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Today’s essential reads

The Ancient Persian Way to Keep Cool

From ancient Egypt to the Persian Empire, an ingenious method of catching the breeze kept people cool for millennia.

The One Phrase That Can Transform Your Effectiveness at Work

Two words, used alone or prefacing a question, can help you connect better with your coworkers and boss.

Is Your Brain Foggy? Here Are Five Ways to Clear It

Studies have found that isolation, stress, and uncertainty can cause forgetfulness and disorganization. Here’s what to do about it.

What’s Better for Cardio Fitness: One Long Walk or Multiple Short Walks a Day?

Both have their benefits, but is one better than the other? Here’s everything you need to know.

Six Ways to Make Your Life Easier and More Peaceful – By Using Stoic Principles

As the world felt increasingly chaotic, I wondered which principles I could apply – turns out there were many.

Fascinating stories

Die Hard With a Vengeance Is the Most Relatable “Summer in the City” Movie Ever

“Too many films are love-letters to New York City; Die Hard with a Vengeance is one of its rare pieces of hate mail.”

Why the Long Face?

Sadness makes us seem nobler, more elegant, more adult. Which is pretty weird, when you think about it.

11 People Who Operated on Themselves

“The detachment had already happened in my mind ... It’s no longer my arm. As I picked up the knife, I was very cool and collected.”

The Afterlife of the Male Model

What happens to young men when they quit the modeling industry? Some exit the business gracefully, some take a nose dive, some find salvation at the Cheesecake Factory.

When Gravity Breaks Down

Gravity has no quantum properties and it drives physicists crazy.

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The Undercover Anarchists’ Secret Construction Collective

In a sleepy corner of Connecticut, a radical band of leftists are sneaking out after dark to tackle the homelessness crisis that has spread to every corner of America.

The Ultimate Home Decluttering Guide

Pros reveal how to prep, their favorite methods, room-by-room advice and what to do next.

Hear Me Out: We’re Doing Rest Stops All Wrong in America

We invented the roadside grill. Then we failed it.

How Did the World’s Smallest Flightless Bird Get to Inaccessible Island?

The first scientists to describe the animal thought it might have walked.

Don’t Compete. Create!

Assuming that all business is competition is limited thinking rooted in the false belief that supply is always limited. If you think that you have to compete for better jobs or more market share, you’re as wrong as I was.

Here’s One Simple Tip for Faster, Safer Winter Driving

(And it works pretty much everywhere else, too.)

Ian Fleming Explains How to Write a Thriller

“You have to get the reader to turn over the page.”

How Fast Food Reveals Secrets of the Economy

From the Pizza Principle to the Waffle House Index, fast food can reveal surprising things about our behavior and hidden changes in the market.

How a Portuguese Fishing Village Tamed a 100ft Wave

Nazaré used to be a beach resort that emptied in winter. Now it's the epicentre of big wave surfing due to the skyscraper-sized waves generated by Europe’s largest underwater canyon.

Elizabeth Gilbert on Love, Loss, and How to Move Through Grief as Grief Moves Through You

“Grief is a force of energy that cannot be controlled or predicted. It comes and goes on its own schedule. Grief does not obey your plans, or your wishes. Grief will do whatever it wants to you, whenever it wants to. In that regard, Grief has a lot in common with Love.”