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What is the best daily routine to unlock creativity, or is there such a thing?   Visualized: The Daily Routines of Famous Creatives What is the best daily routine to unlock creativity, or is there such a thing? Many modern suggestions for optimizing creativity—like scheduling time for “deep work,” and building small, sustainable “atomic habits”—can be traced back to famous creatives in many different eras. And though they all found success, they employed different methods as well. In this unique visualization, RJ Andrews from InfoWeTrust has charted how notable creatives in different fields spent their days. He picked 16 of the 161 “inspired minds” covered by Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, a book by writer and editor Mason Currey published in 2013. How Much “Creativity Time” in Famous Daily Routines? Dividing the day into 24 hours, Andrews denoted certain categories for daily activities like working creatively, sleeping, and other miscellaneous endeavors (meals, leisure, exercise, and social time). For the creatives with a separate day job—Immanuel Kant and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—their ordinary labor is also counted in miscellaneous activities. Below is a breakdown of the daily routine of all 16 people featured above:  The average and median amount of time spent on creative work for these individuals was just over 8 hours a day. At the extremes were two French novelists, Honoré de Balzac with 13.5 hours daily spent on creative work, and Victor Hugo with only 2 hours. Interestingly, the allocation of creative work time was different in almost every daily routine. Maya Angelou’s routine resembles the modern work day, with the bulk of her writing between 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Others like Kant and Mozart had creativity blocks when time allowed, such as before and after their teaching jobs. Then there are outliers like Honoré de Balzac and Sigmund Freud, who worked as much as they could. Balzac wrote from 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with just an hour and a half nap break in between, fueled by up to 50 cups of coffee. Freud split up his creative work into three different blocks: analyzing patients in the morning, consulting in the afternoon, and reading and writing journals into the late evening. But somewhere in their days, most of these brilliant minds made sure to get a good rest, with an average of 7.25 hours of sleep across the board. Schedule Yourself to Create Success Creativity may ebb and flow, but these great minds had one clear thing in common: scheduling time for creative work. The perfect daily routine was usually what fit in with their lifestyle (and their bodies), not based on an arbitrary amount of work. For example, night owls with later chronotypes worked late, while socialites and politicians found time outside of their commitments. They also found time to move and enjoy life. Half of the people in the dataset specified exercise in their accounts—either leisurely strolls or fast walks. Many also scheduled social time with partners, friends, or children, often paired with a meal. Perhaps the greatest insight, however, is that the day-to-day routine doesn’t have to look extraordinary to be able to create extraordinary work. Much of the data is sourced from personal anecdotes by the artists themselves, or from biographers, researched and collected by Currey in Daily Rituals. In some cases, Andrews needed to assume habits — usually sleep — due to missing, or non-specific information. This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.  When it comes to travel, some tourists spare no expense. And some cities are well suited to attract them.  From the luxurious desert city of Dubai to the city of light and love, Paris, many international travelers today are looking to tick the crème de la crème of destinations off their bucket lists. In some cases, they’re seeking out the opulent experiences they missed out on when the pandemic brought the world to a halt. In this graphic, we use the latest research by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) to highlight the top 10 cities where international travelers spent the most in 2022. Cities of Opulence Last year, Dubai took top spot, followed by nearby Doha, Qatar.  Singapore and Macau represented East Asia, and New York was the sole city from the Americas on the list.
It’s worth noting that this list differs somewhat from overall tourism spending, which would include domestic travel spending as well. Large countries like the United States and China fare better in that ranking. City Spotlight: Destinations Favored by Big SpendersWhen you think of luxury travel, you think of five-star hotels, Michelin-star restaurants, luxury retail outlets, and many other premium experiences. And these cities offered their international travelers just that. #1. Dubai From the Burj Khalifa, currently the world’s tallest building, to the desert excursions and yacht cruises, Dubai offers extravagant experiences for international visitors. The city’s reputation for tax-free, high-end shopping and its commitment to providing a luxurious experience has made it a top travel destination for luxury shoppers from around the world. Location is another factor in the city’s success. Dubai sits at the natural crossroads between Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and is home to one of the world’s busiest, well-connected airports. International travelers spent close to $30 billion in the city in 2022. #3. London London has long been a preferred location for the ultra-wealthy, and as a result, the city has an abundance of amenities for well-heeled travelers. For one, London is home to more five star hotels than any other city. As well, London offers ultra-wealthy travelers access to a wide range of high-end designer retailers, as well as world-famous museums, galleries, and landmarks. Of course, the UK’s largest city also sees a high overall volume of tourists overall, which adds to the $16 billion global visitors spent in the city in 2022. #4. Macau Known as the Las Vegas of Asia, Macau’s gambling hub has been a magnet for international tourists for years. However, as the city began re-imagining its tourism strategies post-pandemic, it has grown stronger as an international tourist destination. Outside tourists brought in $15.6 billion in 2022, and that number is only expected to multiply further over the next decade. This growth is being fueled by China and Hong Kong, which account for the lion’s share of visits. Note: Although Macau is now a part of China, it remains a Special Administrative Region under the “One Country, Two Systems” principle. Transforming Travel Trends The global travel industry has almost recovered from the pandemic, which is good news for the many nations that economically rely on tourism. As travel restrictions were lifted, many tourists flocked to remote destinations that were less traveled. However, this WTTC research is proof that the world’s iconic cities are making their way back onto tourist itineraries once again. Source: Visual Capitalist  Urban parks are profoundly valuable for the health and well-being of people of all ages, the community as a whole, the environment and its inhabitants, and even the economy.
3 COMMON PSYCHOLOGICAL MYTHS.
MANY POPULAR BELIEFS ABOUT HOW THE BRAIN WORKS ARE TOTALLY WRONG  Outside online trails columnist has hiked thousands of miles. These are the routes at the top of his bucket list. Thrill yourself with a trip to an amazing trail this year.
 Doctor’s orders Just over a year ago, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recommended that legislators, parents, and tech companies take steps to make social media safer for children in light of the youth mental health crisis. Now, he’s ringing the alarm bell even louder with a new piece in the New York Times today where he suggests implementing a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms. The label, akin to those that adorn the packaging of cigarettes and other tobacco products in the US, could show up on apps like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, warning parents and adolescent users of the potential damage that such platforms can wreak on young peoples’ mental health. And, in case you needed any reminding, young people are spending a lot of time on those apps — the most recent poll from Gallup found that US teens are, on average, spending almost 5 hours a day on social media, with teen girls racking up some 5.3 hours of scrolling, swiping, and tapping per day.  Dr. Murthy was keen to note that this proposition alone wouldn’t be enough to make socials a safer place for young Americans, pointing to his recommendations from last May, such as developing age-appropriate health and safety standards; increasing funding on research into the dangers of social media; and tracking the amount of time young people are spending online, as potential companions for the proposed label.
Source: Sherwood News  All images © Tom Hegen, shared with permission For millennia, Spain has been leading producer of olives thanks to the Mediterranean climate’s long, hot summers and mild winter temperatures. Harvested and cured in brine or ground up to extract the natural oils, the fruits are grown on trees planted in vast groves that stretch for miles over the undulating landscape. The region of Andalusia in particular boasts a time-honored tradition of olive cultivation, producing and exporting more than any other part of the country. For German photographer Tom Hegen, the rows and grid-like patterns of the groves presented an irresistible subject. Known for his aerial photos of swaths of earth that have been impacted by human presence, such as salt extraction sites, Florida beaches, and solar plants, Hegen captures expansive Spanish landscapes that when viewed from above, morph into abstractions of pattern and texture. He highlights the immense monocultures that spread over nearly six million acres of Spanish countryside, documenting both large-scale agricultural production and smaller farms managed by individual families for whom producing olive oil is a centuries-old vocation. Explore more of Hegen’s aerial photography on his website and Instagram. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Let us know on the Comments page. We would like to serve & connect with a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art & read our curated unique articles that sustain our positive views series.
When you stop eating sugar, you body changes. So what exactly happens to your brain and body when you try to quit sugar?
 Most people have a job and receive wages in return, but that starts to change when you get into the higher income groups. We turn to the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) to see how income sources can vary.
