Inhoudsopgave van February 2017 - Reader's Digest

I WAS WATCHING HER PLAY TENNIS, as was everyone else in the crowd. She was a slight, quick freshman and the best player on campus. The best, she’d soon prove, on any campus on the East Coast. With her long hair and tan, she moved defiantly around the court like a warrior in a hurry. Wow, I said to my roommate, she’s amazing. And very cute. He said: Duh. One night the next fall, she and I found ourselves trading barbs over a keg outside my dorm room. It was apparently raining. (That’s her memory.) I was witty (my memory), when I never am. When she said she had to get home and left the party, I suddenly left, too—in pursuit. This was a first, and remains an only. Coming…

EMILY TEMPLE-WOOD was 12 years old the first time she was trolled online. She was being a good digital citizen, excising the foul language and lies added to pop-culture posts on Wikipedia, and the cyber vandals were having none of it. They left ugly comments on her Wikipedia and Facebook pages about her looks “that would make my mother’s hair curl,” says Temple-Wood, now 22 and in medical school. Her biggest crime, she believes: “I was a woman on the Internet.” Over the years, she considered how she might exact revenge. Then, as a freshman in college, it hit her: “What do misogynists hate most?” she asked herself. “Women who are productive!” Her solution: For every insulting comment she received, Temple-Wood vowed to post a biography of a female scientist,…

HARDSHIP CAN turn out to be a great blessing, and disasters are sometimes remembered more fondly than weddings or tropical vacations. Humans don’t mind duress; in fact, they thrive on it. What they mind is not feeling necessary. SEBASTIAN JUNGER, journalist and filmmaker, in his book Tribe THE PURPOSE of science in understanding who we are as humans is not to rob us of our sense of mystery or cure us of our sense of mystery. The purpose of science is to constantly reinvent and reinvigorate that mystery. ROBERT SAPOLSKY, professor of biology, in a speech UGLY IS attractive. Ugly is exciting. The investigation of ugliness is, to me, more interesting than the bourgeois idea of beauty. And why? Because ugly is human. MIUCCIA PRADA, fashion designer, in the New…

• FLIP IN YOGURT SWEETS Chances are, you’ve spotted Greek yogurt with a handy topping compartment filled with honey or fruit. You’ve probably tried (and failed) to spoon out the gooey contents. Put down the cutlery! Most topping sections are meant to be flipped into the yogurt. Simply bend and pour • LIMIT TIC TAC PORTIONS Maybe you ate way too much garlic at lunch and you need eight Tic Tacs at once. But if you’re inclined to practice self-restraint, turn the container upside down, give it a little shake, and slowly open the lid while tilting the box horizontally. Exactly one Tic Tac will be awaiting you in its designated spot. •UNFOLD TAKEOUT BOXES Chinese takeout boxes are actually meant to be deconstructed and turned into plates for easier…

1 Unusual Weight Changes “Stress triggers the release of the hormone cortisol, which changes the way you metabolize fat, protein, and carbs,” says Shanna Levine, MD, a primary care physician and clinical instructor of medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Stress can also cause you to overeat or undereat. WHAT TO DO Snack on nuts. The protein will help if you’re undereating, and the fiber will fill you up if you’ve been bingeing. 2 Breaking Out in Hives When your body experiences stress, it releases a chemical called histamine and—boom—hives galore. When your immune system is weakened by stress, your skin can also become irritated by things it never used to be sensitive to, such as heat, lotions, or detergent. WHAT TO DO Put a cool, damp…

Nutritional all-stars 1 SAUERKRAUT “When naturally fermented and refrigerated (not pasteurized), sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, and kefir contain natural probiotics and help populate your gut with healthy bacteria that can protect you from colds and the flu.” JUSTIN SONNENBURG, PHD, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford Universi ty and author of The Good Gut 2 TURMERIC “Many clinical trials have shown it could play a role in preventing or treating heart disease, osteoarthritis, and some cancers. I recommend a quarter teaspoon a day. If you don’t enjoy the taste, buy capsules.” MICHAEL GREGER, MD, a physician who special izes in nutri tion and the author of How Not to Die 3 CANNED TUNA “It’s one of the most affordable proteins in the supermarket, and it’s packed with omega-3s, vitamin…

This younger guy used to follow me around like a puppy when we were stationed at Lockbourne Air Force Base. I convinced myself I wasn’t interested—he was like a kid brother. One day, we were driving in a snowstorm and ended up on the median. He was soaked and cold after an hour spent pushing the car free, so I said he could shower at my place. When he finished, he yelled out, “Honey, where are the towels?” My heart melted with that one word, and 43 years later, he still calls me “honey.” LYNN TIMON, Charlotte, North Carolina week after I met my future husband, we visited the Illinois State Fair with his family. At one point, someone yelled out, “Does anybody know what time it is?” At the…

