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David Bowie produced a large number of ambitious songs throughout his career, but one of them is by far the longest. The title song from his Station to Station album of 1976 is 10 minutes and 8 seconds long, which makes “Station to Station” Bowie’’s longest officially released song.

Written by Bowie and recorded in late 1975, the song became the opening track of his tenth studio album, Station to Station, which arrived on Jan. 23, 1976. The record also introduced one of Bowie’s best-known personas, the Thin White Duke, per Bowie Bible.

The song, which lasts for over 10 minutes, is not constructed in the way of a typical rock song since it goes through a number of musical sections and begins with the noise of a train before Bowie’s voice appears. Later on, it changes both its tempo and style, blending together elements that showed where Bowie had been musically and also where he was going next.

Photo by: Universal Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The track was recorded during a difficult period in Bowie’s life. He said he remembered very little about making the album. Yet Station to Station became an important turning point in his career, linking the soul and funk sounds of Young Americans with the experimental direction he would explore on Low, “Heroes” and Lodger.

According to Bowie Bible, the singer himself described the title track as a musical bridge to his next chapter.

“As far as the music goes, Low and its siblings were a direct follow-on from the title track ‘Station To Station’. It’s often struck me that there will usually be one track on any given album of mine, which will be a fair indicator of the intent of the following album.”

“Station to Station” was written by David Bowie and recorded between October and November 1975. Bowie co-produced the track and album with Harry Maslin.

The musicians on the recording included Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick on guitar, Roy Bittan on piano, George Murray on bass, Dennis Davis on drums and Geoff MacCormack on vocals.

The song was made from ideas that were brought together in the studio. Earl Slick remembered that the track had started as separate pieces.

“To the best of my memory, Station to Station was three different pieces that he had and we kind of puzzled them together. I don’t know how we did it. He had three separate ideas and somehow they worked together,” Slick said, per Medium.

The Thin White Duke became the central persona connected to the Station to Station era. It followed earlier Bowie characters such as Ziggy Stardust and Halloween Jack, while also marking a shift toward a colder, more controlled stage image.

Despite its title and famous train introduction, “Station to Station” was not simply about railway travel.

The song references religion, mysticism, the Kabbalah, and other ideas that interested Bowie at the time. Bowie explained the meaning behind the title and its lyrics in a 1997 interview with Q magazine.

“The ‘Station To Station’ track itself is very much concerned with the stations of the cross, All the references within the piece are to do with the Kabbalah. It’s the nearest album to a magik treatise that I’ve written. I’ve never read a review that really sussed it. It’s an extremely dark album. Miserable time to live through, I must say.”

After Station to Station, Bowie moved toward the music that would form his Berlin Trilogy: Low and “Heroes” in 1977, followed by Lodger in 1979.

Related: 1975 Led Zeppelin Song, Lasting 11 Minutes, Is Still an Emotional Hit 55 Years Later

Emilio Navaira was one of the most influential artists to bring Tejano music to a wider audience.

The singer-songwriter, who became known as the “Garth Brooks of Tejano,” would have turned 64 on Aug. 23.

Born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1962, Navaira began his career performing Tejano music before expanding into country, building a following on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

His powerful voice and energetic performances helped make him one of the biggest stars in Tejano music during the 1990s.

Navaira’s nickname reflected both his popularity and his crossover ambitions.

He scored six entries on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, including “It’s Not the End of the World,” “Life Is Good” and “Be With You.”

At the same time, he remained a major force in Tejano music, earning multiple awards and building a career that helped introduce the genre to listeners who may not have encountered it otherwise.

Navaira’s music often blended traditional Tejano sounds with country influences, reflecting his Texas roots and broad musical interests.

His career reached another major milestone in 1995, when he became the first Tejano artist to perform at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s main stage.

His 1995 English-language album, Life Is Good, helped introduce him to a broader American audience. The title track became one of his best-known country recordings, while his 1997 album It’s on the House continued his crossover efforts.

His success came during a period when Tejano music was enjoying increased mainstream attention, with artists such as Selena helping bring the Texas-based genre to an international audience.

Navaira’s career ultimately encompassed both sides of the musical world, making him a particularly distinctive figure in Texas music.

Navaira’s career was cut short when he died on May 16, 2016, at age 53, after suffering a heart attack.

But his influence on Tejano music has endured.

RELATED: Country Star Kacey Musgraves, Who Started Yodeling at 8, Turns 38

Hayden Panettiere’s mother, Lesley Vogel, has been very outspoken about her daughter’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, following the actress’s tragic death at the age of 36 on Aug. 16.

And in a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Vogel called out the account of her daughter’s death by Brian and his brother Zach, saying it is “full of holes.” She added that she pressed law enforcement in South Carolina to investigate Panettiere’s death, while also questioning Hickerson and the information he relayed to the police.

Specifically, she says Brian told the police that Panettiere was doing her makeup in the residence around 10.30 am on Sunday, August 16, which is when he went out for something. He then returned later and went to take a nap.

“Vogel’s account of what Hickerson told police does not include him seeing or speaking to Hayden after he returned, she claims,” The Daily Mail writes.

She then said that Hickerson told police his brother had knocked on the door a little later, and when Brian went to answer, the actress was found unresponsive. According to Vogel, there are “unexplained gaps in that account.”

“I don’t know how you can take a nap near someone who’s dying and not realize something’s wrong. How do you do that?,” she told the outlet. “When the EMTs came it was for a cardiac arrest. People in cardiac arrest aren’t just lying still. They make noise. I think Brian called his brother. My opinion. I think he knew she was deceased. Called his brother, and tried and built this story.”

Vogel described Panettiere’s relationship with Brian as a “codependent bond,” saying it was “much more powerful than people realized.” She said she is speaking out because she “wants justice” for her daughter.

“‘There is infinite sadness,” Vogel added. “But this is not the time for me to be weak. I don’t have the luxury right now of being weak. I have too much to do for Hayden. When I’m done with that, then I will give myself the luxury to mourn – deeply mourn.”

“I’m not saying I’m not grieving now. I am, and I do have my moments. But the bigger picture right now is I have to stay strong. I don’t have an option.’

Bunny Levine, a beloved actress who appeared on shows including Gilmore Girls and Shameless as well as some Adam Sandler films, has died at the age of 97.

Her manager told The Hollywood Reporter that Levine died peacefully in her sleep, with NBC Los Angeles further reporting that she died Thursday, Aug. 20, at her home in Tarzana, California. Police responded to her home that morning after receiving a report of an unresponsive person.

Levine’s path to Hollywood was certainly different. She had an interest in acting from a young age, but after graduating high school, she began working as a school librarian for 25 years. After retiring, she took acting classes and auditioned for roles. Then, when her husband, Bernard Levine, died in 2003, she made the decision to move to Los Angeles.

Her resume includes appearances in shows such as Law & Order, Everybody Loves Raymond, Gilmore Girls, Ugly Betty, Private Practice, Criminal Minds, 2 Broke Girls, Raising Hope, Southland, New Girl, Getting On, The Mindy Project, Fuller House, Shameless , and Dave. She was also in movies including Slime City, The Jimmy Show, A Thousand Words, and La La Land.

