All posts tagged: delight

Why productivity makes us so anxious

Why productivity makes us so anxious

Published by skeptic

Our writers’ most helpful insights on getting things done without stressing about them too much. Francois Lenoir / Reuters February 10, 2024, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. “Productivity is a sore subject for a lot of people,” my colleague Amanda Mull wrote last fall—and I’ll admit that just reading that line makes me feel a little stressed. Perhaps it’s because, as Amanda puts it, “Americans invest personal productivity with moral weight, as though human worth can be divined through careful examination of work product, both professional and personal.” Today’s reading list is an attempt to contemplate productivity without experiencing the accompanying anxiety. I’ve rounded up some of our writers’ most helpful insights on getting things done and conceptualizing productivity’s role in your life. On Getting Things Done The Only Productivity Hack That Works on Me By Amanda Mull Never underestimate …

How Relationships Grow, and How They Break

How Relationships Grow, and How They Break

Published by skeptic

Reading about others’ experiences can help us navigate the complexities of love and care. David Gregg / Getty February 3, 2024, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. “The reason my marriage fell apart seems absurd when I describe it: My wife left me because sometimes I leave dishes by the sink,” Matthew Fray wrote in 2022. “It makes her seem ridiculous and makes me seem like a victim of unfair expectations. But it wasn’t the dishes, not really—it was what they represented … It was about consideration. About the pervasive sense that she was married to someone who did not respect or appreciate her.” “She knew that something was wrong,” Fray explained. “I insisted that everything was fine. This is how my marriage ended. It could be how yours ends too.” His essay is a heartbreaking but helpful example of the …

Why “adulthood” is impossible to define

Why “adulthood” is impossible to define

Published by skeptic

The markers of “growing up” are constantly evolving. Adam Maida / The Atlantic / Getty January 27, 2024, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. What does it really mean to “grow up”? As my colleague Julie Beck noted in 2016, markers of adulthood are always evolving, and a set definition is impossible to come by. (When I was a young child, I was convinced that turning 11 would signal adulthood in a significant way—something about the double one felt impossibly mature—but that didn’t really prove to be a helpful framework.) Each possible meaning of “adulthood”—financial independence, living alone, having kids—brings with it an assumption about what should matter, both to an individual and to society. Today’s newsletter explores some of these assumptions, and how the concept of “growing up” has changed. Americans Can’t Decide What It Means to Grow Up By …

Scrap cooking: how to turn your leftovers into a delectable delight | Environment

Scrap cooking: how to turn your leftovers into a delectable delight | Environment

Published by skeptic

If holiday meal prep leaves you with plates full of potato peels and cutting boards full of carrot tops, you’re not alone. The US sees a 25% increase in waste during the holiday season – 21% of which comes from our kitchen tables. Just on Thanksgiving, Americans toss a whopping 305m pounds of food. And all these cheese rinds, apple cores, vegetable skins and crusty week-old leftovers that make their way to landfills are harming the planet by emitting methane, a potent greenhouse gas. According to one estimate by the UN Environment Program, if food waste was its own country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Much of this so-called food waste is perfectly edible. “Humans never – until very recently – discarded edible food,” said Tamar Adler, former professional cook and author of the Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z and the cooking advice newsletter The Kitchen Shrink. “Using parts of everything is fundamental to human eating.” Here, Adler and other chefs …

The endurance of the holiday movie

The endurance of the holiday movie

Published by skeptic

Plus: 20 movie families to spend your holidays with RKO Pictures / Getty December 23, 2023, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. The question “What is a Christmas movie?” might seem straightforward. But there’s one film that has scrambled the logic of the holiday movie for years now—at least for those who probably spend too much time online. “Because of the dreaded incentives of social media, we force debate upon ourselves all the time, even at the most wonderful time of the year,” my colleague Kaitlyn Tiffany wrote in 2021. “According to Google Trends, search traffic for the phrase Is Die Hard a Christmas movie jumps every November and December.” Today’s newsletter doesn’t purport to solve that particular debate, but it will explore the many meanings of the holiday movie, from its inherent cheesiness to its ability to move people in …

