Many people probably have this notion that chess is a gentleman's game. And in all respects it should be. But chess is a battle of wits, a competitive game between two minds, and in many cases, a war of egos. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that a game which is supposedly innocuous can actually be quite cutthroat.

This may further be amplified if there is something highly valuable on the line: the title of World Champion, and these days that also comes with some monetary incentive. However, in the early days of the World Chess Championship, challengers cared less about the prize money, and more about the bragging rights.

Now, to clarify one thing, I'm not saying that the elite chess players are all vicious, ruthless, and aggressive. It's just that, in the spirit of competition, these people put their desire to crush their opponent and prove they have the better concept in full display while they are playing over the board. However, for the most part, chess masters are generally innocuous people outside the game of chess. But as with any athlete, their drive and motivation is found in the pursuit of being the best in the world at this one thing.

So, let us go through in passing several peculiar events that happened in connection with the World Chess Championship which nobody would think could ever happen in a sport like this.

Early Days

Back in the days when there was no international organization that held championships to determine who would be considered the best player in the game, people just played as many opponents as they could, and whoever won the most number of games and beat the most players was considered the strongest. At this point, the idea of having a World Chess Champion was still in its nascent stage, but several names were already being floated around in chess circles.

During the 19th century, some of the renowned chess players were the likes of Howard Staunton and Adolf Anderssen, both very strong contenders for the title of world champion. Of course, that was until Paul Morphy entered the scene and upstaged many of his contemporaries. With a brilliant tactical mind and innovative approaches to the game, Morphy rose quickly in the chess scene.

Considered by many as one of the GOATs, Morphy had an intuition unlike many of his peers. And so he dominated the world of chess wherever he went, until he suddenly passed away at the age of 47 from a stroke. Morphy's death left a void in the chess world which would later be filled by the person considered to be the very first World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz.

As mentioned a while ago, in those days, there was no World Chess Federation or FIDE. Strong players just agreed to have matches with each other to figure out who among them is the greatest. After Steinitz, came Lasker, the longest reigning world chess champion in history, who was later defeated by the young Cuban master, José Raúl Capablanca. Capablanca is widely considered as a great technician in the game, excellent in calculation with great depth in positional understanding.

Under FIDE

He was then followed by another master who ranks among the greats, Alexander Alekhine, who was unexpectedly defeated by the Dutch mathematician Max Euwe. After WWII, FIDE took over and things started to become more structured and organized. To decide on who the next World Chess Champion was going to be, FIDE held a tournament joined by five players. It was eventually won by Mikhail Botvinnik, who was perhaps the most cunning world champion in history.

Botvinnik held the title for 15 years, but not consecutively. With his influence on the design of the world championship cycles, he was able to get rematches every time he lost the title. And each time, he would reclaim the title, once from Vasily Smyslov, and another time from Mikhail Tal.

After Botvinnik's defeat to Tigran Petrosian, FIDE changed the automatic rematch rule which made Botvinnik withdraw from entering future World Chess Championship cycles. Petrosian was defeated by Boris Spassky, who would later be challenged by none other than Bobby Fischer, probably the most controversial player to ever grace the world chess stage.

In any case, Fischer defeated Spassky, thus breaking the Soviet stranglehold of chess and bringing the title to the west. But then, Fischer disappeared from the scene when FIDE rejected his terms for the next championship match.

From this point onward, the World Chess Championship would continue to have controversies like The Great Yogurt Controversy between Anatoly Karpov, the successor to Fischer, and his rival Viktor Korchnoi, in which Korchnoi alleged that Karpov and his team was sending him coded messages by giving him blueberry yogurt while they were playing a match.

Then came Garry Kasparov, arguably one of the most famous chess players of all time before Magnus Carlsen. When Kasparov was going to defend his title against Nigel Short, FIDE's prize pool was much lower than expected, and so the two split from FIDE and created the Professional Chess Association.

Reunification

For years, the chess world had two world champions because of this. It wasn't until Vladimir Kramnik, the PCA Champion, had a match against the then-FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov that the two titles would be unified. Ultimately, Kramnik won that match, but not without controversy.

Topalov and his team had accused Kramnik of cheating in what is now called the Toiletgate scandal, as Topalov claimed that Kramnik was getting help from computers when he used the bathroom. Kramnik denied the allegations, they continued the match, and he won thus uniting the two titles.

After Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand became the next World Chess Champion, and for the most part, his tenure as champion was quite peaceful without any disputes or scandals. He defended his title three times until he faced Magnus Carlsen, who would prove himself to be, perhaps, the greatest chess player of all time, bar none.

Defending his title five times in a row, Carlsen found it to be exhausting to continue with the current format of the World Chess Championship, and in 2023, he relinquished his title, which paved the way for Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren to vie for the coveted World Chess Champion distinction.

In that match, Ding secured victory to become the first Chinese grandmaster to become the World Chess Champion. And that, in a nutshell, is the history of the World Chess Championship, and all the twists and turns that came along with it.

(Image credit: Vladimir Barskij/Wikimedia Commons)

To be honest, I have never used or seen a dishwasher before. It's one of the few home appliances that I have not been fortunate enough to own or even see firsthand, in person. I am aware of its function and efficiency, and I have seen an ad for a dishwasher which demonstrated the inner workings of the machine. Alas, it's not something that many people I know think to be a must-have for home appliances. However, if I were given the option to receive a dishwasher, then I will not hesitate to accept, just so that I can see the process that goes on in there, and perhaps, just so that I won't be ignorant about it.

