Table of contents for May 2014 in Reader's Digest

I WAS RECENTLY INSPIRED to think about sound, thanks to Trevor Cox’s story in this issue (see page 82). I’d never considered the isolated sense of hearing outside the context of music and noise (“Can you please turn that television down?!”). So one afternoon I went for a walk and asked myself, What are my sonic memories? Perhaps you’ll be inspired to do the same. I’m a kid in the backseat of the family car. I hear the confident knock of my father’s class ring on the steering wheel. I love this sound. I’m a girl preparing for a piano recital. I hear the steady click of the metronome keeping me in perfect time. I resent this sound. I’m a traveler who’s walked right up to the edge of Exit…

LAST OCTOBER, three weeks after Miguel Alvarez started a stint as a janitor at a senior-care center, his job took a dramatic turn. Instead of mopping floors, Miguel, 33, a former stay-at-home dad, was thrust into the role of primary caregiver for the 19 elderly residents living at the center. On October 24, 2013, the state department of social services closed the center—Valley Springs Manor, located in Castro Valley, California—citing numerous health and safety violations. Most of the staff walked out—except Miguel and the center’s cook, Maurice Rowland. “I felt bad for the seniors, so I helped them,” Miguel says. Unable to find contact information for the residents’ families, Miguel and Maurice themselves assisted the needy patients, some of whom were confined to beds or wheelchairs. Others reportedly had dementia.…

FROM THE SPEECH “LEARNING FROM A BAREFOOT MOVEMENT” CAN YOU IMAGINE a college without walls, professors, or classrooms? Educator Bunker Roy can. More than 40 years ago, Roy, now 69, founded the Barefoot College, in Tilonia, India. His school recruits a unique population—rural women, often grandmothers—and teaches them the basics of solar engineering and freshwater technology. His efforts have yielded enormous benefits. When the women return to their homes, they are skilled enough to provide their communities (some of the world’s most isolated places) with electricity and clean water. They also gain something important, if less tangible: newfound self-confidence. The Barefoot model has already been used to empower women throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Last fall, former president Bill Clinton presented Roy with a Clinton Global Citizen Award, which…

AT PRESIDENT OBAMA’S State of the Union address, the audience in the U.S. Capitol was filled with the expected faces of politicians, their aides, and the press. But behind Michelle Obama was a young man in an olive suit who’d never imagined that one day he would be seated in a box there as a guest of the first lady. He was Jeff Bauman, 28, who is probably the best-known survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing. Last April, Bauman was standing near the finish line on Boylston Street, waiting for his girlfriend, Erin Hurley, to complete the race. At 2:49 p.m., his life changed forever when the first bomb exploded next to him. Thanks to the swift actions of a few citizens, including a cowboy-hatted Good Samaritan, Carlos Arredondo, Bauman…

MY MOTHER WAS not nostalgic about many things in life, but when it came to corn bread and beans, she was a sentimental fool. She and my father had been teenagers during the Great Depression, and the memory of those hard times was still raw when they married, in 1942. “Many a day, corn bread and beans was all we had to eat,” one of them was likely to say. Mother made sure her three well-fed children had an inkling of what the previous generation had endured. At least a couple of times a year, a big pot of pinto beans seasoned with salt pork would appear on the stove, slowly simmering down to almost mush, along with a pan of yellow corn bread, fragrant and steaming. We would gather…

THE FIRST NOTE I ever wrote for my mother said “Hi, Mom! Have a nice day! Love, Skip!” (her nickname for me). I was 12 when I wrote it, and I tucked it discreetly into her change purse. My mother worked as a keypunch operator—a profession now obsolete—at the New Jersey offices of Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH), the clothing company. I knew that when my mom bought her meal at the PVH cafeteria, she would have to rifle through her purse for change. I didn’t know that she would keep that note, laminate it, and always carry it with her. From the day that I first tucked that sliver of paper into my mother’s change purse, she and I left each other clandestine notes. They would be placed in the refrigerator…

