Christmas in Connecticut. Earlier than there have been Instagram influencers faking picture-perfect home lives, there was Barbara Stanwyck’s Elizabeth Lane – {a magazine} columnist crafting pure fiction about her idyllic farm life and cooking experience. When she’s compelled to host a battle hero for Christmas dinner at her nonexistent Connecticut farm, the charade threatens to unravel in delightfully comedic trend. Whereas It’s a Great Life and Miracle on thirty fourth Road get the lion’s share of traditional vacation film consideration, this 1945 gem deserves a spot in your December viewing rotation. It’s each charming and screwball-y humorous. When you want extra suggestions on vacation movies to look at, you should definitely take heed to our podcast episode on the subject.
Brite Star Tinsel Icicles. When you watch previous films, like Christmas in Connecticut, you’ll discover that the branches of the Christmas timber within the movie are sometimes draped with tinsel. Christmas tinsel, which was notably fashionable within the Nineteen Fifties, originated in Seventeenth-century Germany, the place rich households put items of shredded silver on their timber to mirror the candlelight and create an icicle-esque impact. Tinsel would later be made out of aluminum and now sometimes comes within the type of metallic-looking plastic. Kate grew up placing tinsel on her household’s Christmas tree, and we’ve continued the custom in our family. It provides some fairly pizzazz and classic vibes to the ol’ tannenbaum. We use the Brite Star model — tinsel that’s surprisingly and hearteningly nonetheless made in America.
A Net of Our Personal Making by Anton Barba-Kay. Whereas many books about expertise give attention to algorithms or enterprise fashions, this one takes a extra philosophical strategy to understanding how the web has modified us and our tradition. Drawing on thinkers from Aristotle to Heidegger, Barba-Kay examines how our relationship with screens has altered our expertise of time, house, and human connection. It’s a dense guide, and a few components have been robust to get by way of, however I believed Barba-Kay’s insights about how we’ve turn out to be each the creators and casualties of our digital setting have been incisive. Heaps to chew on.
How ‘Dry January’ Is the Secret to Higher Sleep, Saving Cash, and Dropping Weight. “Dry January” originated in 2013 as a public well being marketing campaign by the British charity Alcohol Change UK; the idea is easy: after what’s a sometimes a interval of indulgence throughout the holidays, persons are inspired to abstain from alcohol for the month of January to advertise more healthy habits. Hundreds of individuals have tried the problem, however does it even have advantages? In response to a research executed a number of years in the past, it positively does. The bulk of people that participated in Dry January skilled enhancements of their sleep, weight, focus, and pores and skin and likewise thought extra deeply about their relationship with alcohol. And it lowered members’ alcohol consumption over the long run; those that did resume ingesting after January was over have been nonetheless ingesting lower than they’d beforehand been six months later. The lead researcher factors out that staying excellent with the problem isn’t essential to reap this profit: “Apparently, these adjustments in alcohol consumption have additionally been seen within the members who didn’t handle to remain alcohol-free for the entire month — though they’re a bit smaller. This exhibits that there are actual advantages to only making an attempt to finish Dry January.” So if you happen to’ve been trying to reassess your relationship with alcohol, maybe it is a problem you’ll need to try within the new 12 months.
Quote of the Week
There may be so little to redeem the dry mass of follies and errors that make up a lot of life, that something to like or reverence turns into, because it have been, a sabbath to the soul.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton
