Geese are rescued, a housepainter is found asleep on a homeowner's bed, and a van ends up on MBTA tracks
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At 7:15 a.m. Jan. 21,
Norfolk
Animal Control Officer Hilary Cohen got a call about a goose loitering outside a physical therapy office. The goose wasn't looking right, so Cohen brought him to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic in
Grafton
. Later that afternoon, Cohen received another goose-related call, this time from a resident who spotted two that appeared to be stuck in the frozen ice on Highland Lake. One of the geese had managed to free itself when Cohen arrived at the scene. Because of the unsafe conditions on the ice, she contacted the fire department for help. 'This is where I tell you how incredibly special our little town of Norfolk is,' Cohen wrote on
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GONE GOLFING
At 9:02 p.m. Jan. 28,
Saugus
police received a call from someone who saw a set of golf clubs in the far right lane of Route 1 north, just before Walmart. An officer was dispatched to the scene but couldn't find the clubs.
BEWARE OF THOSE T TRACKS
We reported how
1/18 947PM TPD responded to Comm Ave/University Road for another vehicle stuck on the GL tracks. 41y/o operator of a 2021 Nissan stated he was unfamiliar w/the area and took a wrong turn. Service was delayed. V towed off the tracks.
— MBTA Transit Police (@MBTATransitPD)
Emily Sweeney can be reached at
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Boston Globe
20 hours ago
- Boston Globe
I don't know if I'm proud to be an American. But I am grateful.
When I was 4 years old, the night before my ballet recital, my dad panicked when he realized I needed to wear makeup and have my hair in a high bun. We drove to a Walmart near my town in Western Massachusetts, and my dad began methodically analyzing the makeup offerings. A sales associate spotted him trying to make sense of the difference between concealer, foundation, and powder — and which products were appropriate for his preschooler. Advertisement She knelt beside me, glanced at my dad studying a bottle of foundation, and said, 'Why don't we start with something simple — maybe blush.' Then she handed him a compact and added, 'This one won't look too grown-up.' Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Related : Something similar happened when I was 8 and needed jeans, when I was 12 and shopping for my first blazer, and again when I was 17 and buying a prom dress. Each time, a patient sales associate helped my dad and me navigate the world of women's clothing without asking invasive questions or looking at me with pity. No one ever asked why I wasn't there with my mother. In India — the country my family comes from and a place I love deeply — it wouldn't have been this easy. A father walking into the girl's underwear section of a store with his young daughter would almost be taboo. Here, my dad has purchased underwear for me many times without a cashier batting an eye. Advertisement In much of the world, including Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, being raised by a single father comes with whispers, sideways glances, and assumptions about brokenness. In the United States, the only time I've been made to feel 'less than' was by the Indian immigrant mother of a high school classmate. Had I been born in India, I would have been so focused on proving to people that I am not broken that I might never have had the freedom to be myself. But here, in the United States, being raised by a single dad has not defined me. Neither has my Indian heritage. The fact that I proudly celebrate Diwali and Holi and love to eat Indian food has never made me feel different. When I was in preschool, my dad and I brought in Indian sweets and coloring sheets of diyas to explain what Diwali is. Most of my friends and teachers had never heard of it before, but they were excited to learn about my heritage. When the holiday came around again the following year, my preschool teachers greeted me with a 'Happy Diwali.' In high school, my friends — both Indian and non-Indian — and I would cook and eat Indian food together. We even started making a fusion dish — a pizza with a curry for sauce and spiced potatoes and pickled gooseberry for toppings. Advertisement Having others celebrate my heritage partly fueled my desire to learn more about it in college. For the first time, I signed up for a Hindi class and started attending weekly 'aarti,' a worship ceremony. This isn't to say people never make assumptions about me. People see that I am of Indian heritage and assume that I am premed and a math whiz. (Blood scares me, and I got a B in high school calculus.) Of course, there is still much progress to be made in overcoming stereotypes and biases, but neither being raised by a single dad nor being Indian has limited who I can be. Instead, my life has been far more defined by perhaps the most American concept of all: opportunity. My dad immigrated to Canada at the age of 16 in 1984 to attend high school and moved to the United States for college. He studied math, computer science, and German, and then worked in financial services. Next he decided to become an entrepreneur and pursued ventures in business analytics, macroeconomic research, and now AI. My dad has always made a point of exposing me to people with nonlinear career paths — those who decided in their 30s to attend medical school, left finance to work in early childhood