The Fate of Your Holiday-Season Returns

The Fate of Your Holiday-Season Returns

Published by skeptic

Their future doesn’t look too bright. Mihail Minea / 500px / Getty December 16, 2023, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. When my colleague Amanda Mull “ventured into the belly of the holiday-returns beast,” she learned that somewhere in the midst of a complex system of transporters, warehousers, and resellers, a guy named Michael has to sniff the sweatpants. “Michael,” Amanda explains, “is one of dozens of material handlers—the official job title—at the Inmar Intelligence returns-processing center in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania … Material handlers are charged with determining a return’s ultimate fate—whether it goes back to the retailer to be sold anew, gets destroyed, or something in between.” Today’s newsletter explores the possible fates of your holiday-reason returns. Their future doesn’t look too bright. On Returns This Is What Happens to All the Stuff You Don’t Want By Amanda Mull I ventured …

“Wonka” Is a Total Delight

“Wonka” Is a Total Delight

Published by skeptic

The charming Wonka wisely understands that Roald Dahl characters don’t need much backstory. Jaap Buittendijk/Warner Bros December 15, 2023, 9:52 AM ET Is there any phrase more chilling in Hollywood these days than origin story? It’s a term most often attached to comic-book movies, a bottling of the oft-tragic backstories that launch ordinary characters into superheroism. But in recent years, the industry has grown obsessed with giving everyone an origin story. We had to learn what made Maleficent hate Sleeping Beauty, what dalmatians did to turn Cruella so grumpy; apparently, it was even important to find out why Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe was so obsessed with dice rolls. So pardon me for shuddering upon hearing that a blockbuster musical would explain exactly how Roald Dahl’s beloved character Willy Wonka became a master chocolatier. I say all of this to underline just how surprised I was to find Wonka, Paul King’s new film starring Timothée Chalamet in the title role, a total delight. Perhaps I should have granted King more leeway, given his work making …

Getaround’s Q3 earnings delight investors, but the company isn’t out of the woods yet

Getaround’s Q3 earnings delight investors, but the company isn’t out of the woods yet

Published by skeptic

Peer-to-peer carsharing company Getaround has filed its first earnings report since going public a year ago via a SPAC combination. The company’s third-quarter earnings report details a company seeing quick revenue growth, but not enough top line yet to cover its expenses.  Getaround reported gross bookings of $69 million in the third-quarter, resulting in $23.8 million in revenue for the period, up from the $16.7 million in the same period last year. During the first nine months of 2023, Getaround’s revenue came to $54 million.  However, while Getaround’s 42% year-over-year revenue growth reported for the third-quarter period is being well received by investors who have sent its shares up 75% in after-hours trading as of the time of writing, the company is not yet out of the woods. Getaround had $42.9 million worth of operating expenses in the third-quarter, and $128 million across the first three quarters of the year, both figures greatly surpassing its gross profit in both periods. Still, Getaround is making some progress on the profitability front. In the third quarter, the …

What really happens when you’re sick

What really happens when you’re sick

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. When you’re suffering from a cold, the situation might seem perfectly clear—your nose is stuffed. But the truth about what’s happening to you is a little more complicated. For starters, the nose is actually two noses, which work in an alternating cycle that is connected to the armpits. In a new article, our Science writer Sarah Zhang explains what’s really going on in your body when you’re congested. There’s something oddly empowering in understanding how colds work, even if the knowledge won’t cure you. Today’s newsletter will help you get to know the inner workings of your body when it’s not at its best. On Colds Everything I Thought I Knew About Nasal Congestion Is Wrong By Sarah Zhang Start with this: You really have two noses. Why Has a Useless Cold Medication Been Allowed on Shelves for …

Diner’s delight: Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for American treats | Food

Published by Sam

From Spain last week to the big old United States this, I think I’m still on some kind of imaginary summer holiday road trip. That’s the power of food, though: it can take you to places that life and logistics prevent you from actually ever getting to. In my mind, then, here are three deliciously dialled-up diner dishes for which I’d turn off any highway. Smashed potatoes with ranch dressing and charred green beans (pictured top) If there was ever a king of all the US salad dressings, it would be ranch. Spoon it over roast vegetables, smother fries with it, dip crisps in it … Make it your own with a sprinkle of cayenne or a dash of Worcestershire sauce, or swap the coriander for any soft herb that you have to hand. Prep 25 minCook 1 hrServes 4-6 as a side 1kg new potatoes, or charlotte potatoesFine sea salt and black pepper70ml olive oil100g green beans, trimmed7 spring onions, trimmed1 large green chilli (20g), cut in half lengthways, then cut at an angle …