Angeles-based artist Nancy Baker Cahill recently released 4th Wall, an iOS app that allows audiences across the globe to view her drawings in their own environments through the wonders of augmented reality. With AR, they can become a part of many different environments, at least temporarily. Over the last few weeks, her work has turned up in some surprising places, a few of which have been documented on the app’s Instagram feed. They’ve flown through the sky above Malawi, dangled over a London street, and floated down the Los Angeles River. One even traveled the baggage carousel at Los Angeles International Airport. With an app, Cahill’s drawings can go anywhere.  “It really is…

The phrase “girl power” may have been popularized in the 1990s, but the sentiment is alive and well in the Land Down Under. Recently, authorities in Western Australia instituted a rule change that allows girls to wear pants and shorts in public schools in the state. The change, which bucks decades of tradition, was prompted by an impassioned plea from Sofia Myhre, an 11-year-old student in Perth, Australia. Sofia’s handwritten letter to the state’s education minister, Sue Ellery, argued that being limited to skirts and dresses is “really unfair.” “I think it’s really unfair that my brothers have been allowed to wear shorts, and all through primary school I haven’t…

The Trump Administration has helped create a climate that makes people of color and the LGBT community feel less safe. The most obvious evidence is that the president’s own slogan, “Make America Great Again,” (MAGA) has become a rallying cry for bigots. The most recent example was an incident involving “Empire” star Jussie Smollet. He was allegedly beaten in front of his apartment in Chicago by two men who poured bleach on him, wrapped a rope around his neck, yelled homophobic slurs, and claimed, “This is MAGA country.” During the Obama years, nobody committed any hate crimes while yelling, “Hope! Change!” His slogan was used to uplift people. Vice-President Mike Pence…

President Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in prison on Thursday for charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Feder Judge T.S. Ellis technically sentenced Manafort to 47 months in prison, far shorter than the recommended sentence of more than 20 years that came from Mueller and his team. Even more surprising, Ellis is giving Manafort credit for the nine months he’s already been behind bars, meaning he will likely be out of prison in just over three years if not sooner. And it’s unlikely Manafort will be serving “hard time” compared to your typical incarcerated individual. His lawyer is already pushing for Manafort…

Last Tuesday, January 8, I had the opportunity to attend The Saturday Evening Post’s event at Michael’s restaurant in New York City. The purpose of the event, which was co-hosted by Publishing Executive, was twofold: to toast the winner and finalists of the Post’s first annual Great American Fiction Contest while also celebrating the recent redesign of the magazine. Michael’s Garden Room was packed with people when I arrived a little after 6 p.m., a palpable sense of excitement already hovering in the air. Writers, editors, agents, and reporters were crowding around the oversized reproduction of the Post’s Jan/Feb cover, complimenting the vibrant painting of Shirley MacLaine and—inspired by one…

Most of us know children who can run and play for hours and hours, taking only short rests. As a parent or caregiver, it can be exhausting. For scientists, why this is the case has long been the source of debate — is it due to fitness? Or something else? Our study published in April looked at performance and recovery of children and adults doing strenuous cycling. It shows children not only out-perform most adults, but can perform as well as highly-trained adult endurance athletes, and then recover even faster afterward. Children’s muscles are different Repeated experiments have shown that the muscles of children tend to fatigue more slowly than…

Six months ago, when my family moved to a new town, they chose a mostly Arab neighborhood — they just arrived too late. All the Arabs had moved out years ago except for old Mr. Hajjar, who owned the corner store down the street from our apartment — or used to. I found out he died one warm Friday when my friends and I went to get ice cream. With Mr. Hajjar’s shop closed, we had to walk all the way downtown to get soft-serve. I missed Mr. Hajjar and his soft-serve ice cream, the way he always gave me extra pistachios. He was the only one who had pistachios…

Afghan security force inspects the site of a suicide bomb in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, 03 December 2017. NurPhoto/ Press Association. All rights reserved. Afghanistan is at a crossroads facing two possible futures: indefinite violent conflict, or gradual progress towards sustainable peace. Choices made now over strategy, tactics and resources can tip the balance either way. The recent declaration of a temporary ceasefire by both the Afghan Government, and, for the first time since they were ousted from power in 2001, the Taliban, could be a first step on an incremental journey towards peace. But what should happen next and how can this gradual progress towards peace be supported? Why is a…

It’s easy to be a dick on Tinder. But thanks to the internet, it’s also easy to publicly call someone out for being a dick on Tinder. This is the story of a guy named Nick. Like many 24-year-old dudes, he was on Tinder, looking for that sweet, NSA (no strings attached, not National Security Agency) love. But a guy named Kevin, who went to college with Nick, exposed his former friend for being a racist, abusive jerk to women on the popular dating app. Kevin put Nick on blast in a now-viral Facebook post, which includes screenshots of a conversation between Nick and Kevin’s female friend.   The post, which…

Lily Manheim has a new lover. Howard is slightly too young, too tall, and too nice, but he is, for the moment, hers. Lily’s daughter Natalie would not approve of him, her estranged husband Del would not like him, but her dog, Britney Spears, who actually shares her life and home, adores him. And, Lily thinks, when she isn’t overanalyzing, she may adore him too. But such moments, when she is not overanalyzing, are remarkably few. Her lover knows this. He knows that her ongoing divorce has left her uncertain and fearful, angry, and afraid. That Howard knows this and allows her to talk about it already makes him different…