education, or became entrepreneurs. We'd often watch 'Shark Tank' together, and every time someone started a business after an unexpected path, he'd pause the show and say, 'That's what makes this country great.' In many other countries, such as Japan, Germany, and India, switching paths isn't so easy. In India, for example, students choose a track in high school that locks in their future options. If you study commerce (economics, accounting, etc.), you can't apply to medical school. Meanwhile, I know people here who majored in economics and later became surgeons. Advertisement I love the United States because it lets people become who they want to be — regardless of their background, family, culture, or career. Not everyone has equal footing, but the majority get some chance. That is rare in most other countries. Yet my pride is tempered by the reality that America is making choices that threaten this ideal. Just this year, immigrants have been increasingly demonized, access to education for international students and domestic students with disabilities has been undermined, and research funding has been slashed. On top of all that, voting rights are being rolled back under the guise of security and freedom of speech is under attack. Despite these troubling trends, I still believe in the promise of this nation. This country's greatest strength is its capacity to elevate individuals irrespective of their background. From Alexander Hamilton, an orphaned immigrant, to Barack Obama, the son of a single mother, to JD Vance, raised by his grandmother in the Midwest, to Donald Trump, born into wealth in Queens — few places enable such different journeys to lead to the same summit. That, more than anything, is why I am grateful to be an American.
Newsweek
a day ago
- Newsweek
Scientists Reveal Texting Trick for Stronger Relationship
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. If you want a simply way to boost your relationship on a day-to-day basis, try peppering your texts with emoji. This is the surprising recommendation of a new study by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, which found that text messages containing emojis are perceived as more emotionally responsive than those using words alone. That sense of responsiveness, the study found, significantly boosts feelings of closeness and satisfaction in romantic relationships. From left: Examples of text messages with emojis; and a woman smiling at her smartphone while outdoors. From left: Examples of text messages with emojis; and a woman smiling at her smartphone while outdoors. Getty Images / Eun Huh / PLOS One In an era dominated by digital communication, where tone and facial cues are often lost, this study points to emojis as essential stand-ins for human expression. It is not just that people enjoy the playful icons—it is that they interpret them as signs of emotional attunement, often signaling inside jokes or other shows of intimacy. In the study, researchers recruited 260 participants between the ages of 23 and 67 who read through 15 simulated text conversations. In each, they imagined themselves as the sender, evaluating their "partner's" replies. Some replies included emojis, while others did not. Across the board, participants found emoji-enhanced replies more emotionally responsive. That perceived responsiveness predicted stronger feelings of intimacy and satisfaction with their imagined partner. Texting, now the dominant form of communication for many couples, lacks the immediate feedback of face-to-face conversations. Emojis can, according to the results, help bridge that gap by injecting tone and emotion into otherwise flat text. This expressive function may help explain why participants rated emoji-enhanced responses so positively. Dr. Marisa T. Cohen, a marriage and family therapist and relationship expert with the dating app Hily, told Newsweek that this emotional context is key. "Emojis are often used to convey or deepen emotions when it comes to texts," Cohen said. "Texts often do not benefit from tone or nonverbals in the way that face-to-face interaction does, so emojis can help add character to the message. "This can help clarify intent when communicating." Importantly, the type of emoji used—whether a face or a non-face icon—did not significantly alter participants' perceptions. This suggests that it is the act of using emojis at all, rather than the specific symbol, that communicates emotional attentiveness. Cohen noted that as couples grow closer, even their emoji habits can become synchronized. "As people grow closer together, not only may their verbal expressions and intonations start to mirror one another, but so may their emoji use and texting behavior," she said. "They may also start to assign emojis specific meanings that only they know, creating a secret language. "This private language not only keeps them on the same page but can strengthen their couple identity." That digital rapport, Cohen said, can also deepen emotional intimacy over time. Still, emoji-based communication is not foolproof. Interpretation also varies by age and culture. "It is important to check that you put the same meaning into one emoji as different generations pick different emojis to express their emotions," Cohen said. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about relationships? Let us know via science@ Reference Huh, E. (2025). The impact of emojis on perceived responsiveness and relationship satisfaction in text messaging. PLOS One.
