Here are some miscellaneous things I learned in May. Hope you learned something that makes your life more fun or interesting or productive. (This month I’m linking up with Emily P. Freeman — if you have a blog, you should, too.)
- Calgary has the biggest network of urban pathways in North America. Maybe I’d already heard this, but I’ll give a shoutout to Calgary anyway! It’s a great place to walk or bike (if you can take the hills).
2. From age 15 to 31 Beatrix Potter kept a journal in code. (I need to learn more!)
3. In recent years attendance at the Toronto Zoo has declined, while it has increased in Calgary and San Diego. I wonder why.
4. I heard this tip, but haven’t tried it yet: oil your hands before cutting beets to prevent staining your skin.
5. You might have heard that I love learning terms for common experiences or phenomena. This month I learned the term “cuteness aggression” from this article. “There’s also an important psychological process at play when you laugh at loss or cry with joy. It’s related to ‘cuteness aggression,’ that overwhelming urge to squish a kitten, or pinch the crap out of a baby’s cheek. Google it, it’s a thing. When our brain gets flooded with one particular emotion it freaks out a bit and grabs a big handful of the opposite emotion, trying to keep an even keel. This is why some people start laughing when you tell them terrible news. Or why kids burst into tears when their parents give them a puppy for Christmas (watch the videos, they’re amazing).”