Levine worked with Adam Sandler on three of the comedian’s hit movies, such as You Don’t Mess With the Zohan in 2008, Sandy Wexler in 2017, and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah in 2023.

Following news of her passing, many paid tribute to the actress.

“RIP Bunny Levine, one of the oldest actors working regularly in Hollywood. Often a dirty grandma, she had a great delivery — and she got her start in her 60s. I remember seeing her in the semi-recent ‘Thelma,'” one person posted.

“Bunny was a lovely powerhouse of a woman and a terrific actress. An example for all of us in our industry. Rest in peace bunny may your memory be a blessing,” another person commented.

While many famous psychologists or psychoanalysts in history were focused on finding out what causes human trauma or why people develop mental disorders, others like Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) were focused on humans as they were, and as a whole. And our quote of the day really hits home that Maslow was not interested in “tried and true” scientific methods, but rather methods that took humanity into account and fit their needs, because you can’t use the same “tool” for every problem.

Maslow is most well-known for coming up with his “hierarchy of needs” theory. This basically states that there is an order in which humans require things, from basic bodily essentials like food, water and shelter, to essentials related to safety, love, esteem and finally self-actualization at the top of this hierarchy. He argued that as people grow, they need more to keep them happy than just things to sustain their bodies and resources for safety.

For that reason and more, Maslow is one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, as Positive Psychology put it. He was an American psychologist and an “important contributor in the United States to humanistic psychology,” per Britannica. This branch of psychology argued that each human being was unique and should be regarded as such in their treatment by psychologists and psychiatrists.

Related: Quote of the Day: Franz Kafka on the Connection Between Happiness and Childlike Wonder

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“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”

Maslow wrote this quote in his 1966 book, The Psychology of Science: A Reconnaissance, which gives readers “a fascinating glimpse of what science and medicine might be like if we could work to ‘re-humanize’ them.” Maslow makes the case for humanistic science vs. “value-free, orthodox science.”

It appears in Chapter 2: “Acquiring Knowledge of a Person as a Task for the Scientist,” specifically in the subsection called “Problem-Centering and Method-Centering: Insistence on Higher Questions.”

In this section, Maslow is talking about how he became frustrated with scientists or other psychologists who were against changing their methods of experimentation to fit each test subject. What works with animals won’t work with humans, and vice versa. Or, as he also notes, psychological processes that work for those with mental health issues, trauma or the like don’t work for “psychologically healthy people.” 

He then writes that not evolving based on who or what you’re researching is similar to a machine that washes cars perfectly—it will wash anything you put in it as if it were a car. So it might work really well for a vehicle, but nothing else, at least not as perfectly.

Related: Quote of the Day: Psychoanalyst Karen Horney on Inner Strength and Taking Your Own Path Forward in Life

This quote from Maslow helped create the concept of the law of the instrument, the golden hammer or Maslow’s Hammer. As Everyday Concepts reported, two years before the publication of this book, philosopher Abraham Kaplan had come up with this concept of the “law of the instrument,” but Maslow tends to be remembered more for this idea. 

Per Psychology Today, Maslow “was a psychologist who loved human beings,” so he wanted to study what made people happy, altruistic, curious and more, rather than just what made them mentally unwell or traumatized, as stated before. This desire to learn more and have a more humanistic approach to psychology is what led him to think of this idea that just because hard science has always studied people in one way doesn’t mean that there aren’t new ways to approach psychology. 

What this quote, and essentially Maslow’s Hammer, means is that people will use the tools that they’re comfortable or familiar with just because they know them well, not because they’re the best “tools” for the job at hand. We, of course, can only know what we already know unless we learn new things. But it’s important to understand this and not live with blinders on when there might be better solutions to things than what we’re aware of.

So, in short, if you only have a hammer at your disposal, and always have, that is what you’ve likely used to “fix” things around you. But not every problem is a “nail,” and it’s good to remember that there are more tools out there than just hammers. 

Related: Quote of the Day: Philosopher René Descartes on Why Brilliance Requires Action

• “It isn’t normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement.”
• “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be”
• “What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”
• “Be independent of the good opinion of other people.”
• “If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.”
• “Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth). Make the growth choice a dozen times a day.”

Up Next:

Related: Quote of the Day: Philosopher Denis Diderot on How Passion Can ‘Elevate the Soul’

Ever watch something on TV and swear that you came up with the idea first?

TMZ recently reported on a lawsuit tied to the western streaming series that started them all: Yellowstone.

According to the tabloid, Taylor Sheridan, Paramount and NBCUniversal are all being sued in federal court by entertainment journalist and TV writer Lauren J. Salkin, who claims she came up with the hit series’ concept and that they stole her idea.

TMZ also took to Instagram on Friday, August 21 to report its exclusive on the suit. See below.

Fans and social media users in general have since flooded the post’s comments section to share their thoughts on the complaints, with some coming to Sheridan’s defense. “Anyone who has ever listened to Taylor speak on long form podcasts knows this man is the creator of all things he does,” wrote one Instagram user, while another person commented, “Seen almost all his shows, imma say she’s going to need an insane amount of evidence to prove that case cause you can tell a show is his. He’s on a generational run right now with his shows. He can’t miss.”

Other users expressed reservations at the reported lawsuit, given the timing. “5 seasons later 🙄,” one person commented, while someone else wrote, “What took her so long to file a lawsuit??”

Then there were a number of comments that seem on board with the fact that Sheridan, 56, may have drawn a little too much inspiration from other projects. “He left Sons of Anarchy and completely copied it and added horses instead of motorcycles. So there’s that,” wrote one Instagram user, while another person commented, “Yellowstone stole their idea from Bonanza anyway. It’s a modern day Bonanza.”

Per TMZ, Salkin claims that in 2016 and 2017 she submitted a pilot script and additional materials for a show titled “Sovereign Nation” to Sheridan’s production company — and has proof that her materials were reviewed.

Today’s New York Times Connections Sports Edition puzzle covers everything from Beantown basketball players to baseball team home bases. You might also need to know a thing or two about football stats.

Get excited—there’s another New York Times game to add to your daily routine! Those of us word game addicts who already play Wordle, Connections, Strands and the Mini Crossword now have Connections Sports Edition to add to the mix.

So, if you’re looking for some hints and answers for today’s Connections Sports Edition on Sunday, August 23, 2026, you’ve come to the right place.

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The New York Times

Connections Sports Edition is just like the regular Connections word puzzle, in that it’s a game that resets at 12 a.m. EST each day and has 16 different words listed. It’s up to you to figure out each group of four words that belong to a certain category, with four categories in total.

This new version is sports-specific, however, as a partnership between The New York Times and The Athletic.

As the NYT site instructs, for Connections Sports Edition, you “group sports terms that share a common thread.”

Related: The 26 Funniest NYT Connections Game Memes You’ll Appreciate if You Do This Daily Word Puzzle

Here are some hints about the four categories to help you figure out the word groupings.

• Yellow: Figures for the quarterback’s right-hand man.
• Green: Tricks seen on the court.
• Blue: Lucky’s current players.
• Purple: Where you might watch a ball game.

