Stuff YOU Should Know
Be My Gaekkebreve? Valentine’s Day Around the World
As Americans load up on chocolate or flowers and head out for nice dinners this weekend, people all over the world will celebrate their Valentine’s Days in other unique ways.
- Japan The Japanese turn the tables on traditional gender roles. Women in Japan spend this day lavishing their mates with gifts. Chocolate is the most popular offering. But don’t think the men are off the hook. Men are expected to reciprocate in March on White Day.
- India In a place where arranged marriages are still the societal norm, some critics have openly condemned Valentine’s Day. They believe that it raises the opportunity for a corruption of the nation’s cultural morals. Some activists have gone as far as harassing couples they consider too romantic on the holiday. Despite these flare ups, people still go out and restaurants still cater to those wanting to share a romantic meal.
- Denmark While the practice is more generally associated with Easter, the Danes send gaekkebrevs to one another. These are handmade cards–sort of like the paper snowflakes kids make by folding and cutting. These hand-made cards contain poems that people send to each other anonymously. The only clue is a dot representing the number of letters in the sender’s name.
- Finland If you don’t have a significant other on Valentine’s Day, consider spending it in Finland, where February 14 is all about celebrating friendships. The gifts are the same: roses (although pink instead of red) and candy. This could get expensive if you think about all of the people in your friend circle . . .
- France Don’t think the country most associated with love and passion would allow themselves to be left out of this list. The French once had a tradition so “inflamed” that it was ultimately banned by the government. Une loterie d’amour was a custom where single men and women would enter houses that faced one another and call out, back and forth, until they had paired off for dates. The evening ended with a bonfire made up of the remaining single ladies burning pictures of those who had rejected them.
Dig Deeper Find one unique Valentine’s Day tradition from at least three other countries not listed above. Write a two-sentence blurb about each.
CVS to Stop Selling Cigarettes
CVS has made the decision to eliminate cigarettes in their stores.
Chief Executive Larry Merlo announced that the 7,600 CVS stores in the United States would stop selling all tobacco products by October 1, 2014. In addition, CVS will launch a smoking cessation program in the spring. In an effort to heighten its position away from that of a convenience store and more towards a healthcare provider, CVS felt it was a a mixed message to aid customers battling diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol when all of these all of these chronic conditions were aggravated by tobacco use.
CVS is currently the overall leader in sales of any other drugstore chain in the United States. This action is estimated to cost the company nearly $2 billion in annual revenue. But industry experts are seeing the move as a bold commitment to its brand one likely to set an example to other like-minded companies. President Obama praised the company, saying the decision will save lives and reduce healthcare costs. A combination of a current shortage of primary care physicians and expanded access to healthcare through the Affordable Care Act is causing people to depend more on their local drugstore chains.
What Do You Think? Is this a good move for the company? Why or why not? Some commentators have remarked that soda should be next. Do you think this is a good idea? Why or why not?
NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope Discovers 2 Earth-sized Planets
In 2009, NASA launched the Kepler space telescope, named for the 17th century astronomer, for the purpose of finding new planets and stars. Because of advances in technology, this mission has allowed humans the ability to search the universe for Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system. So far, 132 new exoplanets (planets orbiting a star other than the sun) have been discovered, with another 2,700 candidates, which are unconfirmed.
Some of the highlights of the mission:
[A note on the names: perhaps because they are discovered at the rate of approximately one a day, the discoveries have been given decidedly dull names… ]
- Kepler-10b This 2011 discovery was the first of an “Earth-like planet” outside of our solar system. It’s too bad that it did not meet any of the criteria for being potentially habitable, which is mostly the ability to maintain liquid water.
- Kepler-22b Also discovered in 2011, this planet is considerably larger and closer to its orbited star than the Earth is to the Sun. Its average surface temperature is a similar 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Kepler-413b This most recent discovery was a shaky one. Located in the Cygnus solar system, located nearly 2,300 light-years away from Earth, this planet has a most unusual orbit, wobbling like a child’s top. As a result, it experiences erratic seasons, snowy one day and hot and humid the next.
Dig Deeper The Kepler mission will continue until at least 2016. Track its progress at nasa.gov.
Amazon Announces New Season of Programing
If you watch shows that you can only see online than you are already part of a growing trend of subscription-based content. Subscribers pay a set fee and get unlimited access to all available material on the provider’s library. The early leaders of this trend have been Netflix and Hulu. But rival services are starting to appear, most notably Amazon Prime. While Amazon.com is a well-known online retail giant, the division responsible for creating new content is relatively new. Unlike Netflix, however, Amazon is allowing their viewers determine what is offered. In its first season, Amazon presented fourteen pilots that viewers could vote on which should be made into a full series. Five ultimately made the cut, including the political comedy Alpha House, starring John Goodman.
For its second season, Amazon has just announced ten new pilots to be subject to public vote. Half of them are children’s programming, including one from Blue’s Clues creator, Angela Santomero. The others include: Bosch, based on a book series, that follows detective who is both seeking a murder and on trial for one; The After, a sci-fi drama from the creator of the X-Files; and Mozart in the Jungle, a look behind the curtain at the New York Symphony.