MYTH: Book a plane ticket far in advance to save money. TRUTH: A plethora of options for the most-traveled routes means fewer deals if you book too far out. You’re more likely to save if you book six to seven weeks in advance. Also, for the best deals on domestic flights, fly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. MYTH: Cabin air makes you sick. TRUTH: It doesn’t. Airplanes spend a considerable amount of energy pumping in and pressurizing fresh air. Some is recycled, but it passes through numerous HEPA filters to draw out bacteria. So what does get you sick? Tray tables, lavatory handles, and headrests touched by dozens of passengers every day. MYTH: Go early to avoid crowds. TRUTH: Heritage sites, monuments, parks, and other popular attractions will always be crowded.…

AH, FIBER. We don’t eat nearly enough of you, despite research that shows how important you are for our digestive, metabolic, and cardiovascular health. (Most people fall way short of the recommended 21 to 25 grams a day for women and 30 to 38 grams a day for men.) But the more I learned about fiber while researching my latest book, 21-Day Tummy, the more I realized how poorly most of us—even some doctors and nutritionists—understand it. Eating too much of certain kinds of fiber can actually upset your belly. It’s a problem my coauthor, registered dietitian Kate Scarlata, sees with her clients all the time. “People start eating high-fiber foods and wonder, Why does eating healthy hurt?” she says. Knowing how different fibers affect your belly can make a…

ALL HIS LIFE, Paul Schwarz had been active and healthy. When his family imagined the various ways that the decorated veteran of World War II might eventually die, they never imagined that the cause would be a piece of cantaloupe. On Tuesday, September 13, 2011, Schwarz, 92, complained to his daughter Janice of abdominal pains and a slight fever. She took him to his doctor, who said it was likely the stomach flu. By Thursday, the symptoms had worsened, and Schwarz had developed diarrhea. Janice took him to the ER. Again, flu was the diagnosis, and he was sent home. For a few days, he improved. He called his son, also named Paul, that Sunday and cheerfully assured him that he’d eaten a big breakfast and felt a lot better.…

Ever since Arick Baker was a kid, his father had warned him: “If you go down in the corn, you don’t come out.” The enormous grain bins that dot the Iowa landscape store enough dried corn to swallow up a body completely, squeezing the breath and life from a person in seconds. Accidents happen, and they’re often fatal. In 2010 alone, 26 Americans were killed in silo accidents. For the firefighters of Iowa, more often than not, a trip to a grain bin isn’t a rescue operation—it’s a recovery mission. On a Wednesday last June, however, 23-year-old Baker wasn’t thinking about the risks. With his dad, Rick, getting older and the only other farmhand over 70, Baker was increasingly responsible for the farm’s most unpleasant tasks. His first time cleaning…

When he finally arrived at the surnames that began with T, University of Florida President Bernie Machen paused his reading of the list of 2008 graduates. There was, he told the crowd, someone whom he wanted to stop and honor. This student, Machen told some 8,500 graduates and their families, had learned to read and write at a Kenyan refugee camp. He’d come to Florida as a teenager with nothing, put himself through school, and, against all odds, worked his way into the hearts and minds of Gator Nation. He asked Peter Ter to rise, and as the Sudanese man stood, Machen turned to the upper seats. “Could Peter’s family also stand?” he asked. There, for all to see on the Jumbotron, was Ter’s “family,” a motley collection of unrelated…

THE FIRST TIME Mike the Hog-a-Nator (whose real name is Mike Foshee) noticed the ants, it was two summers ago, and they were piled outside his cardiologist’s office in Pearland, Texas, a suburb of Houston. There was a forbidding, fibrous heap of dead ants on either side of the building’s double doors, each a couple of feet long. Legions of living ants shuffled over the dead ones—though Mike the Hog-a-Nator had to bend down to see these. So many ants were moving so chaotically and so fast that the entire reddish-brown tangle at his feet looked as if it were shimmering. Six years earlier, a doctor had found a tumor on Mike the Hog-a-Nator’s aorta. It was inoperable. Mike, who was only 36, was told to live every day as…