OK, time for a second hint…we’ll give you the actual categories now. Spoilers below!

• Yellow: STATS FOR A RUNNING BACK
• Green: ONE-WORD BASKETBALL MOVIES
• Blue: CURRENT BOSTON CELTICS
• Purple: FIRST WORD IN NAMES OF MLB HOME BALLPARKS

If you’re looking for the answers, no worries—we’ve got them below. So, don’t scroll any further if you don’t want to see the solutions!

The answers to today’s Connections Sports Edition #699 are coming up next.

Related: 15 Fun Games Like Connections to Play Every Day

• STATS FOR A RUNNING BACK: ATTEMPTS, FUMBLES, TOUCHDOWNS, YARDS
• ONE-WORD BASKETBALL MOVIES: AIR, EDDIE, HOOSIERS, HUSTLE
• CURRENT BOSTON CELTICS: GEORGE, PRITCHARD, TATUM, WHITE
• FIRST WORD IN NAMES OF MLB HOME BALLPARKS: CITIZENS, GLOBE, GREAT, SUTTER

Don’t worry if you didn’t get them this time—we’ve all been there.

Up next, catch up on the answers to recent Wordle puzzles.

Related: I Made Dolly Parton’s Corn Pone Recipe—and Now I Finally Understand the Hype

His band helped define the sound of early-2000s rock.

But not everyone was impressed.

Julian Casablancas, the frontman and primary songwriter of The Strokes, turns 48 today, Aug. 23, 2026. Born Aug. 23, 1978, in New York City, Casablancas would go on to lead one of the most influential bands of the early-2000s rock revival.

The Strokes’ 2001 debut album, Is This It, was widely celebrated for its stripped-down, retro-inspired sound. But one legendary musician wasn’t quite as enthusiastic.

David Bowie had some strong thoughts about the album.

In an interview with Far Out Magazine, Bowie acknowledged that Is This It had three good songs but argued that The Strokes needed to move beyond their retro influences.

“I think they’ve got to stop sounding quite so retro, and really open up their writing more,” Bowie said.

“But I was quite disappointed with the album,” he added.

Bowie’s criticism was particularly notable because The Strokes were already being hailed as one of the bands leading a resurgence of guitar-driven rock. Their sound drew heavily from earlier New York bands, including The Velvet Underground, while Casablancas developed a distinctive crooning vocal style of his own.

Still, Bowie didn’t completely dismiss the group. He suggested that if the band opened up its songwriting and moved beyond its retro influences, “they could be quite good.”

And history ultimately proved that The Strokes had plenty more to offer.

Casablancas grew up in New York and attended the Lycée Français de New York and Dwight School, where he met several musicians who would eventually become his bandmates. His musical tastes were shaped in part by his stepfather, who introduced him to The Doors when he was young.

By the late 1990s, Casablancas was fronting what would become one of the most influential bands of the era. The Strokes officially took shape in New York in 1998, with Casablancas on vocals, Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. on guitar, Nikolai Fraiture on bass and Fabrizio Moretti on drums.

Casablancas was also responsible for the band’s now-famous name. After the musicians had considered several possibilities, Casablancas suggested The Strokes, and the name stuck.

The group’s breakthrough came with Is This It, which featured songs including “Last Nite,” “Someday” and the title track. The album became a landmark of the early-2000s New York rock scene, even as Bowie questioned whether the band’s sound was too rooted in the past.

Producer Gordon Raphael, who worked with The Strokes on The Modern Age EP and Is This It, later praised Casablancas’ musical instincts and songwriting ability.

Casablancas eventually expanded his career beyond The Strokes. He released his 2009 solo album Phrazes for the Young and later formed The Voidz, an experimental rock group that allowed him to explore a considerably different musical direction.

He has also collaborated with artists including Queens of the Stone Age, Santigold, Pharrell Williams, Danger Mouse and The Lonely Island.

Whatever Bowie thought of the band’s retro influences, The Strokes’ place in early-2000s rock history was already being written.

And today, Casablancas has another reason to look back: the singer who helped make The Strokes one of the era’s defining bands is turning 48.

RELATED: ’90s Country Star Collin Raye Turns 66

Imagine ordering a cheesesteak from a restaurant you’ve never heard of, only to discover—after the delivery arrives—that your meal was actually cooked inside an IHOP. Or ordering wings from a brand that looks like a neighborhood takeout joint when the kitchen is, in fact, a Chili’s. Welcome to the slightly spooky, surprisingly ordinary world of ghost kitchens and virtual restaurant brands.

A ghost kitchen is essentially a restaurant without the restaurant part. There is no dining room, host stand, patio or neon sign beckoning you inside. Instead, it is a professional kitchen designed primarily or entirely to prepare food for delivery and pickup. Some ghost kitchens operate in dedicated commercial facilities, while others are tucked inside existing restaurants.

A virtual restaurant, meanwhile, is the brand you see on the delivery app. It may have its own name, logo and menu, but share a physical kitchen with another restaurant.

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The distinction sounds technical, but it explains a lot of those mysterious delivery app listings. Think of the ghost kitchen as the where and the virtual brand as the what.

The model exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, when dining rooms were closed or heavily restricted and restaurants desperately needed ways to keep kitchens busy. Launching an online-only brand was considerably cheaper and faster than opening another physical restaurant. Instead of signing a new lease and hiring an entirely separate crew, an operator could use an existing kitchen, staff and equipment to create another menu and another listing on DoorDash or Uber Eats.

When restaurants reopened, many people assumed the ghost kitchen craze would vanish. It didn’t. The grand standalone ghost kitchen boom cooled, but the virtual brand strategy survived, especially when established restaurant chains realized they could squeeze more business out of kitchens they already had.

Curious about ghost kitchens? Read on to learn about the ones you can still order from today (and who’s actually behind them), how to spot one on a food delivery app and what the future may hold for these types of setups.

SAM YEH / Getty Images

The pandemic-era ghost kitchen boom was fueled by necessity. Restaurants suddenly had dining rooms they couldn’t use, customers who couldn’t—or wouldn’t—eat inside and delivery apps that became essential lifelines.

For a while, the industry seemed destined for a dramatic transformation. Companies invested in dedicated facilities where multiple delivery-only restaurants could operate under one roof. Restaurant groups launched new digital brands at a dizzying pace. A single kitchen could theoretically become a burger joint at lunch, a wing shop at dinner and a dessert destination after dark.

Once dining rooms reopened, however, the economics changed. Customers returned to restaurants, and operators had to decide which virtual brands were actually worth maintaining.

Many standalone ghost-kitchen concepts disappeared, but the underlying idea proved surprisingly durable. Rather than operating an enormous facility filled with dozens of unrelated concepts, traditional restaurant companies increasingly used virtual brands to get more mileage out of kitchens they already owned. That is why ghost kitchens never really disappeared. They evolved.

Today, you may be ordering from a virtual restaurant that operates inside a familiar chain, an independent restaurant or a shared commercial kitchen. The “ghost” is less likely to be a mysterious facility and more likely to be a second restaurant identity hiding inside an existing one.