Did you know that the inventor of the dishwasher, Josephine Cochrane, brought her idea to reality out of sheer desperation? The story is, Mrs. Cochrane's husband met his untimely demise leaving her and their two children to fend for themselves. Given that it was also in the 19th century, being a widow with two children to feed and raise, life wasn't going to be rainbows and skittles.

Being born into a family of inventors and tinkerers, Cochrane decided that it was finally time to bring her ambition to fruition. Despite not having a formal education in the sciences, Cochrane had been exposed well enough to her civil engineer father and her grandfather, who had first patented the steamboat. And so, she looked for a problem that needed an urgent solution.

Now, anybody who has washed dishes would know the annoyances that such a task can bring. Cochrane was fed up with chipped, nicked, or cracked dishes and utensils, and she wondered why nobody has ever thought of inventing a machine that can do all of that labor for her.

The 19th century saw many inventions brought to life from the steam engine and the telephone, to the first automobile and the light bulb. However, most of them were concerned with things outside the home. Being a housewife, Cochrane knew the struggles that many other women were most likely going through at the time. They would spend all day doing housework, leaving them with no time to do other things.

Seeing this particular problem with her chinaware, Cochrane resolved to make her own dishwashing machine. At the time, there had already been several attempts at building prototypes of dishwashers. There was a hand-cranked dish soaker designed by Joel Houghton, and an upgraded version of that by L.A. Alexander. Both of which were quite bad.

Cochrane, on the other hand, paid particular attention to measuring cups, plates, and other kitchenware in making her design, envisioning the final product as one in which different types of wares will have their own compartments. These compartments were then placed on a rotating wheel which allowed all of the wares to be squirted with soapy water.

With the help of the local mechanic George Butters, Cochrane was able to invent the first dishwasher and she filed her patent in December 1885 for the "Cochrane Dishwasher". Then came the equally challenging part of the whole process: actually selling the machine.

Having an initial price between $75 to $100 made sure that these dishwashers would not yet be sold to households, as it was too expensive, so Cochrane turned to commercial establishments like restaurants and hotels. The first order of dishwashers she received was from the Palmer Hotel in Chicago, for $800.

Soon, another opportunity would open up with the World's Columbian Expo in Chicago, where she exhibited the first dishwasher to investors, other inventors, and the public. At the time, her dishwasher was the only invention by a woman displayed in the Machinery Hall. Also, the dishwasher had been upgraded as an industrial model which could wash and dry 240 dishes in two minutes. This piqued the interest of many other clients like schools and hospitals that ended up ordering machines from her. Furthermore, she received the award for design and durability, which catapulted the dishwasher into a household name.

Fast forward to 1898, Cochrane opened up a factory for her business, now called Cochrane's Crescent Washing Machine Company. In 1913, Cochrane died from a stroke, but her legacy lived on as her dishwasher continued to be improved upon with innovations in design until such a point that the company was able to sell the dishwashers at a lower price, enabling households to purchase them. Advancements in soap also paved the way for dishes to be cleaner and come out without residue.

The company became KitchenAid, which was later acquired by the Whirlpool Corporation. And in 2006, Josephine Cochrane was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Her story is quite an inspiring one and at the end of her life, she admitted that had she known how difficult it was going to be to invent something and then bring her invention to the market, she may not have had the courage to embark on it. However, she also said that the whole journey had been a wonderful experience.

(Image credit: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons)

Drawing maps can be more than just jotting down places, locations, or coordinates on a piece of paper or canvas. Much like history, the way that maps are drawn can be influenced by the cartographer's values, beliefs, and context.

Looking at records of maps from antiquity can give us an idea of not just the places that existed back then, but also of the ruling society, its geopolitical position in the known world, and even its socioeconomic structure as well as the prevailing religious and philosophical thought of that time.

Many maps of the world have been discovered throughout centuries. Some examples being the Hereford Mappa Mundi dated c. 1300, which conveyed not just geographical information but also looked into Biblical subjects as well as general history.

Muhammad al-Idrisi, an Arab geographer, also drew a world map called the Tabula Rogeriana (1154). This was considered the most accurate map of the time since it synthesized the knowledge accumulated by classical geographers along with the information gathered by Arab merchants and explorers who have traveled throughout Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Far East. Commissioned by the Norman King Roger II of Sicily, the Tabula Rogeriana depicts the entirety of the Eurasian continent with parts of northern Africa.

After 1492, the advent of the age of discovery, maps grew larger as more information became available from explorers and mariners who were setting out to sea in search of resources. World maps evolved and cartographers created different ways of presenting places and locations in a clearer and more concise manner.

The Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator introduced the Mercator projection, a cylindrical map projection which aimed to preserve local direction and shapes, in exchange for inflating the size of objects the further they are from the equator. Nevertheless, it became the standard map projection, which we still use today.

What has been considered the oldest world map dated at around the 6th century BCE was a Babylonian world map called the Imago Mundi. It was first discovered by the Middle Eastern archaelogist and Assyriologist, Hormuzd Rassam in the late 19th century in what is now Iraq.

Later, the British Museum acquired the clay tablets and upon further investigation, they concluded that the map had been carved around the late Babylonian period, c. 6th century BCE. It showed regions including Assyria, Urartu (Armenia) and several cities, encircled by a "bitter river" with eight outer regions surrounding it in the shape of triangles.