 Mapped: The Migration of the World’s Millionaires in 2023.  Mapping the Migration of the World’s Millionaires 2023 Just like everyone else, High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) traveled less than usual during the pandemic, and as a result their migration numbers trended downwards. But millionaires and billionaires are on the move again and it is anticipated that 122,000 HNWIs will move to a new country by the end of the year. Henley & Partners’ Private Wealth Migration Report has tracked the countries HNWIs have moved from and to over the last 10 years; this map showcases the 2023 forecasts. In this context, HNWIs are defined as individuals with a net worth of at least $1 million USD. The Countries Welcoming New Millionaires The top 10 countries which are likely to become home to the highest number of millionaires and billionaires in 2023 are scattered across the globe, with Australia reclaiming its top spot this year from the UAE. Here’s a closer look at the data:  Only two Asian countries make the top 10, with the rest spread across Europe, North America, and Oceania. Despite historic economic challenges, Greece is projected to gain 1,200 High Net Worth Individuals this year. One reason could be the country’s golden visa program, wherein wealthy individuals can easily obtain residence and eventually EU passports for the right price—currently a minimum real estate investment cost of 250,000 euros is all that’s required. Many of the leading millionaire destinations are attractive for wealthy individuals because of higher levels of economic freedom, allowing for laxer tax burdens or ease of investment. Singapore, which expects to gain 3,200 millionaires, is the most economically free market in the world. The Countries Losing the Most Millionaires China is anticipated to lose 13,500 High Net Worth Individuals this year, more than double as many as the second place country, India (6,500).  In a number of these countries, strict regulatory bodies and corrupt governments can hinder the ease with which HNWIs can manage their own money. In Russia, many wealthy individuals are facing personal tariffs and trade restrictions from Western countries due to the war in Ukraine. China’s crackdowns on Hong Kong have made it a less attractive place for business. And finally, the UK’s exit from the EU has caused many businesses and individuals to lose the easy movement of labor, finances, and investment that made operations across European borders seamless. Some of these countries may still be adding homegrown millionaires and billionaires, but losing thousands of HNWIs to net migration does have a considerable economic impact. Overall, millionaires are increasingly on the move. In the 10 years of reporting—despite a dip during the pandemic—the number of HNWIs moving away from their countries of origin has been growing every year.  In a geopolitically fragile but more connected world, it’s no surprise to see millionaires voting with their feet. As a result, governments are increasingly in competition to win the hearts and minds of the world’s economic elite to their side.
Source:visualcapitalist.com  In 2022, reported consumer losses to fraud totaled $8.8 billion. Younger adults ages 20-29 reported losing money more often than older adults ages 70-79.
With the help of technology, scammers are tricking Americans out of more money than ever before. But there are steps you can take to keep your money and information safe. In 2022, reported consumer losses to fraud totaled $8.8 billion — a 30 percent increase from 2021, according to the most recent data from the Federal Trade Commission. The biggest losses were to investment scams, including cryptocurrency schemes, which cost people more than $3.8 billion, double the amount in 2021. Younger adults ages 20-29 reported losing money more often than older adults ages 70-79, the FTC found. But when older adults did lose money, they lost more. Many retirees have assets like savings, pensions, life insurance policies or property for scammers to target. With the rise of the digital economy, scammers now reach targets by social media and text, as well as phone and email. Online payment platforms, apps, and marketplaces have also increased opportunities. Still, many of their tactics and strategies are similar. “The first thing they’ll do is get you into a heightened emotional state, because we can’t access clear thinking when we’re in that state,” said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention for the AARP’s Fraud Watch Network. “It could be fear, panic, or excitement — ‘I just won a million dollars from Publishers Clearing House.’” Once the sense of urgency is established, the target’s defenses are down. “When approached with urgency, give it an extra three-second pause,” said Amanda Clayman, a financial therapist who works with digital payment network Zelle around issues of fraud. “When someone is trying to get us to take action quickly, that’s usually a red flag indicating we should do the opposite.” Here’s what else to know to keep your money and information safe: What are some common scams? Simply being aware of typical scams can help, experts say. Robocalls in particular frequently target vulnerable individuals like seniors, people with disabilities, and people with debt. “If you get a robocall out of the blue paying a recorded message trying to get you to buy something, just hang up,” aid James Lee, chief operating officer at the Identity Theft Resource Center. “Same goes for texts — anytime you get them from a number you don’t know asking you to pay, wire, or click on something suspicious.” Lee urges consumers to hang up and call the company or institution in question at an official number. Scammers will also often imitate someone in authority, such as a tax or debt collector. They might pretend to be a loved one calling to request immediate financial assistance for bail, legal help, or a hospital bill. Romance scams So-called “romance scams” often target lonely and isolated individuals, according to Will Maxson, assistant director of the Division of Marketing Practices at the FTC. These scams can take place over longer periods of time -- even years. Kate Kleinart, 70, who lost tens of thousands to a romance scam over several months, said to be vigilant if a new Facebook friend is exceptionally good-looking, asks you to download WhatsApp to communicate, attempts to isolate you from friends and family, and/or gets romantic very quickly. “If you’re seeing that picture of a very handsome person, ask someone younger in your life — a child, a grandchild, a niece or a nephew — to help you reverse-image search or identify the photo,” she said. She said the man in pictures she received was a plastic surgeon from Spain whose photos have been stolen and used by scammers. Kleinart had also been living under lockdown during the early pandemic when she got the initial friend request, and the companionship and communication meant a lot to her while she was cut off from family. When the scam fell apart, she missed the relationship even more than the savings. “Losing the love was worse than losing the money,” she said. What should I do about text and email scams? “I think anyone who has participated in the digital economy has received multiple attempts daily that have some sort of scheme, whether that’s, ‘Your account has been locked’ or ‘Your package delivery is delayed,’” Lee said. “Again — just take a breath — and verify.” Lee urges people never to click an unusual link in a text or email, and instead go to the site in question directly, or call the number listed on the official site. “It’ll take 30 or 40 seconds longer, but go ahead and do that because it could save you a lot of money every time,” he said. Some indications to be extra wary could include an unrecognized sender, unusual wording, or a tell-tale misspelling. In 2022, consumers lost more than $326 million from scam texts alone, according to the Federal Trade Commission. What are other common red flags? Gift cards. Both Maxson and Lee said any mention of payment with gift cards should be a blaring warning alarm. Kleinart, who experienced the romance scam, was also initially asked to send money via gift cards, with varied explanations. “Just don’t pay people with gift cards,” Maxson said. “No legitimate company or individual is going to ask you to buy large quantities of gift cards and then read the numbers off the cards. That is exclusively a payment method of fraudsters.” “Let me tell you, the IRS does not accept gift cards,” Lee said. “But you’d be surprised by the number of people who fall for people calling from ‘fill in the blank agency’ or ‘fill in the blank company’ and who send $500 worth of gift cards.” What about social media scams? In addition to romance scams like the one Kleinart fell victim to, here’s what to know about other common social media scams: Investment scams According to Lois Greisman, an associate director of marketing practices at the FTC, an investment scam constitutes any get-rich-quick scheme that lures targets via social media accounts or online ads. Investment scammers typically add different forms of “testimony,” such as from other social media accounts, to support that the “investment” works. Many of these also involve cryptocurrency. To avoid falling for these frauds, the FTC recommends independently researching the company — especially by searching the company’s name along with terms like “review” or “scam.” Quiz scams When you’re using Facebook or scrolling Google results, be aware of quiz scams, which typically appear innocuous and ask about topics you might be interested in, such as your car or favorite TV show. They may also ask you to take a personality test. Despite these benign-seeming questions, scammers can then use the personal information you share to respond to security questions from your accounts or hack your social media to send malware links to your contacts. To protect your personal information, the FTC simply recommends steering clear of online quizzes. The commission also advises consumers to use random answers for security questions. “Asked to enter your mother’s maiden name? Say it’s something else: Parmesan or another word you’ll remember,” advises Terri Miller, consumer education specialist at the FTC. “This way, scammers won’t be able to use information they find to steal your identity.” Marketplace scams When buying or selling products on Instagram or Facebook Marketplace, keep in mind that not everyone that reaches out to you has the best intentions. To avoid being scammed when selling via an online platform, the FTC recommends checking buyers’ profiles, not sharing any codes sent to your phone or email, and avoiding accepting online payments from unknown persons. Likewise, when buying something from an online marketplace, make sure to diligently research the seller. Take a look at whether the profile is verified, what kind of reviews they have, and the terms and conditions of the purchase. Source:The Associated Press  In case you're wondering whether it's cheaper to start from scratch.
With buying an existing home being financially out of reach for so many, some people are considering going a different route: Purchasing land and constructing a new house. But when you factor in the cost of the property, labor, and materials—which have also gone up in price, thanks to supply chain issues and inflation—building a new home is unlikely to be cheaper, at least according to a new report from Today’s Homeowner. Of course, a lot depends on the size of the house you’re building, the type of materials and furnishings you plan to use, and where you live. To give you an idea of what you might end up paying in your area, here are Today’s Homeowner’s estimates of the average cost of building a new house in each state. The cost of building a new house in each state To rank the states for their report, Today’s Homeowner estimated the average price of building a new 2,100-square-foot spec home, excluding “the cost of a land plot and development” in each location. Using that methodology, the average cost of building a new home in the United States is $332,397, which comes out to $158 per square foot. Here are the average costs for each state, ranked from least to most expensive:
The full report contains additional information about the methodology used to compile this list, as well as a breakdown of the types of expenses associated with building a new home. 
