The Yes! Digest -- July 28th, 2010

SPECIAL ALL HOW-TO EDITION!

For music festival goers and people who commute to work on public transportation: How to walk efficiently through crowds. (via Wired)

For students: How to email your professor. This good, hilarious advice might just help you get that extension. (via The Rumpus)

For Unitarian Universalist young adults who want to help revitalize YA ministry: Join Kinsi at Spirituality and Sunflowers for his series on the topic.

For those who find themselves in sticky, etiquette-related situations: How to avoid being rude. (via Mighty Girl)

For people who want to eat better---and do it with their friends: How to start a dinner co-op! (via GOOD)

For do-gooders who want to do better: How to "spice up your charitable efforts." (via Slate)

For people with squirrels in the attic: How to get a wild animal out of your house. (via Apartment Therapy)

For moms and dads: How to parent with more joy and more sanity. Scroll down to the comment section for pearls of wisdom. (via Mission Amy K.R.)

For those of us in need of a little summer fun: How to make your own "extended polymer chains from household chemicals"---or, in other words, Silly Putty. Sylvia of the Super-Awesome Mini Maker Show shows us how. She's really great. (via Craft)
 
For gardeners without green space (and veggie-loving homeowners without green thumbs): How to collaborate with your neighbors to grow and share produce using "free yardsharing service" Hyperlocavore.

The Yes! Digest -- July 22nd, 2010

 This is: Spoonerism Day. Celebrate the birthday of William Archibald Spooner (and the "peculiar speech error" that came to bear his name) by reading "The Mion and the Louse"!

Spirit food: "The answer is built right into the word": Amy Krouse Rosenthal on kindness.

Brain food:

• Reasons why the moon landing---which happened 41 years ago this week---was not a hoax.
• "40 Things You Need To Know About The Next 40 Years" (via The Smithsonian)
• Is that food in your fridge still safe to eat? What's the deal with expiration dates, anyway? StillTasty tells you everything you need to know.

Today's young adults:

• Find the Harley-Davidson brand appealing.
• Are "unaware of meat-cancer link."

A joy: Use of this gel could reduce a woman's risk of contracting HIV by up to 54 percent.

Churchy things/A concern: "A Florida church with "Islam is of the devil" signs in its front lawn plans to host an "International Burn A Quran Day," on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks this year." (via The Pew Forum)

UU voices: At AlterNet, Be Schofield wonders if religious liberals are "providing legitimacy and credibility for fundamentalism, violence, oppression and bigotry done in the name of religion." (via The Friendly Atheist)

Good answer: Thanks to "student researchers at the University of Cambridge," the world finally knows how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop.

Curiosities:

• Your weekly dose of Muppet: The Swedish Chef makes popcorn (and) shrimp; performs electronica. (via BoingBoing)
• The 11 Most Overrated Things Ever (via The Huffington Post)
• Do you need to say you're sorry? Call the Anonymous Apology Line.

How to: Have the perfect handshake. (This mathematical formula can teach you how!) (via The Awl)

Young adults of note: Carte Goodwin, a 36 year-old lawyer, has been appointed to fill the senate seat left vacant by Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who died last month at the age of 92. (Goodwin is now the youngest person serving in the senate.) Goodwin's first act after being sworn in this week was to vote to extend unemployment benefits to those Americans who have been out of work for longer than 26 weeks.

The Yes! Digest -- July 15th, 2010

 This is: Gummi Worm Day! The creepy candy is 29 this year, which makes it (technically) a young adult! Celebrate by making (and sharing) some dirt cake.

Spirit food: "Something only you can see" -- Filmmaker Jean Sebastien Monzani wants to help you gain access to happy secrets. (via The Rumpus)

Brain food:

• Last month, we found out that caffeine doesn't work the way we think it does. So how does it work, exactly? 
• Gravity is an illusion! (So says this guy.)

Today's young adults:

• Benefit from playing violent video games.
• Are "being hit with unfair charges, fines or incarcerations."
• Are choosing to vacation with their parents.

A joy: Evidence that social is for more than just bullying or wasting time. "[P]eople who are 20, 30 or 40 years beyond graduation are using Facebook to re-establish relationships with teachers and express gratitude and overdue respect." (via The New York Times)

A concern/UU news: The Rev. Paul Sawyer, minister emeritus at the Throop Unitarian Universalist Church of Pasadena, California, died this week of pancreatic cancer. His obituary really makes me wish I'd known him. (via The Los Angeles Times)

Good answer!: Scientists in Great Britain claim to have solved the ancient chicken-egg conundrum. So which really did come first?

Churchy things:

"[W]e have on one hand the persisting intuitive sense that the universe is not alien to us, that our existence is not accidental and our complexity and brilliance are not simply unaccountable extravagances on the part of evolution. On the other hand we have the conviction, also no doubt intuitive to the degree that it is strongly held, that we are indeed creatures of accident, alone with our brilliance unless accident has come up with like creatures elsewhere." --- the fabulous Marilynne Robinson writes, at the Huffington Post, on science and religion.

Curiosities:

• Your weekly dose of Muppet: A history of Muppet bands, including "Nine Inch Snails." 
• Just lovely: here, the history of evolution told in graffiti. (via Brain Pickings)
• Two American institutions are rebranding:  the YMCA is now just "The Y," and the NPR in National Public Radio now stands for...nothing.

How to: Sew! If you've always wanted to learn how and are in need of a summer project, join Leigh-Ann at Freckled Nest for her online HOME EC course, which starts today!

 Young adults of note: In the first installment of the Rumpus's "Talks With Teachers" column, an anonymous  YA high school teacher from Brooklyn talks about her students, what drew her to teaching, and more.