The schematic above marks the "bitter river" from 14 to 17, while Babylon is number 13. Descriptions of some of the outer regions survived and have been translated as such: (1) Number 19 is the place "where a light brighter than the sunset or stars exists"; (2) Number 18 is the place "which is in complete darkness where one sees nothing"; and (3) Number 22 is the one "where the morning dawns". One can only surmise which of the other two is where a horned bull dwells and where birds cannot reach.

(Image credit: The British Museum, CC BY SA 4.0; Public domain / Wikimedia Commons)

Summer is probably my least favorite season out of all the four, with winter following its heels. Some people may love summer because of the warm, nice weather which allows them to go out, frolic, and maybe go to the beach to take a dip in the water.

As someone who has lived in a tropical country for majority of my life, my body has loathed the heat and the humidity, and when I lived in a country with a more temperate climate, I acclimated pretty well especially with spring and fall. I even started to grow fond of winter, despite experiencing below-zero temperatures, ice-cold showers, and very slippery streets due to snow. But summer is a different beast altogether wherever you may be. And the general rise in global temperatures doesn't help at all.

I have also spoken with friends I've met and they too preferred winter over summer. Perhaps, it's the feeling of lethargy brought about by the suffocating humidity, whether you're inside or out. Not to mention the effects of UV rays on the skin. Then again, these come from the perspective of someone who has lived under the sun, the heat, and the humidity for most of their life. It may be different if, for example, you spent majority of your life living in frost and tundra, without seeing much of the sun for most of your days. In that case, maybe you would find summer to be such a refreshing season to frolic in the meadow and bathe under the sunlight.

That may exactly be what comes to mind for some classical Russian writers. Where winters can be as long as five months a year, it might be good for both the mind and body to spend several moments, if not, months under the sun. But alas, summers in Russia may not always be what one would expect. There may be instances when instead of bright sunshine, what greets you when you look outside the window are dark clouds and downpours. So, here are some of the thoughts of Russian writers about summer.

Lazing around

Chukovsky writes that summer is the best time to go out for a walk, if the weather is good, that is. He further indicates that it is such a temptation that draws one from their work, in that, instead of writing a book, they would rather just go out, enjoy the weather, and take a lazy stroll. Tolstoy echoes this sentiment admitting that when summer comes, he'd just enjoy life and do almost nothing else.

Going on vacation

As with the rest of us, the Russian writers associated summer with making vacation plans and wiling their time away on the sea, at a distance village somewhere, or deep within the Caucasus. Dostoevsky even writes how he would consider it such a disaster and loss of life if he were not able to swim in the sea during the summer. He would lament such a tragedy to the point that he would become sick over it.

Unexpected weather

Then, there are those summers which you just can't seem to predict the weather. Chekhov complained how one nasty summer they never had a day without rain, which is quite an abysmal state indeed. As much as I hate the terribe heat and humidity of summer, I'd prefer having the sun out instead of rain clouds.

Best time of the year

Tolstoy recounts in his diary a time when he was 17-years-old, spending a summer night, and the charm brought about by such a setting. And both Paustovsky and Bunin shared how summer is quite a fleeting season, it passed just as quickly as it arrived, not having enough time to do everything you had planned or wanted. And alas, it's fall again.

(Image credit: Ethan Robertson/Unsplash)

When reading a book, article, journal, or other scholarly or academic writing, we might notice the small superscript numbers attached to certain words or phrases, which lead us to the fine print at the bottom of the page, i.e. the footnotes. For a moment, we glance at what the short citation says, and then, proceed to read the rest of the article or journal.

It has become such a mundane or trivial aside that we often might not even take notice of the footnotes at all, especially when we merely want to extract the main idea of the text, or to skim through the salient points of each section in the article or paper. But, for anyone working in academe or doing scientific research, or for those in the publishing industry, footnotes are an integral part of their work. It is the standard practice for any scholarly work. After all, readers would want to assess and investigate for themselves the credibility of the sources which the authors used to make their conclusions, and to try and understand the framework which the authors used to interpret those sources.

The question is, "When did the practice of adding footnotes to publications begin?" In general, the person cited to have established source-based history and thus, the use of footnotes, was Leopold von Ranke, a German historian who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, despite championing modern source-based history and influencing Western historiography, Ranke's footnoting was subpar. Moreover, the practice of citing sources had already been used by historians and theologians in late antiquity, albeit in varying forms.

The structure of modern-day footnotes may be traced back to the 17th century with Pierre Bayle's Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697). Initially written to comment on errors and omissions in Louis Moreri's Grand Dictionaire historique (1674), Bayle also used the dictionary to critique the religious authorities of his time who persecuted him to exile, and thus, promote his anti-authoritarian view of faith. Most entries included in the dictionary described people with some section devoted to religious beliefs and philosophies. Where the footnotes proved to be useful was as a means of hiding away the more controversial ideas he wanted to promote, often slipping them into articles on seemingly uncontroversial topics.

From that point, scholars had emulated Bayle's model and started using them in their own works. Historian Anthony Grafton even cites a footnote which may very well be the longest one in history: a 165-page long citation found in John Hodgson's 1840 History of Northumberland. Meanwhile, Edward Gibbon's footnotes on his work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, may be considered the most ironic with Gibbon adding snarky comments on the footnotes, perhaps to add his own personal flavor, humor, or opinion on the events being described in the text.