Buzz Feed
6 days ago
- Buzz Feed
27 Products That'll Help You Not Order Take-Out Again
A Dash rice maker if the biggest barrier to you eating an at-home stir fry is your fear of burning the rice. Again. BUT SUCH NEWS: You no longer have to be afraid, because this handy little gadget will make perfectly fluffy rice EVERY TIME! As a former Rice Freaker-Outer, I promise this is the answer to all your kitchen wishes. Promising reviews: "Does an amazing job cooking my sushi rice. Had it for a year now and it's still going strong. Does not burn your food simply keeps it warm. I constantly forget I'm cooking something and will normally burn my food by accident but this little cooker has been a life saver for me and my food." —Deisi Cervantez"This mini rice cooker is small but mighty—like the kitchen version of a chihuahua. I blink and suddenly there's perfect rice and zero judgment for my single-person meal. It's like having a personal chef who only knows one recipe, but nails it every time." —Ce CeGet it from Amazon for $21.95 (available in three colors). A folding silicone splatter guard to keep your efforts from also dirtying your stove top. (Like, who has TIME to cook *and* clean??) Bonus points: This doubles as a trivet so you can set your fresh-off-the-burner dishes down without burning your countertops and furniture. I LOVE that this one folds in half for easy storage and checking on whatever I'm cooking while still protecting from the splatters. It's machine washable, too, so I just chuck it in the dishwasher when I'm done (lovingly) abusing it. Get it from Amazon for $19.99 (available in two colors). A Pioneer Woman stand mixer so you can mixy-mixy like a pro, but without shelling out the wad of cash you see for That Big Brand. (Lots of reviewers have both and love this one MORE!) Whether you're making pastry dough for pizza, pot pies, or a lil' after-dinner dessert, you'll be thrilled to have this mixer in your kitchen corner. Promising reviews: "The mixer is as good or better than my daughter-in-laws Kitchen Aide, and more included attachments. I'm just thrilled with my pretty, heavy duty beauty." —Kristen"LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!!! I have a kitchen aid stand mixer and this one is so much better. Smaller and lighter to lift and put on counter, but just as powerful!!!! Love the clear guard to keep contents from spilling out while mixing. Highly recommend!!!!" —JillGet it from Walmart for $129. An Our Place 6-in-1 Wonder Oven my fam is personally in love with because it does everything (toast, roast, air fry, and bake) while taking up the world's smallest footprint on our counter. We've had other combo ovens in the past, but we use this one so much more because it makes it SO EASY to get what you need done fast, in part because the dials are analog, not digital. (No school like the old school when it comes to speed!) Look, I love digital stuff as much as the next thirty-something, but sometimes there are just too many options on those tiny screens and you want to just turn a dial and get it done now without having to scroll through one hundred choices, thanks. Plus, I SWEAR it cooks faster than our others did, and the reviewer below agrees!Promising review: "This oven replaced a 25+ year old toaster oven for us. The only downside was the learning curve for how much faster and more efficiently this cooked things! Chose it for the wide variety of functions - we didn't have an air fryer, and as said our toaster was old enough to vote and drink - as well as the looks ("like a grown-up easy bake oven"). It fits great in our kitchen, very well made and pleasant to use, and it works great as well." —William RothGet it from Amazon for $185+ (available in two sizes and four colors). A Kitchen Mama automatic can opener that'll speed up those casseroles that involve a bunch of canned veggies and cans of broth without requiring another counter-based gadget. This one works with a quick click of the button, so you can totally do other prep things while this does the opening work for you! A Cospro 3-in-1 wireless charging stainless-steel grinder set I will PERSONALLY never go without again because it is one less barrier to me *thinking* about cooking and me *actually* cooking. The one-handed grinding is a real game changer because I can season with freshly ground salt and pepper simultaneously and move on to the next step. Plus, it holds a charge FOREVER, so even if you don't want to keep the base