The short answer is yes, but with some very important caveats. Extracurricular activities help children figure out what their interests are and where their passion lies. However, we have to be open to the idea that, even though they expressed interest in something early on, they might not pursue it further or continue in it because somewhere along the way, they lose their passion for it or get bored.

We have to guide children and model what it means to pursue a certain interest or passion, or even just to walk with them in their journey toward discovering the thing that best fits them. So, in this regard, I would like to share a bit of my story.

I remember when I was in grade school, I was part of this speech and theatre arts club, not by choice but by compulsion, I would say. For one, I was a very impressionable kid when I was younger, and so whenever teachers tell me to do something, I would just do it. My English teacher volunteered me to be part of that club, and so I just went ahead and joined it.

To be fair, I quite liked some parts of that club although a lot of it was embarrassing. Being a shy kid, that was a nightmare for me. But through that experience, I learned how to suck it up and just do what you're told. It also gave me some confidence and provided space for practicing speaking and acting.

In a way, the experiences that I had in that club helped mold my personality and, props to my teacher for pushing us because it really opened up a whole world of opportunities for me. English isn't my first language, but that teacher drilled English into my tongue, my thoughts, and even my behavior and attitude. It's safe to say that it literally defined who I was going to be throughout high school and parts of my college life.

That wasn't the only extracurricular activity I had done in grade school. I was also part of a literature or creative writing club. Again, that was not by choice, but by compulsion. However, my writing teacher wasn't as forceful as our speech and theatre arts teacher. She was more gentle but very strict when it came to judging our essays and other written output.

These two extracurricular activities formed the foundation of what I was going to do and what paths I was going to take in the future. Of course, they didn't determine everything about my life. But they provided several avenues which I was able to consider, and again numerous opportunities.

I remember being ridiculed by people because I spoke in English without code-switching. It hurt since, from the perspective of a 12-year-old, being laughed at for doing as you're told seemed unreasonable. But anyway, things worked out in the end. And even though I had grievances from my English teacher for forcing us to speak in English and essentially, abandoning our native tongue for a time, in hindsight, I think it was a net positive for me.

If I were to be given a choice of which extracurriculars to participate in back then, I probably would have chosen something like the chess club or a special elective for coding and programming. Only later in life did I realize that I hadn't actually explored my passions a lot when I was a kid, and to be honest, I somewhat regret having wasted some time.

If I had been more adventurous and explored many different fields, endeavors, interests, and hobbies back in my pre-pubescent period, then I might have been able to pour all my energy, attention, and resources toward those things, and I might have been able to have a clearer goal in mind with regard to the direction I want to take my life.

Extracurricular activities may be considered as decorations on a person's résumé, something that they can show others to prove their capabilities or talents. But, it's more than that. It's what we use to help us figure out what it is exactly that we love to do. What ignites a burning passion in us to pursue something. It's what helps us find those things that cause us to get up every morning.

For some people, they may even use extracurricular activities as a means of relieving stress, finding community, discovering and bettering themselves, and learning what is truly important to them. So, although it is good for children to dedicate themselves to their academics, balancing that with some extracurriculars can help them.

It's important to note, again, that we also need to be aware of the limits that children have. Just as much as adults get burned out, children do too. Pushing them or forcing them to do something that they find no passion for will just lead to resentment in the end.

In my case, I found some benefit to what I had been forced to do. But, to be honest, I kind of liked it as well. Or, at least, I learned to like it. And I'm greatly benefitting from it today. However, it's really a different experience when somebody is pursuing something out of their own volition and initiative.

So, we too as parents or guardians, need to find the right balance on how to encourage and motivate our children to pursue what it is that they love, and the thing that they find most fulfillment in doing. That's what extracurricular activites are for.

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I am of the opinion that words are neutral. Just like the saying, sticks and stones may break my bones, and you can just fill in the rest. Some words may sound daunting, other words less so. Words can convey positive or negative meanings. But, words per se cannot swing the pendulum either way.

The way that we use words, our intentions, and the meanings that we want to convey with them, are what gives words their weight. How we say certain words despite how neutral they are can evoke certain emotions from people. So even the most benign, innocuous words can be taken as offensive or hurtful depending on how the speaker says them and how the listener receives them.

There are some words that we don't ever want to hear, because we have attached certain meanings to those words that bring out perhaps negative memories, emotions, or past experiences. Different people may consider different words annoying to them. But there are some words which, by consensus, people have found quite annoying.