Critical analysis of texts these days has become easier with footnotes. They give us the source from which the author takes certain ideas, concepts, or passages and expounds from them. At the same time, they give us an idea of the interpretative framework by which the author asserts their own point. So, if you're reading a book, article, journal, or research paper, take time to look at those footnotes. You might just learn something new or even look at the sources from your own lens, because there might be something there that you notice which others may not. - via Strange Company

(Image credit: Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash)

Throughout history, there have been many methods of meting out justice depending on the severity of the offense. The Romans invented perhaps one of the most, if not the most cruel form of physical punishment for heinous criminals: crucifixion. In the witch hunts that took place from the 15th to 18th centuries, the accused were burned at the stake or drowned.

Even in fiction, particularly, George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, we were introduced to the walk of atonement which forced the accused to strip naked and walk through the streets of King's Landing. In the case of Cersei Lanister, one of the devout followers of the High Sparrow, Septa Unella accompanied the Queen Mother and repeatedly shouted "Shame!" as Cersei went through the punishment and public humiliation.

Along these same lines, there was another brutal form of punishment and public humiliation that was implemented in 16th and 17th century medieval England, prevalent in Christian culture at the time. The contraption that was used in this public spectacle was called "The Ducking Stool". Other names for it were tumbrel, cucking stool, and choking stool.

As depicted in the picture above, it shows a wooden chair hanging from a pole, or some kind of lever-pulley system, above a body of water and the accused will be forced to sit on the chair while being dunked into the water. Depending on the severity of the crime, they may be dunked multiple times until they have learned their lesson.

Mainly, this form of punishment was invented to castigate scolds — women who were considered as excessively argumentative or disruptive. Since people took the submissive ideal of women espoused in Christian teaching to the extreme, any woman who was too loud or considered subversive would be subjected to this punishment. The idea being that the executors of this punishment will force the women to conformity by shaming them in a public spectacle.

Apart from insubordinate women, the ducking stool was also later used as a punishment for witchcraft, adultery, and failing to adhere to trade regulations for brewers and bakers. Records have also shown that this form of punishment was an institutional one and quite widespread, with one document chastising inhabitants under the jurisdiction of the Manor of Edgeware for their neglect of using the ducking stool.

As time passed by, thankfully the practice faded gradually, most likely due to opposition to the practice as well as a shift in societal attitudes toward punishment and public shaming.

(Image credit: Public domain/Wikimedia Commons)

Have you ever experienced tossing and turning in your bed because the sweltering heat and humidity makes it difficult for your body to cool down and be comfortable enough to fall asleep? Experts suggest that the most conducive temperature for sleep is around 65 degrees Fahrenheit (or around 18.3 degrees Celsius), but when the room is saturated with moisture, our body becomes unable to cool down and it feels stuffy inside the room.

So, according to Matthew R. Ebben, an associate professor of psychology and clinical neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Rafael Pelayo, a clinical professor at Stanford University's Sleep Medicine division, the best ways to get good, comfortable, deep sleep during the summer when temperatures and humidity can stay high even at night, are: 1) to make your room cool, and 2) to cool your body as much as possible.

Making the room cool can be as simple as having an AC in the room and turning it on while you sleep. Keeping the temperature at around the high 60s and low 70s would be the best setting to ensure that you will have the right room temperature throughout the night, helping you to have deep and uninterrupted sleep.

Of course, in keeping with energy efficiency standards, some experts suggest to set the AC temperature to around 78 degrees, and simply add some fans and wear light clothing to save on energy consumption while still making the conditions suitable for your body to cool down and get some good REM sleep.

To keep your body cool, it is best to take a cool shower one to two hours before your intended time to go to bed. For those who prefer working out in the evenings, it would be a good idea to do so at least three hours before bedtime, since it would slow down the process of lowering the body temperature. Drinking water before going to bed is also a good practice.

Despite the concern that one might suddenly wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, Pelayo says that healthy sleepers typically don't get up to urinate. However, there may be some underlying reason or external cause for people who frequently get up during the night, outside of the need to go to the toilet.

Finally, you may also want to check out cooling pillows or a cold compress placed around your neck to aid in your body's cooling process. If you still find it difficult to sleep even after doing all of these things, you may have to speak to a doctor since it is possible that something like thyroid disease or sleep apnea is causing your heat intolerance and inability to sleep comfortably.

(Image credit: Isabelle Fischer/Unsplash)

Let's pause for a moment and have a light-hearted discussion on which among the zodiac signs have the most knack for comedy, according to this ranking created by Reader's Digest with some help from astrologers Liz Simmons and Meghan Rose.

I would like to preface this list by saying that comedy, to an extent, is subjective in that, some people find certain topics, concepts, or even comedic styles funnier than others. There are certain types of comedy that polarize audiences, and similarly, certain types of content may make one side of the crowd squirm or feel awkward, while there are those which everybody no matter on which side of a certain persuasion or issue they stand, will find hilarious. Furthermore, there are cases when the personality of comedians themselves carry the performance, despite the content not always hitting the mark or not being agreeable to everyone. It's just that their delivery of certain jokes or punch lines induce people to laugh at the jokes.

