レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

Nothing makes Brad Lancaster happier than a monsoon downpour. The tall 58-year-old jumped like a kid in the puddles on the sidewalk one August afternoon after a half-inch (1.3 centimeters) of rain suddenly fell in Tucson, Arizona, during an especially dry summer.

Sweet! Lancaster exclaimed, beaming when he saw how the water pooled in a basin he had dug earlier in dirt planted with native vegetation along the public walkway. It's really important that you are ready to plant the rain when it comes, even if it is a small amount, he said, referring to a simple type of rainwater harvesting that involves digging a hole to allow rainwater to sink underground and be held like a sponge. The key is to collect every drop of it.

In the U.S. Southwest and beyond, home gardeners and landscapers are increasingly using collected rainwater to nourish their rose bushes and cactus gardens amid worsening drought and rising temperatures fueled by global warming.

Lancaster and other rainwater harvesting specialists say home gardeners anywhere can benefit from collecting raindrops and runoff from buildings and other surfaces to irrigate plants, even in wetter regions where the practice is less common.

Rainwater collecting is widespread in many of Earth's driest regions. In Australia, it's often used for drinking water, bathing and flushing toilets. And in Africa—where Lancaster said he learned more about the practice—it helps communities survive.

Saving the rain is also useful in southern Arizona, which is under pressure from a long-running drought. It's drier than ever, with Tucson receiving less than half of the about seven inches (18 centimeters) of rain it usually sees by the first week of September.

As much as two-thirds of residential water in the desert city is used outdoors, said Adriana Zuniga, an associate research professor in environmental policy programs at the University of Arizona. The idea is to use less water from the tap to irrigate, she said.

Zuniga, who has researched the water use of the Maya people who lived in what is now Central America and southeastern Mexico, noted that the ancient civilization captured rainwater to survive dry, hot summers.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Cindy Eggleton has always believed in the power of a story. But the CEO and co-founder of Brilliant Cities, a Detroit-based early childhood development nonprofit that supports learning in underserved communities, never expected someone to tell hers.

“It’s never been about me,” said Eggleton, adding that participating in the Nevertheless: The Women Changing the World documentary series on YouTube was her way of honoring her late mother, Geraldine, who inspired her to speak out and help others in their community.

However, as they face an increasingly uncertain funding landscape, nonprofits are focusing more on storytelling in outreach to donors—both big and small—and raising production values for videos and podcasts.

“Storytelling is how we’re able to draw people in and get them to connect to a deeper truth about themselves or about the world or a problem that needs to be solved,” said Elevate Prize Foundation CEO Carolina Garcia Jayaram. “It’s connecting those issues back to you as a human and not saying, ‘Well, that’s their problem. That’s all the way over there.’ The story allows it to be human.”

“But storytelling is not only about reaching viewers, it’s also about having the right message for the right viewers,” said Lance Gould, whose firm works with nonprofits to help them produce their own story-driven content.

A Council on Foundations report released last year found that people had positive attitudes toward foundations, but most didn’t really understand how foundations worked. Nicole Bronzan, from the Council on Foundations, said stories that provide more transparency about how donations are used and how those decisions are made help connect people to a nonprofit and its work.

“If you’re telling those stories,” she said, “I can only imagine that people will be more inclined to open up their pocketbooks and say, ‘Oh, okay, these are causes that need my support.’”

“This is the time that we really do need to figure out how we build empathy through stories and not necessarily saying, ‘You’re wrong or you’re right,” Eggleton said. “You just show the world what can be and what should be.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Global warming in the United States is amping up the country's sweet tooth, a new study found.

When the temperature rises, Americans—especially those who are poor or have less education—drink lots more sugary beverages and a bit more frozen desserts. That amounts to more than 100 million pounds of added sugar (358 million kilograms) consumed in the nation a year, compared to the past, according to a team of researchers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

“Climate change is shaping what you eat and how you eat, and that might have a bad effect on your health,” said study co-author Duo Chan, a climate scientist at the University of Southampton.

“Obviously, under a warming climate, that would cause you to drink more or take in more sugar. And that is going to be a severe problem when it comes to health,” Chan said.

Sugar consumption can vary with gender, income and education.