The Marist Institute for Public Opinion has conducted yearly polls that asked Americans which words they found the most annoying. And for more than ten years, one word has consistently been elected as the most annoying word in the English language.

That word is "whatever". Now, this is what I mean when I say I believe words are neutral. Because the word "whatever" in and of itself, should not elicit such negative responses from people. However, when we look at the usage of the word and in which context it is being used, you can imagine why a lot of people find it loathsome.

According to the poll in 2019, 34% of Americans said they hated the word "whatever" and found it really annoying. We can try to dissect why that is, but I think anyone who has ever heard that word being said in conversation knows why, and you can imagine who it is that's saying it as well.

In my mind, I see a bratty, teenage girl using that word as a snide remark, or as a means of responding to someone with a sarcastic tone or a condescending attitude. Basically, it's used as a disrespectful comment when somebody doesn't agree with what you are telling them. Just imagine the film Mean Girls.

So yes. Depending on the way certain words are used, they can be very annoying. The second most annoying word or phrase voted on by 20% of respondents was the phrase "no offense but," which is odd because usually the statement that comes after that is quite offensive.

The other words or phrases on the list of 2019's most annoying English words or phrases were "dude" garnering 16% of the votes, "literally" getting 14%, and "please wait, I'll be right with you" with 9%. One particular thing to note about the survey was that, despite the age range, it appeared that "whatever" placed at the top for Americans 45 years and older, as well as those under 30.

So, which words in the English language do you find annoying?

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After reading this article by Melissa Dahl on The Cut, I realized that I may have had more friendship breakups than I thought. The concept of a "friendship breakup" never really occurred to me, and I've only encountered it now. But it's a deeply thought-provoking subject to explore.

I know about the act of "cutting ties" with people and this term "FO", short for "friendship over", which some people from my generation use similarly to say that they have cut ties with a friend of theirs. In these contexts, it is usually clearly apparent to both parties that the friendship has ended. So, in my mind, this is what pops up when I read "friendship breakup".

However, as I read further through this article, it became clear to me that there are cases when it's actually ambiguous. Those friendships which just fade away as you gradually drift apart from each other. It's the kind of "breakup" without closure. And perhaps one where you would be hard-pressed to get closure, since it will be awkward to broach the subject with the person in question.

The ambiguity, the feeling of "not knowing" why the friendship just fell apart is probably the main reason why these types of "friendship breakups" hurt more than romantic relationships.

With romantic relationships, it's often understood between both parties why it fell apart because it is made explicitly clear. You talk it out and you tell the other person that it's over. With some friendship breakups, it's not at all clear why you grew apart and just stopped talking to each other.

In my life, I have only considered one person with whom I have completely cut ties. She was my best friend when I studied abroad, and without going into too much detail, things gradually fell apart because it was getting more toxic. We couldn't see eye to eye and the expectations that we had from the friendship were widely disparate. Things accumulated and escalated until such a point when the bubble just burst and there was no other way to repair the friendship. It ended on a bad note.

But as Dahl recounts in her article, there are friendships that end in ambiguity. And that resonated with me because I think it cannot be avoided that certain friendships just naturally drift apart. For one, most of our friendships are formed during high school and college, so once we graduate and go our separate ways, those friendships just fade away until we happen to reconnect or meet in person unexpectedly.

I have made some good friends while in college and high school, and for some of them, although we don't talk as much with each other, whenever we do get to catch up, it feels as though nothing has changed in our friendship, except the physical distance and the frequency at which we see each other.

However, I also have some friends, or at the very least, I still consider them friends. I'm not sure if the feeling is mutual. I feel as though they have become distant, and upon reflection, I think it may be because we just don't share the same interests anymore, or we don't click like we used to.

Another reason why friendship breakups happen, according to the article, is because of conflict. In particular, when conflicts happen, Dr. Beverley Fehr, a social psychology professor at the University of Winnipeg, suggests that the natural response to deal with it, i.e. to talk it out, may not be the best way to resolve the conflict. In some cases, she says that avoiding the conflict may be more appropriate, albeit it's still on a case-by-case basis. But, in general, unlike romantic relationships, the way to address conflicts in friendships is to put some distance in between.

And I can relate with that. I am a very conflict-avoidant person, whether it be in friendships or potential romantic relationships. I don't like conflicts, and there were a couple of big conflicts that I had with friends throughout my life, apart from the friend with whom I cut ties.

