America’s Favorite Pastime Won’t Surprise You
Americans Check Their Phones 8 Billion Times a Day
Americans are very attached to their electronic devices, especially their mobile phones. So much so that nearly half of us — 48 percent — check our smartphones up to 25 times per day. Collectively, Americans look at their phones 8 billion times a day, according to Deloitte’s 5th Global Mobile Consumer Survey. Some of us […]
Here’s Proof American Cowboys Still Exist
Cowboy traditions and culture are rooted in the West and nowhere is that more apparent than at rodeos, hugely popular sporting events where horseback riding, livestock animals and fancy rope skills are on display. Thousands of cowboys and cowgirls compete to see who has the best rodeo skills. VOA reporters Caty Weaver, Ashley Thompson and Adam […]
What Happens When Americans Eat What They Tweet
If Americans eat what they tweet, a new series of maps explains why certain U.S. states have a higher percentage of obese people than others. WHAT THE MOST OBESE US STATES TWEET ABOUT MOST Mississippi: cake, eating West Virginia: cookies, watching TV Louisiana: chocolate, eating Arkansas: chocolate, eating Oklahoma: chocolate, running For eight months, University […]
Swimmers Attempt ‘Scary Bridge’ Challenge
In 1990, I joined a masters swimming team in Washington, DC., a group of adults who gathered several times a week to work out. While some on the team were excellent competitive swimmers, others merely swam with the group for fitness and had never swum competitively before. One day, a member of the team suggested […]
Premiere US Art Gallery Embraces Genuine Fakes
On any day of the week at one of the nation’s premiere art galleries, you’ll find artists hard at work painting copies of masterpieces by renowned artists who lived centuries ago. “It’s just so generous,” said copyist Pamela Jarrett, a full-time artist. “I lived in Italy for six years. It’s expensive, it’s prohibitive in the […]
Maple Syrup Hobbyists Tap Tradition for Sweet Rewards
One spring when I was 10 or 11 years old, my family spent a day trudging through the mud and melting snow in the woods behind our Wisconsin home, drilling holes into the trunks of maple trees with a brace and bit. Into each hole, we inserted a small aluminum tube called a spile, tapped […]
Girl Scouts Gear Up for National Cookie Weekend
It’s crunch time for Girl Scouts of the USA, with this weekend designated for a major push in its annual cookie sale. Girls nationwide will be out in force – going door to door or operating temporary booths near the entrances of friendly retail shops – to peddle chocolatey Thin Mints, shortbread, peanut butter-filled Tagalongs […]
Are US Hunters an Endangered Species?
The Saturday morning before Thanksgiving, I sat in a small, plastic capsule atop wooden stilts at the edge of a forest on my parents’ property in central Wisconsin. As I peered out the glassless windows that surrounded me there was hardly a sound, except for the soft hiss of a small propane heater between my […]