Chess can be a stressful game (particularly when it’s played at the bottom of a pool) — but Chess Peace is a different story. As its title suggests, the digital logic puzzle is less about conquering and more about coexisting: The aim is to place all pieces on the board so that none can capture another. Click here to download the free app for iOS.
— the Nice News team
Featured Story
Are You a People Pleaser? Break the Habit With These 8 Steps
Malte Mueller—fStop/Getty Images
Most of us strive to be good-natured, polite, and helpful. But habitually putting others’ happiness ahead of your own might make you a people pleaser — and it could cost you more than you realize.
People-pleasing is a defense mechanism that’s rooted in fear, not altruism, per Londyn Miller, a New York City-based psychotherapist and adjunct professor at Pepperdine University. Kindness and consideration differ from people-pleasing because they stem from “a place of empowerment and choice,” she tells Nice News. “You are being kind because you want to, not because you have to.”
Breaking the people-pleasing cycle doesn’t mean being selfish; in fact, it may even help you become a more supportive friend, colleague, and family member. Research suggests that setting boundaries and being true to yourself can improve your mental and physical health as well as deepen your relationships.
Your career lasts about 80,000 hours: 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, for 40 years. That’s a lot of time, making your job path one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make. Choose wisely, and you build a fulfilling career that actually matters. Choose poorly, and you could spend decades on meaningless work. So how do you make the right choice?
80,000 Hours is the first book to explore the research on which careers have the most impact. Based on over a decade of research, founder Benjamin Todd introduces a framework that’s helped thousands change paths. It covers what makes a dream job, the world’s most pressing problems, predictions on which jobs will be automated in the future, and more. If you’ve been thinking about changing careers, 80,000 Hours is here to help you choose the right one.
Arizona Desert Destination Is the Latest International Dark Sky Park
crbellette—iStock/Getty Images Plus
Stargazers, you may want to add this desert destination to your bucket list. Southwest Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was recently designated as an International Dark Sky Park following increased efforts to protect its nocturnal ecosystems, which are prone to disruption from artificial light.
Located in the Sonoran Desert, the world’s most biodiverse desert, the monument encompasses 330,000 acres and is home to several wildlife species that require darkness for survival, including mountain lions, moths, and bats.
Over the past decade, the team at Organ Pipe has updated more than 100 light fixtures, conducted astronomy evening programs and telescope nights, launched an astronomer-in-residence program, and more, all to “to preserve the magical landscape and promote dark-sky lighting and values,” DarkSky International Community Program Manager Michael Rymer said in a press release.
Along with bringing a host of resources to help Organ Pipe continue to protect its nighttime environment, the new designation honors land where humans were guided by the cosmos for thousands of years. Local biologist Craig Fischer said: “There is little as humbling and beautiful as spending time appreciating the desert’s diverse array of nocturnal critters navigating the landscape by starlight as even our ancestors once did.” Check out a map of other Dark Sky Places around the globe.
Science
Photographic Memory Is a Myth — Here’s What Research Really Says About Remembering
F.J. Jimenez—Moment/Getty Images
This article was written by Gabrielle Principe, a professor of psychology at the College of Charleston, for The Conversation.
Hollywood loves a superpower. Not all involve capes or cosmic rays. Some are cognitive: characters who can remember everything. In movies and on TV, viewers repeatedly encounter those with extraordinary minds who glance once at a page, a room, or a face — and later re-create every detail with surgical precision.
You see it everywhere: Suits, Sherlock, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Even in children’s literature there’s fifth grader Cam Jansen, who activates her photo-like memory by saying “Click!”
Most recently, it appeared in the television series The Pitt, set in a hospital emergency department. When the digital patient board suddenly went offline, medical student Joy Kwon saved the day by effortlessly reciting from memory every lost detail — names, rooms, doctors, conditions, vitals. It’s a gripping moment. The stakes are high, recall is perfect, and the implication is clear: Some people have minds that function like high-resolution cameras.
Learn what research says about photographic memory.
Culture
World’s Largest Operating Steam Locomotive Begins First-Ever East Coast Journey
Union Pacific
All aboard! The world’s largest operating steam locomotive kicked off the eastern leg of a rare coast-to-coast journey last week in honor of America’s 250th birthday, marking its first-ever tour to the East Coast. Departing from Cheyenne, Wyoming, Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 is set to make more than 50 whistle-stops in 10 states over the next two months, as well as host eight major public display events and a July Fourth celebration in Philadelphia.
Built in Schenectady, New York, and delivered to the Union Pacific Railroad in 1941, the 133-foot-long, 1.2 million-pound locomotive is the only operational Big Boy out of 25 that were constructed for transporting military equipment during World War II. Though 4014 was retired in 1961, Union Pacific reacquired it from a museum in 2013 and spent six years restoring it. “A steam locomotive is an amazing machine from a bygone era,” Ed Dickens, Union Pacific’s senior manager of steam operations, told USA Today. “You don’t have to be a rail fan for it to capture your imagination.”
The western leg of the tour began in April in Sacramento, California, and by the time 4014 concludes its northeast journey and returns to Cheyenne on July 29, Union Pacific officials project over 1 million people will have seen it. “When [people] come, they’re going to hear that whistle, and chances are they’re going to hear that whistle long before they see it,” Dickens said. “You’ll feel the ground rumbling, feel the heat ... emanating off this giant machine. This locomotive, it does not disappoint.” See all of 4014’s eastward stops.
Matt Haig’s 2020 novel, The Midnight Library, has sold over 15 million copies and is now being made into a movie starring Florence Pugh, so it’s safe to say the pressure is on for this companion book set in the same world. Published Tuesday, The Midnight Train follows 81-year-old Wilbur, a love-lorn man who yearns to return to the best days of his life: those spent with his ex-wife, Maggie. When he dies and finds himself aboard a magical steam train, he learns that he’ll be taking a trip back through time — but can’t interfere with what’s already transpired.
In Power Ballad, washed-up wedding singer Rick (Paul Rudd) is appalled to learn that Danny (Nick Jonas), a former boy band star he once jammed with, is using one of Rick’s songs to reignite his own career. The problem? Rick penned the tune so long ago, he doesn’t have any proof it was pilfered. Written and directed by John Carney, the musical comedy is an ultimately uplifting story about friendship and ambition, positioning both characters as simply people still holding onto their unrealized dreams. Catch it in theaters now.
This Week in History
London’s Iconic Big Ben Starts Ticking
May 31, 1859
English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images
If you were walking around London 167 years ago and needed the time, you could pull out a pocket watch — or, depending on how close you were to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, glance up at the newly installed Big Ben. Perched atop the 315-foot-tall Elizabeth Tower, the iconic clock began ticking on this day in 1859, though it would be another few weeks before its first chimes were heard.
Fun fact: While Big Ben has come to refer to the clock itself, the name is actually that of one of the five massive bells inside the belfry. Together, the bells — the largest of which weighs over 15 tons — create its well-known melody, originally composed for a clock in Cambridge. Have a listen.
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