When I had a huge fight with my best friend in college, my initial response was actually to try and resolve the matter as quickly as possible. But because we had different approaches to it, we both resorted to avoidance. We stopped talking to each other and we didn't want to be around each other for a whole week.

The only problem with that was, at the time, we were part of a committee working on an event, in which we had to coordinate with each other. So after a week, I decided to try and make amends. Fortunately, we both had the same thing in mind, so we made up and from that point on, we never had any spat that caused us to give each other the cold shoulder.

I don't know how other people deal with friendship breakups. To be honest, I'm not the type to wallow in the pain of losing a friend. From all of the experiences I've had, I have learned to treasure the ones who, despite our differences and past conflicts, still consider me a friend even when they've seen the worst of me.

As painful as it is to lose a friend, I've learned to be gracious to those who may have silently cut ties with me, and to be open to the possibility of reconnecting and rekindling the friendship I've had with some people with whom I've grown apart.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, whenever we had to do mandatory checks to see if we contracted the virus or not, we had to go to the local health center, queue up in a long line, and once it was our turn, a medical professional would stick a swab up our nose to collect some samples, mix it with some solution, and wait for the results to see if we were positive or not. It was so tedious.

A couple years in, they released these self-testing kits which can be done at home. We just needed to buy one at a local pharmacy and conduct the test ourselves at the comforts of our own home, and then, we can simply send the results to whoever required them. I helped a friend conduct that self-test kit, and I was pleasantly surprised at how convenient it was.

Now, imagine having a disposable self-testing kit for something like cardiovascular diseases readily available at home. That would save anyone the time that they would take to get an appointment and travel to the hospital twice a year to get their heart health checked.

Currently, researchers from Colorado State University are working on a saliva test kit which allows one to check whether they are prone to heart failure. With this device, users will be able to find out the results as quickly as 15 minutes after the test was administered.

Similar to how the COVID self-test kits made it more accessible and convenient for people to check if they are COVID positive or not, this saliva test may actually help save lives and prevent heart failure at the earliest stages.

The most reliable method being used right now to check for signs or symptoms of heart failure is a blood test which measures B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), which signals heart stress. On the other hand, this new device, called the electrochemical capillary-driven immunoassay (eCaDI), uses a biosensor to detect two biomarkers, Galectin-3 and S100A7, proven to have correlation with heart failure.

The researchers say that each eCaDI device costs about $3 to make, and the team can make about five devices in 20 to 30 minutes, because of how easy it is to assemble. It's basically just five layers, three of which are transparent, flexible plastic, with two layers of double-sided adhesive in between.

Saliva testing may not just be for detecting heart failure. With further improvements, the researchers may be able to develop reliable, non-invasive biosensors for other diseases as well.

Surely, if this new technology is mass-produced, it can help people who have no access to healthcare by giving them an affordable way of detecting any underlying conditions that they may have. Hopefully, this research gets all the funding that it needs and all the support for production and distribution as the benefits that it brings to the general public can be game-changing.

(Image credit: Trey Pittman)

Over the last 30 years, the board game industry has evolved to produce some of the most beloved modern board games all over the world. According to data from Board Game Geek, the top 10 board games based on the number of people who own them place Catan at the top, with some other popular titles such as Pandemic, Carcassonne, Codenames, and Wingspan populating the list.

As much as board game culture has gained more interest and popularity over the years, it did not start out that way in the US. According to this short history on American board and card games, there was a time when playing cards had been banned by law.

In 1656, it became illegal in Plymouth Colony to play cards and dice, even to the point that people could get publicly whipped if they were caught for a second time. However, as time passed, playing board and card games gradually became more acceptable in society.

Although playing board and card games had been allowed, the Stamp Act of 1765 taxed American colonists one shilling for each pack of playing cards and 10 shillings for each pair of dice. Then, at some point, the board game, "The Mansion of Happiness", was published by William and Stephen B. Ives of Massachussetts, which had been considered the very first published board game in America for almost a century, until a game collector discovered a copy of "The Travellers' Tour" in 1991.

"The Travellers' Tour" was published by F. & R. Lockwood in 1822, whose aim was to provide players with a fun way of learning US geography by taking a tour through the then-24 states and the 139 towns and cities within them. It also includes a numbered list with written descriptions for each town.