Related: 8 Iconic Mall Food Court Restaurants That Have Closed Forever (and Why)

Not every delivery-only restaurant is a mystery, and not every virtual brand is pretending to be independent. In fact, some of the most recognizable examples are hiding in plain sight.

Joe Hendrickson / Getty Images

This may be the classic ghost kitchen plot twist. It’s Just Wings was launched by Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s, as a delivery-focused wing concept during the pandemic. The food is prepared in Chili’s kitchens rather than in a sprawling nationwide network of separate It’s Just Wings restaurants.

In other words, if your delivery driver pulls up to a Chili’s while you’re waiting for It’s Just Wings, the universe has not malfunctioned. You ordered from the ghost who lives at Chili’s.

KenWiedemann / Getty Images

Wild Burger is another delivery-oriented brand that illustrates how chains can turn existing kitchens into additional digital restaurants. The concept focuses on burgers rather than Buffalo Wild Wings‘ better-known wings.

It’s a clever bit of restaurant alchemy—same building, existing equipment, existing employees, different menu and a different name on your phone.

jetcityimage / Getty Images

The name sounds like it belongs to a dedicated cheesesteak shop. The reality can be considerably more surprising. Pardon My Cheesesteak operates as a virtual restaurant concept, with delivery listings that have appeared from IHOP locations.

That means the cheesesteak you thought was coming from a standalone sandwich shop may actually be prepared in the same kitchen that is making pancakes and omelets.

Dennis P. Carmody / USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK

Cheese pulls are apparently not confined by the laws of physical restaurants. Thrilled Cheese was one of the virtual brands created for IHOP in partnership with Nextbite, alongside Super Mega Dilla. The brands were designed to operate from IHOP kitchens and sell through delivery platforms.

The larger lesson is important—a virtual brand doesn’t necessarily mean a restaurant has secretly opened a second location. Sometimes it means a restaurant has opened a second identity.

MDV Edwards / Getty Images

Denny’s has also tapped into the ghost kitchen concept, including The Meltdown, a delivery concept built around sandwich melts. The brand has operated from Denny’s kitchens, making it another example of an established restaurant using its existing restaurants to serve delivery customers under a different name.

Related: The Real Reason These 7 Iconic ’80s Restaurant Chains Went Bankrupt

Sundry Photography / Getty Images

The good news: you don’t need a detective’s hat to figure out which restaurants are ghosting.

• Start with the address. If two restaurants on a delivery app have the exact same address, or if an unfamiliar restaurant shares an address with a familiar chain, that is a giant clue. Search the address separately and see what physical business is actually there.
• Look for platform disclosures. DoorDash has a virtual kitchen badge for qualifying listings. Its criteria include brands without established brick-and-mortar locations, stores without dine-in options, and businesses operating from commissary or shared kitchens.
• Check the restaurant’s “About” information. Some listings identify a parent company or describe the concept as being created by another restaurant group. Uber Eats also provides information about virtual restaurants and their relationship to physical parent locations.
• Compare menus. If an unfamiliar burger brand has suspiciously similar sides, sauces, desserts or packaging to a restaurant down the street, your eyebrows are allowed to rise.
• Google the name before ordering if you’re curious. A delivery app listing may make a virtual restaurant look like an independent establishment, while a quick search reveals the kitchen behind it. That doesn’t automatically mean the food is bad. A virtual brand can be perfectly legitimate. The important question is whether you know what you’re buying.

d3sign / Getty Images

The ghost kitchen story is less about a restaurant industry fad dying and more about the fad changing shape.

The pandemic-era vision of giant facilities filled with dozens of mysterious restaurants hasn’t become the dominant model many predicted. Instead, the more durable idea appears to be much simpler—use the kitchen you already have more efficiently.

That’s attractive to restaurant operators because opening a new virtual brand can require dramatically less real estate and infrastructure than opening another traditional restaurant. A chain can test a burger concept, a wing concept or a late-night menu without committing to another dining room, another lease and another full operation.

And customers are unlikely to stop ordering food from their phones anytime soon.

So, are ghost kitchens still around? Absolutely. They’re just less theatrical than the name suggests. These days, the ghost may be standing behind the counter at the chain restaurant you’ve driven past a hundred times.

The next time a delivery app introduces you to a restaurant you’ve never seen in real life, don’t panic. You may have discovered a terrific new local spot. Or you may have discovered that your “new” burger joint is actually the Denny’s down the road wearing a tiny digital disguise.

Related: 8 Classic Sit-Down Restaurants From Your Childhood That Are Slowly Disappearing

Today’s Strands puzzle deals with classic literature.

Move over, Wordle, Connections, Connections Sports Edition, and Mini Crossword—there’s a new NYT word game in town! The New York Times‘ recent game, “Strands,” is becoming increasingly popular as another daily activity fans can find on the NYT website and app.

With daily themes and “spangrams” to discover, this is the latest addictive game to cross off your to-do list before a new one pops up 24 hours later.

We’ll cover exactly how to play Strands, hints for today’s Spangram, and all of the answers for Strands #903 on Sunday, August 23.

The New York Times

According to the New York Times, here’s exactly how to play Strands:

Find theme words to fill the board.

• Theme words stay highlighted in blue when found.
• Drag or tap letters to create words. If tapping, double-tap the last letter to submit.
• Theme words fill the board entirely. No theme words overlap.

Find the “spangram.”

• The spangram describes the puzzle’s theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. It may be two words.
• The spangram highlights in yellow when found.
• An example spangram with corresponding theme words: PEAR, FRUIT, BANANA, APPLE, etc.

Need a hint?

• Find non-theme words to get hints.
• For every three non-theme words you find, you earn a hint.
• Hints show the letters of a theme word. If there is already an active hint on the board, a hint will show that word’s letter order.

If that doesn’t help, here’s a hint for today’s Strands game: Homer’s opus.

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

In today’s puzzle, there are seven theme words to find (including the spangram). Here are the first two letters for each word:

• SI
• CY
• KI
• SH
• UN
• SU
• TH (SPANGRAM)

Today’s Spangram is mostly diagonal.

Today’s Spangram answer on Today’s NYT ‘Strands’ Hints, Spangram and Answers for Sunday, August 23, 2026, is THEODYSSEY.

• SIRENS
• CYCLOPS
• KING
• SHIP
• UNDERWORLD
• SUITORS
• SPANGRAM: THEODYSSEY

Related: I Made Dolly Parton’s Corn Pone Recipe—and Now I Finally Understand the Hype

Today’s New York Times Connections puzzle features pantry laundry finds, potentially combustible materials, items made from a starchy vegetable, and things that come in pairs.

There’s nothing quite as exhilarating as the feeling of completing the daily New York Times Wordle, Strands, Mini Crossword and Connections Sports Edition word games in one fell swoop. But sometimes that can be easier said than done. If you need help with today’s Connections puzzle, keep reading.

Spoilers ahead! We’ve warned you. We mean it. Read no further until you really want some clues or you’ve completely given up and want the answers ASAP. Get ready for all of today’s NYT ‘Connections’ hints and answers for #1169 on Sunday, August 23, 2026.