This is to say that I don't completely agree with the ranking done by Reader's Digest, but the insights they present for each of the zodiac signs are quite interesting. Personally, I find dark, dry, sarcastic, witty, and thought-provoking humor relevant and resonant with me. I like comedians who look at issues from all different angles but still retaining their personal flavor and view on a subject. What makes a person funny is a confluence of different factors ranging from their delivery, content, structure, personality, and style.

Having said that, the infographic above shows how Reader's Digest ranked the different zodiac signs from most to least humorous, with Gemini being at the top and Pisces at the bottom. Under each of the signs, they have included which type of humor those signs are inclined to espouse.

The kind of humor that I like can be found on both sides of this list. But that doesn't mean that the other categories of humor are no longer appealing to me. As I said, it depends on the context in which the jokes are being delivered, who is delivering the joke, and how they are delivering it.

Expounding on each of the signs, they described the different characteristics each zodiac sign possessed, and why they ranked the zodiac signs in that order. So, for example, Gemini is at the top because they have great comedic timing and a quick wit. Being verbally fluent, these people are great communicators and excel at wordplay. They also included in these descriptions some examples of comedians under each zodiac sign. For Gemini, we have Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, and Joe Gatto.

Looking at the way they created this ranking, I can only surmise that their primary criteria for ranking is whether the type of humor in which the zodiac signs specialize can make the most number of people laugh. That is, if the type of humor that a certain zodiac sign does or the kind of personality trait that they evoke is niche, then they would rank lower on the list. Which is fair, since it's their list. However, if we're simply going by consensus, then it would probably be more reasonable to look at which comedians throughout history have been considered by the most number of people to be the funniest.

In the US, typically people would say that some of the GOATs of comedy are Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Dave Chappelle, Eddie Murphy, Joan Rivers and Jerry Seinfeld among others, although this is not an exhaustive list. Granted, several of these comedians with the exception of Eddie Murphy populate the top five of the ranking, so perhaps they are on to something.

Whether one's inclination to comedy is written in the stars or not, I think still depends on a variety of factors, and I would argue requires a good mixture of different types of humor. They need to have the flexibility to use their full arsenal and continuously hone their craft through experience, observation, and empathy. 

Something that struck me as odd is that Pisces, the lowest ranking zodiac sign, was placed at the bottom because of their tendency to be deeply sensitive and empathetic. And perhaps, they have a point in that, since comedy tries to bring to the surface certain ideas, concepts, or issues that some people might find offensive, they choose not to engage in those conversations. But I do believe that comedians are quite empathetic people, and at the same time, they are courageous enough to talk about challenging, awkward, or even taboo subjects. They do so not to be mean-spirited about it, to ridicule those who subscribe to certain values or believes, or to push a certain agenda. Rather, they do so to highlight the absurdity of a certain line of thinking or behavior, or the human foibles on both sides of an issue.

Humor and levity are part of the human experience. It touches every aspect of our lives from the deeply significant and consequential to the trivial, mundane things that we do every day. And I wouldn't say that just because a person ranks at the bottom of this list, that they should give up on their dream of becoming a comedian. There are several people who are at the bottom five who have had successful careers in comedy. Comedians like Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, or Kate McKinnon have zodiac signs at the bottom of the list, but that didn't define their comedic careers.

As with anything, even if somebody has a knack or a talent for a certain field or endeavor, that talent still needs to be polished. We need to make an effort and work hard to hone our craft, and all of these comedians, whether they be at the top five or the bottom five of this list, have worked very hard to become successful in comedy. So, this list definitely gave some insights, but it shouldn't discourage anyone to pursue a career in comedy. All the more, it should be a motivation that would fuel those people to work hard to run after their dreams.

(Image credit: Reader's Digest)

More than a decade ago, I still remember quite vividly when my parents and I traveled to Singapore, and we happened upon an old Singaporean man on the street selling ice cream. But it wasn't any old ice cream on cones. It was the ice cream sandwiches which, for anyone who has traveled to Singapore, was quite a popular dessert.

The first time I took a bite of that ice cream sandwich, it felt like heaven especially after a couple of hours walking under the heat of the sun on a summer day in Singapore. I immediately loved the dessert, and I asked my parents for another one because I just couldn't get enough of it.

I can only compare it to that time when I first tried McDonald's Oreo Mcflurry, a day that changed my life forever. It was the first time I discovered the cookies and cream flavor for ice cream being a hot fudge sundae or regular vanilla on a cone guy before that. Since then, I never looked back. When I got a taste of that ice cream sandwich, it was etched into my memory.

I've seen ice cream sandwiches elsewhere, but they just couldn't compare to Singapore's ice cream sandwiches. The wafers, or bread, as well as the signature Magnolia ice cream, just have a distinct taste that will leave a lasting impression on you.

I haven't been to Singapore since then, and so, I'm quite surprised to find out that the Singaporean government has been slowly phasing out street hawkers, which included the numerous Singaporean uncles who sold those ice cream sandwiches on Orchard Road. When once there were 30 ice cream hawkers, now there are only seven.

Thankfully, Singapore's ice cream sandwiches have found a new home, 3,000 kilometers away in Vietnam where a couple have established stalls selling the signature ice cream sandwiches of Singapore. The store, Hawker Star, was founded by Thach Van Thang and his wife, Dang Thi Thanh Hoa, in May 2020, and has since grown to more than 20 outlets throughout Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and some smaller provinces in Vietnam.