Apart from teaching players US geography, it also tested them on their knowledge of the different cities and towns. Each player has a traveler placed on a space on the map, and they roll a dice variant called a teetotum to see how many spaces on the map they will go. If the player knows the name of the city, then they move their traveler to that space. The first to get to New Orleans wins.

Despite having no records or sales data on "The Travellers' Tour", the fact that only five copies exist today may suggest that the board game wasn't as popular back then. Still, it's a wonderful piece of board game history in America which shows us that there had been a burgeoning interest in board games which began two centuries ago.

(Image credit: US Library of Congress/Public Domain)

In general, we often think that at around 60 or 65 years old, people can comfortably retire and live off their pension for the rest of their lives. There are only certain cases when people choose to delay their retirement, for a few reasons. CEOs tend to retire later if they haven't found a successor to take over their position. Others choose to step down from an active daily operational role and take on a more consultative or supporting role instead. But the question is, when's the right time to retire?

These days, whether for financial reasons or personal reasons, people stay on longer at their jobs and retire much later than the mandatory age. Indeed, many countries are still facing the repercussions of the pandemic, so perhaps, many people choose to extend their employment as long as the company still allows them in order to keep themselves or even their families afloat.

Others may choose to retire later because they find fulfillment at work. It may be that their career or profession has become so embedded to their identity that retiring from the thing that they spent most of their lives on feels like having a part of themselves ripped away from them. There might be a sense or feeling of loss there which is why there are people who may not want to retire just yet.

However, even though a person wants to continue working at their job, and are still pretty motivated to do so, it may be in their best interests as well as the company's to train some new employees in that position and reallocate them to less demanding positions. Some job rotations or restructuring may be helpful to both new and old employees, in order to keep the company flexible.

It's also important to do periodic assessments for employees. Even though older employees have experience and may not need to be tested, the company needs to check their mental health or their physical capacity to see if they can handle the pressures of their work and the physical demands it entails.

My mom has taken an early retirement package from her company, mostly because of health reasons. The stress from the daily operations at work has taken a toll on her physical condition, so she decided to retire from her full-time position. However, due to certain circumstances, she decided to retain her function in the company but on a contractual basis, since she still needs to train someone new for the position and to settle some other matters before she can finally leave in peace.

My uncle too has retired as soon as he hit the age of 60, however, he shared how he would have stayed if he were given the choice. But ever since he developed an anxiety disorder and started to have frequent panic attacks, he and my aunt decided that retirement would be more beneficial, as the stress from work could trigger his panic attacks which would be more deleterious in the long run.

From these examples, one of the main reasons why people retire is due to health reasons. If they have health conditions which hinder their performance at work, even though they are willing to continue, the costs outweigh the benefits. Other reasons include more uncontrollable situations or involuntary reasons such as taking care of a spouse or parents.

In certain fields, there is a lack of human capital and resources which is why people stay longer even though they have already reached retirement age. In some cases, the companies beg their employees not to retire until they have found new people to fill in their positions or they have trained someone to succeed the retiring employees.

Many people may find it difficult to let go of their jobs because they need the financial benefits from a full-time job or they derive satisfaction from being able to do their jobs. However, certain situations dictate they retire, whether it be from their own health condition or a family member's.

Ultimately, the decision is in an individual's hands when they will retire, although there are some jobs which require a certain level of cognitive ability or physical capacity, so mandatory retirement is a must to ensure that the jobs are done properly without causing any harm to the worker, the company, or the client.

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I'm not a particularly superstitious person and I don't necessarily chalk things up in my life to good or bad luck. I don't think there's anything wrong in believing that there's good or bad luck, though, it simply doesn't fit into my perspective or worldview. Although I do think that in certain aspects "luck" plays a part in the things that happen in our lives.

I think the way that Dr. James H. Austin, a neurologist, defines "luck" is somewhat similar to how I would view it. In fact, he wrote a book titled Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty. In it, he mentions four different types of luck: Blind Luck, Luck from Motion, Luck from Awareness, and Luck from Uniqueness.

Whenever I think of the word "luck", it would probably be akin to the first type that Austin describes in his book. Blind Luck refers to those circumstances or random events that happen in life over which we have no control. Where we were born, who our parents are, and other things on which we simply have no influence. In my mind, "luck" refers to these uncontrollable external factors.

Luck from Motion is basically proactivity. These are things that happen because we make the effort to cause them to happen. The actions that we take may not directly cause the outcome we want, however, taking those actions may influence other factors which can ultimately bring us to our original intended destination.

