It's Valentine's Day — Spread the Love
Valentine's Day is not everyone's favorite holiday. Fair enough. It’s sort of silly to think we’re all going to spontaneously feel romantic on the same day each year, whether or not there’s anyone in our lives we’d like to share that feeling with. And trying to get reservations — and a babysitter — on the same day as everyone else sounds suspiciously like mandatory fun.
But the basic idea — of dedicating a holiday to love — is pretty easy to get behind. Plus, there are plenty of ways to show you care that don’t involve overpriced ‘specials’ menus. Instead, why not make an extra effort to spread the love to friends, family members, perfect strangers, and of course, yourself? Some ideas:
For your family:
• If you feel the need for a celebratory dinner, take out the fancy dishes and the cloth napkins. Then order sushi and drink champagne. Or pizza and beer.
• Send Valentine’s cards or notes to younger family members, who will get a kick out of receiving a real live letter, addressed to them. If you have kids, help them create Valentine’s cards for older family members.
• Tell your family members one thing you love about them.
For friends and colleagues:
• Bring in some sweet treats for your co-workers. It’s been a while since the holidays provided a steady stream of free food.
• Call your best girlfriend and go out to dinner at the most unromantic Irish pub you can find.
A Tale of Ada Lovelace, Women in Tech and Steve Jobs' Biographer
Girl Talk, Woking, England — Suw Charman-Anderson had never heard of Ada Lovelace, the brilliant daughter of the poet Lord Byron, when she dreamed up a project to raise the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and math.
But after learning of Lovelace, Charman-Anderson, an author, social media consultant and self-described technologist who was frustrated by the dearth of women speakers at tech conferences, thought it fitting that her call to action be named after the woman recognized as the first computer programmer. What better role model than a 19th century mathematician who foresaw the digital computing age but remains little known today?
Since 2009, Ada Lovelace Day has encouraged people around the world to write stories about women whose work they admire, while raising awareness of Lovelace. This year's event is tentatively set for October.
Lovelace, who died in 1852 from cancer at the age of 36, may yet become a household name if Walter Isaacson, author of the best-selling biography of Steve Jobs, follows through on a plan to write a book about her. She "was the first person to come up with the concept that a computer, a computing machine, like the difference engine, could have software written for it to make it do things," Isaacson said at a December gathering of the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. "She, like Steve Jobs, stands at the intersection of arts and technology."
Read more: A Tale of Ada Lovelace, Women in Tech and Steve Jobs' Biographer
One Town's Answer to Wal-Mart
Girl Talk, Saranac Lake — Plenty of people don’t like Wal-Mart. Plenty of them protest when Wal-Mart wants to build a store nearby. But very, very few take their economic futures into their own hands the way the residents of Saranac Lake, New York, a small Adirondack town about 40 miles from the Canadian border, have.
Science Says: Five Proven Ways to be Happier
Ask most people what they want for their children, and the answer is simple. “I want them to be happy.” But until recently, there’s been surprisingly little research on what actually makes us happy. There’s a ton of research on what makes people miserable, but that’s not a state most of us aspire to.
Rediscovering Modesty
Do you ever feel bummed out when you finish a really great book?
The better the novel, the more disappointed I am when I'm done. It's over, which means I don't have anything to look forward to reading — and I'm sure the next book won’t be as good.
I most recently got that bummed out feeling after finishing The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. It was a great read and I finished it faster than I would have liked.
Now what?
By A Web Design
