Table of contents for October 2013 in Reader's Digest

I was a bad mom this weekend: On Saturday, my daughters and I ate lunch at McDonald’s. I try. I really do. I take pride in eating as close to “nature” as possible. I do it for myself and for my girls and to set a good example for my readers. I wash and cut fresh fruit daily. I tote snacks of carrots, string cheese, and nuts, and I make a pot of veggie-based soup most Sundays. I have the motivation (and the means) to eat well. Even so, I sometimes fall back on processed convenience food. And then I suffer the guilt. That’s why I couldn’t put down David Freedman’s essay “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” in the Atlantic. Freedman questions whether fast food is as evil as…

A millionaire, a hard hat, and a cheapskate are at a bar. When they get their beers, they notice a fly in each mug. The millionaire politely asks the bartender for another beer, then sips the new one. The hard hat spills out just enough to get rid of the fly and quaffs the rest. It’s now the cheapskate’s turn: He sticks his hand into the beer, grabs the fly by the wings, and shouts, “Spit it out! Spit it out!” A man, shocked by how his buddy is dressed, asks him, “How long have you been wearing that bra?” The friend replies, “Ever since my wife found it in the glove compartment.” Did you ever notice that from the time you hang up the phone until the pizza guy…

1 Boo Bottles Raid your recycling bin to make these glass ghosts. • Remove labels and caps from bottles (we used Perrier ones here). • Spray-paint white. • Draw on faces with black marker. • Throw in colorful straws for cute centerpieces. 2 Cobweb Coasters Cups look creepy when sitting on these spindly saucers. • Hook five bobby pins onto a 3/8-inch flat metal washer. • Wrap twine around and thread through each bobby pin. • Spray-paint everything white. • Scatter small toy spiders around the table. 3 Vampire Napkin Rings Serious chompers make your table settings look so cute it’s scary. • Splash white cloth napkins with red Kool-Aid. • Thread a white twist tie through a set of plastic vampire teeth. • Secure twist tie around center of…

Pickled Apples Yield: 1 qt. 1 large seedless (English) cucumber, unpeeled 1 tbs. kosher salt 2 large firm and sweet apples (such as Crispin, Rome, or Braeburn), unpeeled, cored, and halved 2 medium shallots ¼ jalapeño pepper ¾ cup cider vinegar ½ cup water ½ cup granulated sugar 1 cinnamon stick 1 star anise pod 1. Prep cucumber: Cut off ends and discard; slice cucumber very thinly crosswise (using mandolin if possible). Put slices in colander; toss with salt. Let sit 20 minutes; rinse and drain. 2. Meanwhile, thinly slice apples, shallots, and jalapeño crosswise (using mandolin if possible). Transfer to bowl; set aside. 3. In small bowl, whisk together vinegar, water, and sugar until sugar dissolves. Add cinnamon stick and anise pod; stir. Pour over apple mixture. Add cucumber…

THE KNITTERS Laughter and the staccato of clicking needles fill the air at the Tempe Yarn & Fiber shop in Arizona. It’s Friday evening, and volunteers lovingly produce colorful piles of “knitted knockers,” prostheses for women who have had mastectomies without reconstructive surgery. When put in a bra, the knockers—which are lighter and softer than silicone and plastic versions—look and feel like real breasts. Since its inception three years ago, the group has supplied more than 2,000 knockers to women in some 40 states. The website knitted-knockers.info provides patterns for do-it-yourselfers and lists groups that make and distribute the prostheses to women in need. Many of the knitters have first-hand experience with breast cancer. They send off each knocker with a personal note; some list the name of a person…

1 GET THE RIGHT TESTS Basic imaging tests, such as electrocardiograms and stress tests, detect only large, old heart attacks or the worst blockages (more than 70 percent narrowed). Only advanced imaging tests, such as coronary artery calcium scans or carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) ultrasounds, find early signs of silent atherosclerosis. I recommend them to high-risk people: those with type 2 diabetes, abnormal cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, a family history of heart disease, or a personal history of smoking. Though these tests may not always be covered by insurance, you may find them at a lower cost at some centers. In my community in Michigan, several hospitals offer them for between $50 and $125. If a test detects mildly clogged arteries, your doctor may recommend things like daily…