One example I can give is from my friend. He has been looking for a job although he's not sure exactly where to find it or which channels to use. He doesn't know a lot of people, but while we were volunteering together, he was able to connect with a member of the community, who was apparently looking for people to hire at his small business.

And because that entrepreneur saw how dedicated and hardworking my friend was, he decided to give my friend a job offer at the end of the volunteering activity. My friend didn't ask for it, he wasn't expecting it, but along the way, we had discussions about life, relationships, career, and other things. It came up that he was currently looking for a job while he was asking me about my career, and the entrepreneur heard about it, and the rest is history.

Luck from Awareness is having the ability to recognize opportunities as they come. This is all about knowing how to turn opportunities to one's advantage and maximizing it. And finally, Luck from Uniqueness refers to qualities, experiences, or perspectives that we possess which open us up to unique opportunities.

One example that I can think of for Luck from Uniqueness comes from my own. Having studied and worked in Korea for some time, I was able to connect with a lady from my own community whose husband was Korean and was looking for people to collaborate with him for a project. Since I had that unique experience, that opened up the opportunity to be able to work with the guy, and that led me to other prospects and networks as well.

There's this saying that goes, "Fortune favors the bold," which is a Latin proverb. Certainly, there are times when opportunities just come knocking at our door, albeit those are very rare. Most of the time, we have to go out and look for those opportunities ourselves. We might not always directly find them, but there are others ways in which we can get to our chosen destination.

Opening ourselves up to different types of opportunities, learning to recognize them despite not being exactly how we expect them to be, and actively engaging with others is ultimately how we can make the most out of what we have and what we are given.

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How can a three-letter word be the most complicated word in the English language, you ask. Well, that's simple. In the Oxford English Dictionary's upcoming third edition, the word "run" has 645 different usage cases, spanning 75 columns all dedicated to just elucidating the different meanings of the word "run".

In our minds, whenever we hear the word "run" spoken in itself, we think that we should move our feet very fast. But looking at the different idiomatic phrases and contextual meanings for the word "run", it's no surprise how this tiny word "runs" across 75 columns in the OED. Just put different prepositions after the word "run" and you'll already have several different meanings e.g. run in, run out, run off, run over, run on and on, run through, etc. And this is just for the verb form of "run". We haven't even gone through the noun form yet.

When the difficulty in other languages involves the collocation of certain words spoken in a very particular context, I think what makes the English language difficult for non-native speakers is the breadth of these idiomatic expressions and how each one changes the meaning of one word. Not to mention, English grammar is no laughing matter either, although it may pale in comparison to languages like Russian or Arabic.

Before "run" became the most complicated word in the Oxford English Dictionary, there was one other three-letter word that held that title for over 90 years. That word is "set". Currently, the word "set" has 200 meanings in the OED, spanning 32 pages. So, what pushed "run" to the top? Why does it now hold 645 different meanings?

According to British author Simon Winchester, that may be owing to the Industrial Revolution and the effects that it has had on our daily lives. From the moment machines became ubiquitous, our paradigms have shifted to include language describing how these machines work and are being used. And all of these meanings emerged from the middle of the 19th century, and have continued to evolve to this day.

The word "run" may not be the longest word or the most highfalutin' word in the English language, but it has proven itself to be the most versatile, and having so many different meanings attached to it may confuse people. But this just goes to show how we don't need to know a lot of technical words to convey different meanings. We just need to know how the different idiomatic expressions work in the right contexts.

Although it would be interesting to run through all the different definitions of the word "run", we may have to wait until 2037 before the third edition of the OED is printed. Who knows? They may find some more meanings in the next 13 years, or some other word may surpass "run" as having the most meanings. We're just going to have to wait and see.

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Though I'm not a leather enthusiast, I recently found myself researching about leather, different types of it, and which ones are the most durable. With that bit of research, I learned how durable real high-quality leather is, and why many people choose leather for their furniture, accessories, and footwear.

Now, there is one other type of leather which I just dug into a bit deeper today, and that's patent leather. I remember having really shiny shoes back when I was in grade school. They felt squeaky and they lasted until I outgrew them. It looks a bit tacky, but it saves time on polishing them.

Patent leather is a type of leather that has been coated with a glossy varnish which gives it that lustrous, shiny look. There are several names associated with the history and progression of patent leather, although, ultimately, the person who popularized and commercialized patent leather production was the serial entrepreneur, Seth Boyden.