When initially they invested US$50,000, they now earn US$50,000 every month in revenues. Although Vietnam has its own version of ice cream sandwiches, the couple just felt that it lacked a certain punch and so turned to the Singapore treat, which they consider an upgrade to the their local dessert.

With the help of some Singaporean entrepreneurs, they were able to get the business idea off the ground, and with their family friend helping them to become the exclusive distributor of Magnolia's ice cream, the business became a success. So much so that many competitors started to popping up trying to replicate their concept. However, for Thang and Hoa, they focused their competitive advantage on the quality of their product and service.

Even Singaporeans who have traveled to Vietnam and come across Hawker Star have given their stamp of approval to the ice cream sandwich. Vietnamese students who studied in Singapore also found it a pleasant surprise to see that Singapore's ice cream sandwich can now be found at home.

Despite the dwindling numbers of ice cream hawkers in Singapore, it is quite a relief that the culture is being kept alive thousands of miles away from home. And I too would give anything just to have one more taste of that exquisite ice cream sandwich from all those years ago. One day soon perhaps, when I find myself walking down the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, I might just cross paths with that ice cream sandwich again.

(Image credit: Thach Van Thang)

Rummage through your medicine cabinet in the bathroom and there's a high chance that you'll see one or several of those orange prescription bottles tucked away in there. I only see these things shown on TV since most of our prescription medicine here come in their original opaque bottles or in blister packs.

And because I've been accustomed to seeing these many times in Western shows, it has been embedded in my mind to think that those orange bottles are for pills. However, it never occurred to me to ask why they are colored orange, or amber to be more specific. Reader's Digest asked Jennifer Bourgeois, a pharmacist and health expert, to get down to the real reason why they are orange.

Bourgeois gives three main reasons why the industry standard for prescription pill bottles is the amber color. First, it's to make sure that they remain effective for as long as possible until their written expiration date. We often see storage instructions on the side of pill bottles saying that we should keep the medicine out of direct sunlight. That's why we usually store them in a medicine cabinet, somewhere dry, cool, and dark, to maintain the potency of the medicine. In the same vein, standard pill bottles are colored amber to protect the pills from UV light.

According to Bourgeois, the color orange functions as a barrier to filter out the UV light, so that even if the medicine accidentally sees the light of day, its effectiveness won't be impacted.

Second, it makes sure that the pills are visible. It would be a lot safer to simply store the pills in their original opaque manufacturer bottles, but then, you would have to open the bottle to make sure that you got the right medicines. So, it's much easier to verify the contents of the bottle if it were translucent. Also, it's much faster to know how much you have left if the bottle were translucent.

Finally, they used the amber color as a standard to make medications recognizable. As I mentioned at the beginning, I knew that orange bottles were for pills because that's what I saw on TV. It's a universally recognized symbol that shows something is a prescription medicine. And so, knowing that, anyone would understand that it should be handled with care and not to be trifled with, or not to be left some place where children can easily access them.

Apart from the distinct orange hue, these pill bottles have one other safety feature, and that's their white cap. This was specially designed by a pediatrician, Henri Breault, along with an engineer in order to ensure that children won't accidentally ingest the medicine and get poisoned by them. So, they invented the child-resistant cap, which uses the "palm and turn" technique to open them. Ever since it was created in 1967, the rate of deaths from poisoning by accidental medication ingestion has decreased by more than 80%.

Of course, just because the orange pill bottles are pretty effective in making sure that our medication is safely stored, we shouldn't neglect taking appropriate measures to store it properly away from the sun and from the reach of children. Usually, storing medicine in a cool, dry place is the recommended practice, however, there are certain medication that need to be stored inside the refrigerator, so it's still best to check with your physician, pharmacist, or the indications on the bottle.

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Although AI has been very popular over the past decade, and even more within the past five years, it still has its limitations. McDonald's US experimented with using AI to take orders for customers in their drive-thrus since 2021, and they have decided to pull the plug on the test this coming July. They will be removing their AI drive-thrus on July 27.

I have seen how ChatGPT is capable of voice recognition almost with 100% accuracy, if not 100% accuracy, no matter how people pronounce words or whether they have an accent. However, it's different when you're simply dictating a message that you want to send to a family member, a friend, or your spouse, or if you just want to make a note without having to type it. Then, AI will probably suffice. However, for a business like McDonald's, accuracy is the top priority since making a mistake means a lot of disgruntled and dissatisfied customers. It will cost them billions.

So, perhaps that's one of the reasons why they've decided to axe their AI drive-thrus. Initially though, they had considered these as a success with an 85% order accuracy. But 15% is still a lot, given how many people order at McDonald's every single day. Just some examples of order shenanigans include giving a customer cream packet instead of "no caramel" on their sundae.

According to the memo sent out by McDonald's US, they will continue to stay in partnership with IBM from whom they got the AI machines for their drive-thrus. The main challenge according to that memo was that the technology from IBM had trouble interpreting different accents and dialects. And given the massive ramifications that a single mistake would translate in terms of the bottom line, it's no surprise that McDonald's decided to ditch it after just three years of experimenting.

This just goes to show that AI will definitely not replace human beings any time soon, as one of the primary roles or functions that human beings still excel at much more than any computer or AI is communication and interpretation of the messages being given. Despite the great strides that AI technology has had, it still doesn't compare to humans' language ability, creativity, spatial understanding, and deductive reasoning.

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About four years ago, I made a decision that I think has changed my life for the better. As an Asian guy, white rice has been a staple of our diet. We have it in every meal, and whenever we don't get it, we don't feel as though we've had an actual meal.

