It’s Official: Sitting In Front Of The TV Shortens Your Life

“Researchers found that each hour a day spent watching TV was linked with an 18% greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, an 11% greater risk of all causes of death, and a 9% increased risk of death from cancer.” The risks, which are “irrespective of a person’s exercise level,” have implications for computer use as well.

Two Architects, Now Blind, Navigate Their New Reality

Christopher Downey, a Northern California architect, “said he and Lisbon’s Carlos Mourão Pereira joke that their meeting three months ago was the ‘first-ever International Blind Architects Conference.’ But the questions that engage the men are deeply serious: What makes a building beautiful if you can’t see it, and how can you create beautiful structures if you’re blind?”

Shirley Rich, Casting Agent Extraordinaire, Dies at 87

“Ms. Rich specialized in casting nonstarring roles. She combed her voluminous files of head shots and haunted Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway to find exactly the right person for a part that might comprise just a few lines.” In the process, she gave some actors who would become stars their first big break — and also assembled John Travolta’s gang.