If you have a box of such old "spare" mobile phones, they still might serve as cameras, MP3 players, or personal digital assistants, but they will no longer function for voice calls, because the cellular networks no longer support the older technology.

-DD

Marketing Your Home

Emily DiNuzzo reports on a study suggesting a front door painted black increase the value of a house by thousands of dollars. The original Zillow study does warn that "The color also could turn many buyers off. They may think it feels too imposing or doesn’t give the overall property a positive feeling when first looking at the house."

DiNuzzo also refers to an article by Marissa Laliberte which provides home selling tips.

-DD

Asbury Revival

Thomas McCall reports on the revivals which have occurred at Asbury University in Wilmore, KY. The most recent spiritual awakening (which started spontaneously in early February, 2023) continued without interruption for 11 days before University President Kevin Brown restricted access to the Chapel to specific times, as it was interfering with the academic mission of the University.

-DD

Rebooting Routers

Erin Kayata suggests that home routers should be rebooted occasionally .

While Kayata cites operational and security benefits, I suggest that users first record or print a list networked devices and their IP addresses as a precaution before starting the process. And do not reboot when anyone is using the network, as the reboot process disconnects the network from the Internet for at least five minutes.

-DD

Zoom Encounters Market Saturation

Amanda Hoover comments on layoffs at Zoom as the population of those working from home stabilizes or even declines.

-DD

The Danger of Inaccurate Bots

In a report to The Daily [Podcast], Kevin Roose provides initial information on the capabilities and limitations of an experimental implementation of AI in Microsoft Bing .
Roose notes that the AI bot presents its information as a judgement. He did not indicate that there is a permanent URL available to cite the bot's response, which would be a barrier for students attempting to cite results.
Unstated is the possiblity that the AI bot might be programmed with a dangerous bias to a radical partisan world view.

-DD

The Impact of Long COVID

Katherine Wu writes about the lingering disability caused by long COVID .

-DD

The Benefits of Heat Pumps

Evie Townend reports on the energy savings and decarbonization offered by heat pump technology.

-DD

Chemical Marker for Autism

Kashmira Gander reports on how chemical indicators that a child will be on the autism spectrum are found 90% of the time within a toddler's teeth . This may allow earlier diagnoses of the disorder, or point to a chemical cause.

-DD

Conversation Skills

Indeed suggests 7 Ways To Improve Conversational Skills.

-DD

Parkinson's Disease

Diana Kwon reports how sleep behavior with active dreams may be a symptom of developing Parkinson's.

-DD

Cooperative Internet Services

Steve Alexander shares how rural cooperatives are forming in some states to provide internet services . [However, it is my understanding that in some jurisdictions the telecomm companies do not support such community action].

-DD

Retirement Happiness

Amy Legate-Wolfe suggests that retirees focus on relationships, not stuff .

-DD

Google Chrome for Android

Advit A. provides tips for using the Google Chrome browser on an Android device.

-DD

Emergency Cash

Jeff Somers recommends that individuals keep a stash of emergency cash in their homes in the event of electrical power outages.

-DD

The Pace of Evolutionary Differentiation

Katie Hunt reports on the research undertaken by evolutionary biologist Dolph Schluter which demonstrated how rapidly birds and fish can differentiate into distinct populations.

-DD

Causes of Depression

Joanna Thompson unveils new research on the causes of psychological depression. Her article cites a literature review authored by Joanna Moncrieff et al. (2022), which found that "there is no convincing evidence that depression is associated with, or caused by, lower serotonin concentrations or activity" (p. 11). Competing theories propose that a chemical imbalance might cause depression, or that genetics/neural wiring may be involved, or chronic inflamation, or perhaps a mix of these posited causes.

-DD

This video says that depression is no longer thought to be caused by a monoaminergic deficiency; that other factors are in play.

This video proposes that societal changes which increase personal interaction may reduce depression.

Simplicity in Communication

Rick Rubin posits that omission is vital to creative expression.

-DD