I'm not really overweight, although at that time, I was teetering on the edge of being overweight, and I felt it too. I felt heavy and almost unable to do any physical exercise. It wasn't helping that I was living abroad, and for my first year, I lived on the side of a mountain. So, whenever I needed to get groceries, I literally had to walk down and climb back up the mountain. Going down was a walk in the park, you just had to be careful not to slip and roll down the slope. It was the way back up that proved to be a challenge.

That's when I decided that perhaps it was time for me to watch my weight and watch what I was eating. So with the help of my friend, with whom I lived for about a year, I changed my diet from eating white rice to brown rice. I heard some of the health benefits of brown rice, so I decided to try it. It wasn't as bad as I thought, with regard to the taste, although the texture took some time to get used to.

Before long, I was exclusively eating brown rice at home, and only having white rice occasionally when eating out with friends. As the years went by, I made the decision to simply have one rice meal a day, and just eat fruits or whole grain bread for breakfast and even dinner. I lost about 18 pounds on the first year. And since then, I have just been maintaining my weight given that I'm not that heavy to begin with.

I noticed one major change in my body when I made that change, and that was my appetite. The less I ate, the more my body got used to the amount of food intake I get each day. I was able to control how much I ate in a day, and I also felt full a lot faster.

Now, some people may struggle more in controlling their hunger and satiety, and they might have tried various diets, workout routines, and other solutions to help them lose weight, but one particular solution may have been the "miracle" drug that some people have been looking for.

Ozempic initially is a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes, but now there are studies that have looked into its effects on weight loss. Although effects vary on different people, those who have experienced dramatic changes report that they had experienced something similar to what I had, in terms of the way they viewed food.

Some people reported no longer craving too much or being able to have more control over their cravings. More than helping improve their eating habits, it also reduced anxiety. These drugs are under a category called GLP-1 receptor agonists. And researchers have found that GLP-1 is not only associated with treatment for diabetes and weight loss, but also addiction treatment.

This spate of new studies on GLP-1 and how it affects a variety of physiological and neurological functions has researchers honing in on it and seeing how it's connected with different dysfunctions in the body. Right now, researchers are looking to break down the stigma on obesity and addiction with the help of research on GLP-1.

The more we understand that our cravings, addictions, or appetite may be connected to a mutation or malfunction in our natural GLP-1 receptor, the more we are able to empathize with people who struggle to make certain changes in their lives and maintain them. At the very least, with drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and other GLP-1-based medication, several people have found relief from lifelong struggles.

Hopefully, as further research and development progresses, we are able to unlock the secrets of our neurological pathways and how they are connected to a wide array of pathologies, which we may not even have much control over. For a more detailed explanation as to the mechanism behind GLP-1 and how targeting it helps control excessive behavior related to obesity or addiction, check out the article on Scientific American.

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Many people in my country probably share something in common with many others in the world: they want to live the American dream. And so, they pursue that dream through whatever means that's available to them. If an opportunity to work in the medical field, for example, opens up, many doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals apply for those jobs because they strongly believe that life in the US would be much better than life here.

Although it is true that the standard of living in the US is miles above our country's standard of living, people forget that there are other factors they need to consider when chasing after their dream or pursuing a career overseas. One of the biggest considerations is a place to live and the monthly rent one needs to pay.

The fact that rent is pretty expensive and getting increasingly unaffordable is not exclusive to the US. Many other major cities all over the world face the same issues. Tokyo, Seoul, London, Singapore, Paris, Amsterdam - these are only some of the major cities in the world where rent is sky high, and we shouldn't be surprised about that. The more densely populated an area is, the higher the rental costs would be as there would be a higher demand for housing.

The same is true for the US, especially if a dreamer is eyeing to live in a major city. Redfin conducted a survey to see in which cities in the US would be the most difficult and most unaffordable for people to rent an apartment. And the results are probably what you would expect if someone were to ask you, "Which city in the US has the most expensive rent?"

Of course, topping the list is New York City which requires one to have at least a $119,120 annual salary, with the median price of apartments being $2,978. Among all 33 major cities that Redfin analyzed, New York came out with the biggest gap (of 43.5% less than what they need) between a renter's median household income ($67,358) and the minimum household income one must receive to be able to afford an apartment in New York.

The following four cities in order are: Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, and Riverside. Although these cities aren't arranged in order of how much the median asking price for an apartment is, they are, however, arranged according to the gap existing between a renter's median household income and the minimum household income required for them to be able to rent an apartment in the respective cities.

In order, these cities came out with these gap figures: 42.2%, 38.7%, 36.1%, and 30.8%. But if we were to look at merely how much the median price of an apartment would be in each of these cities, it would be as follows: $2,486 in Miami, $2,835 in Boston, $2,811 in Los Angeles, and $2,312 in Riverside. The gap figures take into account how much disposable income each person has, which affects the quality of life they can afford.

Despite this disparity, there are plenty of ways for people to find affordable housing and still be able to find a nice job in those cities. Whether it would be practical to take an hour or longer commute is within their discretion. But sometimes, people will just take their chances and hope they're able to make it through.

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Traveling is a great way to relax and unwind, or to explore and learn more about other cultures and places, or meet new people. I'm not sure if you can do all three at the same time, because most of my travel experiences require me to just have one or the other, never all at the same time.