plugged in all the time, it's good to go. This gadget is SO sleek, y'all, and it works as good as it looks! Promising review: "I purchased the 3-in-1 Salt and Pepper Grinder Set. I like the modern and clean design of the grinders. They feel sturdy and well made and look nice sitting on my countertop. It was very easy to fill each grinder with my preferred spices and seasonings. I really like that you can adjust the coarseness of the grinders. They have helped speed up food preparation as I no longer have to manually grind my various salts and peppers." —GlobeTrotter77Get the set of three from Amazon for $79.96 (also available in sets of one, two, and five). A Masterbuilt portable charcoal grill and smoker if your ideal dinner is smoked meat and grilled veggies, but your ideal aesthetic does ~not~ include a hulking piece of metal chilling permanently in your yard or spending $$$ to have it dashed to your door. This handy-dandy grill/smoker comes with a removable cart so you can take it just about anywhere, including your tiny porch. You're welcome. Promising review: "This baby was super easy to set up and get running. I love the heavy duty build and design is simple and effective. We're going to be testing it out on the boat next weekend and I will report a review again to share our story!" —Deep Creek OutfitterGet it from Walmart for $398.97 or from Masterbuilt for $329.99. A breakfast sandwich maker that's so fast and easy, it basically means you're ENCOURAGED to have breakfast for dinner whenever you want, which gets you back to your fave TV spot all the faster! A hand-powered chopper if you can't be bothered to find an empty outlet because you've gotta finish dinner and rush back to that DIY project you're finishing up. (Or your hot, morally gray book crush. No judgment.) A rotating pizza oven if homemade pizza is on the menu tonight (and many nights thereafter). This rotates to evenly cook homemade OR frozen pizza and saves up to 60% of the energy of using the Big Bad Oven... which also takes forever to preheat, let's be honest. Reviewers cook everything on this, not just pizza. A lot of them use it as a substitute air fryer and love how easy it is to store. And if pizza is what's for dinner, don't forget to throw some Mike's Hot Honey in your cart to drizzle on the top. (You're welcome in advance if you haven't tried this life hack.)Promising reviews: "I use it to make pizza, corn dogs, tater tots, chicken stripes, and almost anything else that you would have use your oven for and it cooks things faster than your oven. 😋" —Tonia O."We first saw it at a friend's home and had to try it. It is faster and more efficient than heating up the oven for frozen pizzas, which we add additional toppings to. It heats from above AND below, which turns out not only to be great for frozen pizzas but also for small bites, appetizers, and other items like canned cinnamon rolls. Best of all, it is amazing at reheating leftover pizza to practically like the first time, with a crispy crust and hot cheese — so much better than the soggy, limp microwave reheating. Now, we LOVE leftover pizza." —FigswayGet it from Amazon for $79 (available in two colors). Or a brand-new splurge-worthy propane rotating stone pizza oven from All-Clad, the company that has been making stellar bonded cookware in Pennsylvania for over half a century. (You've for CERTAIN drooled over their pans.) This ultra-compact magician of a gadget means you'll have evenly cooked pizza in less than two minutes, just like in a traditional brick oven, but without needing to live in a pizza joint to get it. See it ~doing the thing~ in this TikTok vid and try to resist the urge to turn your kitchen into Insert Your Name Here's Pizzeria. Get it from All-Clad for $999.99 (originally $1,299.99). A super simple cookbook from Your Barefoot Neighbor so you can make a meal that feels cozy and doable, even on your emotionally-overdrawn Tuesdays. Don't forget your handy cookbook holder, too! Check out his TikTok here!Promising reviews: "The bomb-digity of easy cooking! Absolutely the lazy cooks cookbook. I believe cooking is a waste of time and I'd rather fold laundry or wash dishes then cook. This book contains the best most delicious short cuts! Run and get it!!!" —D. Stansberry"This book is perfect! Easy meals, offers lots of variety, and every recipe has a picture! I made the Hawaiian Pork immediately and it's delicious. Real food, simple ingredients, big flavors. I'm going to start