Located just outside the Capitola Mall, Takara is a Japanese restaurant serving a diverse range of sushi along with a large happy hour menu. Rather large and offering two bars, one with drinks, and another up close to the sushi chefs, the restaurant offers a variety of sitting areas. I typically order the California Roll, along with a few appetizers—usually a Miso Soup and some Edamame. Good service is a rare commodity in most Santa Cruz restaurants, but at Takara, the servers are attentive. Food usually arrives within 45 minutes. The decor is pleasant, and at the entrance to the bathrooms, there are curtains ado...

The environment is our single biggest and most valuable resource, and we need to do everything we can do to protect it. The fact is, the environment has been depleted and destroyed by humans at a staggering rate, a rate that is not sustainable. Humans are going to continue to exist here, in growing numbers, and if we keep treating the natural world the way we are, not only will we fully destroy beautiful animals, plants, places, but we will also be severely limited in our resources, opportunities, and quality of life. We depend on the environment for everything we have: our food, our shelter, our jobs, our health, our lives...

In 2006, the tweet was devised by Twitter’s founder, Jack Dorsey, as a way for friends to keep tabs on each other using brief status updates—like public text messages. Since then, it has become a staple of modern communication. Though we continue to use Twitter as Dorsey first intended, it has also expanded, filling roles far beyond the scope of its original purpose. Tweeting has enabled the discov...

The Greatest Instrument Ever Played When you think of orchestral music, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Mozart? Violins? Music that makes your eyelids feel like they weigh more than a tuba? The only way for the far too common negative associations with orchestral music to disappear is for a new section to be introduced to the orchestra, a section consisting of the greatest instrument ever...

                        Don't worry. Here are 25 gifs to help you relax. ...