Life Style & Travel

UNITED STATES—Upon the purple divan under a pile of fleeces, the erstwhile ‘80s star, Rhett Thornton, sat propped up on front of the tryptich of three massive widescreen TVs. He was wound up. Sleep happens when there is no life. And having no life, he had taken three Corvalis trying vainly to woo sleep and all it did was...

UNITED STATES—The scope for telehealth is expanding rapidly in the days of lockdown due to COVID-19. The prospective ability of the consumer market is appealing to policy makers, healthcare providers, fitness companies, and technology firms alike. The innovation of telehealth lets these entities give more individualized, patient-centered, convenient, and low-cost access to healthcare by means of new devices, drugs,...

UNITED STATES—The majority of common pollinators are not impressed with blue. Otherwise, more flowers would be blue. After all, floral color appeals to pollinators. Each type of pollinator prefers specific colors. Plants customize their floral color to their preferred pollinators. If more flowers could attract more pollinators with true blue, they would do so. Instead, they rely on colors...

UNITED STATES─Sustainability is top of mind these days. More consumers are making mindful choices when it comes to the products they are using in their homes – for example, choosing low VOC paints, using LED lighting, and installing energy-efficient climate control systems. To inject a sense of warmth and authenticity into the home, many homeowners are also turning to...

UNITED STATES—Germinating seedlings know which way is up. Perhaps they just know which way is down. They cannot see, hear, taste, smell or feel anything like we can. Nonetheless, they know which direction to extend their first root and stem. One thing that they can perceive is gravity. Gravitropism, which was formerly known as geotropism, is how they respond...

UNITED STATES—Meet Eliza’s accomplice: Roger worked for a production house in Hollywood and had slickly edited together breaking news flashes about a terrorist group that was going to release a geriatric bomb in different parts of the globe. From the Hollywood Hills to Lake Cuomo, in Italy. Flashes appeared of people in black ski-masks that revealed only their eye-holes...

UNITED STATES─I might get some flack for this, but I’m being completely honest here, that I have saved so much money since the country has gone on a virtual shutdown. While I would be exaggerating things slightly by saying the country has shut down, because in all actuality it hasn’t, but it feels like 80 percent is out of...

Author’s note: This continuation of the unfinished story “Lost” is the order of the day. Even as we are thrust by brave new times into deeply moving explorations of the new and near, as we are keeping close to that seldom enjoyed place home, I take it upon myself to carry on also with the old and dear and...

UNITED STATES—A plant 'variety' is a group within a species that exhibits distinguishing characteristics. A 'cultivar' is simply a cultivated variety. The first five letters of 'cultivated' merged with the first three letters of 'variety' to form the word 'cultivar.' A variety should be self-perpetuating to some degree, and may be naturally occurring. A cultivar perpetuates by unnatural means,...

UNITED STATES—Every palm tree in local landscapes is exotic. Simply put, all palms are originally from somewhere else. The desert fan palm, the only palm that is native to California, came from isolated colonies in desert regions many miles away. In fact, most plants in common landscapes are exotic. Landscapes composed of Californian plants likely include some plants from...