Mistakes Even the Most Loving Owners Make 1 You think my tail wagging is always an invitation for you to pet me more. Wrong! Italian researchers found that dogs wag their tails slightly to the right when they see something they like and to the left when they’re confronted with something they want to back away from. 2 You might buy any old dog-grooming brush at the pet store, but you should really pick the right one for my coat. A rubber brush will promote circulation and loosen dirt. A bristle brush removes dead hair. 3 Your favorite cat game to play with me involves a laser pointer. The result: I get really frustrated because I can’t catch it, and I live for the hunt. So if you’re going to…

IN TOP GUN, Tom Cruise’s call sign was the very apt Maverick. In real life, Air Force pilots’ handles are also often appropriate—but definitely not as cool. Like these: • Boomer: Accidentally broke sound barrier over a small town • SMAT: Small Man Always Talking • Dobber: The simplest tool in the F-16 (a switch in the cockpit) I WAS STANDING WATCH when an old, run-down freighter named Sagar Moti passed by. An officer asked if I knew what it meant. “Ocean Pearl,” I answered. He nodded. “It does look like it’s been fished out from the bottom of the sea.” SUNDER P. SHASTRY, Mumbai, India WHEN I ENLISTED in my teens, I took up smoking cigars to make myself look more mature. Did it work? Well, one time, as…

CHILLING MEDICAL DRAMA One spring, I thought I had the flu, but my head started to pound, and I felt like I could die. I went to the hospital, and doctors quarantined me and did a spinal tap. The pain immediately stopped. They concluded that I had contracted viral meningitis and told me if I hadn’t received that spinal tap, I might not have survived. Trust your instincts, and if something doesn’t feel right, go to the hospital. CINDY MCEVOY, Lake Grove, New York ADVOCATE FOR AA If Ms. Glaser had spent any time in the rooms of AA, she would have witnessed all that she admires in the other recovery programs discussed (“Sobering Up”): women empowered, healed, and accepting personal responsibility for their lives without the continued use of…

RECENTLY, I WAS TRYING to remember my wedding vows. I don’t recall much other than that my wife looked prettier than Grace Kelly (a disturbing thought since women who look like Grace Kelly generally do not stay married to men who look like me, unless we own small aircraft). Yet I do recall our uttering something about sickness and health. These were my thoughts, nine years later, as I lay on the couch and took abuse from my wife. “You’re not sick,” Princess Grace said. “I am,” I said. “I might die.” “Your back hurts,” she said. “It’s not like you have cancer.” “You promised to tend my infirmities.” I don’t know how it happened: I woke one morning and was unable to stand fully upright. It felt as though…

JESSICA DOUGLAS gave birth to a baby girl named Jamie on April 22, 1998. Soon after, the pair moved in with Douglas’s boyfriend, Scott Moore, whom Douglas had been dating for some time. Though they all lived together in Moore’s Michigan home on and off for several months, Moore wasn’t entirely certain that he was Jamie’s father. In fact, he filed a complaint to determine the child’s paternity. Results from the DNA test came back at the beginning of September and proved that Moore was indeed Jamie’s dad. By then, however, Douglas and little Jamie had moved out. Though Moore no longer supported them financially, he was still, according to Douglas, “a father to [Jamie].” Less than a month after he received the paternity results, Moore was working a job…

EVEN IF LIFE ON MARS does exist, we face a major challenge in efforts to discover it. If our only experience with life is on Earth, how will we know alien life when we see it? MICHAEL WHITE, biologist, in Pacific Standard SOMETIMES I LOOK at [celebrity stunts], and I know that pressure to feel like you have to pull your pants off in front of the world. What I’ve learned is, you don’t need to do that if you have something to say or you’re a real artist. But when you’re young, you feel this pressure to succeed, [and it] sucks away creativity. You’re so consumed, you can’t hear anything else. HOWARD STERN, radio and TV personality, in Billboard IT’S HILARIOUS TO ME THAT anyone would think I would…