I love Valentine’s Day. When you’re a kid, everyone gets a valentine. It’s like, “To Tim: Nice pants! Love, Scott.” MIKE BIRBIGLIA If you have a good date, it’s nice to text afterward to say thanks. But if the person was totally lame, it’s fun to text “unsubscribe.” @CAPRICECRANE I can’t wait to get married and communicate my disdain solely through aggressive dish washing. @CHARSTARLENE (CHARLENE DEGUZMAN) What I find most disturbing about Valentine’s Day is— Look, I get that you have to have a holiday of love, but in the height of flu season, it makes no sense. Comedian LEWIS BLACK Being a good husband is like being a standup comic. You need ten years before you can call yourself a beginner. JERRY SEINFELD Nothing takes the taste out…

Cover Story The “Kindness and Generosity” package was the warmest, most inspiring article I have ever read. I got goose bumps. Surely with seven billion people in this world we can come up with ten great pages like this every month. LOU MEYER, Rancho Cordova, Cal i fornia I’ve never had so much trouble reading a story as I did with the one about Cori Salchert, who took in dying babies. It was so difficult because it was impossible to see through my tears. ESTHER KILIANSKI, Palmyra, Virginia Everyday Heroes Happy to see people taking the problem of food waste seriously. When I taught school, I begged our cafeteria’s chef to give the unused food to the indigent. I was told that was not permitted. It’s rewarding to see that…

PLACE: A playground SCENE ONE LADY: My daughter Lucy said the cutest thing the other day. She was eating some applesauce, and she looked at me and said, “Mommy, how do they get the applesauce out of the apple?” ME: My cat eats constantly. It’s getting a little concerning, honestly. LADY: Oh. Yes ... I, um ... ME: He has this meowing routine. He meows from the other room like six times per day. Right? And I just know that when he starts meowing, he’s hungry again. And I’m like, “Didn’t you just eat?” LADY: I ... uh ... ME: But he just keeps meowing, and I just keep feeding him. Mostly just to shut him up. LADY: I see. SCENE TWO GUY: My son, Nate, took his first step…

THERE’S A PLACE near my home where fairies live. I’ve seen their wooden houses, knocked on their tiny doors, marveled at their itty-bitty bedrooms. It’s a neighborhood, really, a magical trail in our local nature reserve where several dozen structures are tucked into nooks, crannies, and tree hollows all along the one-mile loop. It’s a place where acorns are pillows, fungus becomes decorative siding, and a log might hide a miniature dining room. On a Sunday afternoon, you can hear children squeal, “I found another one!” And if the animals or the elements—or vandals— harm a dwelling, someone will mysteriously take it home, replace some hinges or string, and return it. That mysterious someone is Therese Ojibway, 60, a special education teacher from Millburn, New Jersey, who started transforming this…

Here they are: the coolest community monikers in each state. Boar Tush, Alabama. Eek, Alaska. Why, Arizona. Booger Hollow, Arkansas. Zzyzx, California. Hygiene, Colorado. Happyland, Connecticut. Bacons, Delaware. Needmore, Florida. Hopeulikit, Georgia. Volcano Village, Hawaii. Beer Bottle Crossing, Idaho. Embarrass, Illinois. Santa Claus, Indiana. Correctionville, Iowa. Ransomville, Kansas. Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky. Cut Off, Louisiana. Owls Head, Maine. Accident, Maryland. Belchertown, Massachusetts. Hell, Michigan. Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. Chunky, Mississippi. Tightwad, Missouri. Molt, Montana. Worms, Nebraska. Jackpot, Nevada. Dummer, New Hampshire. Buttzville, New Jersey. Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Handsome Eddy, New York. Whynot, North Carolina. Zap, North Dakota. Dull, Ohio. Okay, Oklahoma. Boring, Oregon. Halfway House, Pennsylvania. Moosup Valley, Rhode Island. Ketchuptown, South Carolina. Porcupine, South Dakota. Sweet Lips, Tennessee. Earth, Texas. Eggnog, Utah. Mosquitoville, Vermont. Fries, Virginia. Dollar Corner, Washington.…

“DON’T BE stife with the bacon.” I said this to my teenage son while he was picking perfectly cooked strips of pig fat out of a pan. I knew he was planning to allot me only one slice, adding the rest to his heaping plate. He turned from the stove, eyes hard, and I was sure we were going to have the Bacon Fight. Instead he said, “Please don’t ever say that word again.” A quick trip to urbandictionary.com provides several meanings for stife. My son and his friends employ its third definition: “used to mean stingy in the very negative sense.” I’ve done my due diligence, and in my view, that’s my initiation fee. But to my boys, I’m barging up the ladder to the tree house, blatantly ignoring…

