That's what SHE said: an easy and interesting sleep test, wise words from an entertainment titan, a bakery that serves up some bittersweet treats and more....

Here are some things I read this week that made me think. (These are just snippets - click on the title to read the whole thing.)

8 Sleep Experts on What to Do When You Can’t Turn Off Your Thoughts at Night from Jessica with the Science of Us

"Some nights, it’s like you can’t get your brain to shut up long enough for you to fall asleep. You’re mentally reviewing the day you just completed while also previewing the day ahead; sometimes, your mind may even reach way back into the archives and pull up something embarrassing you did back in high school. So fun!

Racing thoughts can be a sign of a serious mental health condition like anxiety. But these nights also happen to everyone from time to time — and once we’re too old for bedtime stories, it’s not always

clear what to do. There’s no one solution that will work for everybody, of course, so instead, we’ve rounded up suggestions from eight sleep experts. At the very least, it’s something to read next time you can’t sleep."

Bonus: a simple test to know if you're getting enough sleep at night

What are the key elements that REALLY make a house a home? from Rachel with Fresh Design Blog

"Embrace Hygge! Pronounced ‘hoo-gah’, if you’ve not heard about Hygge, where have you been hiding? The Danish-coined phrase almost took over British bookshelves in 2016 and can be translated as ‘cosiness’ in English. It’s all about making your home cosy, indulgent, and most importantly, a relaxing place to settle. This can include everything from replacing cold blinds with warm and cosy ready made curtains to updating the throws and cushions on your sofa. Make your space personal and comfortable, even if it looks a bit messy!"

Your 5-year-old is already racially biased. Here’s what you can do about it. by Andrew with Mashable

"- Your new roommate is a Palestinian and Muslim.
- A group of young Black men are walking toward you on the street.
- The young man sitting next to you on the airplane is an Arab.
- Your new suitemates are Mexican.
- Your assigned lab partner is a fundamentalist Christian.

Administrators at Fox Chapel Middle School in Spring Hill, Florida recently fired a teacher who gave her sixth graders an assignment asking them to consider how “comfortable” they would be in the company of various people. Some of the 41 scenarios identified these “others” in terms of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion.

Many Fox Hill students and parents were upset. “They’re kids. Let kids be kids. Why are they asking kids these questions?” one mother to a seventh-grade student wondered. “I just don’t think it’s something that needs to be brought in school.”

Such sentiments are familiar — and deeply misguided. In the United States, a lot of us believe that children, especially White children, are racial innocents — completely naive, curiously fragile with respect to the realities of race, or both. The truth is that well before their teen years, the vast majority of children are well aware of prevailing biases, and most kids, of all racial stripes, have taken on a bunch of their own."

My year of saying yes to everything by Shonda Rhimes via TED

"Shonda Rhimes, the titan behind Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, is responsible for some 70 hours of television per season, and she loves to work. "When I am hard at work, when I am deep in it, there is no other feeling," she says. She has a name for this feeling: The hum. The hum is a drug, the hum is music, the hum is God's whisper in her ear. But what happens when it stops? Is she anything besides the hum? In this moving talk, join Rhimes on a journey through her "year of yes" and find out how she got her hum back."

Why Being Alone Doesn’t Have to Mean Being Lonely from Grace with The Everygirl
"You get to be selfish, and being selfish isn’t always a bad thing.

When you remove others from the, “What should I do today?” equation, you get to put yourself first. No more compromising on which movie to see or restaurant to eat at, the decision is always yours. There’s more to it than just getting your own way, though, it’s also about realizing that you can do things on your own and enjoy it just as much. While it may be challenging at first, being independent of others and relying on yourself to seize the day and find happiness is the payoff.

When alone time becomes synonymous with bettering yourself, it will never be unproductive, boring, or lonely again."

Trolls, eat cake. How one woman is taking aim at online harassers by Sarah with CNN Tech

"Online harassment is pervasive: Nearly half of internet users have experienced harassment or abuse online. And 27% of Americans say they've stopped themselves from posting something online for fear of being harassed.

So Thek is whipping up chocolate cakes in her Brooklyn apartment with a troll's nasty comment colorfully spelled out. For $35, she'll drop it in the mail with a printout of the original comment....

"It becomes funny when you think about how misdirected and bizarre this anger is and you redirect it in a similarly bizarre, but cheerful, way -- like putting it on a cake," Thek said. "It's an adult having a tantrum."

Thek also has a special offer: For $30, she'll send one of Trump's tweets to the White House."

Source: That's what SHE said: an easy and interesting sleep test, wise words from an entertainment titan, a bakery that serves up some bittersweet treats and more....