Meeting Places and Romance
A Sweet Valentine's Day Greeting
Do you visit public lands that charge entrance fees often? Consider purchasing a public lands pass. There are a number of pass options but they give you access to more than 2,000 national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, grasslands and other federal lands. Of the 400 + US national park sites, only 120 charge an entrance fee (which range from $3 to $30 per vehicle for an entire week). For the national wildlife system, 31 refuges charge admission (ranging from $3 to $8 per vehicle) to help fund their recreation-related projects. more »
Never Been Married? In Philadelphia, You’re Not Alone
Experts say the growth in the number of never married individuals stems from a variety of factors, including the rising share of young adults across the nation — particularly in a number of cities, including Philadelphia — and the tendency of those young adults to marry later in life than their age group once did. According to the Census Bureau, the median age of individuals in first marriages nationally increased from 26.2 in 2005 to 28.7 in 2015, following a decades-long trend. In addition, census data show that more adults are living together and/or having children without getting married.
Although Philadelphia’s percentage of adults who never married stands out among the most populous cities, it is very much in keeping with those of other high-poverty cities.
© The Pew Charitable Trusts
The percentage of adults in… more »
From the Scotus Blog: Lord and Lady Montague, Lord and Lady Capulet v. Friar Laurence Who Wanted to "Make Verona Great Again"
A different crowd, dressed more soberly and warmly, was headed to another nearby destination — the Shakespeare Theatre Company — to fulfill their civic duty as jurors at the theatre group’s 25th mock trial. Echoing Romeo and Juliet, ancient grudge had again broken to new mutiny, and a wrongful death suit filed by the Montagues and the Capulets against Friar Laurence found itself before a panel of distinguished judges: Justice Samuel Alito of the US Supreme Court, Judges Thomas Griffith, Brett Kavanaugh and Robert Wilkins of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia. more »
New Year's Peeve! Forgetting Self-improvement Vows
Rose Madeline Mula writes: Am I glad I didn't live in Babylonia four thousand years ago. There the New Year celebration lasted eleven days. One is bad enough. By the eleventh day, the Babylonians must have had prodigious hangovers. They probably weren't even fully conscious for the first month of the new year. That's not for me. It would mean missing all those great post-holiday sales. When I was young, I hated New Year’s — the whole shebang, beginning with New Year’s Eve. The forced gaiety. The pressure to be happy! It was all so depressing. more »