University of California, San Francisco endocrinology professor Dr. Robert Lustig said sugary drinks are marketed and priced in a way to attract the poor. And in many disadvantaged communities, the water tastes funny because of chemicals in it. There's also less air conditioning for the poor, and they are more likely to work outside and need more hydration, Lustig and Pan He, an environmental scientist at Cardiff University, said.

“It should concern us that the rate of the impact is larger in households where people make less money or are less educated,” said Dr. Courtney Howard, vice chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance. “These groups tend to have lower baseline health status, so this is an area where climate-related changes appear to magnify existing health inequalities.”

The amount of sugar consumed is likely to soar in the future with more warming, Chan said.

But University of Washington health and climate scientist Kristie Ebi said, as temperatures increase with human-caused climate change, “there will be other issues of more importance than a small increase in sugary beverages.”

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Ballerina Cappuccina, an AI-generated cartoon ballerina with a cappuccino teacup for a head, is one of the most prominent characters in the internet phenomenon known as “Italian brain rot,” a series of memes that exploded in popularity this year, consisting of unrealistic AI-generated animal-object hybrids with absurdist, pseudo-Italian narration.

The trend has baffled parents, to the delight of young people experiencing the thrill of a new, fleeting cultural signifier that is illegible to older generations.

Experts and fans alike say the trend is worth paying attention to, and tells us something about the youngest generation of tweens.

Fabian Mosele, 26, calls themselves an “Italian brain rot connoisseur.” An Italian animator who lives in Germany and works with AI by trade, Mosele created their first Italian brain-rot content in March. Shortly after, Mosele's video of Italian brain-rot characters at an underground rave garnered about a million views overnight, they said. It has since topped 70 million.

In the non-virtual world, some have made physical toy replicas of the characters, while others have created real-life plays featuring them.

Mosele said Italian brain rot consumers largely don’t care about how the images relate to what is being said or sung. They often don’t even care to translate the nonsensical Italian to English.

“It’s funny because it’s nonsense,” Mosele said. “Seeing something so dark, in a way, and out of the ordinary, that breaks all the norms of what we would expect to see on TV—that’s just super appealing.”

Emilie Owens, 33, a children's media researcher, agreed that endless scrolling poses dangers for young people. But she said that the concern about brain rot is misguided.

It's normal to “view the thing the newest generation is doing with fear and suspicion, she said, pointing to how past generations have had similar concerns about the detrimental effects of comic books, television and even novels at one time.

Concerns about brain rot—that it is unproductive and pointless—actually reveal a great deal about their appeal, Owens said.

“It’s very normal for everyone to need to switch their brains off now and again,” she said.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A ship likely cut cables in the Red Sea that disrupted internet access in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, experts said, showing the lines' vulnerability over a year after another incident severed them.

The International Cable Protection Committee told The Associated Press (AP) that 15 submarine cables pass through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern mouth of the Red Sea that separates East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.

Authorities in multiple countries identified the cables affected as the South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4, the India–Middle East–Western Europe and the FALCON GCX cables. Then that list expanded to include the Europe India Gateway cable as well, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at the firm Kentik.

Initial reporting suggested the cut happened off the coast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, something authorities in the kingdom have not acknowledged, nor have the companies managing the cables. Early independent analysis indicates that the probable cause of damage is commercial shipping activity in the region, John Wrottesley, the committee's operations manager, told the AP. Damage to submarine cables from dragged anchors account for approximately 30% of incidents each year, representing around 60 faults.

Madory also told the AP that the working assumption was that a commercial vessel dropped its anchor and dragged it across the four cables, severing the connections. Cabling in the Red Sea can be at a shallow depth, making it easier for an anchor drag to affect them.

Undersea cables are among the backbones of the internet, along with satellite connections and land-based cables. Typically, internet service providers have multiple access points and reroute traffic if one fails.

However, rerouting traffic can cause latency, or lag, for internet users. Madory said it appeared at least 10 nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East had been affected by the cable cut. Among those nations were India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

For more than 20 years, a self-proclaimed “Cycling Chef” has been giving two-wheeled gastronomic tours of the Danish capital, Copenhagen. He even cooks on the go, leading guests on a foodie adventure with his kitchen-bike.