​Explore the beloved wildlife refuge in suburban Morris County, NJ, where countless species make their home and hundreds of volunteers are partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make it more accessible for years to come.
As local travel experts, we know what travelers are looking for when it comes to finding the perfect accommodations for their next trip. To compile our lists, we scour the internet to find properties with excellent ratings and reviews, desirable amenities, nearby attractions, and that something special that makes a destination worthy of traveling for. Spring is getting ready to make its landing in New Jersey, and this season always brings so many surprises with it. The great thaw and ensuing bloom are a wonderful time to get out there and enjoy nature, and there’s no better way to do that than with a staycation at a stunning vacation rental with proximity to nature. This is the season when New Jersey’s many lakes, parks, and beachfronts start getting popular with visitors, so now is the ideal town to book one of these Spring Airbnbs in New Jersey before they fill up for the season. With these houses having beachfront access to some of the state’s top recreation spots, or being located in the heart of a lush wilderness, there is nothing like staying at these nature-filled destinations. Read on to discover which of these vacation spots is your perfect spring getaway?  Hopatcong, NJ, USA Steven/Airbnb 1. Lake Sports Home - Hopatcong If you love action on the water, this is the place for you. This lakefront house is best known for its massive collection of lake sports equipment - including kayaks, surfboards, and even jet skis. The place is small and designed for two people, but has all the additional amenities you'll need - and you'll want to spend most of your time out on the water or grilling on the deck! Book your lakefront getaway at the official Airbnb listing.  White, NJ, USA Ilya/Airbnb 2. Private Waterfront Park - White This might just be the most stunning guest suite in the state, sleeping three in the middle of a stunning Delaware riverfront park. It's a tiny home equipped with wifi and a smart TV, and a fully equipped cabin makes it easy to prepare meals far away from civilization. This is perfect for a glamping getaway amid south Jersey natural beauty, so book your getaway on the official Airbnb listing.  inesville, Pohatcong Township, NJ 08865, USA Kimberly/Airbnb 3. Apgar Stone House - Finesville This historic house near Phillipsburg was selected as the most hospitable host in NH for 2023, and this restored building is suited on the Musconetcong River. Wifi and a Smart TV are inside, but Spring is the perfect time to also enjoy the beauty of the outdoor garden in full bloom. This one sleeps six and is really the best of both world for nature lovers who also want a comfortable getaway, so book your stay on the official Airbnb listing!  Bridgeton, NJ 08302, USA Nicolette/Airbnb 4. Waterfront House with Hot Tub - Bridgeton The Foxtail is an 1860s colonial home in one of the most rural spots in NJ, found about half a mile down a private road. This is a larger house, sleeping eight, and is ideal for those who want to see nature up close and personal. Hot tub access is available for an additional fee, and the front porch is a great place for yoga, sipping coffee, or just relaxing in the Spring breeze. Book your lakefront escape on the official Airbnb listing.  Stanhope, NJ 07874, USA Ashton and Mary Ann/Airbnb 5. Lakefront Vacation Home - Stanhope A charming art-deco lakefront home sleeping four on the banks of Lake Musconetcong, this is a laid-back place ideal for adults who want to do a little tour of the area. This is winery country, making for an amazing day trip. The lake is popular for fishing, and this is an ideal spot for a staycation with amazing lakefront views. Book your escape on the official Airbnb listing,.  West Milford, NJ, USA Terry/Airbnb 6. Romantic Lake Cabin - West Milford Maybe the most romantic spot on this list, this West Milford vacatiuon home sleeps three and has some incredible amenities - including an indoor hot tub with a stunning view of the woods outside. This private lakehouse retreat, known as Zen Xcape, is designed to look like a mountain lodge and comes with a full kitchen. It's only ten minutes from Wawayanda State Park's famous lake, and the hiking trails nearby are highly rated. Book your own getaway in nature on the official Airbnb listing!  Far Hills, NJ 07931, USA William/Airbnb 7. Pickle Farm - Far Hills If you're lookin for pastoral beauty, you won't do any better than this. Located on a 19th-centry farm, this location has been used for film shoots. The farmhouse sleeps five guests in roomy climates and is minutes from the train - but is surrounded. by hundreds of acres of gorgeous open land and state parks. This is the perfect staycation for those looking for a taste of farm life, so go ahead and book your getaway on the official Airbnb listing!  Mendham Township, NJ, USA Jake/Airbnb 8. Cottage With Private Pond - Mendham Township
Does it get any better than a vacation home with its own private pond? We don't think so, and this rental sleeps eight comfortably. That makes it perfect for a large family getaway - especially if everyone loves the great outdoors. Sure, there's fast wifi, but just about everyone will be won over by the koi pond, the outdoor pool, and the massive 5-acre property filled with hiking trails and lush gardens. Book your spot at this little slice of heaven on the official Airbnb listing. Source: Only In Your State  "Best Cities" is the home of Resonance Consultancy’s exclusive ranking of the world’s top urban destinations. Their goal is to make "Best Cities" the most credible source of city performance in the eyes of visitors, investors and residents alike.
 Ditch the rental car and hit the streets in these gorgeous eco-friendly destinations. Whenever I go down to God’s Waiting Room (i.e. South Florida) to see my father, I’m always struck by the fact that I can’t walk anywhere. I can’t stroll to the grocery store, can’t hoof it to a movie theater, can’t amble to—or stumble home from—the bar. It’s almost like the entire I-95 corridor from Jacksonville to Miami was designed to favor cars over actual humans. Oh, wait. It was. New York, though! You can walk to pretty much anything—which is why you don’t get cabin fever here as you might in LA or Fort Lauderdale. I spent my formative years in the pedestrian wasteland of Orange County, where the closest grocery store was a two-mile walk through a gated subdivision. People driving by would actually slow down and ask if I was alright if they caught me walking; only a silly person would ever venture out of the house on foot. Thankfully, sprawl is going out of style stateside. Cities that were once defined by their car-oriented layouts are now focusing on getting denser and more walkable. (I’ve seen those priorities change firsthand in my past life as a city planner in Boston and New York City.) You want to feel the future now? Get to one of these, the 10 most walkable cities in America selected by combining two exhaustive studies on pedestrian accessibility: Smart Growth America’s “Foot Traffic Ahead” and Redfin’s annual Walk Score rankings. These are places where you can get around cheaply, boost your health, and steer clear of ozone-depleting emissions—all while seeing the sights from the comfort of your own sneakers.  New York City Walking creds: It’s New York and then everywhere else when it comes to pure walkability. Density contributes, sure, but so does the consistent overlap of commercial and residential space, a mix that has become a veritable blueprint for a successful urban makeup. As city planning legend Jane Jacobs once said of mixed-use development: “Intricate minglings of different uses in cities are not a form of chaos. On the contrary, they represent a complex and highly developed form of order.” New York grew organically from the 17th century onward, long before New Yorkers could rely on cars. Partly as a result, it has always been a pedestrian’s city. As of 2021, 55% of New York City residents don’t have access to a car. Best neighborhood for a stroll: If we’re talking about sheer density of things to eat, drink, and buy, you’re not going to beat Greenwich Village. The original borders of the Village run from Broadway on the east to the Hudson River on the west, and south from 14th Street to Houston Street, though I’m sure realtors are plotting ways carve and rebrand the neighborhood as we speak. If you want the real throwback NYC experience, start with a pint at the White Horse Tavern and wind through Washington Square Park before catching a movie at the Angelika Film Center.  San Francisco, California Walking creds: So maybe “hikable” is a better descriptor, but you’d still be hard-pressed to find another city in California that lets you go car-free without feeling like a pariah. (Though I’ve definitely gotten some side eye from local friends when I suggest we walk instead of summoning an Uber to travel six blocks.) The densely packed heart of San Francisco running roughly from the Mission in the south to North Beach rivals New York City in its concentrated mix of residences and commercial outposts. I know the tech bros now swarming the city are working to disrupt the legacy institution of “walking,” but until then San Francisco is a peripatetic paradise. Best neighborhood for a stroll: The Mission. I know that makes me the millionth person to tell you “Oh, man, the Mission is awesome.” But it truly has everything you’d want in walkable neighborhood. And by “everything,” I mean Mexican food. Really, really exceptional Mexican food. Start at La Taqueria and work your way north until you inevitably nap it off in Dolores Park.  