From purple mountain majesties to amber waves of grain, America’s 4 million square miles of jaw-dropping landscapes is matched only by the audacity of its founding premise: 250 years ago, British colonists looking for independence launched a radical experiment, betting that a free people could govern themselves—without the rule of a king or queen. Despite years […] The post 250 Reasons to Love America On Her 250th Birthday appeared first on Good News Network.

Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: […] The post Your Weekly Horoscope – ‘Free Will Astrology’ by Rob Brezsny appeared first on Good News Network.

When people think of portraits from the Victorian era, the images that come to mind are usually women in tight corsets with extremely pale skin. Children were also very pale and often appeared to have dark circles under their eyes. But why? It’s not because they had better sunscreen in the 1800s. The reason many people who posed for those portraits were as white as bleached cotton sheets is multifaceted. Portraits from the Victorian era generally depict wealthy people, which is likely the reason for the over-the-top dresses and hairstyles. Sitting for a formal portrait was an expensive luxury that poor people couldn’t afford. If they had been able to, we’d probably see a lot more color in the faces being captured. Why pale skin meant power back then In the 1800s, especially during the European Victorian era, paleness indicated status. The paler you were, the more money you were assumed to have, signaling higher social status. It was believed that tan skin meant you did some form of outdoor manual labor, something associated with poorer people. Paintings from that era often show women enjoying the outdoors in multilayered dresses, carrying parasols to shield their fair skin from the sun. This belief that paleness displayed high status became a dangerous obsession, according to historians. Then tuberculosis became fashionable The Johnston Collection explains that the Romantic period marked a shift toward paleness and extreme thinness as the ultimate signs of wealth and beauty, writing, “many of the beauty icons of the day were depicted as skeletal thin with ghostly pale skin, glistening eyes, flushed cheeks and perpetually red lips.” Those chasing this impossible beauty standard quickly noticed that contracting tuberculosis produced many of these highly sought-after features as the disease progressed. “If a lady wasn’t fortunate enough to suffer from such a glamorous illness, she could feign going into a decline, the desirable fragile look being simulated by drinking vinegar and dropping belladonna into the eyes,” The Johnston Collection notes. Belladonna is poisonous, but women of the era appeared unafraid to risk death for the privilege of being seen as beautiful. As the Romantic period faded, appearing sickly did not fall out of fashion. The Victorian era simply tied paleness to morality and social status, leading women to continue risking their lives to avoid being perceived as poor. Instead of trying to contract tuberculosis, women began ingesting arsenic, chalk, and even ground-up rocks to maintain a fair complexion. History Facts shares: “In 1851, a Swiss physician published a report in a medical journal about the ‘toxicophagi,’ a group of people in modern-day Austria who routinely consumed arsenic; they knew it was poison, but thought they could develop an immunity to it by starting with small doses and gradually increasing the intake. The report’s author claimed that arsenic gave them great energy, sparkling eyes, and wonderful complexions, but noted that after long-term use, unsurprisingly, ‘most arsenic eaters end with an inevitable infirmity of the body.'” And then the wallpaper started killing people While there was some knowledge that consuming arsenic could be dangerous, it was still viewed as benign when used in other products. The chemical was used to create the color green in clothing, wallpaper, and other products. This led children to take on the same sickly look and eventually contributed to their deaths. Unintentionally, entire families were poisoned by their beautiful green wallpaper, dresses, baby blankets, and other household items. It took one family losing multiple children to what doctors believed was diphtheria before a leading physician and a chemist teamed up to uncover why the children kept dying. After noticing the green wallpaper in the home, the doctor asked to perform an autopsy on the child who had recently died. The results of the tests changed how society treated the dangerous chemical. If you ever find yourself gazing up at a portrait of a ghostly pale Victorian child or a wealthy Victorian woman, you’ll know that arsenic is likely the reason. Ingesting deadly chemicals to keep up appearances is a practice that should probably stay lost to history. This article originally appeared in January. It has been updated. The post Historians explain why everyone was so darn pale in those Victorian-era portraits appeared first on Upworthy.