• HERBS Fill an ice cube tray two-thirds full with chopped herbs; cover with olive oil or melted butter; freeze until solid, at least a day. Transfer cubes to a ziplock bag, and store for up to one month. • MUSHROOMS Store in the fridge in a paper bag, which will absorb the excess moisture that evaporates from the mushrooms, maintaining their crispness. • COOKIES “Put a slice of bread in an airtight container with the cookies; as they lose their moisture, they’ll pull that mojo from the bread. Magic!” says Christina Tosi, chef and owner of Momofuku Milk Bar. • EXTRA BURGER OR HOT DOG BUNS Tear into pieces and freeze in a ziplock bag. Ten to 20 pulses in a food processor will transform them into ready-to-use bread…

SOMETIMES WHEN I’m watching old movies, I can’t help dwelling on the crucial plot devices that have been lost to, well, devices. The missed call, which today rings in our pockets. The long-lost love, who now lives forever in our Twitter feed. Consider Doctor Zhivago: A chance sighting of Lara on a city street leads Yuri’s heart to rupture as she disappears before Yuri can reach her. Had the Internet been around during the Bolshevik Revolution, Yuri and Lara never would have lost each other. They would have been Facebook “comrades.” Consider the plot twists in our own lives, moments that hinged on uncertainty, when all information was not laid out before us. Modern technology has made our world smaller and our lives easier, but perhaps it has also diminished…

POWERPOINT, the program you love to hate … • Were Moses alive today, the Ten Commandments would be known as the Ten Best Practices, presented in PowerPoint and followed by 40 years of status meetings. • The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t invent PowerPoint. • No one ever says, “Boy, that ‘I Have a Dream’ speech could’ve been a lot better if Martin Luther King Jr. had used PowerPoint." RECENTLY, a man stopped at my desk at the library asking for help: A woman had breast-fed her infant and forgotten to “tuck herself back in.” I walked over to Lady Godiva and said, “Ma’am, I’m very sorry, but we don’t allow open drink containers in the library.” Source: notalwaysright.com SCENE: A man…

RECENT RESEARCH has revealed ways to make your daily sun protection habits even more effective, but unfortunately, many doctors don’t talk to patients about such advice. When Wake Forest School of Medicine researchers recently analyzed 21 years of doctorvisit data, for example, they found that physicians discussed sunscreen in fewer than 1 percent of all appointments. We asked our trusted dermatologist colleagues to share their cutting-edge tips for healthier and younger-looking skin. • OLD ADVICE: Use a shot glass’s worth of sunscreen to cover your body. • NEW RULE: Use the house-painting rule: Apply two coats. Who pours sunscreen into a shot glass, anyway? It’s no wonder we’re notorious for using too little. Research shows that most people apply only 25 to 50 percent of the amount used in testing,…

SWIMMING IS A confusing sport, because sometimes you do it for fun, and other times you do it to not die. Comedian DEMETRI MARTIN I HIDE PHOTOS on my computer of me petting animals at the zoo in a file named Fireworks and vacuums so my dog won’t find them. @ELITERRY CROSSWORD PUZZLE answers you’d never get right: • Star of Gravity (Newton) • You say potato, I say __ (carbsmakemefat) • Turned water into wine (ernestandjulio) • Number of wheels on an 18-wheeler (goingtoofasttocount) • Etsy, Russian (nyetsy) “GIVE ME A SENTENCE about a public servant,” the teacher instructed her second-grade student. “The fireman came down the ladder pregnant,” he answered. “Umm … Do you know what pregnant means?” “Yes,” said the boy. “It means carrying a child.” EARL…

(for the rich and famous) LOYALTY IS A BIG PART of what my clients look for in an assistant. You cannot have someone in this position who doesn’t come with incredible recommendations, because she knows more about your investments than you do. She is managing your nannies or the people working on your house. You’re placing her in control of everything in your life. My clients have ranged from Hollywood screenwriters to surgeons and entrepreneurs. Now I work for a famous writer in San Francisco. I carry my clients’ credit cards and purchase all sorts of things on their behalf. It’s normal for me to charge $6,000 or write a check for $400,000 and not even think about it. My boss and I will talk about holiday bonuses for the…