Big Ben CLEANED: Every five years or so Crew members scale the 316-foot-tall clock to scrub its four timepieces, each containing 312 pieces of opal glass. And time doesn’t stop: Workers dodge the moving minute and hour hands, which measure nearly 14 and nine feet long, respectively! The next scheduled cleaning is in 2016. Lincoln Memorial CLEANED: Twice a year Honest Abe gets blasted with a powerful pressure washer, and then National Park Service workers use massive makeshift cotton swabs to clean bugs and bird droppings from his ears. Eiffel Tower CLEANED: Annually It takes 10,000 doses of cleaning product, four tons of cleaning rags, and 25,000 trash bags to polish the Parisian landmark. Acropolis Hill Sculptures CLEANED: Daily In 2008, scientists set out to find the safest way to…

Spell Check This year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, won by 13-year-old Arvind Mahankali on May 30, was the first to feature vocabulary quizzes as qualifiers. Below is a sampling of the words tackled by the kids, with fresh definitions to challenge you. Take your turn to see if you’d qualify for the bee—then check the next page for answers. 1. dearth (’durth) n.— A: fireplace. B: value. C: shortage. 2. flooey (’floo-ee) adj.— A: open and breezy. B: like jam. C: askew. 3. egregious (ih-’greejus) adj.—A: very bad. B: very small. C: fond of company. 4. infinitesimal (in-finih-’ te-suh-mul) adj.— A: uncountable. B: of prime numbers. C: tiny. 5. capitulate (kuh-’pichuh-layt) v.—A: surrender. B: amass cash. C: start a new sentence. 6. lassitude (’las-i-tood) n.—A: femininity. B: permanence. C: lethargy.…

From the book The Unforgettable Photograph MY CAMERA has taken me all over the world, but much more than that, it has taken me into myself and allowed me to share what I’m feeling. I was lucky to have a childhood filled with love, friendship, and community, and from the beginning, I wanted to capture that joy in photography. Most important is the process of listening, seeing, touching—and appreciating all the beauty and passion in our everyday lives. If I had to pick one word to describe the things I shoot, it would be connections. I’m interested in the connections among all the people in my life: grandparents, teachers, children, strangers. Among everyone who ever sat on our porch or swung in our hammock. Between dogs and their owners, shoes…

• From The Saturday Evening Post We are vastly, ridiculously, hopelessly, humblingly outnumbered: For every one human cell, there are an estimated ten single-cell microbes in us or on us, at least 100 trillion in all, nestled in our guts and in our urogenital tracts, lying on our skin and happily ensconced in our mouths and noses—entire civilizations of fungi, protozoa, and (mostly) bacteria that eat, breathe, evolve, reproduce, and die. Before you reach in horror for the hand sanitizer or industrial-strength mouthwash, keep this in mind: A profusion of research in just the past five years is showing that our microbial hitchhikers, collectively called the human microbiota (and so small that they account for only 1 or 2 percent of our body weight), play a key role in maintaining…

Reviews on Amazon In the market for something? Anything? Chances are you’ll find it on Amazon. And their reviewers are eager to offer their opinions, serious or not. The Book How to Avoid Huge Ships “Reads like a whodunit. I bought How to Avoid Huge Ships as a companion to Captain Trimmer’s other excellent titles: How to Avoid a Train and How to Avoid the Empire State Building.” “Saved my life and my sanity. For about eight months now, I have noticed that a huge ship has been stalking me. I was fearful because my parents were killed by a big ship when they went out to walk the dog one day four years ago, and I have nightmares about it to this day.” Tuscan Dairy Whole Milk, 1 Gallon,…

Every fall, millions of monarch butterflies head south from Canada and the United States to their winter digs in Michoacán, Mexico; here they make strange shapes on the trees in the region’s Sierra Chincua preserve. Scientists didn’t discover the monarchs’ wintering grounds until 1975—and they still don’t understand how the winged things know where to go. Sadly, they’re in decline, occupying a record low 2.9 acres, down from some 22 acres a decade ago. PREVIOUS SPREAD: JOEL SARTORE/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STOCK. THIS SPREAD: FRANS LANTING/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC STOCK…

If someone sits right next to me in an empty movie theater, is it offensive to move? Maybe, but nobody will fault you for it. Chances are the close sitter has trouble reading social cues, so he might even miss your irritation. You undoubtedly aren’t the first person he’s met who needs some elbowroom. Forgive his bad judgment, move quietly, and enjoy the show. If someone has food stuck in his teeth, do I tell him? Total Golden Rule moment: Do unto others. Would you want this person to tell you? There’s your answer. If I use the bathroom at Starbucks, do I need to buy something? Consider frequency and urgency. Is this a one-time thing or an emergency? If so, you don’t have to buy anything, but it would…

