For a short month, February is absolutely stacked with occasions. Between Valentine's Day, Presidents Day, Mardi Gras, and Lunar New Year, we can hardly keep up. But today's holiday is one we'd never forget: Random Acts of Kindness Day. We challenge you to go forth today and extend as many acts of kindness as you can, whether it's simply smiling at a stranger or signing up to volunteer. Here are some more ideas.
Must Reads
Developing your "friendship intuition" can help turn acquaintances into true pals — learn how
Amtrak's Largest Fleet Replacement Since 1971 Is in the Works
Kyle Ortiz—iStock/Getty Images Plus
Founded in 1971, Amtrak built many of its existing trains in the '70s and '80s, but a new fleet will soon catch the company up to the current century. In development now, Amtrak's Airo trainsets will mark its largest fleet replacement ever, providing a plethora of updated features that will render them more eco-friendly and easier to maintain with a better passenger experience. Along with lowering diesel particulate emissions by 90%, the new trains will boast larger windows, more spacious seating and individual power outlets, an updated cafe car with self-service options, and improved accessibility for people with disabilities. "We're jumping about 50 years into the future," Derek Maier, a senior director of the Airo program, told The New York Times. "It's a more open experience. It's better lit. It's newer materials." The first eight Airo trainsets, projected to be completed this year, will run between Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and Eugene, Oregon. But the entire fleet, which will consist of 83 trainsets costing $8 billion, will be constructed and rolled out across the U.S. in the coming years. "If you've ridden trains in Europe, you're going to say, 'OK, these are pretty normal train sets,'" said Jim Mathews, president of the Rail Passengers Association. "But if you haven't ridden trains in Europe, you're going to walk through these trains and be like, 'Holy crap, this is fantastic!'"
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Culture
Happy Lunar New Year — And Welcome to the Year of the Fire Horse
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If you haven't quite gotten around to your New Year's resolutions yet, consider starting them at the Lunar New Year, which begins today. Guided by the cycles of the moon, the Lunar New Year is a major holiday celebrated by Asian communities all over the world and an opportunity to look ahead with optimism. "Just as Christmas is a highlight of the year for many Western people, so is the Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, to the Chinese all over the world," Jianguo Chen, an associate professor of Chinese at the University of Delaware, previously told Good Housekeeping. The occasion marks the transition to spring and is typically observed with family reunions, festive foods, temple visits, lots of red, and other traditionsmeant to welcome in good vibes and sweep away bad luck. (We mean sweeping metaphorically, as cleaning on the first day of the Lunar New Year risks getting rid of any accumulated good luck — all cleaning should happen before the holiday.) This is the Year of the Fire Horse, running from Feb. 17 to Feb. 5, 2027 on the Gregorian calendar. In the Chinese zodiac, the horse is associated with confidence, intelligence, and independence, while fire is thought to amplify qualities like passion, charisma, and ambition. See what the Year of the Fire Horse is expected to bring and check your Chinese zodiac.
Humanity
How Hip-Hop and House Revolutionized Music and Culture
Raymond Boyd—Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
This article was written by Joycelyn Wilson, an assistant professor of ethnographic and cultural studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology, for The Conversation. There was a time when artists representing two of America's biggest homegrown musical genres wouldn't get a look in at the Grammys. Hip-hop and house both have their origins in the 1970s and early 1980s — in fact, they recently celebrated a 50th and 40th birthday, respectively. But it was only in 1989 that an award category for "best rap performance" started recognizing hip-hop's contribution to U.S. music, and house had to wait another decade, with the introduction of "best dance/electronic recording" in 1998. At this year's awards, which took place on Feb. 2, hip-hop and house artists were among the most talked about. House duo Justice and Kendrick Lamar, a hip-hop superstar who incorporates elements of house himself, were among those looking to pick up an award. Meanwhile, a nomination for a collaboration between DJ Kaytranada and rapper Childish Gambino shows how artists from both genres continue to feed off each other. And while both genres are now celebrated for their separate contributions to the music landscape, as a scholar of African American culture and music, I am interested in their commonality: Both are distinctly Black American art forms that originated on the streets and dance floors of U.S. cities, developing a devoted underground following before being accepted by — and transforming — the mainstream. Learn more about how hip-hop and house music have evolved.
In Other News
Superior space selfies incoming: NASA astronauts can now bring their smartphones with them to orbit (read more)
Canada's new $20 coin celebrates Ghana's Akan people in honor of Black History Month (read more)
Recent research identified potential risk factors associated with childhood food allergies (read more)
For the first time in 70 years, China's Yangtze River is showing signs of recovery from ecological decline (read more)
This football-shaped species from 307 million years ago may have been one of the first land-dwelling herbivores (read more)
Inspiring Story
Skills that create a second chance
Up to 80% of juvenile offenders wind up back in the criminal legal system within three years of their release, per the Council of State Governments' Justice Center — so one nonprofit is helping them find an alternate path. At Brooklyn, New York's Drive Change, teens and young adults who were part of the system receive culinary training, as well as mental health and professional development services, to increase their chances of securing future employment. "Culinary is a way that we can reel folks in through their bellies, but also through their soul," said Executive Director Kalilah Moon.
Eyes on Milano Cortina
Ranjith Kumar—NurPhoto/Getty Images
Two American superstars are set to compete in today's women's singles short program, the penultimate figure skating event of this year's Winter Games: Alysa Liu (pictured here) and Amber Glenn. Liu, who made her Olympics debut in 2022 at 16 years old, just helped Team USA win a gold medal in the figure skating team event on Feb. 8, subsequently breaking her medal while jumping around in excitement (don't worry, she quickly received a replacement). And Glenn, who's known for routinely landing triple axels and also competed in the gold-winning team event, made history this year as the first out LGBTQ+ woman to represent Team USA in figure skating. Both women are favored to medal today — catch the event starting at 12:45 p.m. ET.
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Odds & Ends
✈️ This grandma checked off a bucket list item in style 🌲 Nature is thriving in unexpected refuges ✨ Why dark spots get harder to address with age* 👶 How a professor took childcare into her own hands *Indicates a Nice News brand partnership or affiliate
Quote of the Day
"If you don't love your fellow man, woman, person, then you don't have anything."
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