on page 1, and make every single one. Can't wait. Yum!!!" —ChubbymuggleGet it from Amazon for $14.99+ (available in paperback, hardback, spiral-bound, and e-book versions). An electric tea kettle you can use for making a pot of tea, a bowl of your favorite instant ramen or oatmeal, or for speeding up your "watched pot never boils" time by heating it in the kettle first! This one includes the ability to schedule your kettle, meaning it's one less thing to do when compiling all your meal prep goodies in the kitchen. Great Jones is a woman-run, New York-based small business that wants equip and empower you to cook at home — and make your kitchen your happy place. I *personally* have a couple of their items (shoutout to my impossible-to-cook-in-without-smiling mustard casserole dish) and let me tell you: The quality is simply stunning across the reviews: "Excellent kettle. Heats quickly pours great looks fantastic and comes with nice extra features. The scheduled heat-up time alone makes this worth the back significantly on the routine time in the morning." —Anonymous"Five star form AND function! It's just perfect! It's technologically savvy and drop dead gorgeous. So easy to set up and use. I love the temperature hold feature…game changer!" —AnonymousGet it from Great Jones Goods for $225 (also available in a limited edition green). A microwave panini press that'll fulfill your grilled cheese and tomato soup hankering in a jiff. Be sure to life hack yourself and grab some Campbell's microwavable soup because again, this is supposed to be quick. A Black + Decker air fryer if you need a quick side of fries, mozzarella sticks, or anything else that needs a FAST (but crispy!) turnaround. We use this all the time for my kiddo's emotional support chicken nuggets when we're trying new foods, and it's perfect because it truly is a "program and leave it" situation while everything else is cooking. Don't forget your air fryer liners for even easier cleanup. I bought these and they fit PERFECTLY in this model!Promising review: "I bought this because my old air fryer stopped working. I used it almost every day. It was my favorite appliance. I say all this because I did not know an air fryer could be even better and this one is. It's amazing. First off it's so quiet, I didn't even know it was on it first. It cooks incredibly fast.. much faster than my old one that I already thought was fast. Food comes out perfect. Even crispier. I can't vouch for its longevity but it's a stellar air fryer. Lots of bang for your buck. The only complaint I have is that the drawer is a tiny bit sticky but not enough to deduct any stars or want a different model. Buy it. You won't regret it." —Julie HallGet it from Amazon for $64.99+ (available in four sizes). A fast-prep kitchen slicer because faster can also (sometimes) mean safer! Spare your fingers (and your precious not-cooking time) by cutting chicken, tomatoes, and other weirdly hard-to-slice foods with ease. A rapid ramen cooker for those nights when a bowl of ramen would really hit the spot, but lots of prep time would not. A rapid fruit and veggie divider that'll cut everything from berries to carrots into four lengthwise quarters for the perfect snacking, cooking, and girl dinner size. A silicone clip-on colander if one of your fam's main food groups is mac 'n' cheese and one of your main food groups is making your life easier. Promising reviews: "I hated digging for a colander every time I wanted to drain my kid's noodles. Now I just reach for this clip on the pot and strain. So much more convenient." —Melissa"Super easy to use and convenient with all my pots. Has made the pasta and grease straining process faster and cleaner. Ended up buying a couple more for family and friends!" —AshwoGet it from Amazon for $9.99+ (available in seven colors). A HelloFresh everything-you-need meal kit subscription if you would like to decrease your grocery shopping trips, simplify your meal planning, AND change up the four things you know how to make. HEAR ME OUT. I — like you — have heard the podcast ads forever and kinda just rolled my eyes, BUT I AM A CHANGED WOMAN. My partner signed us up on a whim and now we... eat vegetables? NIGHTLY. And they're delicious and easy enough that I, a simpleton, can make them??? I could go on, but just trust me on this one: Absolutely worth the chore-saving hype and then some. We spend wayyy less at the grocery store per week because so many meals are "already taken care