Snapping into focus

If you remember when these kiosks were everywhere, you most definitely #grewupinthe70s. Talk about modern convenience. You’d pull up, drop off the canister, and Bob’s your uncle! You had photos in your hand the next day. And if they were late? Free roll of film 😎

Advances in tech may have relegated Fotomat to the past, but like vinyl, film has been having a renaissance. It was a major trend last year and 2025 should tell us whether film photos are here to stay.

After all, they remind us of the places we used to go ;)

Love nostalgia? Play today’s trivia below!

Roughly 25 million real Christmas trees are bought every year. Is it possible to get more than just a month’s worth of use out of one?

While most folks end up recycling their tree after the holiday season ends, many people probably don’t know what other options they have. For example, did you know you can eat or drink the remnants of the tree?

“The way that generally I cook with [Christmas trees] is to use the needles like an herb, in the same way that you might use rosemary. You use the rosemary to flavor a dish but you don’t necessarily eat the rosemary itself,” said UK artisan baker and cook Julia Georgallis, author of How to Eat Your Christmas Tree.

How about using the tree’s pine needles to make a year’s supply of tea?

According to health experts, those pine needles are packed with vitamins A and C, along with plenty of other antioxidants and anti-inflammatory flavonoids.

To make tea out of pine needles, simply cut them into smaller shards, put them in water, boil for 10 to 20 minutes, and strain.

According to a study conducted by the Baltimore Experience Corps, when acts of kindness become habits of kindness, they can have measurable health benefits.

The large-scale study tracked adults over the age of 60 who volunteered for various amounts of time with underprivileged children over the course of two years. Those who spent an average of 15 hours a week volunteering were found to have noticeable improvements in brain health.

"They didn't experience declines in memory and executive function like we saw in our control participants," said Tara Gruenewald, a social and health psychologist at Chapman University Gruenewald, one of the researchers involved in the trial. "And there were even changes in brain volume in areas of the brain that support these different cognitive processes.”

Other physical health benefits detected included an ability to remain physically active for longer periods of time and a generally lower risk of mortality.

Longer time spent volunteering also appeared to amplify mental health, according to Laura Kubzansky, a professor of social and behavioural sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

"Volunteering or doing an act of kindness can distract you from some of the problems that you might be having, so you might be a little bit less reactive yourself," Kubzansky said. “It may help to give you more perspective on what your own problems are."

Based on a criteria made up of nine data points, BookRetreats published its Holiday Relaxation Report, evaluating the 76 most relaxing and peaceful destinations for travellers looking for, well, peace and relaxation.

The data points included the percentage of protected areas in each country, forest coverage, crowd density, noise, light pollution, and the number of wellness experiences available locally. Each destination was given a score out of 100 based on these criteria, and the far-and-away favourite was perhaps not quite what you’d expect, though fully unsurprising once you think about it for a minute.

"Iceland is the best place for quiet holidays," BookRetreats said in a statement. "The country is home to only one city, scoring top marks for low noise and light pollution, as well as traffic congestion." 

Outside of that one city, the country is comprised of what’s basically a fully untamed wilderness that includes volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, glaciers, and black sand beaches.
 
"Not only does the island have the highest Global Peace Index score, but it also leads all destinations for the serenity category in our report, recording the best score for noise and light pollution," BookRetreats reported. "…pristine dark skies make it one of the best places to witness the spectacular northern lights."

After announcing Becoming Led Zeppelin will hit IMAX theaters this winter, Sony Pictures revealed the highly-anticipated and long-awaited Led Zeppelin documentary will finally arrive for general release on Feb. 14.

“Powered by awe-inspiring, psychedelic, never-before-seen footage, performances, and music, Bernard MacMahon’s experiential cinematic odyssey explores Led Zeppelin’s creative, musical, and personal origin story,” the release said. “The film is told in Led Zeppelin’s own words and is the first officially sanctioned film on the group.”

The film has been in production for nearly four years, with McMahon saying “the process of making this film was much closer to that of a feature film than a documentary.

“We told the story from their childhood through to 1970 when they become the biggest band in the world. To tell that powerfully is a full length feature film in itself.”

According to writer Allison McGourty, the majority of the film was put together in secret in order to have a near-finished product ready to present to Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and Pat Bonham.

“We knew the band had turned down countless documentary offers for fifty years but we believed in the higher purpose of the story that we were planning to tell.”

The plan worked, and the doc became the first to actually be fully sanctioned by the band itself.

That story about the benefits of kindness on health got us thinking about one of the kindest characters of all time: Mary Poppins.

If you’re a fan of the perfect nanny, then you’ll love today’s trivia ;)

Have a great day ahead Staker!

Trivia courtesy of funtrivia.com. Today’s issue written by Michael Cowan, Joey Cowan, and Maureen Norman.