The New York Times

If you’ve been having trouble with any of the connections or words in Sunday’s puzzle, you’re not alone, and these hints should definitely help you out. Plus, I’ll reveal the answers further down.

Related: The 26 Funniest NYT Connections Game Memes You’ll Appreciate if You Do This Daily Word Puzzle

1. Ka-boom!
2. Like “beekeeper” or “bathroom.”
3. The most consumed vegetable in the world.
4. Blot it carefully.

Related: 300 Trivia Questions and Answers to Jumpstart Your Fun Game Night

Ready for the answers? Scroll below this image (the image that represents your very appreciated patience!).

iStock

1. POTENTIALLY EXPLOSIVE THINGS: POWDER KEG, TIME BOMB, TINDERBOX, VOLCANO
2. DOUBLE VOWELS: ANTIFREEZE, BAZAAR, SKIING, VACUUM
3. MADE WITH POTATOES: HOME FRIES, POTATO BATTERY, VICHYSSOISE, VODKA
4. HOUSEHOLD STAIN REMOVERS: BAKING SODA, CLUB SODA, HYDROGEN PEROXIDE, VINEGAR

How’d you do?

Up Next:

– 15 Fun Games Like Connections to Play Every Day
– Hints, Clues and Answers to the NYT’s ‘Mini Crossword’ Puzzle

Did You Miss a Few Days? Let’s Catch You Up With Recent Connections Answers

Related: I Made Dolly Parton’s Corn Pone Recipe—and Now I Finally Understand the Hype

Hear ye! Hear ye! Today’s NYT Wordle answer is positively medieval.

But the day just isn’t complete until I’ve solved all of the free word games from the New York Times, including Connections, Connections Sports Edition, Strands, and Mini Crossword. If you’re stuck on today’s Wordle answer, we’re here to help—but beware of spoilers for Wordle #1891 ahead.

Let’s start with a few hints.

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There are two vowels in today’s five-letter word.

Today’s Wordle begins with a vowel.

There are no double letters in today’s Wordle.

A hint for today’s Wordle is: Like an antique cabinet or relic from the past.

OK, that’s it for hints—I don’t want to totally give it away before revealing the answer!

Related: 16 Games Like Wordle To Give You Your Word Game Fix More Than Once Every 24 Hours

We’ll have the answer below this friendly reminder of how to play the game.

SPOILERS BELOW—do not scroll any further if you don’t want the answer revealed.

The New York Times

Today’s Wordle answer on Sunday, August 23, 2026, is OLDEN.

-If you missed it, catch up with the answer to yesterday’s Wordle.

Related: Every 5 Letter Word Wordle Hasn’t Used Yet (Updated Daily)

To celebrate his girlfriend Katelyn Larson’s birthday, Hudson Williams just shared a sweet Instagram story to commemorate her special day.

Williams, known for his role as Shane Hollander in HBO’s Heated Rivalry, posted a photo on his story of Larson standing on a dirt road, with a sunset in the background.

“My darling you were eternalized when you ran to that sunset up that red dirt road,” Williams wrote. “I’ve loved people deeply for a day, for a week and some for years but I’ll love her until I die. Not because I’m supposed to, or because that’s how I was raised, but because every time she smiles I see the little girl whose joy is so unpolluted. Happy birthday to my person.”

When Heated Rivalry was first released in Nov. 2025, fans speculated that Williams might be dating his co-star Connor Storrie. Despite their on-screen chemistry, the actors have expressed that they’re just very close best friends. This was solidified when Williams hard-launched his relationship with Larson on Valentine’s Day.

Williams posted an Instagram collage with photos of his girlfriend, captioning it, “With me since my 2000 gold Mazda protege smoked and squealed and I had no job.”

With Williams in the spotlight for his role on Heated Rivalry and Larson working as a tattoo artist in Port Moody, BC, the couple has worked hard to keep their relationship relatively private.

“I think everyone just sees her, takes her in stride, and all the lovely fans supporting her even though she’s not even trying to be out there or be really perceived,” Williams said in an interview with Etalk Canada on the Oscars red carpet in March. “She’s like, ‘I don’t want to be perceived.’ But they’re still just being really warm, from what I’ve been told, and that’s really nice.”

Williams’ latest project, Heated Rivalry Season 2, recently began production in Canada. It’s set to release in spring 2027, with the filmmakers saying that they “promise it’ll be worth the wait.”

Besides not smoking, exercising regularly is perhaps the number one way to support your heart. Need proof? Robust scientific research shows that frequently exercising is associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease as well as a lower risk of dying from it. It also lowers blood pressure.

Walking is one form of exercise that has been widely studied and found to be particularly beneficial. Researchers have found that regular walking significantly improves heart health, lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Walking for 30 minutes a day, five days a week is associated with a 19% lower risk of coronary heart disease. That’s powerful! 

Many people believe that the more intense a workout is, the better it is for the body. In many cases, intense cardio workouts can be beneficial for heart health. But harder isn’t always better. There’s one popular workout in particular that cardiologists say people with heart conditions may be better off skipping.

Related: ‘I’m a Cardiologist—This Is the One Workout I Do Multiple Times a Week for Heart-Health’

There are two ways to make a workout harder: increase your effort or turn up the heat. “Heat and intense effort both push your cardiovascular system to work harder,” says Dr. Travis Benzing, MD, a cardiologist with Harbor Health. 

While for someone in good health this can be beneficial, he says that people with heart conditions need to be more careful. That includes likely skipping out on one popular workout: hot yoga. 

Related: This Is the Absolute Best Workout for Heart Health if You’re Over 50, According to Cardiologists

If you have a heart condition, Dr. Benzing says it’s important to talk to your cardiologist before doing hot yoga. For some people, it can be dangerous.

“Heat makes your heart pump harder and faster, and can also drop your blood pressure as you sweat and lose fluids. That combination can be risky if you have heart failure or cardiomyopathies, coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease, a family history of sudden cardiac death, a history of irregular heartbeat or blood pressure that isn’t controlled well,” he explains.

Dr. Said Ashraf, MD, FSCAI, an interventional cardiologist with AtlantiCare, agrees that people with heart conditions may want to skip hot yoga.

“The high heat and humidity of hot yoga induce hemodynamic changes [shifts in blood flow] and fluid loss through sweating. Many patients with heart conditions take medications that alter hemodynamic responses to heat stress and dehydration. Because risk varies widely across different heart conditions, clearing it with a cardiologist is probably ideal,” he says.

Related: Scientists Reveal How Long Your Daily Walk Should Be to Significantly Lower Heart Disease Risk

Both doctors say that people with asthma should also approach hot yoga with caution. “Although yoga’s controlled breathing techniques can support lung function, high heat and humidity can trigger airway spasm, resulting in asthma exacerbation. Anyone with asthma should consult their physician before trying a heated class,” Dr. Ashraf tells Parade.

If you have asthma and you do want to try hot yoga, Dr. Benzing says it’s important to bring your rescue inhaler, make sure your asthma is well managed before trying a class and stop and step out of the class if you feel wheezy, tight-chested and unusually out of breath. If you are experiencing these symptoms, seek medical care immediately. 