Why does moisture destroy leather? When it’s raining, cows don’t go up to the farmhouse yelling, “Let us in! We’re all wearing leather! We’re going to ruin the whole outfit here!” JERRY SEINFELD If I’m on the course and lightning starts, I get inside fast. If God wants to play through, let him. BOB HOPE It’s been raining so much in Los Angeles that the Chia Pet I threw in the garbage is now blocking my entire driveway. JAY LENO Electricity is really just organized lightning. GEORGE CARLIN Don’t knock the weather. If it didn’t change once in a while, nine tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation. KIN HUBBARD I don’t get why anyone goes skiing. “Hey, let’s find the worst weather we can and exercise in it!”…

There are plenty of ways to meet your Maker that are out of your control. These ten? Totally avoidable. A VENDING MACHINE OVERTURNS. A tree suddenly splinters. A generator emits toxic gas. It may seem far-fetched to worry that any of these random events could kill you, but unintentional injuries of this nature take the lives of 120,000 people annually, according to the most recent data. Read on for cautionary tales and expert tips that can keep you from becoming a statistic. 1IF YOU SEE A BEAR, FREEZE On July 6, 2011, Brian Matayoshi, 57, and his wife, Marylyn, 58, were hiking in Yellowstone National Park when they came upon a grizzly bear and fled, screaming. Brian was bitten and clawed to death; Marylyn, who had stopped and crouched behind…

CULTURE Fascinating Facts About Twins To tell twins apart, look at their belly buttons, which are not genetic (they’re created after birth). Another way to know who’s who: fingerprints. Exposure to different areas of the womb during development affects the individual ridges and whorls. MOST POPULAR ON FACEBOOK WELLNESS How to Calm a Sore Throat If water mixed with lemon or honey doesn’t work, mix 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into 1 cup of hot water and gargle. Turmeric is a powerful antioxidant, and scientists think it has properties that fight many serious diseases. MOST RETWEETS ON TWITTER DIET & WEIGHT LOSS Make TV Time More Active For every two hours of TV you watch, your risk of becoming obese jumps 23 percent, says Joel K.…

IF YOU WANT TO WALK FAST, WALK ALONE; IF YOU WANT TO WALK FAR, WALK WITH OTHERS. AFRICAN PROVERB Always go to bed with clean feet. That’s from my grandma. ALLISON JANNEY LIFE BEGINS WHEN A PERSON FIRST REALIZES HOW SOON IT WILL END. MARCELENE COX, columni st Say “yes” as often as you can; “no” doesn’t move you. MICHAEL J. FOX Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. WARREN BUFFETT THE MOMENT OF NEAR DESPAIR IS QUITE OFTEN THE MOMENT THAT PRECEDES COURAGE. CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, author Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. THEODORE ROOSEVELT…

AARON TOTTEN, 16, had almost made it home from Central High School in Rapid City, South Dakota, when he realized he was missing something crucial: his daily bag of Cheetos. The high school junior made a U-turn in his Ford Expedition and beelined to a store for his favorite junk food fix. As Aaron drove north in the left lane of Elk Vale Road, a Kia Rio abruptly swerved into him, sideswiping him on the right. Instantly, Aaron lost control and barreled across the median into oncoming traffic, hitting another SUV head-on at about 55 miles per hour. The crash flipped the Expedition end over end down an embankment, where it finally skidded to a stop on the driver’s side. Horrified motorists watched as flames leaped from the car’s exposed…

