Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We hope you’re feeling the luck of the Irish today, whether or not you plan onsporting a shamrock or two to celebrate. Speaking of festive garb: Ever wonderedhow the color green came to be associated with the holiday? Thehistory traces back nearly 350 years — and, spoiler alert, the hue isn’t worn to ward off leprechaun pinches, as one legend has it. Click here to learn the roots and then scroll through a roundup of St. Paddy’s Day events around the globe (and one in space).
Featured Story
First Stadium Built for a National Women’s Soccer League Team Opens in Missouri
Courtesy of Kansas City Current
Olé! In big news for soccer fans — and even bigger news for women’s sports — the first stadium built specifically for a National Women’s Soccer League team is officially in play. Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the 11,500-seat stadiumwas christened yesterday, when the Kansas City Current faced off against the Portland Thorns. “I’m very happy not only for Kansas City,” said KC Current midfielder Debinha, “but also for women’s soccer.” And the players aren’t the only ones excited about the new venue, which sits on seven acres of land near the Missouri River: Season tickets are already sold out.
Spring is nearly here, and that means more running around — to sporting events, picnics, nights out on the town, and whatever else you fill your time with during the warm, light-filled months. It also means it’s important to pay a bit more attention to your hydration, which is why we recommend LMNT. LMNT is a junk-free way to hydrate, with a science-backed electrolyte ratio that includes 1,000 milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium, and 60 milligrams of magnesium. The delicious flavors are an added bonus, and Nice News readers can get a free sample pack with every purchase to taste them all. Pro tip: Try the Chocolate Medley trio before it’s gone for good.
Teenagers love smartphones, right? This is a common assumption, along with the idea that young people are addicted to their devices. But while the overuse aspect of that assumption might be generally true, teens’ real feelings about their phones are much more nuanced, a recent Pew Research survey found. Most teenagers in the U.S. — 74% — said not having their phones often or sometimes makes them feel happy. Similarly, 72% said it’s peaceful to be phone-less. More than a third noted that they spend too much time on their smartphones, and many in that group reported cutting back on their usage. “Teens who report spending too much time on social media and smartphones are especially likely to report cutting back on each,” the report reads. “For instance, roughly 6 in 10 teens who say they are on social media too much say they have cut back.” The participants also acknowledged the benefits of being born in the digital age: 69% said smartphones make it easier to pursue hobbies and interests; 65% said the devices help them be creative; and 45% said they’ve made it easier for youth to do well in school. Explore more of the survey results.
Tech
TSA Is Piloting Self-Screening Security Lanes to Improve Passenger Experience
Self-checkout lanes at retail stores were first introduced in the 1980s, but, as anyone who’s shopped at a Target or major grocery chain knows, they’ve really taken off in the past two decades. Now, the Transportation Security Administration is adopting the same concept for airport security. As of March 11, passengers with TSA PreCheck departing from Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport can elect to participate in a new, self-screening pilot program. TSA officers are still checking IDs and performing secondary screenings of flagged luggage, but passengers scan their own bags and themselves with limited additional interaction with agents. John Fortune, a program manager with the Department of Homeland Security, said the goal isnot to make security lines move faster, but rather to improve the passenger experience. “We would love it if this ultimately speeds things up, but this is not the primary purpose at this point,” he told The Washington Post. “It’s primarily to reduce the officer burden at the checkpoint and make this a more pleasant, passenger-friendly experience.” See how it works.
Humanity
Meet the First American Woman to Sail Solo Around the World
@Colebraueroceanracing/ Instagram
After setting off from A Coruña, Spain, on Oct. 29, sailor Cole Brauer provided regular updates to her Instagram followers — now numbering nearly half a million — about her journey to circle the globe. Some posts were harrowing, such as the one in which she shared that rough seas had led to bruised ribs. Others, such as the one in which she shared that she had finally finished, were pure joy. “So stoked! Thank you to everyone that came together and made this process possible,” Brauer wrote on Thursday, March 7, after landing back in A Coruña. At 29, she was the youngest and only woman in the group of sailors who set off on the Global Solo Challenge in October. And now, she holds the title of the first American woman to race nonstop around the world alone. “I think that it takes a lot of strength to actually push and try to strive into this industry, and I really want women to understand that it’s possible,” she said on Today. Brauer added in another interview with NBC: “It would be amazing if there was just one other girl that saw me and said, ‘Oh, I can do that, too.’” Check out photos from her finish.
Norah Jones first made her mark on the music scene with the dreamy jazz hit “Don’t Know Why” in 2002. Now, over two decades later, she’s released her ninth studio album, Visions. The joyous, 12-track record features Jones singing about feeling free and accepting all that life brings, and many of the song ideas came to her in the middle of the night or right before she fell asleep — hence the album title.
Something We Love
ZWILLING Stainless Steel Grilling Tools
Warm weather is on the horizon, which means so are barbecues and picnics.Whether you’re a gung-ho grill master or a casual enthusiast, you need the right tools for outdoor cooking, and this stainless steel set has all the essentials. It comes with a basting brush, meat fork, spatula, tongs, and handy storage pouch. Need recipes? Grab The Barbecue! Bible for 500 ideas.
These days it’s called X and has competition from the likes of Threads and Mastodon, but when the social networking service Twitter made its debut 18 years ago, it was a one-of-a-kind platform for self-expression. Users could post brief snippets about their lives using 140 characters or less — and the very first person to do so was one of the company’s co-creators, Jack Dorsey. Click the photo to learn more about Twitter’s history and see that milestone tweet, which fetched $2.9 million when it was auctioned for charity in 2021.
Recover Better With LMNT
LMNT is the perfect pick-me-up right when you wake up, following a workout, or the morning after a late night. The electrolyte drink mix can help prevent and eliminate headaches, muscle cramps, fatigue, and more. And it comes in convenient single-serve packets that are perfect for keeping in your purse, car, and gym bag.