Perhaps a more lengthy duration of the trip with some expert budgeting can help you plan out when to relax, when to explore, and when to let the wind take you where it blows, but since most of my trips are generally shorter or have a very tight budget, it's easy to see why I can never achieve those traveling goals in one trip.

In any case, here's a list of some obvious travel advice with which you may already be familiar, but some of which didn't seem obvious to me, up until I read them. Here are some of the advice which I found quite interesting and resonant:

Although I never willingly put myself in a position in which I would get soaked, I never would have imagined that simply wearing my wet clothes would be the best way for them to dry. At the very least, my thought process is that I don't want to get sick so I better get changed.

There was only one time when I got absolutely soaked while traveling, and that's when my father, my cousin, and I went on a ride at an amusement park which as it turns out had a big splash in the end, and so we ended up having to buy a new shirt from the store nearby. Despite feeling uncomfortable, I wore my pants until they dried, so I guess that's the spirit of the advice.

When I was younger and traveling with family, we often would economize and maximize our trips so that we can do so much with so little. Now, that we're older, I have learned that it doesn't matter how much you're able to save on a trip, because in the end, it won't be as enjoyable, especially when you travel with much older people.

These days, we prioritize comfort and/or convenience over economy, and so spending a little bit more on accommodation, transportation, and other aspects of traveling that could be a hassle, definitely helped a lot in our recent travels. And so, I understand where this tip is coming from, and I totally agree with it.

I found that whenever I travel and get out of the hustle and bustle of my regular, daily life, my mind is able to break away from invisible shackles that seem to keep it bound to something, which I believe is obligation or in other cases, responsibility. Being able to relax and look at new and unfamiliar scenery gives us time to unwind and slow down.

Of course, if you're traveling with a schedule, then it might not be as slowed down as it could be. But, letting go of a very strict schedule, and just enjoying every moment and experience you encounter in your travels, can have this effect of time slowing down with everything around you seemingly so fresh and brand new.

And finally, the previous tip connects with this one. Simply being present in the moment and letting the different sensations and sensory experiences wash over you will heighten your positive memories of the trip. I mean, the reason why we even went on a trip in the first place was so that we can throw all our cares away, and forget about our usual worries, even for just a moment.

So, it's no surprise why people who are able to just live in the moment have the best travel experiences. They're able to take in everything that's happening without resistance, and just go with the flow. In doing that, we will then be able to open ourselves to opportunities or encounters that present themselves, and get the most out of them.

Nothing really novel, game-changing, or enigmatic about these pieces of travel advice, just some obvious observations which can perhaps get us to reflect on our next trip and what to do. Personally, the most life-changing travel advice that I have taken to heart is traveling light. It eases all my troubles and gives me freedom to go where the wind takes me. - via Kottke

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With the advancement in drone technology, photographers are now able to capture more detailed and stunning aerial shots of different scenery, sights, and spectacles like we never have before. And each year, the Siena Drone Photo Awards gathers some of the best drone shots photographers have sent in and gives the winner €500 worth of photography equipment, the "Pangea Prize" crystal statuette, and two overnight stays at the Siena during the awards ceremony among other prizes.

This year, the promising crop of finalists include an aerial shot of Indian wrestlers, a pack of pelicans, a whole village trekking a 160-kilometer-long (100-mile-long) stretch of mountainous jungle and swamp called the Darien Gap, crowds gathered around a bull fight in Mexico, roaming Banni buffalos, a six-mile bridge in China, and the village of Kargapazari in Turkey steeped in snow. These are only some of the nominees of the Siena Drone Photo Awards, also featured on NPR.

Out of the these, I thought that the most captivating one was the photo by Hüseyin Karahan, a former Turkish naval officer, who took a photo of Kargapazari village during a time when people were about to leave a mosque after prayers. Seeing as they were struggling to go out, he used his drone to take a wider view of the situation, and that's when his camera saw a very picturesque, almost abstract landscape, showing how the whole village had been snowed in.

Talking about the photo, Karahan mentioned how Turkish photographer Ara Güler inspired him to take up photography, and how there was such beauty that we can see in the spontaneity of our world. From his experiences taking the photo of Kargapazari, he was reminded how vast our world really is, and how small we are in comparison to it.

Meanwhile, Roberto Hernandez's photo of a bullfight in Mexico City's Plaza Mexico arena shown above is a great depiction of the spectacle, not just of bullfighting itself, but how that event brings people together. In fact, the photo shows more than 42,000 people who were gathered at the arena to witness the final moments of that bullfight.

From above, the collective throng seem so small and insignificant that one doesn't realize how many there really are, and that there's such a great number packed into this arena. Apparently, in order for Hernandez to get this great shot of the arena, there was much planning and testing that went into it. He shared how he had to rent the roof of the tallest building near the arena, and from that height, he was able to take this shot.

Finally, the other photo that stood out for me from among the collection was Sanchayan Chowdhury's photo of the famed Abdul Jabbar's Boli Khela - a wrestling tournament that was being held in Chittagong, Bangladesh. What entranced me in this photo was the geometry of the shot as well as the use of space.

According to Chowdhury, he took the photo not only as a commemorative token of the event, but also as a means of honoring his cultural heritage and capturing the passion of the wrestlers and the vibrant atmosphere of the event.

(Image credits: Hüseyin Karahan; Roberto Hernandez; Sanchayan Chowdhury/NPR)