A “Five-Second Rule” Test Scientists at Rutgers University tested the notion that food is safe to eat off the floor if picked up quickly. They dropped four foods (watermelon, bread, buttered bread, and gummy candy) onto four surfaces (stainless steel, ceramic tile, wood, and carpet) for different amounts of time (less than a second, five seconds, thirty seconds, and five minutes). Longer contact times did result in more contamination, but time wasn’t the only factor. Tile and stainless steel spread germs more efficiently than carpet; wet food (watermelon) sucked up germs faster than dry. The upshot: In many circumstances, bacteria can transfer to your food in less than one second. Breast Cancer and IVF Medical experts have long worried that in vitro fertilization could harm a woman over time. That’s…

THE BEST MEDICINE A KANGAROO kept getting out of his enclosure at the zoo. Knowing that he could hop high, the zookeepers put up a ten-foot fence. Didn’t matter—he was out the next morning, hopping about. So a 20-foot fence was put up. Again, he got out. When the fence was 40 feet high, a camel in the next enclosure asked the kangaroo, “How high do you think they’ll go?” The kangaroo said, “A thousand feet, unless somebody locks the gate at night.” From gcfl.net ONE GOOD THING about a five-yearold is they are always just a Krazy Straw and some chocolate milk away from the best day ever. SIMONCHOLLAND I WENT TO BARNES & NOBLE and asked the clerk for a book about turtles. “Hardback?” she asked. “Yes,” I…

Hey Now, You’re a Rock Star Let’s start with the basics: Rock (fist) beats scissors (index and middle finger forming a V), which beats paper (flat hand), which beats rock. Now here’s how to outwit your opponent, according to Neil Farber, writing in Psychology Today. Winners tend to stick with success, so if they just won with scissors, expect them to throw scissors again, which means you bash them with a rock. Losers will generally try a new strategy, and they’ll likely follow a specific, and predictable, road map. If they lost with rock, expect them to try paper next (so you should slice ’em up with scissors). If your opponent is the aggressive type or a nervous rookie, rock will be the weapon of choice, since it evokes power.…

1. grissini (grih-'see-nee) n.— A: Italian breadsticks. B: carved inscriptions. C: figure skating jump. 2. dirndl ('dern-duhl) n.— A: needle for darning. B: full skirt. C: spinning top. 3. limpid ('lihm-pihd) adj.— A: hobbling. B: perfectly clear. C: like a mollusk. 4. schism ('skih-zuhm) n.— A: separation. B: pithy quotation. C: deep hole. 5. kimchi ('kihm-chee) n.— A: logic puzzle. B: throw rug. C: pickled dish. 6. skinflint ('skihn-flihnt) n.— A: scam artist. B: penny-pincher. C: fire starter. 7. insipid (ihn-'sih-pihd) adj.— A: bland. B: just getting started. C: undrinkable. 8. fizgig ('fihz-gihg) n.—A: plan that fails. B: large swarm of bees. C: hissing firework. 9. jib ('jihb) n.—A: sharpened pencil point. B: bird’s beak. C: triangular sail. 10. philippic (fih-'lih-pihk) n.— A: international treaty. B: charitable gift. C: tirade.…

A LACK OF PLAY SHOULD BE TREATED LIKE MALNUTRITION: IT’S A HEALTH RISK TO YOUR BODY AND MIND. STUART BROWN, psychiat r i st Curiosity is the gateway to everything you know you want, and comfort is like a beautiful prison. SARAH JESSICA PARKER, act res s ROUTINE, IN AN INTELLIGENT MAN, IS A SIGN OF AMBITION. W. H. AUDEN, poet We are constantly exhorting people to “come out of their shells,” but there’s a lot to be said for taking your home with you wherever you go. SUSAN CAIN, author It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. PAULO COELHO, novel i st YOU CANNOT BE REALLY FIRST-RATE AT YOUR WORK IF YOUR WORK IS ALL YOU ARE. ANNA QUINDLEN, author There is no way…

KENNETH HANSEN, 46, was working late one May evening two years ago, putting the last pieces of siding on a home in Gratiot County, Michigan. He glanced up from his saw to see his brother frantically waving his arms. Then he heard screaming. Standing on the back porch of the home next door was a little boy yelling “Help!” while four rottweilers growled, barked, and snarled in a circle below him. At first, Hansen thought it was just a dogfight. Then alarm bells went off in his head. “The noises they made sounded like what dogs do when they’re killing something,” he says. His hunch proved right when another young boy suddenly popped up in the middle of the dogs, and Hansen watched in horror as they sank in their…