It is believed that Boyden reverse-engineered the coating technique done to create this shiny leather after he had seen several samples of high-gloss leather in Europe. Before this, other inventors like Edmund Prior and Charles Mollersten in England had already been experimenting with coating techniques and varnishes that would produce a kind of flexible leather with a waterproof coating.

The leather produced from these techniques and materials might have been the inspiration that Boyden had to create his own process of coating. Essentially, the process as described by Scientific American involved treating the leather with a mixture of linseed oil, white lead, litharge, and ochre or chalk. This mixture is then applied several times, about five to six coats, over the leather, and then, finishing it with a varnish that included either "asphalte, Prussian blue, or fine ivory black".

Despite being regarded as the central figure to patent leather, Boyden never actually patented his process. Later on, with advancements in materials and techniques, the process of making patent leather became a lot cheaper.

What once used to be an oil-based coating, with the introduction of plastics, the mixture applied to leather became a combination of polyurethane and acrylic. So, most of the patent leather we have today is synthetic. This also helps ease the concerns of patent leather being a toxic hazard with the amount of lead that was applied to it back when it was first produced.

Opinions on patent leather may vary, with some opting not to buy products made from patent leather as it has the tendency for discoloration and darkening, as well as being prone to scratches, scuffs, and irreversible cracking and creasing. However, some of the advantages of patent leather products include its low maintenance, versatility, dirt resistance, and waterproof quality.

To learn more about the modern production process of patent leather and how to maintain it, check out this article from Carl Friedrik.

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Whenever I watched crime shows, I was always fascinated with the forensic aspects, especially when the coroner or forensic pathologist begins to break down their findings on the cause of death of the victim and other peculiarities they discovered during their investigation.

In reality, autopsies or postmortems aren't exactly as dramatic or necessary when somebody dies. The only cases which require autopsies are those when suspicious circumstances surround the death of an individual. Otherwise, if the cause of death can be readily ascertained by the attending doctor, then they can certify it, and the deceased will be brought to the funeral service.

The reason why crime shows often involve autopsies is because investigators are looking for any clues that will aid them in apprehending the culprit, and the manner of death as well as any residual evidence inside a person's body may point them to the right direction.

Most of the time, crime shows don't actually depict the step-by-step procedure of an autopsy. They simply highlight the salient findings so that the story can proceed to the next phase. Outside the realm of TV drama, autopsies are conducted depending on the circumstances of the death, and there are two types: non-coronial and coronial.

Non-coronial autopsies can be considered probing procedures, in that, one wants to know more about the details surrounding the death, i.e. the extent of any medical condition that led to the death or any undiagnosed medical condition that contributed to the death. In these cases, cause of death is known and we simply want to know the specifics.

Coronial autopsies are the ones featured mostly in crime shows, because these involve accidental, violent, unnatural, or unexpected deaths. Typically, these are reported to a coroner who is a forensic pathologist with legal training. These autopsies can either be an external examination or an internal examination of one particular cavity or multiple cavities.

The first step is a CT scan as well as establishment of the identity of the deceased. Forensic pathologists may look for visible signs or identifying marks like tattoos or scars. Blood, urine, and eye fluids are sampled to check for drugs, poisons, or other substances.

If these don't give any clear indication of what caused the death of the person, then a more invasive procedure may be required. The forensic pathologist will make incisions and remove several internal organs to examine them more closely. The brain may also be removed to check for blood clots, trauma, or other signs of disease.

After all the examinations are finished, they will return the organs in their place and stitch the body back up. Finally, they will wait for the results of the tests before giving a full report of their findings. There are cases when it is unclear what exactly caused the death, and those are labeled "unascertained".

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Inflation refers to the general rise in prices of goods and services in an economy. When we hear about high inflation rates in the news, it sounds alarming, and as consumers we often wince at just the mention of inflation because we immediately think that we will be in dire financial straits. 

Our minds quickly jump to thoughts about what the government is doing to ease inflation and how we are going to continue putting food on the table and providing our families with their daily needs. That's understandable for anybody, especially those living on the margins. But, once we understand some fundamental concepts about inflation, I don't think we'll find it as scary as we make it out to be.

In any economy, a certain level of inflation is reasonable, desirable even. Since the standard definition of inflation is an increase in prices for the stuff that we consume, that should mean that, assuming all things constant, those who provide the goods and services we consume will benefit from the rise in prices.