Boston, Massachusetts Walking creds: I was a student here, so my review of the city’s sidewalks are going to be colored by my complete lack of meaningful obligations during that time. That being said, one of the best things about Boston is how compact it is. You can walk from Allston on the west side to Fort Point Channel on the east in a little over an hour and check off a hell of a lot of sightseeing along the way. A lot of other small cities might sacrifice quantity when it comes to entertainment, but Boston is packed with bars and restaurants from end to end. Best neighborhood for a stroll: It’s not the hippest take in the world, but Back Bay is still the quintessential Boston neighborhood. The bougie brownstones that line Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue are just so damn pretty that you can’t help but stop and stare. Newbury Street, the commercial backbone of the city, has a main stretch bookended by Massachusetts Avenue on the west and the immaculate Boston Public Gardens on the east. Wrap up any stroll through Back Bay with a meal at India Quality, a hidden gem on on an unassuming street that makes the best saag paneer I’ve ever had.  Washington, DC Walking creds: The nation’s capital ranks as the third most walkable city on Smart Growth America’s Foot Traffic Ahead. “There’s so much diversity in a walk through the city,” says longtime DC resident Felicia Stumpo. “You can walk through Meridian Hill or Georgetown or H Street or hike through Rock Creek Park, and you feel like you’re in a different city with each place.” DC’s shifting topography and generally short stature—only a handful of buildings here exceed 200 feet in height—imbues it with a constant sense of discovery, which is a big part of what makes a city a pleasure to stroll through. Best neighborhood for a stroll: Hit a pair of adjacent ones: Bohemian Adams Morgan and rapidly gentrifying Columbia Heights. They’re both far enough north that you can avoid the poorly dressed phalanx of legislative aides plotting world domination in Dupont Circle without feeling like you’re in the ‘burbs, and you can also hoof it to both neighborhoods after a day of sightseeing on the Mall.  Chicago, Illinois Walking creds: Chicago has undergone a walkability renaissance over the past few years thanks to the city’s planning department designing streets with pedestrians in mind rather than cars. One visible project is the 606, an elevated park built along abandoned railway tracks and Chicago’s answer to New York’s wildly successful Highline. The renewed vision is boosted by the pipeline of young, creative folks moving to the Second City from all over the world—and perhaps by an epically cynical selloff that privatized street parking around the city, inadvertently making driving in Chicago feel like getting taken for a ride. Best neighborhood for a stroll: The 606 connects several of Chicago’s trendiest neighborhoods and thus should be avoided at all costs. I’m kidding. The 2.7-mile trail cuts through the hipster digs of Wicker Park and Logan Square and is only a couple blocks south of the bars and restaurants lining West Armitage Avenue. If you’re looking to eat your way through the 606, we’ve got you a good starting point.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Walking creds: As New York real estate prices out young creative types, Philly is there to scoop ‘em up. And no wonder: Philly was always a distinct but sibling city to NYC. As a friend of mine once said: “With Philly you get 80% of New York for 50% of the price.” That ratio extends to the city’s walkability. You can stroll from the rowhouses along the waterfront in Old City to the Victorian mansions surrounding Rittenhouse Square without breaking a sweat and then head northeast to the hipster havens of Fishtown and Northern Liberties for dinner at Wm. Mulherin’s Sons or Fette Sau. Best neighborhood for a stroll: While the twin hoods of Northern Liberties and Fishtown might be the trendiest spots in Philly, they’re too spread out to qualify as the most walkable neighborhoods in the city. That designation belongs to the tony stretch of brownstones and parks that line Center City in the heart of Philadelphia’s Downtown. Yes, it has all the makings of a tourist center but that’s balanced out by genuine landmarks like the Liberty Bell and City Hall, not to mention excellent restaurants like El Vez and the vegan sorcery at Vedge. (Rutabaga fondue. That’s all I’ll say.)  Seattle, Washington Walking creds: If Jeff Bezos had his way you’d probably have to traverse the Emerald City by drone, but for now the best way to see Seattle is on foot. (Or, if you’re masochistic, by bike.) The city is built atop hills that provide sweeping views of Puget Sound and also means the trek from waterside Belltown up what is basically a sheer cliff to trendy Capitol Hill. (As my Seattleite sister-in-law says, “We all have great glutes from walking those hills.”) Verticality is usually a good sign for walking, and Seattle packs a ton of housing and offices into its compact Downtown while also boasting some of the best food anywhere. You’ll inevitably need a good digestive walk. Best neighborhood for a stroll: In my visits to Seattle, I’ve always felt an affinity for Capitol Hill and always find myself wandering back there no matter how daunting the hike looks from down by the water. It could be the army of hipsters sipping single-origin espresso that reminds me of home, but I like to think it’s the web of mixed-use buildings that let you go car-free without hassle.  Long Beach, California Walking creds: Southern California gets a bad rep when it comes to walkability. Yes, Los Angeles is a dystopian hellscape crisscrossed by rivers of concrete and you’d better pack water, a tent, and a change of clothes if you want to walk to your nearest grocery store. But there are certain cities—Long Beach foremost—where using your feet actually makes sense. Even if the city is best seen from the back of a Snoop DeVille, it has seen a massive influx of people drawn to a surprisingly bustling Downtown. Think of it as Santa Monica without the price tag—and minus the giant mall in the middle of it. Best neighborhood for a stroll: Long Beach’s walker’s paradise isn’t so much a neighborhood as it is a stretch of Fourth Street that spans Alamitos Beach and Bluff Heights on the south side of the city. Dubbed “Retro Row” because of its funky collection of shops and restaurants, it has become something of a destination for folks in the southland who are tired of the crowds lining Abbot Kinney in Venice Beach. That low-key vibe has been attracting a growing population of folks who are interested in a risky proposition: going car-free in SoCal.  Portland, Oregon Walking creds: Yes, your friend who moved to Portland to become a parrot therapist is obnoxiously obsessed with his new home, but the throngs who have flocked to the City of Roses do have a point. It’s the rare city that lives up to the hype, and that you can explore most of by foot—or, if you want to fit in, by fixie—makes it all the more enticing. Posh neighborhoods like the Pearl have still kept their bohemian character intact, and the Alberta Arts district is a dense thicket of excellent restaurants, bars, and galleries all bunched into a 20-block stretch on the northeast side of the city. Also of note, the weather’s mild year-round, especially if you carry a rain shell. Best neighborhood for a stroll: The Pearl is still Portland’s easiest and best neighborhood to explore on foot. Yes, it has given into the center-of-a-black-hole pressure from developers licking their chops over old buildings and construction tax breaks. But it’s also bursting with restaurants, bars, breweries, galleries, and residences, a mix of uses that have kept this section of northwest Portland bustling.  Denver, Colorado
Walking creds: Maybe it’s the crisp air rolling down from the Rockies filling your lungs that makes taking a stroll through Denver so invigorating—or maybe it’s that unmistakable skunk-like odor wafting from the dispensaries that have sprung up since the state passed Amendment 64. Anyway, you’d be hard-pressed to find a city anywhere in the world with a better backdrop than the Colorado capital, and it’s quickly climbing the walkability charts thanks to a wise combination of redevelopment—a mall that once dominated the city’s Downtown has been reimagined as a stretch of mixed-use buildings—and a marked policy by City Hall to edge away from the urban sprawl that defined Denver for decades. Best neighborhood for a stroll: LoDo, aka Lower Downtown. It has transforming since the ‘80s, when the city council, hoping to spur investment, voted to designate it as a historic district. The classification was a near-immediate success as future Denver mayor and Colorado governor John Hickenlooper opened the Wynkoop Brewery in 1988, setting off a development boom that has continued through the present. The reimagining of the city’s oldest neighborhood has created a walker’s dream lined with what else: craft beer and weed. Source: thrillist  With more than 250 sales units in 58 countries around the world. Typical Brand Stores showcase a wide variety of our products. We have skilled design consultants on hand to help you make the best choices for your home.
