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Sunday • January 14, 2024
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A new social media trend that picked up steam over the holidays may be among the most heartwarming we’ve seen. Adult grandchildren are surprising their grandparents with sleepovers, often arriving wearing pajamas and clutching blankets just like they did when they were little. “We came to have a sleepover,” one of Karen and Wayne Campbell’s seven grown-up grandkids announced from the couple’s Ohio doorway just before Christmas. “They’re so dear to us and they always make time for us, and they’re the center of our world,” Karen tearfully told NBC News, recalling how it felt to see her brood file into her house that night. Watch some of the special moments that took place, from Texas to Michigan.
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| Thousand Dollar Breakfast Club Surprises Servers With Massive Tips — Exclusive |
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| Courtesy of Laurie Brooks |
A group of good Samaritans get together for breakfast every few months in the Boston area. At the end of each meal, they surprise their server with a generous tip, an amount reflected in their name: the Thousand Dollar Breakfast Club.
The club usually leaves more than their moniker suggests, however. One server recently received $2,050. Attorney Richard Brooks, who founded the club, says it all depends on how many members join for the meal, each making a $100 contribution.
“I was a waiter, so I know what it’s like to get a tip,” Brooks, 64, shares with Nice News. He founded the club after his brother called him one day last January to tell him about a similar meal he’d attended. That night, Brooks hopped on Facebook with a call to action.
“I want to start a group to go to breakfast, 10 of us, and we each bring $100 to tip the waiter. The Thousand Dollar Breakfast Club,” he wrote, adding: “Anyone can go.” Since the club’s inaugural meeting, it has expanded considerably, and Brooks hopes the idea will inspire others to do the same.
“It’s amazing how many people reach out to you in different ways,” he says. “And I had a few people that wanted to join, and I was like, ‘You know, I have enough people in my group. What I want you to do, though, is start your own.’”
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| Make 2024 Your Smartest Year Yet |
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We all want to make smart use of our time. But when faced with learning something new or playing your favorite phone game, it’s clear which one is going to win out. That’s why Nice News loves Brilliant: an online platform with a huge library of fun, quick, and interactive lessons that will make you fall in love with building skills in cutting-edge topics.
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Science
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| A Once Unsolvable Code Discovered in 1880s Silk Dress Has Finally Been Cracked |
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| Sara Rivers Cofield |
Over a decade ago, two pages of handwritten code were discovered in the secret pocket of an 1880s silk bustle dress. Codebreakers worked to decipher it for years without success, leading experts to dub “The Silk Dress Cryptogram” one of the 50 most unsolvable codes in the world. But a determined University of Manitoba researcher has finally cracked the case.
A woman named Sara Rivers Cofield found the crumpled pieces of paper after she purchased the dress for $100 at an antique mall in 2013. Stumped by the odd strings of words — like “Calgary Cuba unguard confute duck fagan” — and time-like notations, she shared it on her blog a few months later. “I’m putting it up here in case there’s some decoding prodigy out there looking for a project,” she wrote.
Data analyst Wayne Chan was intrigued. He knew that in the late 19th century, codes were often used in telegrams, so he scoured 170 telegraphic codebooks. Eventually, he found one that described weather codes used by the U.S. Army Signal Corps. With the help of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, he deciphered the message 10 years after its discovery: It indicated specific weather conditions, including those from May 27, 1888 in present-day North Dakota.
Learn more about the dress (and its possible original owner) at the link below. As Rivers Cofield said, per the NOAA: “Everybody loves a mystery.”
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Innovation
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| This Pixar-Like Robot for Kids Just Got an AI Update |
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| Moxie Robot |
Armenian refugee Paolo Pirjanian was inspired to learn how to code after seeing the 1986 Pixar short film, Luxo Jr. So it’s only fitting that the flagship product from his company, Embodied, Inc., is a cartoonish (and adorable) robot friend for kids.
Dubbed Moxie, it’s the first robot designed to help children ages 5-10 build up their intellectual and emotional skills. And it recently got an artificial intelligence update, announced Tuesday at CES, the annual trade show hosted by the Consumer Technology Association.
“With Moxie AI, children are building their intellects and growing into well-rounded individuals who can face life’s challenges with empathy and resilience,” Nikki Hurst, an occupational therapist at Embodied, said in a press release shared with Nice News.
