With the fall of Afghanistan, I’ve been reflecting on my travel experiences there as a 23-year-old backpacker on the “Hippie Trail” from Istanbul to Kathmandu. Yesterday and today, it’s a poor yet formidable land that foreign powers misunderstand and insist on underestimating. In this journal entry from 1978, stow away with me for another dreamy day in Herat, Afghanistan. Monday, July 31, 1978: Herat I didn’t stir for nine hours. After breakfast we picked up our rental bikes and began a little adventure. It felt good to have wheels. We could stop when we wanted and, if the people got…
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May 26th Birthday Horoscope 2025-2026 MORE BIRTHDAYS If Today is Your Birthday: May 26th The Year Ahead Forecast for May 2025 to May 2026 If You Were Born Today, May 26: You are highly insightful and often help others better understand themselves. Artistically gifted, you have a natural creative bent in addition to general “smarts.” You are exceptionally hard-working and quite ambitious—a combination that virtually guarantees success. Your determination is at your core, even though you can sometimes appear scattered. Famous people born today include Helena Bonham Carter, John Wayne, Peter Cushing, Peggy Lee, Miles Davis, Lauryn Hill, Stevie…
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Ahead of our League of Travelers trip to northern Vietnam, R&K’s Charly Wilder caught up with Daniel Nguyen, an activist, distiller, researcher, and our host for this fall’s journey into the highlands and beyond. How has K-Pop influenced the dining scene of Hanoi? What can a red rice noodle dish in the mountains of northwest Vietnam tell us about the origins of phở? If you want to understand Vietnam’s present-day culinary landscape, you’d be hard pressed to find a more knowledgeable guide than Daniel Nguyen. Raised in California by Vietnamese parents, Nguyen came to the country a decade ago to…
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Costco Wholesale has for their Members: Bosch 800 Series Top Control Towel Bar Handle Dishwasher (SHX78CC5UC) on sale for $1,449.99 + earn a $250 Costco Shop Card with this purchase. Delivery is free and includes Basic Installation and Haul Away. Thanks to Community Member addtd2sd for sharing this deal. Note: Availability for delivery may vary. About this Item: CrystalDry™: transforms moisture into heat up to 176°F to give dishes, even plastics, the ultimate dry. PrecisionWash® with PowerControl™: for the deepest clean. Extremely Quiet Operation at 42 dBA: creating a dishwasher so quiet, you can’t always tell it is running –…
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This week the news features Gemini: double duty. The Mercury-ruled Gemini new moon on Monday takes place on the heels of newly Gemini Mercury’s sextile to Aries Neptune. The divine plan is actionable, and it’s got a trick up its sleeve. There’s more to this project than meets the eye. In addition and exposition, Mercury trines retrograde Pluto in Aquarius through midday Tuesday for an intensity of sensation that affects all levels of awareness and communication. Curiosity is both dangerous and unavoidable, and it’s also the key to turning the play. Dangerous as in delightfully dangerous. Who doesn’t want to…
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Blue phosphorescent OLEDs can now last as long as the green phosphorescent OLEDs already in devices, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated, paving the way for further improving the energy efficiency of OLED screens. “This moves the blues into the domain of green lifetimes,” said Stephen Forrest, the Peter A. Franken Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and corresponding author of the study in Nature Photonics. “I can’t say the problem is completely solved — of course it’s not solved until it enters your display — but I think we’ve shown the path to a real solution that has been…
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As much as I love hostels, there is something nice about the luxuriousness of a hotel: the clean room, comfy bed, desk, iron, strong shower, and bottled soap for the taking (errr…I mean borrowing). They are a quiet, relaxing respite from the world. But luxury comes at a price. Hotels aren’t cheap and I hate spending money on a room I am only going to be in for a few hours. Often, even at my age, I would much rather stay in a hostel (private room though!), which costs less, has more social interaction, and doesn’t make you feel as…
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Update: This popular deal is still available. Baseus Brand Store via Amazon has Baseus 0.3″ Ultra Slim 5000mAh MagSafe Portable Charger (Space Grey) on sale for $35.99 – $16.20 (45%) off when you apply promo code U6KGSV4Z (or automatically applied in cart via link) = $19.79. Shipping is free. Baseus Brand Store via Amazon also has Baseus 10000mah Picogo Magsafe Portable Ultra Slim Charger Qi2 Certified Wireless Power Bank on sale for $49.99 – $5 (10%) off when you ‘clip’ the coupon on the product page – $15 off when you apply promo code LDOEZMV7 at checkout = $29.99. Shipping…
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Skating monster by Hieronymus Bosch, Wikimedia Commons This first ran January 3, 2019. I don’t know if Emily ever bought disability insurance or not. — Ed. “This is a nightmare,” I said to my boyfriend as we walked up to a skating rink in El Dorado Hills, California. The “Family Friendly Winter Wonderland” was in a shopping mall surrounded by faux-Tuscan mansions, and the rink was packed from barrier to barrier. Pete promised peppermint bark and beer if I stuck with our plan, though, so we went ahead and rented skates. A miniature choo-choo train chugged around the perimeter of…
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With the fall of Afghanistan, I’ve been reflecting on my travel experiences there as a 23-year-old backpacker on the “Hippie Trail” from Istanbul to Kathmandu. Yesterday and today, it’s a poor yet formidable land that foreign powers misunderstand and insist on underestimating. In this journal entry from 1978, stow away with me as I ride 500 miles across Afghanistan and explore the capital city of Kabul. Tuesday, August 1, 1978: Herat to Kabul At 4:00, we were woken up and it was dead night. No one should be awake at that hour but there I sat on the edge of my…