of" via HelloFresh. I like to lay out the recipes at the beginning of each week and use my best Mufasa voice to tell my family, "Everything the light touches... is our dinner." The best part? The recipes are divided up into individual bags so I can just grab one out of the fridge and get to gettin' on making dinner even if I have no brain cells left by the end of the day. Oh, and did I mention it's all delivered directly to our door (in the best recyclable packaging, I might add)? ~Perfection~.Get it from HelloFresh starting at $21.96+ per box (originally $56.95+; available for two, four, or six people, and with two, three, four, five, or six recipes per week). A microwave pasta maker since carb loading shouldn't have to mean "dish loading" when you're done prepping. This handy dandy pasta maker comes with a straining lid so you don't even have to mess with a colander and will have your pasta done before your kid can finish two full Bluey episodes. A microwave potato bag both functional and adorably feels like tucking your wee lil' potato into a sleeping bag. It'll also save you the trouble of heating your whole house up with an oven for one small tuber. These bags can also be used for sweet potatoes and corn!Promising review: "I gave these as a gift after buying for myself. These eliminate the waste of energy making potatoes in the oven. I am using every possible product to eliminate having to turn on my oven and these bags are at the top of the list. The people I gifted these to were really pleased with how easy and well they worked. And having a baked potato in under 10 minutes sure beats an hour in the oven." –Jacqueline Get a two-pack from Amazon for $8.49. A ceramic stove protector so cleanup is no longer the excuse you whisper while adding fries to your cart. Keep your cooktop looking ~pristine~ no matter *how* messy you get while chef-ing. Promising review: "Love this thing!!! It's a pretty thick glass that is durable, looks great as if part of the stove, the pricing was reasonable. Easy to clean by cleaning it as you would your ceramic stove top. I had been searching for something like this for a while for my previous ceramic stove top that was damaged and needed something to cover it up so when running across this one, I simply had to have it for my new ceramic stove top and keep it from being damaged. What's most appealing to me? It's its functionality as it is not something that has to be removed in order for you to be able to utilize the stove. It brings four stoppers to place one on each corner and keep the glass from shifting. Very happy with it!!" —SandraGet it from Amazon for $250 (available in five sizes). A Souper Cubes freezer tray truly made to get you back to your couch in record time, because ~meal prep~ is an investment in your glorious just-watch-TV-and-rot recharge time. Each cube has enough room for a cup of pasta sauce or soup so that you can make a big ol' batch, save the extras, and run your microwave panini press for a whirl and voilà! Dinner is served! A hybrid digital food scale and measuring cup for those more ~precise~ recipes that are delicious but painstaking. This will help cut down on the time it takes to make sure you're putting the right amount of ingredients in those yummy baked goods you're making for the watch party. A pair of cute bat kitchen shears because my life was changed when I realized you can use scissors on anything: Chicken breasts, those annoying stumpy parts of lettuce, shrimp tails, tomatoes. Nothing is stopping you from using scissors instead of a knife, and I swear it can be so much quicker. Promising review: "Not only are these the perfect kitchen scissors, but basically the perfect everything scissors! I use these 24/7 since I got them. Not to mention how CUTE they are! They cut amazingly and are sooooo worth the money." —Matthew Z. Get them from Amazon for $17.95. A self-stirring multi-cooker for those of us whose grown-up version of a fairy godmother would be a private chef. This dream machine uses an automatic paddle to shred meats and stir soups and stews, so you can spend less time in the kitchen and more time doing literally anything else. Promising reviews: "This product is so wonderful! It was purchased for my elderly grandma who has a hard time making dinner. The automatic stir is a lifesaver for her. She's able to make her favorite recipes again. Would recommend 10 out of 10!" —Shalee Van NoyGet it from Amazon for $116.05+ (available in two styles).