Furthermore, everyone involved in the production of goods and rendering of services would also partake in this benefit. At least, that's how it should work theoretically. Of course, there are many other external economic factors that come into play which don't always lead to an economic benefit for all just due to inflation.

This article from NPR looks into six different questions that people are curious about with regard to inflation, but were afraid to ask. We'll take a look at some of them here.

The first is whether companies try to make more profits out of inflation. Again, in theory, higher prices in goods and services should naturally lead to higher revenues and incomes. But we also have to consider that the producution of these goods and services aren't free.

Firms adjust the prices of their goods and services based on the costs they incurred during production. There may be instances when firms take advantage of that and pass on the burden of bearing these costs to consumers and raise prices to excess.

Generally, pricing goods and services is a careful balancing act. Unless a firm is a monopoly, they cannot increase their prices beyond what the market can bear or more than their competitors. Otherwise, consumers will simply flock to a competitor who provides the same type of good or service but at a lower price.

If costs of raw materials and labor start to ease, then firms won't have as much pressure to increase their prices. Furthermore, when consumers push back on sudden or extraordinary price increases, firms won't be able to aggressively raise their prices as much.

The second question deals with high interest rates and how they slow inflation. At the fundamental level, there are two reasons why prices increase, just to make things simpler: an increase in demand or a decrease in supply.

Higher demand means firms will need to produce more goods and services, which creates more jobs and higher wages, thus increasing people's incomes, leading to higher consumer spending. When this happens across different firms and industries, it will lead to inflation.

Increasing interest rates means that consumers will be paying more for loans or mortgage. So, they will have less money to spend elsewhere, thus lowering consumer spending. From another perspective, we can also look at higher interest rates as a means of encouraging more saving or investing than spending.

Putting one's extra cash in the money market might yield higher returns than spending that money on goods and services. Therefore, consumers may opt instead to invest their money in treasury bills, bonds, or notes, or if they have a higher risk appetite, the stock market. Reducing consumer spending this way will help ease inflation.

The last question I want to look into is the idea of a non-zero target inflation rate. Isn't a 0% inflation rate better? It may seem good to have a 0% inflation rate in theory, but as we have mentioned before, for any healthy economy, some level of inflation is good. It's a sign that the economy is alive and kicking. Now, let's look at an example when, instead of inflation, deflation occurs.

Imagine this, you've been working at a car manufacturing plant and each year, the plant produces 100 cars. Then, the next year, the company decides that the cars will be sold at lower prices. The plant still produces the same number of cars. Wages and other expenses are held constant. Consumers will be happy about the reduction in prices, and perhaps demand will increase, but that will also lead to losses for the company, until such a point when they will have to close down the plant because it's no longer sustainable.

It's an extreme example, but it just goes to show that, although lower prices will benefit consumers in the short-term, it doesn't necessarily bode well for the long-term, neither does it benefit a growing economy. So, for example, having a 2% target inflation rate is a good thing to keep the economy stable.

There you go. Those are some questions that people may have about inflation but were afraid to ask. You can check out and read the rest of the list on NPR.

It has been three years since the Netflix Korean drama Squid Game came out, and the long-awaited second season will finally arrive in December of this year. In line with that, Netflix has released the first teaser trailer for the sequel.

For anyone who watched the show, we all knew that there must be a second season since the last episode had suggested that the story wasn't over yet, especially for Seong Gi-hun, Player 456, who has made it his mission to put an end to the vicious barbaric spectacle of the Squid Game organization.

We don't have many details about what to expect in the second season, however, from the trailer alone, we have been given a clue as to what the initial plot will be. Obviously, for Gi-hun to take down the organization, he needs to once again put his life on the line and enter the game. Everything is up in the air after that.

The trailer also showed some of the new characters' numbers on whom the show will most likely be focusing in the sequel. It has also been revealed that the final season of the show will be released in 2025, so fans won't have to endure a long wait.

(Video credit: Netflix/Youtube)

Cleopatra. Hatshepsut. Boudica. Seondeok. Wu Zetian. These are only some of the famous female rulers of antiquity. Their names live on in history, and notice that none of them bear any surname, except for the Chinese empress who carried her family name. That is because the Chinese have a longer history of using family names which started in 2000 BC.

Most other ancient civilizations didn't have surnames or family names as we have them today. In the West, the practice of having surnames started after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The reason was simple. They needed to distinguish between people who had the same given names in the same area.