Believe in love at first sight. It’s as real as anything else in this life. Brian Williams A therapist once told me something that’s as true now as when I first heard it: “You can only go as fast as the slowest part of you can go.” Bonnie Raitt Before you speak, think: Is it necessary? Is it true? Is it kind? Will it hurt anyone? Will it improve on the silence? Sai Baba, guru The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been. Madeleine L’Engle Fear is often disguised as moral outrage. Judy Blume You gotta try your luck at least once a day, because you could be going around lucky all day and not even know it. Jimmy Dean Simplicity…

LETTERS ON THE AUGUST ISSUE An Emotional Ride Wow, I can’t remember another issue of Reader’s Digest that made me laugh so hard or cry so much. I wanted to play tag with the friends from “tag, You’re it!” and i cried reading baby austin’s story (“11 hours in room 407”). thank you for the emotional ride! Meg Kelly, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania A Personal Reflection I finished “11 Hours in Room 407” with tears in my eyes. In 1996, my son was born with severe meconium aspiration syndrome, which damaged his lungs. We were told he would not survive. Now my son is getting ready to apply for colleges. Never underestimate the will and determination to survive. Judi Zimmerman, Fair lawn, New Jersey Starry Skies This image of the Milky Way,…

1 Every coach says, “I don’t have favorites.” But we do. They’re the ones who show up to practice on time and work hard. 2 Your child doesn’t want you to be an expert in his sport. I believe a big reason lacrosse has become so popular is that the kids know their parents don’t understand the game, so all Mom and Dad can do is watch the match. 3 If your kid gets cut from one team, encourage him to participate in something that doesn’t have cuts, like track or cross-country. It’s a great way to get in shape for other sports, and a lot of kids end up loving it. 4 We put in at least 20 hours a week as coaches in addition to other full-time jobs.…

• from drkellyflanagan.com Dear Little One, Recently, your mother and I were searching the Internet, and Google returned a list of the most popular searches in the world. Perched at the top was “How to keep him interested.” It startled me. I scanned several of the countless articles about how to be sexy, when to bring him a beer versus a sandwich, and the ways to make him feel smart and superior. And I got angry. Little One, it is not, has never been, and never will be your job to “keep him interested.” Little One, your only task is to know deeply in your soul—in that unshakable place that isn’t rattled by rejection and loss and ego—that you are worthy of interest. (If you can remember that everyone else…

My grandmother died when my mother was 11 years old, and so my mother never learned how to cook particularly well. Water, she could boil. Recipes, she could follow. But with a single father, my mother lost some skills along the way. I did not learn to cook either. Instead, I have become a superior dinner guest. I am wonderful to have at your side while you cook, particularly if you give me a glass of wine at your table. I will appreciate your food in a deep, emotional, and highly verbal way, perhaps because I did not get to experience that kind of cooking growing up. Cooking skills aside, my mother is an exceptional nurturer. Two years ago, she flew to New York to care for me while I…

• YOUR WEDDING GOWN Brides Against Breast Cancer resells wedding gowns, slips, and veils (from 2009 or later) to raise funds for the cause; bridesagainstbreastcancer.org, 877-721-HOPE. • YOUR HAIR Pantene Beautiful Lengths collects healthy hair for free wigs for cancer patients; pantene.com, 800-945-7768. The Silver Generation Fund collects gray, silver, and white hair (which other organizations often don’t accept); wigfund.org, 714-547-4461. • YOUR CREATIVITY To donate to cancer patients any hats, shawls, and blankets you knit or crochet yourself, search the Charity Connection registry on Lion Brand Yarn’s website; lionbrand.com, 800-661-7551. • YOUR CAR The American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery Program provides rides to and from treatment for people with cancer; cancer.org, 800-227-2345. • YOUR TIME Participate in research studies to discover the causes of breast cancer with the…

My patient—a trim, handsome, 58-yearold business leader—was the picture of health. He was thin, ate reasonably well, exercised, didn’t smoke. But his younger brother had just had a heart attack, and he was worried. I sent him for advanced blood work and a CAT scan of his heart. It was shockingly abnormal. You’d never know from looking at him, but this man had the diseased arteries of an 80-year-old. He treated the news as a second chance. He made changes, such as lowering his fat intake, to unclog his arteries and dramatically improve his health. I think about this patient whenever I give lectures about the epidemic of heart disease and the power of lifestyle to prevent or reverse it. For me, a cardiologist who emphasizes integrative medicine, that means…