If you’re trying to save money, a good place to start is taking note of your shopping habits. Small purchases can add up over time, and people living a frugal lifestyle have their shopping dialed in. Frugal people have mastered the practice of mindful shopping. They know what is worth spending money on, and what is a waste. In an online community of frugal people on Reddit, they offered up their shopping advice about what they no longer purchase since becoming more mindful of their spending. From food to subscriptions and clothes, these are 16 things frugal people have stopped buying to save more money. Here are all 16, straight from Reddit “Anything from the gas station other than gas.” – yourfuneralpyre “Food delivery. I won’t even do pizza delivery anymore because of the delivery fee they tack on that doesn’t even go to the driver. H to the no no no.” – 104488361, Humble-Plankton2217 “Cheap stuff. No buying junk, no cheap clothes, no trinkets. I save for nice things that I know will last and can be repaired. I don’t have a lot of ‘stuff’ but the things I do have have lasted and will last and still look good.” – Cats-on-Jupiter “New clothes. I would say 95% of my wardrobe is secondhand. I enjoy thrifting and finding unique pieces. It’s cheaper and also just more environmentally friendly to buy secondhand!” – patrickbatemankinnie “Trendy decor. I thrifted most of the furniture and decor in our new house. I’ve saved thousands of dollars. I have high-quality pieces that will last decades. And nothing ‘goes out of style’ cuz it’s technically all out of style already!” – Technical-Anteater61 “A huge number of disposable products can be avoided by either repurposing existing items or investing slightly more into a washable / reusable version of that thing. I try to apply this mindset to everything possible around the house and at work.” – rand-wazoo Personal care is a big one for many “Hair coloring. I’ve been doing my own balayage for the past year now. It takes a little while since I’m doing it myself, but I work in sections. $100 max to do my hair several times a year versus $250-300 per session if I get it done professionally. I routinely get compliments and shock that I do it myself. YouTube, Instagram and TikTok are full of wonderful resources, though I’ve been doing hair unprofessionally since the early 2000s by asking my stylist and Sally’s employees a ton of questions, reading blogs and also frying friends and my own hair many a time .” – missprincesscarolyn “I also do all of my own waxing. Wax warmer was only $25 off of Amazon. I use Veet wax strips for my legs just because it’s more convenient, but underarms, face and even Brazilian (not for the faint of heart, but can be done!) I use hard wax. Again, these things add up significantly over time.” – missprincesscarolyn “I don’t shop as an activity. I don’t ‘go shopping’. I only go to buy things I need or have decided I want, and I go with a list.” – schokobonbons “Greeting cards. They’re expensive and it’s just as easy to make one or upcycle one you’ve received. If I’m giving a gift in person I just make a nice tag with a message instead of a card.” – June_and_Vernon “Brand new phones. Even 1 year after release is a good deal. I got my S25 in excellent refurbish condition for half price of new.” – SoSavv Entertainment spending gets a hard look too “Movies. In a theater. I just want to state for the record, I was a movieaholic. I went to the movies a lot. Now I haven’t been in 6 years. It’s expensive and I don’t mind waiting. Now I even wait until they are free on some streaming I am already subscribed to and most of them are not very good. What has happened to movies? Anyway, my home setup is awesome now, 65” gaming TV with surround sound and in a basement so no glare, I can pause it whenever I want, only people I know and like are in attendance, food is excellent. And neither the floor or seats are sticky. And don’t get me started on bathrooms. My co-worker told me how much a movie was with his wife with concessions and I nearly fell over.” – JulesSherlock “Kleenex!! – I have cloth handkerchiefs for daily use. My nose is never ‘chapped’ anymore after a cold.” – RuthTheWidow “I make my own spice mixes and salad dressings. I cook almost exclusively from scratch.” – Fit-Winter5363 “Any new furniture is garbage. Its all made from wood pulp smashed together. Thrift an old piece and spend time making it look good and it’ll last you a lifetime.” – Zacky_Cheladaz “I don’t have any subscription services that automatically renew. If I sign up for a streaming service like Netflix, I cancel it immediately so that I don’t get billed for the next month. I never want to be paying for a streaming service that I’m not actually using.” – MuricanIdle What all 16 of these have in common None of these are dramatic sacrifices. Nobody on this list gave up something they loved and mourned the loss. What they gave up was the habit: the autopilot purchase, the convenience markup, the subscription that kept renewing because canceling felt like too much effort. That’s the real pattern here. Frugal living isn’t about deprivation. It’s about noticing the things you were buying without thinking, and deciding whether they’re actually worth it. This article originally appeared this January. It has been updated. The post Frugal shoppers share the 16 things they never buy anymore since becoming more mindful spenders appeared first on Upworthy.