Pedaling through the streets of Copenhagen on his custom-built bicycle-turned-portable kitchen, chef Morten Kryger Wulff flips prawns in a frying pan while leading guests on a culinary tour with a twist.

In a city famous for fine dining—including Michelin-starred restaurants Noma, Geranium and Alchemist—Kryger Wulff’s five-course tour may be the most unique dining experience of all. “We have, over the last 20 years, been working on this concept, bringing people on gastronomic rides, cooking for them along the way. And that is what it's all about,” smiles Kryger Wulff.

The Danish chef, who’s worked in prestigious kitchens, including London’s Savoy, first became the “Cycling Chef” back in 2002, cooking outdoors at private events, such as garden parties, corporate functions and picnics.

The idea was born when he and his friends were turfed out of a Copenhagen royal park by a park officer for illegally barbecuing. With no other option, they placed the cast-iron grill onto his old vintage cargo bike and kept cooking. “Right there, while I was biking, and my friend was running alongside turning the steaks, we were looking at each other. You need that, you need a bicycle kitchen,” he recalls.

Kryger Wulff now gives several “Gastronomic Rides” each year, pedaling through city streets and parks, then stopping at hidden spots to prepare and share food. That wouldn’t be possible without his custom-built portable kitchen: an adapted cargo bike fitted with a stove, foldable work surface, fridges, cupboards, plus space for glasses, cutlery and more.

Each tour includes five courses consumed at five different city stops. The experience lasts about four and a half hours, with guests cycling between three and five kilometers. It costs 1,695 Danish kroner (approximately $265) per person. Guests bring their own bikes or rent one if needed. Rain ponchos are even provided, though not always required.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

School attendance rates in the Australian state of Victoria have declined and remain lower than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, one school is thinking outside the box. It's reconnecting with its students via a food truck—bringing education beyond the classroom.

Called the Bitter Sweet Café, this hands-on environment is delivering lessons in literacy and numeracy. It's an initiative set up by MacKillop Education—a school designed for children who are disengaged or at risk of disengaging from education.

I've learnt how to make coffees is one thing I do, I interact with people, so my people skills have improved, explains Daniel, a MacKillop Education student.

Daniel didn’t believe he would ever graduate before enrolling at MacKillop Education in Year Eight. He was studying at a mainstream school where he said he felt isolated and lacked support for his learning needs after being diagnosed with autism. Now in Year 12, he’s feeling confident and gaining practical life skills through hands-on experience.

The Bitter Sweet Café and food truck is just one initiative that’s helped reconnect dozens of students with their education. Since its launch in 2018, the program has grown and now serves the wider Geelong community.

Students learn to design menus, conduct market research, collaborate with others, and build social and problem-solving abilities.

Attendance rose, we saw students' confidence in themselves and their sense of self-worth also improved, explains MacKillop Education Geelong Principal Skye Staude.

School refusal continues to be a challenge in Australia, with attendance rates steadily declining over the past ten years. “We see social impacts of not finishing school, we see health, mental health outcomes,” says Deakin University psychology associate professor Glenn Melvin.

It’s not just about having fun. These students are also earning accredited industry qualifications through the program. It’s a clear example of how schools can adopt more flexible approaches to better connect with disengaged students, a recommendation highlighted in the Victorian Government’s education inquiry.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

Rick Clough spent some four decades fishing for lobsters and sea urchins off the Maine coast before spotting one of the ocean's most recognized predators—a great white shark. The approximately 8-foot (2.4-meter) shark, seen off the beach town of Scarborough in July, surprised Clough, but didn't make him fear the ocean—though he admitted, I'm not sure I'd want to go urchin diving now.

Boaters, beachgoers and fishermen like Clough who spend time in the chilly waters of New England and Atlantic Canada are learning to live with great white sharks, the creatures made famous by the 1975 film Jaws. Sightings of the apex predators are up in places like Maine, where they were once very rarely spotted.

Scientists link the white shark sightings to increased availability of the seals the sharks feast on, and say beachgoers are generally very safe from shark bites. The sharks can grow close to 20 feet (6 meters) long, though most don't get that big.