In the Arab world, patronymics have been used since at least the 6th century AD. Family names indicated a person's tribe, profession, a famous ancestor, or place of origin. In ancient Greece, patronymics were also used, although they are a bit complicated if one does not know the structure of the language.

The Romans also used naming conventions. The nomen gentilicum, or nomen for short, referred to one's gens (family or clan) by patrilineal descent. In the Roman Republic, men usually had three names: the praenomen, the nomen, and the cognomen. Essentially, those refer to the given name, family name, and some kind of title or nickname to distinguish someone, usually describing a military feat that the individual achieved. Women, on the other hand, rarely had a praenomen, only being referred to by their nomen.

Since the Middle ages, we have been using surnames passed down from one generation to the next. In some cultures, when women get married, they get to keep their surnames and simply add their husband's name to their own. In others, married women carry their husband's surname. The map above shows which countries have a majority of women carrying their own surname or their husband's surname.

Many Asian, African, and Latin American countries have majority of their women carrying their own last name, while most Western societies have majority of their women carrying their husband's last name.

The more interesting part of this post are the comments by Redditors, particularly about the Spanish tradition of married women keeping both surnames, which they also passed onto their colonies. There's even further discussion about how the names would be ordered.

Traditionally, the children would take the father's surname first and then their mother's surname. For example, if Juan García Pérez and María López Sánchez have a son named Pedro, then he will be called Pedro García López. However, as many commented, that no longer applies as couples can choose the order of the surnames for their children as long as it will be the same order for all their children.

(Image credit: Lover of Geography Instagram/Reddit)

You may have heard of the Open Press Project, who started a Kickstarter fundraiser five years ago for their Open Etching Press, a small printing press which utilizes intaglio and relief printing techniques so that individuals can create tiny paper prints at home.

That first project was an overwhelming success with 1,485 backers pledging a total of €121,661 out of their original goal of raising €1,000. Seeing the interest and demand of the market for this type of accessible printmaking, the Open Press team has now launched a new campaign.

With the Etching Press, one can print up to a maximum size of 7.5 x 23 cm, or about 3 x 9 inches. But people have been asking whether there was a possibility of having a printing press for larger sizes. So, they came up with a press for postcards.

As explained by Martin Schneider in their Kickstarter video, they had to redesign the structure of the press and use different metal parts as simply making the Etching Press larger wasn't sufficient to scale up the size of what it can print. The Postcard Printing Press uses the same printing techniques as the previous one but can print on a larger surface, with a size of about 4 x 9 inches.

The project launched on August 1 and will continue until August 31. So far, it has 593 backers and amassed pledges amounting to $168,563, which is about eight times the original goal of $20,000. Early bird reward tiers are all gone, and two tiers remain, one for about $256 and another for $290. Check out the Kickstarter campaign here.

(Video credit: Open Press Project/Youtube)

If you have visited Machu Picchu, then you may know the famous Inca Trail which leads right into the heart of the ancient citadel. However, there's more than one way to get to Machu Picchu, and Brook Sabin from Stuff shares their group's 12-day Inca Trail & Amazon Adventure, as well as the highlight of the trip, the Quarry Trail.

Considered as the secret Inca Trail, the Quarry Trail is more secluded with most tourists opting for the Inca Trail instead. But if you prefer taking the alternative route, discovering hidden gems along the way, then Sabin suggests you take one of the world's best walks in the Quarry Trail.

On their hike, it was just the three of them in the group, which made for a more peaceful, less crowded trek up the Andean mountains. Not only that, but their tour guide service, Intrepid Travel, who arranged their itinerary, always made sure that they were in the right condition to continue on the hike.

Every morning and evening, they would be subjected to oxygen checks to make sure that they weren't suffering from altitude sickness. They had a caravan who would set up camp for them as well as cook their meals three times a day. There was even a "toilet tent" fitted with a chemical toilet whenever they needed to go at each stop.

The route for their tour began in Lima. From there, they flew to Cusco, the starting point of their hike. On this trail, they were able to visit ancient villages like Q'orimarca and Ollantaytambo, the final destination of the hike. Afterward, they took a panoramic train and then a bus to Machu Picchu.

One other highlight from this tour package was the Amazon adventure, in which they rode a boat for two hours along the Amazon, and stayed at an eco-lodge surrounded by nature. They explored the greenery of the Amazon rainforest and capped their adventure with a nighttime river expedition. To see more photos from the trip, check out Brook Sabin's article on Stuff.

(Image credit: Brook Sabin/Stuff)