IN THE WINTER OF 1985, my hometown, Buffalo, was engulfed in a blizzard—not an uncommon occurrence for the region, which is justly famed for epic snows. But this was a big one, and the city’s blustery Irish American mayor, Jimmy Griffin, was at pains to persuade people to stop trying to go about their business as conditions deteriorated. He urged Buffalonians to “relax, stay inside, and grab a six-pack,” which must be the best advice any elected official ever gave the public in an emergency situation. There’s something cartoonish about the menace of a blizzard, in which nature’s wrath assumes a fluffy, roly-poly form and tries to kill you. It’s the meteorological equivalent of getting smothered in kittens or attacked by the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. And yet, kill it…

NEW HOME, NEW HOUND When we adopted Grant from the shelter, his papers came with a handwritten letter on hospital paper: “Grant is four years old, likes toys, and enjoys sitting on the left side of the chair to watch TV.” Apparently, Grant’s former owner wasn’t going home. Grant suffered from depression. Six months after his adoption, I saw an obituary with a picture of a woman holding a dog that looked like Grant. At about that time, Grant changed. He became playful and happy. It was as if someone had whispered in his ear, This is your home now, and they love you. GLENDA PLOZAY, St. Olaf , Iowa “MY HERO IS MY DAD” After a military deployment to Afghanistan, I often questioned the toll it had taken on…

MOST OF THE 103,219 fans who attended Super Bowl XLV were thrilled to be sitting in Cowboys Stadium in Dallas as the Green Bay Packers battled the Pittsburgh Steelers on February 6, 2011. But by the end of the day, more than a few ticket holders were super bummed. At kickoff time, hundreds of temporary seats that were supposed to have been installed for the big game hadn’t been inspected for safety yet or, in some cases, hadn’t been placed at all. About 850 people had to be relocated to seats different from the ones indicated on their tickets. With all that seat shifting, another 2,000 fans couldn’t get to their places before the game began. And, worst of all, 400 ticket holders had nowhere to sit. They were forced…

I’M THE YOUNGEST by far of five children. By the time I started first grade, my siblings were gone, and we went from a very noisy household to a very quiet one. My family has told me stories about those early years before my siblings left. How my brother ambushed me around corners with a toy crocodile. How my oldest sister carried me like a kangaroo with her joey. But I can offer very few stories of my own from that time. Hardly any adult can. There is a term for this—infantile amnesia, coined by Sigmund Freud to describe the lack of recall adults have of their first three or four years and their paucity of solid memories until around age seven. There has been a century of research about…

ASK SIRI if she’s a woman. Go ahead; try it. She’ll tell you she’s genderless. “Like cacti. And certain species of fish,” she might say. So is Amazon’s Alexa, Microsoft’s Cortana, Samsung’s S Voice, and Google Now. But, man, do they ever sound a lot like women. Culturally, we think of them as ladies too. (In Old Norse, Siri translates to “a beautiful woman who leads you to victory.”) We assign female pronouns to them, and, in turn, they fold feminine turns of phrase into their robotic and occasionally inane answers to our requests. If we prize gender diversity in other areas of daily life, why does our tech sound so female? It would be easy to credit—or fault—male designers, perhaps influenced by science fiction. (Interesting fact: In the original…

ALONE IN HER KITCHEN, Julie Mooney cradles her cell phone. After 33 years of searching, Julie has finally obtained her birth certificate, located her birth mother, looked up her number, and begun dialing it. The 49-year-old mother of three has her finger poised over the final digit. She sits there shaking, not knowing what to do. Armed with a script of all the things she wants to say, Julie waits and waits and waits. When she finally gets up the courage to hit the final number, the call goes to voice mail, so she hangs up. But now she has the sound of her birth mother’s voice— old and broken—stuck in her head. At 9 a.m. the next day, Julie calls again, only to get voice mail once more. But…

WHEN I WENT TO SEE the dermatologist, I had no suspicious spots I wanted examined. It was just a preventive measure you take once you are middle-aged. I’d made the appointment for early in the morning because I’m a doctor— a pediatric lung specialist who treats cystic fibrosis—and I know how the patients pile up as the day goes on. I sat in the waiting room alone on a plastic chair, reading the posters about droopy necks and sagging eyelids, privacy laws and co-payments. At every new doctor’s office, I debate whether to tell the staff that I am an MD; sometimes, when it’s just a checkup, as this was, I’ll remain incognito and see how they treat the civilians. But I always come clean with the doctor in the…