#YOLO The acronym stands for You Only Live Once and made its debut in Grammy-winning rapper Drake’s hit song “The Motto.” It quickly became a mainstay of Twitter, with some taking it seriously by posting about social issues and others using it as a joke to justify crazed actions. #Socialgood Mashable, an online news site, created this hashtag to accompany its Summer of Social Good in 2009—the first large-scale online campaign to raise funds for charitable causes both big and small. Since then, the hashtag has evolved to include tweets that cover philanthropy and social media and has seen up to 70 uses per hour. #TBT Feeling nostalgic? Share it with the world on Throwback Thursday, a weekly Instagram “holiday” that began in 2011, according to one hashtag-tracking app, to…

FROM THE ATLANTIC Late last year, in a small health-food eatery called Cafe Sprouts in Oberlin, Ohio, I had what may well have been the most wholesome beverage of my life. The friendly server guided me to an apple-blueberry-kalecarrot smoothie-juice combination, which she spent the next several minutes preparing, mostly by shepherding farm-fresh produce into machinery. The result was tasty. But at 300 calories (by my rough calculation) for a 16-ounce cup, it was more than my diet could regularly absorb without consequences. Nor was I about to make a habit of $9 shakes, healthy or not. Inspired by the experience nonetheless, I tried again two months later at L.A.’s Real Food Daily, a popular vegan restaurant near Hollywood. I was initially wary of a low-calorie juice made almost entirely…

• FROM National Geographic An hour above Camp IV on the Southeast Ridge of Mount Everest, Panuru Sherpa and I passed the first body. The dead climber was on his side as if napping in the snow, goose down blowing from holes in his insulated pants. Ten minutes later, we stepped around another body, her torso shrouded in a Canadian flag, an abandoned oxygen bottle holding down the flapping fabric. Trudging nose to butt up the ropes that had been fixed to the steep slope, Panuru and I were wedged between strangers above us and below us. The day before, at Camp III, our team had been part of a small group. But when we woke up this morning, we were stunned to see an endless line of climbers passing…

When my family and I made the Great Migration, moving from St. Louis to the mountains of Vermont, we expected a certain amount of culture shock. We were city slickers in a place where cell phones don’t work and street lights are unknown. But nothing could have prepared us for the hazing Mother Nature had planned My friend Trish, who had moved here to the mountains a few weeks before my family and I did, warned me about calling the police. Trish had fallen in love with the postcard villages, the woodsy hikes, and the idea of raising kids in such a natural setting. Unfortunately, with the scenery came a little wildlife. When Trish spotted the first bat flying around her living room, she called 911. The Vermonter who took…

WE’RE CHEAP—AND PROUD OF IT 1 “I think about it this way: Not spending money is the same as making money. So if I save $2,000 by not flying first class, that’s the same as someone paying me $2,000. Wouldn’t you sit in an uncomfortable chair for three hours for $2,000?” A successful Boston plastic surgeon 2 “When you open up the paper and you see those coupons, it looks like dollar bills staring you in the face ... It’s how I grew up. Why not?” Hilary Swank to talk-show host Kelly Ripa, on clipping coupons 3 “People are always surprised that I don’t have a closetful of suits. I buy three suits every five or so years and own only ten total. That’s all I need.” T. Boone Pickens,…

FROM Bloomberg Businessweek Three Deloitte Dads are eating breakfast across the street from the Toronto office of their financial-services company, Deloitte, spearing eggs and discussing how they juggle their careers and families. “‘Work-life balance’ is one of those terms that tend to get overused,” says Robert Lanoue, 44. “It’s ‘balanced/unbalanced,’” chips in colleague Andrew Hamer, 30. This male version of a conversation that happens countless times a day among groups of women touches on the challenges of getting home for bath time, showing up at recitals, and how all that must be reconciled with driving ambition. The only thing missing is the guilt and self-flagellation that so often punctuates chats among working women. Lanoue wears an open-collar shirt and dive watch and exudes a relaxed jock vibe. Hamer is more…

At War with … Mel Brooks When Reader’s Digest found out that comedy legend Mel Brooks saw action during World War II, we asked if he had any stories to share. And, of course, he did. “I take eight guys out on a scouting mission, and we find a box of German rifles. Nearby, there are telephone poles with ceramic insulators at the top. So I say, ‘A buck apiece—whoever hits the most insulators gets the pot.’ Some guy from Arkansas knocks them all off and gets the nine bucks. “When we get back to our base, it’s mayhem. Sirens are going off. Everybody’s running around. My sergeant yells at me: ‘Communications have been cut off between the 7th Army and the 26th Corps! All the telephone lines are down!…

