Employee perks like climbing walls, vacation money, and on-site barbers have been a signature part of Silicon Valley’s start-up culture. But with venture capital funding drying up and cash-strapped businesses eager to get liabilities off the books, some companies have had to face the unthinkable: limiting the free-for-all.
Pasadena, California
Among the more thrilling scenes in the Harry Potter books and movies are the wizarding students’ games of Quidditch, a sort of airborne lacrosse played on flying brooms. Fans of the book have even created a terrestrial version of the game based on author J.K. Rowling’s descriptions.
Coverage of 2016’s bizarre primary season has painted the stereotypical Donald Trump supporter as white, working class, and uneducated. Trump’s popularity with that demographic led some early pundits to dismiss his candidacy, as there simply aren’t enough such voters to propel a candidate to victory.
DVD “seasons” are worth more than “series.” “Authentic” items are more valuable than “genuine” ones. A product for a classy “gent” costs more than one for a regular “man.”
Some of Britain’s iconic red phone booths may be filled once again with people making important calls—or printing documents, prepping for meetings, or sending emails.
Erik Varszegi knows his Legos. One of only a few dozen master builders the Lego Group employs around the world, Varszegi makes large-scale models that use thousands—if not millions—of the tiny plastic pieces at a time.
Some people have jobs the rest of us only dream about.
You cannot visit artist Maria Eichhorn’s new exhibit at London’s Chisenhale Gallery. In her newest piece “5 weeks, 25 days, 175 hours,” the Berlin-based artist has paid the gallery’s staff not to work. For the duration of the exhibit, the doors are locked, the staff is gone, and emails to the office are automatically deleted.
Nature can be brutal.
When the sixth season of Game of Thrones premieres on HBO this Sunday (April 24), one of the first thing fans will see is a camera panning across a map of Westeros, the fictional continent where the story begins. (Some may have already seen the opening credits sequence in 360-degree video.)
Buckingham Palace is seeking a social media editor. You can tweet for the Queen!
Some of the hottest items on the black market these days are nuts.
In a loss for democracy—and for science, and for defenders of justice and creativity everywhere—the UK has flatly rejected the will of its own people.
When California governor Jerry Brown signed the state’s new $15 per hour minimum wage earlier this month, some of the loudest cheers came from labor unions, longtime champions of a higher minimum wage.
California is home to a lot of people who think of themselves as independent: There are almost as many voters unaffiliated with any political party (4.13 million) as there are registered Republicans (4.82 million).
Adelanto, California is a dusty desert town just west of Interstate 15. Since the 1992 closure of George Air Force Base (once the area’s main employer), the town has struggled mightily to find a steady source of income.
If you have any memories of the original 8-bit Nintendo video game console, you probably remember the Nintendo Zapper, the light gun accessory that let users blast ducks and targets with questionable accuracy.
Multiple studies have shown that conflict-filled marriages can have negative effects on kids’ behavior, mental health, and physical well-being. New research published in the journal Health Psychology looks at the consequences of positive marital interactions on kids, and finds that witnessing affection between parents has health benefits of its own.
Springtime in the US means college admissions season. Elite schools are unveiling the chosen few who will make up their newly admitted class, with many noting successful applicants from all 50 states.
It’s an experiment unprecedented in scale. California lawmakers voted Thursday (Mar. 31) to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour for all workers. On the same day, New York governor Andrew Cuomo struck a similar deal with lawmakers to pay workers there $15 too.
The closest living creature to the mythical unicorn was the Elasmotherium sibiricum, a rhinoceros-like horned creature believed to have died out 350,000 years ago. Researchers at Russia’s Tomsk State University have determined that a skull recently found in Kazakhstan is roughly 29,000 years old. Our 100,000-year-old species did, in fact, once share the planet with unicorns.
You know the face: the frowning, skeptical expression you assume unconsciously upon hearing something you disagree with. It’s not just you, nor is it just a tic of the culture in which you operate.
What is it like to play a guitar in space? No less an authority than Canadian astronaut and former International Space Station (ISS) commander Chris Hadfield has the answer to that question.