Passion at our core Passion and persistence are what move the people behind the BoConcept brand, whether they are designing a wall unit, leading a team, or managing a store. Our common mission is to make modern design furniture available to the urban-minded customer. Our furniture and accessories We offer customized, coordinated and affordable design furniture and accessories. Customized because our products can be fitted to the needs and dreams of our customers. Coordinated because we take a holistic approach in the development and design of our product range. Design because we are a design company with our own designers. Affordable because we want to spoil our customers by giving them great value. Our Stores and Studios Visit one of our Brand Stores, Inspiration Stores or Studios around the world and get professional advice about your home interior. At BoConcept, we are passionate about what we sell and take pride in achieving the best results for our customers. We have skilled interior consultants who care about furniture and urban design as much as you do. Their design and product knowledge can help you make the best choices for your home.  Accents center on the pronunciation of words, while dialects encompass pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Here, the subjects of Grant Wood's American Gothic channel speaking styles popular in California and New York. Illustration by Meilan Solly / Background image via Art Institute of Chicago under public domain Migration patterns, cultural ties, geographic regions and class differences all shape speaking patterns. The United States may lack an official language, but a road trip across the country reveals dozens of different accents and dialects of English that serve as living links to Americans’ ancestors. What’s the difference between these two linguistic terms? Accents center on the pronunciation of words, while dialects encompass pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. They both often vary by region. “Even Americans, most of whom speak only English, usually know more than one dialect,” notes the Linguistic Society of America. Consider, for instance, how an individual might speak to their boss versus a stranger who just rear-ended their car. Dialects are rooted in the same system, but “their partly independent histories leave different parts of the parent system intact,” according to the society. Myriad factors influence variations among American accents and dialects, including waves of settlement in a region, geographic location and class differences. “There’s never [just] one accent in a given place,” says Teresa Pratt, a sociolinguist at San Francisco State University. “There’s so much variation, even in one particular region.” Regional differences The U.S. is commonly divided into distinct regions: the West, the Midwest, the Southwest, the Southeast and the Northeast. But broad accent categories based on these regions are more accurately broken down into diverse dialects across different localities. Dialects in the Deep South—encompassing Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina—are distinct from those in Texas, a large state that’s home to several linguistic varieties, as well as a mix of Spanish and English (nicknamed Spanglish) closer to the U.S.-Mexico border. “The South gets stereotyped as a monolith, which is really unfair,” says Nicole Holliday, a linguist at Pomona College. The many variations in the American South include South Midland, Ozark, Coastal Southern, Virginia Piedmont, Gullah, Cajun English and Gulf Southern. The popularity of specific dialects is often tied to regional history. When English colonists first arrived in North America in the early 17th century, they landed on the East Coast, establishing English-speaking communities in the North and the South. The French, the Dutch, the Spanish and other European powers also introduced their own languages as they colonized different parts of the continent. Speaking styles in different colonies remained distinct because travel opportunities were limited at the time, says Jessi Grieser, a linguist at the University of Michigan. “Historically, it’s about migration and who went where,” she adds. English settlers succumbed to competing influences when they came into contact with Native Americans and colonists from other countries, all while isolating themselves from England. Centuries of settlement on the East Coast resulted in more linguistic variation among the region’s cities because English was spoken there longer, Holliday says. Colonists’ ways of speaking were also influenced by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which brought individuals kidnapped from Africa to North America. Within the Black community, the mixing of West African languages and English resulted in different linguistic quirks, too. Some academics argue that this coupling created African American Vernacular English (AAVE), a speaking style alternatively defined as a dialect or language. Common English words potentially rooted in AAVE include banana, yam, okra and gumbo; distinct features of the linguistic variety include using “ain’t” instead of “haven’t” as a negative and stressing the first syllable in words like “hotel” and “July.” Today, AAVE is spoken throughout the U.S., particularly in cities. When the formerly enslaved and their descendants migrated to the North during both Reconstruction and the civil rights era, they brought their regional vernacular with them. Westward expansion also influenced the development of the U.S.’s accents and dialects. In the 19th century, white settlers migrated inland from the East Coast by the millions, spreading their regional dialects. Because travel was easier in the American West, dialects mixed more freely there, producing “something slightly more homogenized,” says Grieser. As such, she calls the differences in Western varieties of English “a little bit more subtle” than in the North and the South. Language ideologies Today, dialects affect Americans on a largely subconscious level, through a phenomenon known as language ideology. The term refers to “the connections we make in our heads between the language features a speaker uses and our social perceptions of what that speaker’s like,” Grieser explains. These perceptions can result in positive stereotypes, like the American perception of British accents as “posh.” But language ideologies can also perpetuate social stigmas. Individuals criticized based on the way they speak are “usually speakers who have less power,” such as African Americans, Latinos and women, Grieser says. Southerners, too, can fall victim to negative stereotypes that unfairly paint them as “backward and uneducated and poor,” Holliday says. Some of these judgments are linked to the region’s loss in the Civil War. Below, learn about three areas in the U.S. that offer helpful context for understanding the complex tapestry of American accents and dialects. California The untrained ear may not detect a discernible accent used by Golden State natives, but California’s dialects are thoroughly studied by linguists as byproducts of history. California was first settled by Native Americans, then colonized by the Spanish in the 18th century. Spanish missionaries operated throughout the region, with the goal of converting hundreds of Native American tribes to Christianity. Spanish became the region’s lingua franca, with English only gaining popularity in the mid-19th century, when the California Gold Rush brought English-speaking miners and prospectors to the area. “Even the mainstream, white English that’s spoken here sounds a little bit like Spanish,” Holliday says. She credits this trend to both regional history and the modern coexistence of English and Spanish in the state.  Gold miners in California, circa 1852 Public domain via Wikimedia Commons California became a state in 1850, shortly after the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill. Many 49ers, as the fortune seekers who flocked to the region were nicknamed, initially hailed from Mexico, Chile and China. The U.S.’s first Chinatown was established in San Francisco, and in 1852 alone, 20,000 Chinese immigrants settled in the state. The Gold Rush eventually attracted prospectors from all corners of the globe, including Europe, Australia and New Zealand. This international influence is evident in San Francisco, where Irish settlers shaped the “Mission Brogue,” a vocal pattern in which “coffee” is enunciated as “CAWfee.” In the 1930s, California’s Central Valley, a swath of land spanning Redding to Sacramento to Bakersfield, welcomed an influx of migrants from Oklahoma, Arkansas and other Southern states devastated by the Dust Bowl. These settlers brought their regional dialects with them. Today, the speaking styles of the valley’s residents reflect Southern dialects, even if an individual’s ancestors weren’t part of the Dust Bowl diaspora, Pratt says.  A visualization of the California vowel shift Angr via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 2.5 Today, one linguistic trend that’s synonymous with the state is the California vowel shift, which occurs when a person pronounces words differently by moving their vowels forward in their mouths. (“As with strangers in an elevator, one vowel shifts to keep its distance when another enters the space,” PBS explains.) “At its most extreme,” says Grieser, “that’s the thing we think of as that ‘Valley girl’ accent.” According to Atlas Obscura, in the California vowel shift, “‘kit’ becomes ‘ket,’ ‘dress’ becomes ‘drass,’ and ‘trap’ becomes ‘trop.’” From Kansas to Michigan, more Americans are picking up the California vowel shift, because it connotes a cool, urban variety of English, Grieser adds. Appalachia In the eastern U.S., the Appalachian Mountains run from as far north as Canada to as far south as Alabama. But Appalachia itself is a cultural region encompassing all of West Virginia and parts of a dozen other states, including Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina. First populated by the Cherokee Nation, Appalachia welcomed its first European visitors in 1540. Waves of white immigrants—among them English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, German and French settlers—followed over the next three centuries. Prior to the Civil War, which started in 1861, many immigrants came to Appalachia to escape political revolts and crop failures in their homelands—chiefly China, Germany and Ireland. The region’s geographic isolation influenced the development of its language dialects, including the predominant Appalachian English. “In Appalachia, people were isolated, because there were riverbeds and mountain ranges,” says Karen Adams, a linguist at Arizona State University. Many subvarieties exist within this dialect, but its chief features include using extra prepositions (“on up around on” instead of “on”); adding the “-iz” sound to the end of plural words, like “deskes” and “ghostes”; and pronouncing “-ow” as “-er” at the end of words like “hollow,” “potato” and “window.” The Scots-Irish, a group of lowland Scots who relocated to Northern Ireland in the 17th century and to Appalachia in the 19th and 20th centuries, had a long-lasting influence on their new home region. Modern remnants of the Scots-Irish dialect include “pronouncing ‘pen’ and ‘pin’ the same way and referring to valleys as ‘bottoms,’” according to Lees-McRae College. JSTOR Daily describes Appalachian speech as “quite different from standard American English,” in part because of the historic vocabulary still in circulation. For instance, “britches” refers to “pants,” while “poke” is used for “bag.” Present-day Appalachian grammar is also reflective of Scots-Irish heritage. New OrleansFounded more than 300 years ago by the French, the city now known as New Orleans was originally inhabited by the Chitimacha Tribe. As early as 1719, slave traders in the port city sold Africans kidnapped from their homes as enslaved laborers. New Orleans changed hands in 1762, when the Spanish took control of Louisiana, bringing enslaved people from the Benin and Congo regions with them. The U.S. subsequently purchased the territory in 1803. Other immigrant populations soon began to call New Orleans home, including Haitian refugees at the turn of the 19th century and German and Irish settlers in the middle of the century. The Irish served as a source of cheap labor following the U.S.’s 1808 ban on the importation of enslaved people. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the Crescent City saw an uptick in Jewish, Croatian and Chinese immigrants. Another major immigrant group, the Italians (mostly hailing from Sicily), settled in the city’s French Quarter in droves after fleeing corruption in their native country in the 1880s. They expanded the pre-existing Italian enclave established under the French. This medley of distinct cultural influences created about seven different dialects tied to different neighborhoods throughout New Orleans, including the Cajun and Yat varieties. Commonly spoken in the city’s Ninth Ward, Yat is originally tied to French settlers and other immigrants from Europe. Its name is derived from the expression “Whe y’at?,” replacing the phrase “Where are you?” Rhoticity—“the linguistic term for whether or not you pronounce ‘r’ sounds after vowel sounds,” according to dialect coach Erik Singer—serves as a differentiator among accents. The working-class accents of New York City and Boston are non-rhotic, meaning speakers drop the “r,” as are some of the old-fashioned Southern accents, including Yat. In these variations, “water” is pronounced as “watah,” “quarter” as “quatah” and “where” as “whe”—the latter dropping the last consonant.  View of New Orleans during Mardi Gras Public domain via Wikimedia Commons “Broadly speaking, coastal Southern accents were non-rhotic, and inland—especially mountain—Southern accents were rhotic,” Singer says. “You can trace those back to the original settlers and where they came from.”