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA: Bringing Down a Bank Robber Stopped at a red light on a rainy, windy morning last December, fire battalion chief Mark DeBruyckere looked up to see a large truck barreling toward the intersection, heading right for him. Without so much as a pause at the red light, the speeding vehicle careened into two cars that were turning left in front of DeBruyckere. He flicked on the fire department radio to call in the accident. As dozens of cars sat idling at the busy intersection, DeBruyckere, 48, noticed something alarming: The truck’s driver, a tall man wearing a backpack, had gotten out of the vehicle and was attempting to carjack one of the cars. As the man tried to open door after door, DeBruyckere jumped out of his SUV…

For expectant parents in Finland, their “bundle of joy” isn’t just the baby. Since 1938, new mothers and fathers have received a cardboard box, often used as the baby’s first crib, filled with a small mattress, blankets, infant clothes, outerwear, toiletries, and more. The Finnish government supplies the boxes, saying the gift encourages good parenting habits and aims to give all children an equal start. Some experts think that the starter kit has even helped Finland achieve one of the world’s lowest infant-mortality rates. Before the tradition began, when many Finnish babies slept in their parents’ beds, 65 out of 1,000 babies died each year. Since the introduction of the box—and the custom of having babies sleep separately from their parents—Finland’s infant-mortality rate has plummeted to only 3.4 deaths for…

FROM Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal Health Benefits • Fight Alzheimer’s Apples contain quercetin, a powerful antioxidant that protects brain cells from degeneration in rats and might do the same in humans. Eat the skin to get maximum disease-fighting compounds. • Prevent colon cancer When the natural fiber in apples ferments in the colon, it produces chemicals that help fight the formation of cancer cells, according to recent research from Germany. Other studies have shown that one type of antioxidant found in apples, called procyanidins, triggered a series of cell signals that resulted in cancer cell death. • Stabilize blood sugar Apples are loaded with soluble fiber, which slows the digestion of food and the entry of glucose into the bloodstream. One group of researchers discovered that women who…

Now sitting on the shelves at Staples is a new breed of device that may transform your home: the 3-D printer. The Cube (from Cubify) makes the widely discussed future of digital technology accessible. Consider it your own personal mini-factory for $1,299. Here’s how it works: The unit melts plastic from cartridges you buy (like normal printer ink) and layers it over and over again to create desired items. Want a new bracelet for a night on the town, a set of coasters for tomorrow’s potluck, or a toy rocket ship for the kid? You can download models for the printer to make these items and many more. The at-home Cube can make almost anything you can think of, as long as your imagination is limited to inanimate plastic objects.…

Ever wonder why you can’t recall poignant moments from your days as a toddler? Before we turn three, the hippocampus (a region of the brain responsible for memory) creates neurons at such a fast clip, it may lose track of where it stored old memories, Canadian scientists recently found. As neuron growth rate slows down with age, the brain organizes itself better. This improves long-term memory. The researchers tested their theory of “infantile amnesia” in an animal study. When they slowed the rate of neuron formation in the brains of baby mice, the mice remembered how to navigate a maze better than those that produced neurons at the usual rapid pace.…

Beat the Blues with a Brain Ultrasound The same tool that lets pregnant women see their unborn babies may help your mind relax, found a preliminary study. Ten minutes after researchers used an ultrasound for 15 seconds on the temples of chronic pain patients, the volunteers reported feeling happier and calmer and, 30 minutes later, reported feeling less pain compared with a placebo. Ultrasound may activate tiny structures in brain cells and improve their ability to communicate. The researchers plan to test a portable ultrasound headset next. Source: Stuart Hameroff, MD, departments of anesthesiology and psychology and Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center Personalize Depression Treatment Some people respond better to talk therapy; others respond better to drugs. In a recent study, researchers took brain scans…

Tear Up the Lease! Think it’s easy being a landlord? Check out these tenant complaints: “The toilet is blocked, and we cannot bathe the children until it is cleared.” “Fifty percent of the walls are damp, 50 percent have crumbling plaster, and 50 percent are just plain filthy.” “My wife tripped and fell on it yesterday, and now she is pregnant.” “I request permission to remove my drawers in the kitchen.” “I wish to report that tiles are missing from the outside toilet roof. I think it was bad wind the other day that blew them off.” “It’s the dog’s mess that I find hard to swallow.” THAT REMINDS ME OF A JOKE From the news: “Bob” was considered a star at the computer company where he worked. He made…