If you don’t have a heart condition and are generally in good health, both cardiologists say that there can be benefits to doing heated workouts, like hot yoga. “When you exercise in heat, your heart works a bit harder to pump blood to your skin to help you cool off in addition to delivering oxygen-rich blood to your muscles,” Dr. Benzing explains.

Over time, he says that this extra challenge can help the body get better at regulating temperature and may offer small blood pressure benefits as conditioning improves.

Dr. Ashraf adds to this, saying, “Peer-reviewed studies demonstrate that yoga delivers significant cardiovascular benefits, including lowered blood pressure, improved lipid profiles and reduced resting heart rates. While research specific to hot yoga involves smaller sample sizes, findings indicate a similar pattern of cardiovascular advantages.”

While doing yoga in a heated room is a way to step up the intensity, Dr. Benzing emphasizes that what’s most beneficial is the workout itself, not the heat. “Heat is a bonus, not the main event,” he says.

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If you have a heart condition, you may be hesitant to work out because you don’t want to put added stress on your heart. But both cardiologists say that exercise is beneficial to everyone, including people with heart conditions. 

Before you start exercising, it’s important to talk to your doctor about how you can work out safely. That said, there are some general tips that both doctors say can be helpful to keep in mind. 

According to Dr. Benzing, it’s important to warm up and cool down properly and not go straight into an intense workout. He says to talk to your doctor about what your target heart zone should be and to stay within that zone during your workout.

While you’re working out, both doctors say that it’s important to stay hydrated. They also say to stop working out immediately if you’re experiencing chest pain, unusual shortness of breath, a racing heart or dizziness. 

“If you’re on a beta-blocker or similar medication, your heart rate won’t rise as much as it used to during exercise, so you may experience more pronounced and early fatigue that can limit exercise capacity,” Dr. Benzing adds. 

Besides avoiding hot yoga, Dr. Ashraf says that people with heart conditions may want to avoid high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and all-out sprinting. “These activities cause sharp spikes in blood pressure and oxygen demand to the heart,” he says. Dr. Benzing adds to this, saying it’s best for people with heart conditions to avoid heavy weight lifting, exercising at a high altitude and ice baths. 

Exercise is great for heart health. There’s no question about that. But if you have a heart condition, it’s always best to talk to your doctor about what is and isn’t safe for you. That may mean skipping out on popular workouts, but that doesn’t mean you can’t exercise at all. It just means focusing on what’s best for your individual health, not everyone else’s. 

Up Next:

Related: Cardiologists Are Begging People To Stop Doing This One Thing in Extreme Heat

• Nystoriak, M. A. and Bhatnagar, A. (2018). Cardiovascular Effects and Benefits of Exercise. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2018.00135.
• Murtagh, E. M., Murphy, M. H. and Boone-Heinonen, J. (2011). Walking – the first steps in cardiovascular disease prevention. Current Opinion in Cardiology. 25(5):490-496.
• Dr. Travis Benzing, MD, cardiologist with Harbor Health.
• Dr. Said Ashraf, MD, FSCAI, interventional cardiologist with AtlantiCare.
• Murugesan, P. (2024). Yoga and Cardiovascular Diseases — A Mechanistic Review. International Journal of Yoga. 17(2):83-92.

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There’s a couple-month window every year when the weather can’t quite make up its mind. Sandals start feeling a little too summery, but it’s still too early to commit to boots, leaving a surprisingly tricky gap in the shoe department. Slip-ons are an easy answer for that stretch, with a closed-toe design that feels a little more seasonally appropriate than flip-flops without looking like you’ve jumped ahead to full-on fall footwear.

The Clarks Audreigh Cove Slip-Ons are especially well suited to that transition, and right now, they’re up to 54% off at Amazon, dropping the usual $85 price to just $39 in select styles. Their streamlined shape works with the pieces already in your closet as the seasons overlap, from shorts and linen bottoms to jeans and casual trousers. It’s a pair you can confidently keep reaching for as your outfits gradually shift from summer staples to early-fall layers.

Courtesy of Amazon

This slip-on has a rounded, closed toe and open back, set on a substantial 1.8-inch platform sole that runs almost continuously from heel to toe. The thick cream-colored sole has subtle horizontal ridges molded around the sides, which break up the height and give the shoe a sportier finish. Elastic inserts on either side of the instep add some give when slipping your foot in and help the upper move more comfortably as you walk.

The pattern is where the design gets especially interesting. Rather than a flat printed floral, the front half is covered in a raised, almost embroidered-looking geometric motif made from tiny cream dots and short dashes against the blue polyester ground. Those small marks form repeating diamonds, pointed leaves, petals, and concentric oval shapes, with dotted outlines filling the negative space between each motif. The pattern continues from the rounded toe up and over the vamp before ending in a curved, asymmetrical line along the side of the foot. Tonal zigzag stitching traces that edge, giving the transition between the patterned front and solid back a visibly textured finish.

Courtesy of Amazon

Clarks’ cushion soft technology conceals a high-rebound foam inlay inside the shoe, where it’s designed to absorb impact and add softness with each step. A jersey lining creates a softer surface against the foot, while the synthetic rubber outsole gives the chunky platform a more practical, durable base. Despite the height of the sole, there’s no traditional raised heel, so you get the lift of a platform without putting the foot at the same angle as a conventional heeled clog.

• Clarks Breeze Emily Loafers, from $33 (were $70) at Amazon
• Clarks Cloudsteppers Audreigh Star Loafer, from $30 (were $85) at Amazon
• Clarks Breeze Roam Flats, from $40 (were $70) at Amazon

There are also three colorways to choose from: Blue, peach, and beige, each offering a different take on the same patterned slip-on silhouette. The blue has a slightly coastal feel, the warm pink looks soft and feminine, and the beige is an easy neutral that can work with tons of other colors. 

Amazon shoppers said these shoes “fit like a glove” straight out of the box. They come in half-size increments from 5 through 12, though pricing varies by color and style.

Reviewers couldn’t get enough of these “super cute” and “comfortable” shoes, calling them a “lifesaver” for long days on your feet. “These are high quality and durability is good,” one shopper wrote, adding that they can “wear these comfortably all day” without rubbing or pinching. 

Related: Clarks’ ‘Super Comfortable’ Sandals Are a ‘Perfect’ Pick for Walking Miles Without Blisters

From lingering summer days to the first hints of fall, the Clarks Audreigh Cove Slip-Ons can keep pace. Shop them for as little as $39 while they’re up to 54% off at Amazon!

Don’t miss future deals! Sign up for Parade Picks to receive our commerce team’s curated selection of discounts and sales, twice a week.

To solve today’s NYT Mini Crossword puzzle, you’ll need to know things about the South, spend time in Aspen, and enjoy going to comedy clubs.

Working on the daily Connections, Connections Sports Edition, Wordle, and Strands is a whole ritual for many of us. And we can’t forget about the NYT’s The Mini Crossword, too!

Although the NYT is known for “The Crossword,” a larger puzzle for paid subscribers, The Mini has quite the fan following as well. This particular game resets at 10 p.m., unlike some of the others that start over at midnight.

