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Monday • February 19, 2024
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Today is Presidents Day, a federal holiday initially established to celebrate the Feb. 22 birthday of the first U.S. president, George Washington. It was later moved to always be on the third Monday in February (to offer workers a three-day weekend) and now serves as a celebration of all presidents. Fun fact: Though four former presidents were born in February — Washington, William Henry Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan — their actual birthdays are all either too early or too late to coincide with Presidents Day, per History.com. Test your U.S. history knowledge today and see if you can put all 46 chief executives in order.
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Culture
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| Why Engagements Are Expected to Rise in 2024 |
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madisonwi/ iStock |
If you’ve been seeing more diamond rings on your social media feed lately, you’re not the only one — and it’s not just because of Valentine’s Day. Wedding industry players are expecting 2024 to be a banner year for engagements, CBS News reports.
Signet Jewelers is anticipating that a record 2.5 million couples will get engaged this year, and dress retailer Bella Bridesmaids said it saw a 30% uptick in business in January alone. “We are just really shaping up to have one of our best seasons yet,” owner Erin Wolf said.
Sarah Schreiber, associate editorial director at Brides magazine, said the COVID-19 pandemic is likely the cause of the 2024 engagement boom.
“The singles were not mingling,” she said of the 2020 shutdown. “When those pandemic restrictions lifted, everybody came out, the dating seemed [to blossom] again. Relationships boomed. Consider the fact [that] the average American couple takes about three years to get engaged. Everybody is getting ready to take that next step.”
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Engage Your Brain — and the World — Through Language
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We’ve been there: You book an international vacation far in advance with hopes of learning some of the local language before you hop on the plane. But the time passes by, and all of a sudden the trip is right around the corner. That’s when you turn to Babbel.
The language learning platform offers fun and interactive lessons that keep you motivated and on track. And the best part is that with just 10 minutes of practice per day, you’ll be able to engage in real-world conversations within three weeks. Learn to speak like a local — and get a special 60% off discount for Presidents Day.
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*Please support our sponsors! They help us keep Nice News free. ♡
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Everyday Heroes
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| (Desk) Rent Is Due: This Teacher Has a Unique Approach to Financial Literacy Lessons |
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Vectorian/ iStock
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In Shelby Lattimore’s third grade class, the students have jobs, pay rent for their desks, and take part in a thriving economy (with fake money, of course). The 25-year-old math teacher came up with the idea for a “class economy” when she noticed that engagement and attendance were slipping. It worked — and has the happy consequence of teaching the kids financial literacy.
“There are three main aspects of what is going on in the class. [One is] jobs, so they get ‘paid’ for their jobs. Two [is] any type of bills or fines so that can be rent and fines where they’re paying me. And then three, our reward system, to reward good behavior,” Lattimore explained to Good Morning America. “They get to buy things and it’s not always tangible things. It could just be eating lunch upstairs, or eating with me, [or] being the teacher for the day.”
The “jobs” include classic roles like line leader or pet helper for the class fish, Knuckles. The kids love it, as do their parents and caregivers. Many students at the Title 1 school in Charlotte, North Carolina, are affected by generational poverty, and having financial knowledge at such a young age could help them break that cycle later in life.
“A lot of my students’ parents, they thank me when they hear about what’s going on in the classroom because their kids are learning something that they never learned at this age,” Lattimore said, adding, “That’s really the goal here, to not just impact them this year, but to keep it going.”
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Animals
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| Flight Attendant Helps Save 6 Flamingo Eggs After Incubator Stopped Working During Transport |
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stedenmi/ iStock
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Flight attendant Amber May was faced with an odd passenger request during an Alaska Airlines flight from Atlanta to Seattle over the summer: “Could you help me to keep some eggs warm?”
“I’d never been asked something like that before, so at first, I thought she wanted me to heat up some breakfast,” May, 52, told The Washington Post. But this passenger, an employee at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, wasn’t talking about scrambled eggs. She was carrying six Chilean flamingo eggs, and the incubator had stopped working before the flight even took off. May sprung to action, filling rubber gloves with warm water to create a “nest” for the eggs.
Other passengers heard what was happening and volunteered their sweaters and jackets. Together, they saved the eggs, and all six hatched into healthy chicks in September. As a thank you for her efforts, the zoo asked May to name one of them, and she chose Sunny, after her 6-month-old granddaughter.
She took Sunny to meet her namesake at the zoo, and said she looks forward to eventually telling her the story of how her grandmother helped save the imperiled birds. “Sunny really seemed to enjoy meeting the chicks — I hope to take her back [to the zoo] as often as possible as she grows up,” May said.
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In Other News
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Inspiring Stories
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Maximizing Hope
An Austin-based nonprofit hosts free laundry days for the unhoused community, which also serve as opportunities for caseworkers to connect with individuals in need and help them find housing. Learn all about the difference the program makes.
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Never too old for hip-hop
Meet Suni and the Seven Princesses: a group of South Korean women in their 80s who have become local celebrities for their rap performances. “It feels like I’m getting younger. ... Even if I’m old, I’m excited,” said Park Jeom-sun, the leader of the group.
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Post of the Day
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@DevonESawa
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Anyone else get told you were amazingly good at your parents’ least-liked chores? “My mom did this for bathroom cleaner, laundry folder, bed maker, weed puller.... wait a minute,” a fellow social media user commented below this post from Canadian actor Devon Sawa in 2020.
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Learn Better With Babbel
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Forget clunky apps and robotic learning. Babbel’s language lessons are crafted by real experts, not algorithms, ensuring you learn practical phrases and vocabulary used in everyday situations by native speakers. Time to start packing for that international trip.
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*Please support our sponsors! They help us keep Nice News free. ♡
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Quote of the Day
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| “I have an irrepressible desire to live till I can be assured that the world is a little better for my having lived in it.”
- Abraham Lincoln
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