Similarities still exist between New Orleans’ Yat variation and Brooklynese, a dialect popular in New York City, because of the urban centers’ shared Irish and Italian heritage. “There was a dialect in New Orleans that actually sounded very much like Brooklynese, because they had the same kinds of speakers move into those areas, and they developed varieties that actually sound alike,” says Adams. Ultimately, Adams points out that pronunciation shifts constantly throughout the U.S., and “changes are continuing to happen all the time.” But one fact remains the same, she says: “Everyone speaks a dialect, and everyone has an accent.” Source: Smithsonian Magazine  An increasing number of people are now wanting to do their part to save the planet due to the worsening problems caused by global warming. Unfortunately, numerous people assume that going green is costly and time consuming. Read on to discover several immediate things you can do to get on on the path to living green.
Recycling is the top way to start. A lot of people continue to place glass and aluminum items in their normal garbage even though recycling is not that hard to do today. In the US, it's not hard to locate a trash service that offers glass and aluminum recycling choices. Many people still continue to discard these items even though recycling bins are not hard to find. It merely takes a few minutes to wash off the cans and bottles before placing them into the recycle bin. Newspapers are another item that overburden our landfills. Virtually all people will merely take their daily paper and toss it in the garbage when they are done with it. But, there are many other uses that you can get out of your newsprint other than poring over it it. Did you know that you can keep your windows clean using newspapers? If you're tired of seeing small white fragments and streaks on your windowpanes after you clean them with paper towels and cleaner, try to use old newspapers instead. Several community groups run regular paper drives. Merely compilepile all of your old newspapers, put them in a stack, and see if the paper drive organizers will come to your location and pick them up. One more thing that could help you to start to live green is to begin walking a bit more. Lots of people routinely drive short distances merely to buy one thing at their local corner market. If you just walk to the store, not only could it take less time, because you won't have to locate a parking spot, but you will be saving money on gas and helping to save planet Earth by not burning those fuels. If you wish to save even more on gas, take the chance to car pool when you can and only mow your lawn two times a month instead of weekly. A gorgeous lawn is good to have but skipping an additional week before you mow again shouldn't significantly affect it. Using a manual push mower like those more normally used many, many years ago will help to save the environment even more. Numerous hardware shops still carry this type of mower. When people make up their mind to try green living, it's easy to make a few lifestyle modifications that will benefit our environment. Likewise, you can find lots of info all over the Internet on other ways to start living green, you only have to look for it.  Today there are many social networking sites such as Facebook attracting many users to their sites. Due to this reason the website owners are realizing the need to increase website traffic.
there are few website owners who do not have any idea how to improve web traffic. In this article some proven techniques are mentioned which will not only help you to get website traffic but can also help you to achieve better results in search engine. Write good and quality content You must not forget that if the page rank is higher, then you can easily increase your website traffic. And the best way to achieve high position in search engine is to post good and original content on your site. Hence, you must make sure that you are writing good and quality content. By posting good content you can get links from other websites also. Another most important thing that you must keep in mind is that you must write better page titles. It is very essential to have a good page title because then the surfers can find the article very easily. The title should be according to your article. Blog and social networking Another best way to increase website traffic is blog advertising. With the help of blogs you can guide users towards your site. But, you must update your blog section regularly and you must make sure that the blogs which you are using on your site must be informative. As I have mentioned earlier that today social networking sites are becoming very popular hence we can say that it is the best way to improve website traffic. You must create your account in Facebook and Twitter. You must not forget that these websites have high traffic and if you are able to change that traffic to your site then you would be doing a very good job. The best way of re-directing the traffic towards your website is viral marketing. Resource page and text link If you want to improve your website traffic then using text link is one of the most important steps which you may use. It is true that fancy menus look great but the best way to steer is to use a site map. You must use a link from your page in all the web pages. But if you want to get more traffic then you must use the resource page. You must never hide the links resource. You can also do well if you make sure that your site is linked with the homepage. These are some of the best and simple ways to increase website traffic and to make users visit your site again and again. How hip is your zip? Time Out recently released its sixth annual ranking of the coolest neighborhoods in the world.  A Colombian Neighborhood Was Ranked the Coolest in the World The publication polled over 12,000 people to compile a shortlist, then worked with city editors and local experts to narrow the selections down, creating a final ranking by considering factors like community and social ventures, access to open and green spaces, and bustling street life. “What stands out with this year’s [coolest neighborhoods] is that, while most of them have seen transformation over recent years, they remain resolutely local-at-heart,” Grace Beard, travel editor for the outlet, said in a statement. “Exciting new openings across culture, food and drink are bringing in new crowds, but neighborhood stalwarts — from old pubs to family greengrocers — keep it real. And they’re fun! These are places where the city comes to play, be it an all-night party, a spot of urban fishing or a nighttime bike ride,” she continued. “After a few tumultuous years, it’s heartening to see communities coming together to hang out, support local businesses, and have some fun.” Six out of the seven continents are represented (maybe next year, Antarctica), and all of the top 10 spots are located in different countries. Only one U.S. city made that cut, but several others earned a spot lower down on the list. The overall winner? Laureles, a culturally rich barrio located in Medellín, Colombia. Scroll below to see the 10 coolest neighborhoods — and perhaps start planning your next vacation.  Laureles Medellín, Colombia Although it has “a pretty laid-back reputation,” per Time Out, Laureles is home to a thriving nightlife scene and hopping concert venue/soccer stadium. The neighborhood boasts stunning views of the Andes mountain range as well as ample parks and outdoor spaces. Take a look at this guide to living like a local in Laureles.  Smithfield Dublin, Ireland One of Dublin’s oldest neighborhoods, Smithfield, comes in at No. 2. According to VisitDubin.com, the area is a “hipster hangout, where glass and steel apartment buildings overlook the old cobblestones of the central.” It’s also home to the Jameson Distillery, built way back in 1780 and located in Smithtown’s central square.  Carabanchel Madrid, Spain Next up is Carabanchel, an artsy neighborhood that has earned the nickname “the Soho of Madrid.” The formerly working-class locale is now home to more than 130 artists spread throughout 40 studios, workshops, and other creative spaces, per the city’s culture and tourism department.  Havnen Copenhagen, Denmark Havnen scored the No. 4 ranking in part for its wealth of waterfront activities, including its solar-powered GoBoats and free-to-rent Green Kayaks. The neighborhood is also home to the Royal Danish Theatre and the recently completed Opera Park.  Sheung Wan Hong Kong The top-ranked neighborhood in Asia, Sheung Wan offers a mix of antiquity and modernity. Visit its historic temples, then go shopping in its stylish boutiques and grab a bite to eat one of its contemporary restaurants. Learn more about the lively district with Time Out’s complete guide.  Brunswick East Melbourne, Australia You’ve heard of Brunswick, but how about Brunswick East? Eclectic and “increasingly cool,” per Time Out, this Melbourne suburb has everything an extrovert could dream of: hip coffee shops, cozy bars, and plenty of live music venues. Even cooler? It also hosts the CERES Community Environment Park, a sustainable space complete with a community vegetable garden, education centers, and more.  Mid-City New Orleans, U.S. Representing Louisiana and the U.S. in the top 10, Mid-city is just east of New Orleans’ French Quarter and its vibe is “quirky, unpretentious, and funky,” according to New Orleans & Company. Hit up a po’ boy shop, scope out the colorful houses and centuries-old oak trees, and then cap off your day with a cold one at one of the neighborhood’s microbreweries.  Isola Milan, Italy Across the pond in Europe once more, we have No. 6. Per AFAR, Isola is Milan’s “slightly offbeat, somewhat hipster, and completely all-natural neighborhood.” It’s rich with vibrant street art, designer and vintage shopping, a weekly outdoor market, and, of course, delicious food and wine.  West Amsterdam, Netherlands Amsterdam West, or just West, is the city’s most densely populated borough, with nearly 145,000 inhabitants, according to AmsterdamSights.com. Highlights of the multicultural district include a “fairytale” church, a daily street market, and the Museum Het Schip — showcasing the famed Amsterdam School style of architecture.  Tomigaya Tokyo, Japan