So, if you’re working on today’s Mini Crossword on Sunday, August 23, and need some help (I’ve been there), get ready to read the clues and solutions for each line. We have them separated into hints first for both “Across” and “Down” words, followed by “Across Answers” and “Down Answers,” so be careful if you want to avoid spoilers as you scroll!

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Here are additional clues for each of the words in today’s Mini Crossword.

1 Across: ___-Dixon line — HINT: Starts with the letter “M”

6 Across: More than enough — HINT: Ends with the letter “E”

7 Across: Obvious verdict in Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me” — HINT: Ends with the letter “T”

8 Across: Hit the slopes — HINT: Starts with the letter “S”

9 Across: Something to “keep on the prize” — HINT: Ends with the letter “E”

Related: 16 Games Like Wordle To Give You Your Word Game Fix More Than Once Every 24 Hours

1 Down: People or Rolling Stone, for short — HINT: Ends with the letter “G”

2 Down: Make laugh — HINT: Ends with the letter “E”

3 Down: Like the skin of a durian fruit — HINT: Starts with the letter “S”

4 Down: Skate park jump — HINT: Ends with the letter “E”

5 Down: Part of a ping-pong table — HINT: Starts with the letter “N”

Don’t go any further unless you want to know exactly what the correct words are in today’s Mini Crossword.

1 Across: ___-Dixon line — MASON

6 Across: More than enough — AMPLE

7 Across: Obvious verdict in Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me” — GUILT

8 Across: Hit the slopes — SKI

9 Across: Something to “keep on the prize” — EYE

1 Down: People or Rolling Stone, for short — MAG

2 Down: Make laugh — AMUSE

3 Down: Like the skin of a durian fruit — SPIKY

4 Down: Skate park jump — OLLIE

5 Down: Part of a ping-pong table — NET

Related: I Made Dolly Parton’s Corn Pone Recipe—and Now I Finally Understand the Hype

Some were raised on Mother Goose, while others grew up listening to the riffs of guitar legends like blues-rock masters Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Remarkably, those two worlds collided in a song everyone knows (but maybe hasn’t heard).

As August marks the anniversary of Vaughan’s death, the moment is ripe to revisit when a nursery rhyme became fuel for some of rock’s most masterful guitar work.

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The rhyme in question is “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

A famous poem reportedly based on an incident in the life of Mary Sawyer, of Sterling Massachusetts, which involved a pet lamb following her to school, the rhyme dates back to the 19th century and is credited to Sarah Josepha Hale, a writer and editor from New Hampshire, who published it in a children’s magazine called The Juvenile Miscellany.

Since then, the story has become embedded in American childhoods, but there’s no way Hale could have known her poem would also become the backbone of some truly great guitar shredding roughly 140 years later.

The first major blues artist to turn Hale’s nursery rhyme into a recorded blues performance was blues pioneer and electric blues-rock guitarist Buddy Guy. Adapting the verses for a song released on his 1968 album A Man and the Blues, Guy transformed it into a rock staple.

According to an interview with New York Times bestselling author Alan Paul, Guy came up with the song on the spot during a live show at the Fillmore East when a jam groove needed lyrics. The result was a bouncy yet hypnotic Chicago blues shuffle hit with expressive vocals and fiery guitar licks.

Initially received as a fun novelty track, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” gained massive secondary fame when Vaughan adopted Guy’s arrangement for Texas Flood, his 1983 debut studio album with Double Trouble.

Another quickly produced landmark feat, Texas Flood came together in days, with the record showcasing explosive, high-energy guitar riffs, as Vaughan pounds on and strums his battered “Number One” Stratocaster at blistering speed against deep traditional blues-rock sounds.

Of course, one of the moments that continues to stand out 43 years later comes at Track 7 of the 10-track album. Vaughan’s version of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” stays loyal to Guy’s original, with his guitar tone, riffs, bends, solos, and intensity matching the previous effort. Still, Vaughan’s version is entirely his own.

“When I go out and play [‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’], I can hear people say, ‘Oh, that’s Stevie’s number,’ ” Guy once said, per Guitar World. “So I say, ‘OK man, that’s Stevie’s number.’ But Stevie knows whose number it was.”

“Mary Had a Little Lamb” is one of many compositions Vaughan borrowed from Guy, but, according to the outlet, which ranked “Mary Had a Little Lamb” as Vaughan’s 11th best recording, this song was the ideal canvas for the guitar hero to paint with his own skills.

The blues-rock showcase became one of Vaughan’s most celebrated guitar performances, and after his death on Aug. 27, 1990, at just 35, its legacy has only grown more visceral.

Now more than four decades after Texas Flood, the song that began as a 19th-century nursery rhyme still sits comfortably alongside Vaughan’s signature shuffles like “Pride and Joy,” slow blues masterpieces like “Texas Flood,” and soaring instrumental guitar tributes like “Little Wing.”

In a 1988 interview with Guitarist magazine, Vaughan summed up transformation and evolution best by saying, “If you stop growing, what good is it musically?”

Related: ‘1984’ Rock Hit, Revived 20-Plus Times by Its Own Band, Marked the End of an Era

Some songs go to the top of the charts because they’re good. Other songs become hits because…well, nobody really knows why. “Disco Duck,” which spent a week at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in Oct. 1976, falls into the latter category.

The novelty track, once voted the “Worst Song of the 1970s” by Rolling Stone readers, was written and performed by Memphis DJ Rick Dees. It’s possible that the song got super popular because listeners thought they were listening to a song about Donald Duck at the disco. After all, the lyrics are about a duck who just can’t help but disco dance, and the track features a duck voice that sounds just like the Disney character.

Actually, though, Dees was inspired to write the song when he was working out at the gym and heard a guy doing a duck voice. The DJ was so impressed, he wrote “Disco Duck” with the man in mind, then hired him to do the voice, according to Stereogum.

Dees didn’t expect “Disco Duck” to take off the way it did, nor did he expect to get fired from his DJ job as a result. According to The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, the radio station he worked for, WMPS, wouldn’t allow him to play the song on the air because management was worried about potentially violating FCC conflict-of-interest rules. Dees didn’t play “Disco Duck,” but he did mention on the air that it was about to go to #1…and that was enough to get him canned.

Luckily, Dees got hired by another radio station and was free to ride the “Disco Duck” wave, performing on shows like American Bandstand (a surreal spectacle involving a duck puppet) and The Midnight Special. Unluckily, “Disco Duck” would be the last hit for Dees. (His follow up song, “Dis-Gorilla,” was about a disco dancing gorilla.)

Alas, while many one-hit wonders have stood the test of time over the years, “Disco Duck” can’t really make that claim.

Related: 1985 No. 1 Hit, Ranked ‘Worst Song Ever,’ Is Making an Unexpected Comeback 41 Years Later

“If ‘Disco Duck’ belongs to a musical tradition, it isn’t disco,” music journalist Tom Breihan wrote.