IF SOMEONE FROM the 1950s suddenly appeared, what would be the most difficult thing to explain about life today? One answer: “I possess a device in my pocket that is capable of accessing the entirety of information known to man. I use it to look at pictures of cats and get into arguments with strangers.” Source: reddit.com WE HAD JUST finished tucking our five kids into bed when three-year-old Billy began to wail. Turns out, he had accidentally swallowed a penny and was sure he was going to die. Desperate to calm him, my husband palmed a penny that he had in his pocket and pretended to pull it from Billy’s ear. Billy was delighted. In a flash, he snatched it from my husband’s hand, swallowed it, and demanded, “Do…

…we were climbing Rising Wolf Mountain in Glacier National Park, and I got scared. He talked me off the mountain so patiently and never cared that we didn’t make it to the top. I knew I could trust him in the tough times. MARGARET MCSHEA …he told me he would help me move to Italy, even if it meant putting me in a rowboat and pushing me off the shore. MYNDI HOFFMAN …I started taking piano lessons and making music. NITA MEYER …I looked into my little boy’s eyes, 40 years ago. SUE WILLIAMS …we were kissing under the stars, and he said, “Thank you.” I asked, “For what?” And he said, “I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to God.” (Today is our 20th wedding anniversary.) ELAINE HOWES…

WHEN I WAS A MAMA of three very tiny, very messy, very beautiful rug rats, we had days that went on for lifetimes. My husband, Craig, left at six o’clock every morning. As I watched his showered, ironed self leave the house, I felt incredibly blessed and thrilled to have so much time alone with my babies—and incredibly terrified and bitter to have so much time alone with my babies. When Craig returned each evening at six o’clock (he actually returned at 5:50 but took a stunningly long time to get the mail), he would walk through the door, smile, and say, “So! How was your day?” This question was like a spotlight pointed directly at the chasm between his experience of a “day” and my experience of a “day.”…

• SILENCE A SQUEAKY DOOR Rub onto hinges to stop irritating sounds. • SOOTHE BUG BITES Swipe onto a mosquito bite to reduce itching. The aluminum salts in the deodorant help stop pain and swelling. • PREVENT BLISTERS Slide the gel variety around the sides and tops of clean, dry feet before slipping on a new pair of shoes. The deodorant lubricates problem areas to reduce rubbing. • FRESHEN YOUR CLOSET Uncap your favorite scented variety and place it in the corner of your closet for a powerful potpourri. • CREATE MATTE COSMETICS Using your finger, dab deodorant under eyes and along the T-zone before applying makeup to solve shiny skin. • KEEP FEET ODOR-FREE Apply a thin layer of clear deodorant to the bottoms of your feet before you…

HEY, MOM, I want you to stop dropping me off at the airport for some trip I’m about to take and start becoming my seatmate. I want to travel with you—just you. I want to explore a new place alongside the woman who raised me and changed my diapers, who put up with my teenage angst and my rebellious college years. I want to see my favorite cities with the lady who taught me essential life lessons, such as looking both ways before crossing the street, how to use a glue gun, and that the most important thing in the world is to help others. I always appreciated the vacations you planned for our family: spring break in Philadelphia, where we saw Robert E. Lee’s taxidermy horse at the Civil…

ALL NEW DOCTORS today still pledge to do no harm, which may be Hippocrates’ most famous legacy. But much of the ancient Greek physician’s wisdom applies to everyone—not just those who have medical degrees. “Hippocrates was a visionary who figured out the most important ways we can stay healthy, all of which have been proved by modern science,” says David Katz, MD, founding director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center and author of the book Disease Proof: The Remarkable Truth About What Makes Us Well. Here are five of his health rules that have stood the test of time (about 2,000 years). 1 Walking Is Man’s Best Medicine. “Hippocrates did the first clinical studies by observing people and comparing their health habits,” says Brian Clement, PhD, codirector of the…