Why are great whites going north? Sightings of great whites off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, have become increasingly frequent in recent years, and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy has documented hundreds of the animals over more than a decade. But new data shows the sharks are heading even farther north into New Hampshire, Maine and beyond, said Greg Skomal, a senior fisheries biologist with the Massachusetts Department of Marine Fisheries and a veteran white shark researcher.

Skomal said the average residency in these northern waters has also increased from 48 days to 70 days, suggesting that white sharks appear to be increasingly comfortable farther north.

A key reason for the shift seems to be the successful conservation of seals off New England and Canada via laws such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which has allowed seals to thrive and provide a food source for the predatory sharks, Skomal said.

Great white sharks also benefit from protections, including a ban on fishing for them in U.S. federal waters that has stood since 1997. They are still considered vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

The ‘kidult’ market is keeping the toy industry buoyant in Japan.

At Tokyo Big Sight, a trade show in Tokyo, toys specifically aimed at adults grabbed people’s attention. More than 35,000 products were on display from 200 different companies.

Japan’s toy market has expanded for five consecutive years and now tops 1 trillion yen ($6.8 billion) according to the Japan Toy Association.

At the Tomica booth, some of the toys on display were produced with adults in mind.

“The biggest factor is what we call ‘kidults.’ With this target in mind, more and more products have been introduced into the market, and the success they have received has been a very significant driver of this growth,” explains Akihiro Sato, Executive Director of the Japan Toy Association.

The ‘kidult’ phenomenon—adults buying toys for themselves—is happening even as the number of children being born in Japan declines.

The sprawling Plarail display at the Tomica booth made it one of the busiest booths at the event, combining nostalgia for parents who grew up with the brand and fresh appeal for a new generation of young fans.

Toy manufacturers aren’t forgetting about kids—they are, after all, the adult customers of tomorrow.

“The key is to consider what kind of impact we can have with today’s children, and what kind of value we can provide. The memories they make now, in a few decades, will lead them to return to these toys again as kidults, engaging with them again,” says Sato.

At the Sega booth, there were still plenty of toys for children to enjoy. But the manufacturer also had to cater to the disposable income that adults wield.

“The trend in the toy market is that it’s currently shrinking among children, but purchases from adults who are very fond of toys have contributed steadily to the overall expansion of the toy market. At our company as well, products that adults can enjoy—such as the acrylic dolls—have become extremely popular,” explains Mihashi Takenori, Chief of Promotion Department at Sega Fave Corporation.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.

A driver was clocked going 27 kilometers per hour (17 mph) over the speed limit on a street in the Swiss city of Lausanne, and now he's facing up to 90,000 Swiss francs (over $110,000) in fines as a result. But he can afford it.

Why the eye-popping penalty? Because the speedster, a repeat offender, is one of Switzerland's wealthiest people, and the Vaud region serves up fines based on factors like income, fortune or general family financial situation.

The Swiss are not alone. Germany, France, Austria and the Nordic countries all issue punishments based on a person's wealth. The recent fine isn't even a record in Switzerland. In 2010, a millionaire Ferrari driver got a ticket equal to about $290,000 for speeding in the eastern canton of St. Gallen.

Back then, the Swiss safety group Road Cross said rich drivers had been lightly punished until voters approved a penal law overhaul three years earlier that let judges hand down fines based on personal income and wealth for misdemeanors like speeding and drunk driving.

Under today's rules, an indigent person might spend a night in jail instead of a fine, while the wealthiest in the rich Alpine country could be on the hook for tens of thousands.

A court in the Swiss canton of Vaud recently ruled that the tycoon must pay 10,000 Swiss francs ($12,300) up front and could be forced to pay the rest—80,000 more—if he's caught for a similar roadway infraction over the next three years.

Switzerland's 24 Heures newspaper first reported the case and said the man, who was not identified, was a French citizen listed by the Swiss economic weekly Bilan among the 300 richest people in Switzerland—with a fortune in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The newspaper reported that he had already been caught for a similar speeding infraction eight years ago, and also paid 10,000 Swiss francs in penalty and faced another 60,000 if another infraction had taken place within the following two years.

This article was provided by The Associated Press.