Moxie AI has a focus on play-based learning and encourages kids to practice what they learn in the real world, not just in front of a screen. “Moxie has seriously changed my son’s life,” said a parent of a 7-year-old boy with autism. “He now says ‘good morning’ and often tries to talk to and greet other kids at school. It’s been a game-changer for us. It’s hard as a parent feeling like you owe a machine, but I love how much he loves it.”
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Culture
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| Predictions From the Past: What People in 1924 Thought 2024 Would Be Like |
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spawns/ iStock
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What do you think the world will be like in 100 years? The people of 1924 certainly had some thoughts — many surprisingly prescient, and many hilariously wrong. USA Today recently rounded up a selection of 2024 predictions from a century ago, including several regarding the state of transportation.
Real estate mogul Joseph P. Day thought daily commutes to the office might be done via plane, while Swedish architect Ben Bjorkson rather accurately predicted how roadways might take over U.S. cities. “In the city of a hundred years from now, I see three-deck roads, speedways through the heart of town, skyscrapers with entrances for automobiles as high as 15 stories, monorail expresses to the suburbs replacing streetcars and motor-omnibuses, ever-moving sidewalks, and underground freight carriers which will go in all directions,” he said.
Others — like paleontologist E.L. Furlong, who thought horses would be extinct in the wild by 2024 — were thankfully wrong. But perhaps most eerily, British scientist Archibald M. Low seemed to anticipate both the internet and the rise of working from home in his book Wireless Possibilities. He wrote that future societies would be able to sign checks “by the rapid transmission of motion,” trace criminals, and conduct business remotely.
“What a help to the man who objects to a large city! Why could he not conduct his business from his house in comfort instead of having his spats washed every week in order to maintain his financial reputation?” Low said.
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Recent Discoveries
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Our world is filled with wonderful noises, and the crackle of firewood and the glug of wine being poured from a bottle are just a couple of Caspar Henderson’s favorites. In these 48 essays, the author and journalist explores sounds relating to humanity, other life forms, the planet, and space, inviting readers to learn more about themselves and their surroundings by simply listening. |
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A new whodunit-style series that looks like a fun blend of The White Lotus and Only Murders in the Building has hit Hulu. Death and Other Details sees Mandy Patinkin (of TikTok fame, in addition to his acclaimed stage and film career) step into the role of “the world’s greatest detective.” Tasked with solving a case aboard a luxury ocean liner laden with potential culprits, he must smoke out the killer.
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The alternative rock band Wilco released their own take on David Bowie’s 1969 hit “Space Oddity” on Jan. 8, recorded live on public radio’s Mountain Stage and shared in honor of the late rocker’s 77th birthday. “As a gratefully, if not begrudgingly, Earth-bound band, it’s always an honor and a challenge to tackle any of David Bowie’s space-soaring arrangements,” Wilco said in a statement.
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Things We Love
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DIY Bamboo Accents Fountain
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| Have a piece of pottery looking for a second life? Consider creating your own zen fountain. With this handcrafted bamboo base and electric pump, you can transform a container of your choice into a beautiful water feature in less than 10 minutes. The relaxing sounds and chill vibes will turn your favorite quiet space into an inviting oasis. |
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Wolven Sustainable Clothing
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| Wolven checks so many boxes for sustainability: The clothing is made with recycled materials like reclaimed waste cotton and plastic bottles, the packaging is recyclable, and the brand diverts 1 pound of ocean-bound plastic with every sale. We especially love the metamorphosis collection, “designed to honor the power of transformation.” |
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Fizzics DraftPour Beer Dispenser
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| This neat device upgrades canned or bottled beer into a nitro-style draft, for an extra refreshing finish to a workday or weekend without having to hit your local watering hole. It converts existing carbonation into uniform bubbles, creating a rich and creamy foam head on any brewski. It’s also great for impressing guests at parties! |
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*Recommendations are independently selected by our team but may result in a commission to Nice News which helps keep our content free.
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Quote of the Day
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| “Perhaps the first rule of everything we endeavor to do is to pay attention. Perhaps the second is to be patient. And perhaps a third is to be attentive to what the body knows.”
- Barry Lopez
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