Organic Milk Is More Nutritious Researchers examined nearly 400 samples of whole milk from both conventional and organic U.S. dairies to compare levels of omega-6 fats and healthy omega-3s. In today’s typical Western diets, people consume 15 times as many omega-6s as omega-3s, an imbalance that experts link with disease. Organic whole milk contained 62 percent more omega-3 fatty acids and 25 percent fewer omega-6s than conventional milk. Paying more for organic milk might be a good option, particularly for people who don’t get their omega-3s from fish, research suggests. How Exercise Helps Intimacy Antidepressants often dampen libido, but a new study indicates that exercise may help women get back in the mood. When 52 women exercised for 30 minutes right before they had sex, they experienced a significant boost…

SPEECH SPUN around the inside of the curved sewer like a motorcyclist performing in a wall of death. I have worked in architectural acoustics for 25 years, yet this ordinary sewer contained a reverberant sound effect I had not heard before. As I slogged around, I realized that distortions can sometimes be wonderful. Despite having studied sound intensely for decades, I had been missing something. I had been so busy trying to remove unwanted noise that I had forgotten to listen to the sounds themselves. By the time I emerged through a manhole onto a leafy suburban street, I’d decided I wanted to find more unusual acoustic effects. And not just the ugly ones. I wanted to experience the most surprising, unexpected, and sublime sounds—the sonic wonders of the world.…

POOR SPORTS A BRITISH fisherman won a trophy and $1,300 when he landed the largest bass during a fishing tournament. But before he could stuff it with shrimp and pour a lemon sauce over it, he was arrested and disqualified. It turns out the winning fish had been stolen from an aquarium. Source: The Week THE DAY AFTER the second game of the American League playoffs, Detroit native Robert Shiller called his brother to tell him that he’d won the Nobel Prize in economics. “I said, ‘Did you hear the news?’” said Shiller. “And he said, ‘Yeah, the Tigers lost.’” Source: The Hartford Courant (Connecticut) A FAN of Britain’s Manchester United soccer team was so irate after a referee’s call that he phoned Britain’s equivalent of 911 and demanded that…

Photograph by Robert L. Cunningham Chosen by Steven Hartov, author, with Cunningham, of Afghanistan: On the Bounce “Robert took this photograph at a forward operating base in eastern Afghanistan, capturing the silence and solemnity of a hero-ramp ceremony. Just fallen in combat, draped in an American flag, a soldier passes through a cordon of comrades. This is a moment of secrets kept, for only his warrior brothers and sisters know that he is gone. It will be some time before his wife gasps with the news. His parents and children haven’t yet been informed. Only later will they know that 200 souls wept here with him and served as his most devoted bearers to that final flight.”…

I WAS ONCE A PESSIMIST. I’m not that man anymore. And that change started with a bout of misfortune and the sudden appearance of a little boy. On a Saturday morning, January 21, 2012, my left arm went numb, and I started to feel dizzy. After I called my doctor, an ambulance arrived in front of my home, in Highland Park, Illinois. An MRI quickly revealed that the lining of my carotid artery had peeled off, preventing blood from flowing to my brain. The doctor said I had a stroke on the way and that we would just have to let it come. There was no stopping it. I stayed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago for a few days, waiting for the stroke to hit as waves of paralysis…

IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR 1. inclement (in-’kle-ment) adj.— A: comfortably warm. B: severe. C: ever-changing. 2. temperate (’tem-pret) adj.— A: marked by moderation. B: steamy. C: frigid. 3. aridity (uh-’ri-de-tee) n.— A: harshness. B: blazing sunshine. C: drought. 4. nimbus (’nim-bus) n.— A: frostbite. B: rain cloud. C: weather vane. 5. doldrums (’dohl-drumz) n.— A: sounds of booming thunder. B: stagnation or listlessness. C: weather map lines. 6. inundate (’ih-nen-dayt) v.— A: overheat or melt. B: form icicles. C: flood. 7. abate (uh-’bayt) v.—A: decrease in force, as rain. B: increase, as wind. C: pile up, as snow. 8. convection (kun-’vek-shen) n.— A: cyclonic movement. B: hot air rising. C: meeting of weatherpersons. 9. striated (’striy-ay-ted) adj.— A: jagged, as hail. B: banded, as clouds. C: patchy, as fog.…