TEACH A MAN TO FISH BY MIRIAM NELSON, PHD, a professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University I applaud companies that incrementally make food healthier. (Full disclosure: I was on the McDonald’s global health advisory board ten years ago, helping them to do just that.) We know from ongoing research in Somerville, Massachusetts, as well as in New York City, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, that small changes in calorie intake and activity levels through environmental and policy change can prevent children from becoming more obese. We have to work with the food industry to reduce calories without adding artificial junk. That doesn’t mean that we should give up on getting people to eat vegetables or on teaching cooking skills. I know this from working with less advantaged families…

FROM THE BOOK Carried in Our Hearts In every decade, parents are surrounded by hype and anxiety. Don’t make mistakes! Don’t mess up the kids! But parents ought to be growing more relaxed rather than more panic-stricken, as the latest news from the geneticists is: The nature/nurture debate is over, and nurture has lost. It’s all genetics! Identical twins separated at birth and located 35 years later show up as matching curly-haired biology teachers in size-nine shoes and capris, living in Midwestern states, one married to a man named Steve and the other to a man whose middle name is Stephen, and they both like dachshunds! A one-out-of-a-hundred-billion twist of DNA, slotted into place at the moment of conception, plots a child’s course. Except for one thing. According to the…

FROM the Washington Post The nightmares still come sometimes, yanking Kevin Lunsmann back. He forgets he is safe in his own bedroom, guitar leaning against the wall, cats curled up asleep, in his family’s little yellow ranch house. He forgets his classes at Brookville High School, football games with his friends, all the normal routines of a typical American kid in Lynchburg, Virginia. In his nightmares, he’s back in the Philippines, hungry and afraid, a prisoner of Islamic terrorists. It was 2011, and Kevin was 14. He and his mother, Gerfa, were visiting family on Tictabon Island in the southern Philippines, near where Gerfa had grown up. Kevin had spent two weeks snorkeling and swimming in the clear blue water, eating food cooked with fresh coconut, teaching his cousins a…

When Anne Rice, the queen of vampire lit, created her bad-boy star, she never dreamed he’d become her constant companion AS TOLD TO DAWN RAFFEL For almost 40 years now, Anne Rice has been bringing a splendidly bloodthirsty vampire into our homes. The natty Lestat is the star of much of her oeuvre (Tom Cruise played him in the 1994 movie Interview with the Vampire), and Lestat’s fan club throws an annual ball in New Orleans, drawing thousands of people. Although Rice has written many non-Lestat volumes—all told, her books have sold 100 million copies—the beloved villain is closest to her heart. In Rice’s words … Vampire lestat never leaves me alone. I travel, I walk into hotels in Geneva or Paris, and I think, Oh, Lestat would love this…

RECENT BITS FROM RD.COM *Learn something new every day! Get the full stories at rd.com/october. 1 LET GOOGLE GET THAT Why dream of a personal assistant when the search engine offers one-click help: Package tracking, flight information, sports scores, movie times, book search, restaurants, related Web pages, and more are at google.com/help/features.html. 2 MASTER TIME WASTERS Colette would pluck fleas endlessly from her French bulldog, and Dickens needed his desk decorated a certain way, as revealed in Celia Blue Johnson’s book Odd Type Writers. Imagine if they’d had Facebook! 3 SIP BOOZE, SAVE BRAIN? A recent review of multiple studies found that occasional drinkers had a lower risk of Alzheimer’s than nondrinkers, possibly because alcohol boosts “good” HDL cholesterol and reduces the risk of blood clots. 4 REALLY UNUSUAL MENSTRUAL…

A customer’s request to the general store in his vacation town: “I would like to reserve a New York Times, Star-Ledger, and Post for every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from June 22 till Labor Day. However, we will be in Greece from July 1 to July 8. My son may or may not pick up the papers then, we don’t know. We will be in Spain for two weeks in August. Not sure which two, though. We’ll try to let you know. Oh, and we don’t need the Times on any Mondays in July, except the 8th of July.” The store’s response: “Effective July … we will no longer be reserving newspapers.” jimromenesko.com When my lifelong-bachelor uncle turned 78, he traveled across the country to visit a dozen or so…