Rounding out the top 10 is Tomigaya in Tokyo. Close to Shibuya — a major commercial district and home to what’s often referred to as the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing — Tomigaya is a quieter, more residential neighborhood. Full of cute cafes, local grocers, and mom-and-pop shops, it offers a more calm and collected pace while still being adjacent to all the action. Interested in visiting? Here are 26 things to do there. Check out the complete ranking of the world’s 40 coolest neighborhoods here.  One-third of the world’s population can’t see the starry band of light in the night sky that makes up the Milky Way (above). The new show “Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky” at the National Museum of Natural History looks at the devastating impacts of artificial light. A new Smithsonian exhibition delves into the issue of light pollution, with easy solutions offering an immediate change. Gazing upward into the night sky, the Greeks recognized a human figure in the stars. They dubbed him Orion, and the hunter’s story has persisted for thousands of years. The Egyptians regarded the same group of stars as the place where the soul of a god—Osiris—found eternal rest. The Arabs interpreted the starry figure as a giant. In India, the constellation was seen as a king who’d been shot by an arrow. To America’s Ojibwe people, the celestial figure is Biboonkeonini the Wintermaker, who, they know by tracking movements of the stars, becomes most prominent during the coldest season of the year. “The night sky belongs to everybody—this is humanity’s common heritage,” says Stephen Loring, an archaeologist with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. “Everybody all around the world has some kind of story about the night sky.” Celestial beauty is something sacred that is shared across human cultures around the globe, he says.  study published in 2021 found that light pollution has increased by at least half over just the past 25 years (above: glare from bright, unshielded streetlights can make it difficult for drivers to notice pedestrians). Jim Richardson © But today the connections that have always tethered humanity to the same night sky are disappearing behind the ubiquitous brightness of artificial lights. Glow from buildings, parking lots, roadways, billboards, landscape lighting and countless other sources blots out the stars over a surprisingly large part of the planet and disrupts the lifecycles of birds, insects and other creatures. One-third of the world’s population can’t see the starry band of light in the night sky that makes up the Milky Way—the vast spiraled arms of our own galaxy. The stunning array is now rendered invisible for some 60 percent of Europeans and almost 80 percent of North Americans. And as light pollution literally makes the darkness disappear, all types of plants and animals, accustomed to cycles of night and day for millions of years, are being dramatically affected in ways both obvious and unknown. Just as a bright light coming into a bedroom window might interrupt the sleep of any one of us, darkness is a foundational need of untold floral and animal species; artificial light impedes their ability to rest, feed and reproduce.  Practical solutions for local communities not only save money, but they also recognize that many lights are simply unnecessary (above: photos taken before and during a power outage in 2003 in the town of Goodwood, Ontario, reveal a dramatic difference in the night sky). Todd Carlson Our night sky and the global impacts of its disappearance due to light pollution are now the focus of a new 4,340-square-foot exhibition, “Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky,” on view at the Natural History Museum through December 2025. Fortunately, as the show makes clear, the solutions to recovering our night sky are known, are cost-effective and can often be implemented quickly—almost like flipping a switch. Artificial light has been viewed as an example of progress in an increasingly anthropogenic world. Lights have allowed us to capture many more hours for work and play. They’ve driven economic growth and social connections. They’ve made us feel safe. Turning out the lights seems unthinkable; yet a lack of thought has produced enormous amounts of unnecessary and misdirected lighting. Examine a satellite image of Earth from space and the amount of nighttime light that humans produce is obvious and astonishing. Glowing lights beam out from across the globe, wherever people congregate. Dark pockets where natural night is experienced are becoming the exception, found in the far north, Antarctica, and the deep interiors of the Amazon and Sahara. Yet on the ground the problem often goes unnoticed; the change is a relatively recent phenomenon.  Light pollution now blots out the Milky Way for eight in ten Americans. Bright areas in this map show where the skyglow from artificial lighting blots out the stars and constellations. Falchi et al, Science Advances; Jakob Grothe/National Park Service, Matthew Price/CIRES/CU-Boulder Cities began to adopt electric lighting in the 1870s, but only in recent decades has the proliferation of very cheap artificial lighting, particularly LED bulbs, truly set the skies aglow. In 2016, researchers produced a “World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness” that showed a staggering 80 percent of the world’s population lived under skyglow. In Europe and the United States, fully 99 percent of the public isn’t able to experience the pleasure of gazing at the stars under natural nighttime conditions. A study published in 2021 found that light pollution has increased by at least half over just the past 25 years. The areas living under domes of skyglow, created by artificial lights and reflected off clouds and atmospheric molecules or aerosols, are growing by 2 percent each year, compounding at a rate that is outpacing population growth, meaning we’re also using more light per perso John Barentine, an astronomer with Dark Sky Consulting, previously managed the International Dark Sky Places Program, where he spoke with many city dwellers who got the chance to observe the Milky Way for the first time. The experience for many of them was extremely emotional. “It was rare that I’d talk to somebody who kind of shrugged their shoulders,” he says. “Many described it as a deeply spiritual, even [a] religious experience that I think taps into something that’s deep in our core as human beings.”  In Europe and the United States, fully 99 percent of the public (above: at Cherry Springs State Park in Coudersport, Pennsylvania, campers gather for a star party) isn’t able to experience the pleasure of gazing at the stars under natural nighttime conditions. Curt Weinhold For the millions who have never had such an experience because they live in and near cities where they’ve been disconnected from the night sky for generations, Barentine suggests that they may not even realize what they’ve lost. “How do you get people to care about something that they don’t have access to, and they may never have had access to?” he asks. But the loss of the night sky goes far beyond human enjoyment of a starry sky. Most species are guided by a circadian rhythm, an internal clock attuned to light and dark that governs cycles of activity and rest. Scientists are working to uncover the many ways in which artificial light and a lack of darkness can harm the planet’s living things. Birds, for example, are paying a heavy price. Each year millions of migrating birds, traveling through the cool, less turbulent night air, are killed when artificial lights in urban buildings throw them off a course that is steered by the moon and stars. Attracted by the lights, confused birds crash into buildings or exhaust themselves trying to find their way. “We’re talking about billions of birds dying,” says Loring. The easy solution, he adds, is to just turn off those lights. “They don’t have to be on all night long.” Some cities in migratory pathways are doing just that; Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco and other areas are periodically reducing lighting during key migration periods—and these “Lights Out” initiatives have caused bird deaths to drop dramatically.  Attracted by lights, billions of migratory birds are dying, says curator Stephen Loring (above: 20 dead specimens from the museum's collections are on view; they were collected by a group of local Washington, D.C. volunteers, who scour city sidewalks in the early mornings to collect injured or dead birds during the migratory season). NMNH Unnatural light can also hinder reproductive cycles, which have evolved to coincide with seasonal light changes. For example, tammar wallabies living near urban areas in Western Australia reproduce a month later than others, and these kinds of changes might threaten species when the timings of births no longer match the supplies of food. Marine species, too, can suffer from bright skies. Studies show that light pollution throws off coral reproduction, because the natural light cycles of day and night along with the moon phases are necessary for the synchronized spawning process that leads to the release of eggs and sperm. While we tend to think of plants as light-lovers, the biological need for darkness is crucial to their existence. Artificial light stresses plants, including trees, by driving excess photosynthesis, and altering the timing of budding and leaf dropping. Some flowering plants only open at night, when they attract nocturnal pollinators like bats and insects—if they aren’t lured away by lights. More than 500 species, including bananas and mangoes, are pollinated by bats, and these critical plants are at risk when light disrupts nocturnal movement of their pollinators.  For many firefly species, males attract females using light, and different species use different flash patterns and colors to lure their mates. Bright night lights make it harder for them to feed and to reproduce. Tsuneaki Hiramatsu Insects are famously attracted to light bulbs, where they may die from exhausted flittering or be picked off by predators. Worldwide, insects are being decimated in diversity and in numbers. This stems from many factors, but light pollution is likely among them, as more than half of all insects are nocturnal. Some insects, like the cabbage moth, not only live at night but also reproduce exclusively in the dark. Studies show that artificial light interrupts the female moth’s ability to produce pheromones that attract mates, thus stymying the insect’s once-in-a-lifetime shot at reproduction. Humans, too, can suffer from the proliferation of artificial light. Darkness triggers the production of the hormone melatonin, which helps us sleep, and exposure to even dim artificial lights can block melatonin production. This can cost us restful sleep, which is bad enough, but studies also show that these disruptions of our own circadian rhythms can be linked to a host of health problems, including depression, obesity, heart conditions and even cancer. Blue light wavelengths produced by today’s ubiquitous LED bulbs, which are increasingly used in outdoor lighting, are especially disruptive to our natural rhythms of rest and activity. Artificial light is also dimming our ability to see beyond our own planet into the vast, limitless possibilities beyond. Astronomers, peering deep into the darkened skies, were among the very first to raise an alarm that our own artificial lights were beginning to blot out the nighttime views. 
