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Texas is globally important for birds.
Approximately 1 of every 3 birds migrating through the U.S. in spring, and 1 of every 4 birds migrating through the U.S. in the fall, or nearly two billion birds, passes through Texas in one of the planet’s great wildlife spectacles.

Majority of North American birds migrating travel at night! Unfortunately, light emanating from our cities can disorient read more

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Finland Tops Happiest Countries List for the Seventh Time
For the seventh year running, Finland has been named the happiest country in the world by the United Nations’ World Happiness Report. The Nordic nation has long been known for its sauna culture, but the Finns’ enduring well-being goes beyond warm rooms and cold plunges. Some Finns have told the press that their citizens read more

Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession, Los Angeles, USA
London, England
Lion dance, Edinburgh, Scotland
Dragon dance, Manila, Philippines
Traditional stilt walkers, Beijing, China
Sydney, Australia
Barcelona, Spain
Auspicious Dragon Lego set 2024

Image courtesy Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images, Leon Neal/Getty Images, Ezra Acayan/Getty Images, Kevin Frayer/Getty Images, Axel Miranda/SOPA Images/Sipa/Reuters, Disney and Lego

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“Our request is simple: tax us, the very richest in society,” they write in an open letter.
“If elected representatives of the world’s leading economies do not take steps to address the dramatic rise of economic inequality, the consequences will continue to be catastrophic,” the letter writes.

Among the letter’s signatories: Valerie Rockefeller, heir to the American read more

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Gen Xers and older millennials really just want to go back in time to before the internet existed
According to a new survey, Americans are yearning for an era before constant connectivity. Can we blame them?

According to a new Harris Poll shared exclusively with Fast Company, most Americans would prefer to live in a simpler read more

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Jobs, Not Jail: A Judge Was Sick of Sending Kids to Prison, So He Found a Better Way
By the year 2000, Judge John Phillips had long since lost count of the number of minors he had sent through the California penitentiary system for crimes committed during a violent, unguided, and hopeless adolescence. “You send these young people to prison, and read more

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” – Marcus Aurelius (quote)

What were Marcus Aurelius’ rules for life? His self-help classic has the answers
Despite being written for his eyes only, the philosopher emperor’s private journal, Meditations, has now read more

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Last year’s techwide reckoning continues. The tech industry has seen more than 240,000 jobs lost in 2023, a total that’s already 50% higher than last year and growing. Earlier this year, mass workforce reductions were driven by the biggest names in tech like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, Meta and Zoom. Startups across many sectors also announced cutbacks through the first half of the year. And while read more

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Well, bless their hearts — Gen Z is killing the Southern drawl, y’all.
That’s according to a new study published in Language Variation and Change, which claims the classic Southern American accent has been slowly fading over time — with the younger generation now helping to hammer the final nail into the proverbial pine box.

“Today’s college students don’t read more

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From September 16 to October 3, the largest folk festival in the world takes place on the Theresienwiese. The festival site covers an area of 34.5 hectares. 898 companies have applied for Oktoberfest 2023. 474 businesses were approved this year, including 140 from the catering trade, 138 fairground businesses, 196 market traders and several service businesses. There will read more

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Sir Michael John Gambon CBE (19 October 1940 – 27 September 2023) was an Irish-English actor. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his six-decade-long career, he received three Olivier Awards and four BAFTA TV Awards. In 1998, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama.

Gambon read more

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Indian wildlife officials are mourning the death of a pregnant wild elephant in Kerala, India, who reportedly died after being fed a firecracker-filled pineapple by an unknown assailant.
“Her jaw was broken and she was unable to eat after she chewed the pineapple and it exploded in her mouth,” says chief wildlife warden Surendra Kumar. The outraged official tells read more

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George R. R. Martin, Jodi Picoult and other famous writers join Authors Guild in class action lawsuit against OpenAI
New York (CNN) — A group of famous fiction writers joined the Authors Guild in filing a class action suit against OpenAI on Wednesday, alleging the company’s technology is illegally using their copyrighted work.

The complaint claims that OpenAI, the company behind read more