The Harvard College Observatory, now part of Harvard and the Smithsonian’s Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, once housed the largest telescope in North America. As lights multiplied in the surrounding city, the instrument—like other urban observatories—became obsolete. As early as 1958, Lowell Observatory experts became vexed by local lights—and their concerns prompted nearby Flagstaff, Arizona, to enact the world’s first light-pollution ordinance on April 15 of that year. Ordinance No. 440 prohibited the use of certain searchlights within the city limits. Observatories have since been pushed to remote, dark, high-elevation sites, yet their ability to observe invisible light is still a major concern. “Astronomers are losing important access to our understanding of what’s beyond us,” says Kim Arcand, the Chandra visualization scientist and emerging technology lead with the Center for Astrophysics, who co-curated the new show. “That ability to go outside and look up,” she says, “means we can see a part of where we come from, quite literally the iron in our blood and the calcium in our bones, is coming from the previous generation of stars that have exploded long ago.”  At the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, best practices for outdoor lighting are observed with downward-directed lights illuminating accessibility ramps and rails in order to keep light out of the sky. NMNH “There are very good reasons to protect dark skies for astronomy’s sake,” Arcand says, “but it all comes back to those same questions humans have been asking across the millennia: Where do we come from? Why are we here? And where are we going?” There are still quiet, rural spots where the night sky is dark—and these regions are being celebrated. The International Dark-Sky Association recognizes more than 200 Dark Sky Places. Escaping urban areas for these starry refuges inspires people with the wonders of the night sky, but it doesn’t solve the problem. Urban sprawl keeps growing, and light pollution from a bright city impairs views of the sky even to those more than 40 miles away. Experts argue that the night sky does not need to be a tourist destination. Practical solutions for local communities not only save money, but they also recognize that many lights are simply unnecessary. According to the museum, about 30 percent of all the country’s outdoor lighting goes to waste, squandering around $3.5 billion. Unshaded fixtures shine light needlessly into the sky, while others are wasted on low-trafficked roadways and at shopping centers and office parks that don’t need to be continuously lit up all night long. For safety and just for getting around, stark overhead lights can be effectively replaced with less bright lights or more reflective surfaces. Shades can redirect light where it’s needed on the ground and reduce the ubiquitous skyward glow. LED blue lights should be replaced with warmer-colored lights, which are typically strong enough to do the job. Timers and motion-detection lights can limit the lengthy amounts of time that unneeded lights are left to simply blaze away and illuminate nothing at all. “For me there’s something eminently fixable about an issue that we can improve if we just direct our lights the right way, if we just turn off lights when we’re not using them,” Arcand says, noting that real change can occur at the community and even personal levels. “None of these things are hard or trying to take the fun out of life. They are such small things that the individual has some ability to enact change and just fix a very human-made problem.” There’s plenty of proof that these ideas work. In 2017, the U.S. National Park Service used cameras to compare lights in Flagstaff, a leading dark sky city, with comparably sized Cheyenne, Wyoming. Cheyenne, with no dark sky regulations, was 14 times as bright. “Flagstaff has chosen that path and said, ‘We’re going to go dark,’ so it can be done,” Loring says. “And maybe it grows. Maybe cities and towns say, ‘The next time we need to fix the lights, let’s do this.’” “We know what policies are demonstrated to work, there is no technical obstacle, we’re not trying to devise a solution—we know what it is,” Barentine stresses. “Our only barrier to implementing it is convincing enough people that there are good reasons to do this.” Barentine says, in his experience, not everyone is easily convinced to embrace those changes. Some people just cannot fathom how light, which they enjoy for practical, aesthetic and safety reasons, can be a bad thing. “There’s a very deep-seated human psychology that simply makes many of us afraid of the dark,” he says. That’s why efforts to restore the night sky stress using better lighting, not living in the dark. And unlike air or water pollution efforts, which can take many years, cleaning up light pollution can have immediate results. Doing so can help restore the natural darkness to which so many species are attuned—and keep humanity’s connection with the night sky strong. Report this ad“We have been looking up for millennia,” says Arcand, “and it’s given us an amazing amount of art, cultural stories and ideas.” Among those inspired was Dante, whose Inferno ended its epic tour of hell when the author and Virgil escape from the tortures of the underworld to be greeted by a wondrous sight. “Him first, then me—until we came to a round opening Through which I saw some of the beautiful things That come with Heaven. And we walked out To once again catch sight of the stars.” Nobody would suggest that artificial light is making a kind of hell on Earth. But the unnecessary skyglow we create is definitely preventing all too many from enjoying the heavens above.
“Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky” is on view through December 2025 at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Source: smithsonianmag.com  A credit card can be an asset to your lifestyle, but if not handled carefully it can become a liability, especially if you find it so convenient and easy to use that you lose control of your spending.
This short guide will help you understand how you can use your credit card so it works to your advantage, not against you. Advantages A credit card can: 1. Offer free use of funds, provided you always pay your balance in full, on time. 2. Be more convenient to carry than cash. 3. Help you establish a good credit history. 4. Provide a convenient payment method for purchases made on the Internet and over the telephone. 5. Give you incentives, such as reward points, that you can redeem. Disadvantages On the other hand, credit cards can: 1. Cost much more than other forms of credit, such as a line of credit or a personal loan, if you don't pay on time. 2. Damage your credit rating if your payments are late; 3. Allow you to build up more debt than you can handle; 4. Have complicated terms and conditions; What is a credit card? A credit card is more then a simple piece of plastic, it is first and foremost a flexible payment tool accepted at 30 million locations worldwide, and if the card balance is paid off every month, then no interest is charged on purchases made so, essentially, short-term credit is granted without the consumer paying any interest. Among its many features it provides: 1. Access to unsecured credit (no collateral required against amounts charged) 2. Interest-free payment from time of purchase to the end of the billing period 3. Instant payment of purchases, allowing for instant receipt of goods and services 4. 24/7 access 5. Fraud protection However before you decide to use your credit card, carefully consider all of the factors and weigh them against your personal needs and values. What about credit card control? Handling money and credit cards wisely is a talent few of us are born with. But it is a skill that can easily be learned. The place to start is with budgeting. What is a Budget? It's simply an organized way of managing your finances, basically, it gives you an overall picture of where your money is coming from, when it's coming in and how it's being spent. A budget should be flexible, changing according to your circumstances. Why Budget? Budgeting helps us achieve short-term goals like paying the monthly bills on time; it's also for longer-termfinancial goals like buying a home, a car, paying for an education, a wedding or a holiday. When you take control of your financial affairs, you're more confident about the future. A budget is key to financial control. It gives you a "Polaroid picture" of where you stand financially and where you're heading. Credit card control tips Use a low or no-fee credit card and save on the annual fee that some companies charge. Only charge to your credit cards what you can pay off in full when the bill comes. You might not use your credit card as much if you start believing that you have to pay off your entire balance at the end of each month. A good way to help to reduce what you pay on your credit card is to search for a card with a lower interest rate. Many financial institutions now offer at least one of these types of cards. Remember that when you take a cash advance on your credit card, the interest starts accumulating immediately and not on the due date of your credit card bill. Also keep in mind that if you make only the minimum monthly repayment you may never get out of debt. Conclusion The main advantage of having a credit card is convenience but if you're not good at budgeting and managing your finances, the over-use of credit cards can leave you with a debt that's very difficult to pay back.  An illustrated tour of why scientists are finding that sleep matters more than we know.
Source: Reuters |
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