“It’s the novelty song, the fading art form that was huge in the late ’50s and early ’60s but dying out by the mid-’70s,” Breihan continued. “It’s possible that ‘Disco Duck’ is the last true novelty to hit #1. There are plenty of later hits that you could call novelties — and many that I will almost certainly call novelties in this column — but they’re not novelties of the Ray Stevens/”Chipmunk Song” variety. They’re songs that are intended to work as pieces of music, however silly. ‘Disco Duck’ merely exists as a vehicle for that duck voice.”

As for the man behind the duck voice, Kenneth Pruitt, after going to great lengths to help promote “Disco Duck” (appearing on TV shows wearing a duck costume, etc.), he ended up suing Dees for allegedly paying him just $188.

Sometimes showbiz ain’t all it’s quacked up to be.

Related: This ‘Absolutely Terrible’ Chart-Topper Was Voted ‘Worst Song of the ’60s’

Mr. Big, an all-star band composed of acclaimed musicians from acts including The Knack and Racer X, released their 1991 song, “To Be With You,” which has remained one of the most recognizable songs even decades later.

Thirty-five years after the quartet, who were named one of the “greatest supergroups” of all time by BBC Music magazine, debuted the iconic track, it continues to resonate with listeners, further cementing its place among the memorable rock songs of the era.

On Spotify, “To Be With You” has nearly 500 million total streams, making it Mr. Big’s most-played song on the platform.

Reddit contributors shared their nostalgic moments associated with Mr. Big’s song and discussed how iconic its members were.

Paul Natkin/Getty Images

“I always find it funny that this band has both one of the best guitarists and bassists from the hair metal genre and their biggest hit is this simple acoustic song,” one wrote.

“Underrated supergroup,” a commenter said.

“Love this song. This was one of the songs that was part of the death rattle of hair metal. I was so sad to see that genre fade away and make way for grunge and alternative,” a fan remarked.

“This song was always featured in those music compilation TV commercials,” a Reddit user recalled.

Written by lead singer Eric Martin when he was in his teens, “To Be With You” tells the true story of unrequited love he experienced.

“We were really, really good friends,” Mr. Big vocalist told Songfacts. “I was totally enamored with this woman. She was beautiful. Smart. I mean, brains, beauty, break down the walls, made me crawl on my belly like a reptile! I just loved this woman, but she just wanted to be my friend. She’d have tons of boyfriends, and maybe she misconstrued promiscuity for love. But I wanted to be the knight in shining armor. That’s what I was, a knight in shining armor. But basically, I didn’t get my feet wet. I wrote it about how I would have done anything to just be more than a friend and a confidante.”

The acoustic-driven anthem was part of their sophomore album Lean Into It and appeared as the record’s 10th track.

“To Be With You” was their ticket to a breakthrough after the song secured the No. 1 spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band’s biggest commercial success.

Related: 1982 No. 1 Hit, Written by Iconic Rock Band From California, Ranked Among ‘Greatest Soft Rock Songs’ of All Time

We often think of stress as a “mental thing.” But your physical and mental health are intertwined—the mind is a part of the body, after all. And guess what? Stress can contribute to high blood pressure. In fact, in 2021, the American Heart Association released a statement linking high stress to elevated blood pressure.

“When you are stressed, your brain immediately triggers a ‘fight-or-flight’ survival response, flooding your body with hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that spike your heart rate and blood pressure, even in those with perfectly healthy hearts,” explains Dr. Nadim Geloo, MD, a cardiologist and the senior director of medical affairs for Abbott’s Structural Heart Division.

He warns that the effects of stress are more dangerous for people with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions, like high blood pressure.

“Because their cardiac and vascular system may already be affected, this stress-induced hormone surge causes their blood vessels to stiffen and their arteries to narrow to a critical degree, which can increase the risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular events,” Dr. Geloo explains.

To be clear, he says it’s unnecessary (and impossible) to avoid all stress. In fact, some short-term stress can help us focus when preparing for tight deadlines or work presentations. It’s the chronically high stress that worries cardiologists, especially because of its effects on your blood pressure.

“Over time, this constant state of high alert takes a heavy physical toll on your cardiovascular system by elevating your heart rate, spiking your blood pressure and triggering widespread inflammation that can slowly damage and clog your arteries,” Dr. Geloo warns.

Stress relief habits can help lower blood pressure. But if time or money is a current life stressor, you may feel at a loss. Good news: We asked four cardiologists for their pick for the best stress-relief habit to lower blood pressure, and they all said the same thing. It’s something free, and even busy types can do it. Scroll on for their choice.

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Doing breathing exercises at least once daily at a time most convenient for you is the best stress-relief habit for lower blood pressure, according to four cardiologists. “I’m a big proponent of breathing exercises for my patients because they are a simple yet powerful tool for managing blood pressure,” explains Dr. Craig Basman, MD, an interventional cardiologist with Hackensack University Medical Center.

Three other cardiologists echo these sentiments, noting that breathing exercises tap into the mind-body connection and benefit your heart.

“Doing breathing exercises will stimulate the vagus nerve and lower production of stress hormones like adrenaline, which will then lower blood pressure in the body,” says Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center.

For the unfamiliar, the vagus nerve is your body’s longest nerve, acting as an “information highway,” the Cleveland Clinic points out. It connects the brain to other organs, including your heart. It’s also responsible for putting your body into a “rest and digest” state. When this state is activated, Dr. Geloo says our blood vessels naturally relax and widen.

“This response can result in lowered blood pressure as it allows blood to flow through your vessels more easily, reducing some of the strain on your heart.” Dr. Geloo tells Parade.

And, not for nothing: Anyone can do daily breathing exercises.

“It’s free and can be done anywhere—no equipment is needed,” notes Dr. Nishant Kalra, MD, an interventional cardiologist and the regional chief medical officer at VitalSolution, an Ingenovis Health company.

Related: This Daily Habit Is Secretly Damaging Your Arteries, Cardiologists Warn

Cardiologists say that breathing exercises are an excellent stress-relief habit to lower blood pressure. But what’s the best breathing exercise for blood pressure? It’s personal. Cardiologists shared three breathing exercises that may help with blood pressure.

Dr. Basman suggests doing box breathing by:

1. Inhaling through your nose for a count of four.
2. Hold your breath for a count of four.
3. Exhale through your mouth for a count of four.
4. Hold your breath for a count of four.
5. Repeat this cycle for a few minutes.

Dr. Kalra explains how to do 4-7-8 breathing:

1.  Inhale for 4 seconds.
2. Hold for 7 seconds.
3. Exhale for 8 seconds.
4. Repeat 3 times for four cycles to start.

To engage in diaphrmagmatic breathing, Dr. Basman says to:

1. Lie on your back with your knees bent.
2. Put one hand on your upper chest.
3. Put the other hand on your belly, right below your rib cage.
4. Inhale slowly through your nose, allowing your belly to rise. Keep the hand as still as possible.
5. Tighten your stomach muscles. Let them fall inward while you exhale through pursed lips.

Related: This Popular Salad Dressing Ingredient Could Be Damaging Your Heart, Cardiologists Warn

Breathing exercises can relieve stress and manage blood pressure. Other habits are also helpful. Cardiologists share three of their other favorite stress-busting, blood-pressure-lowering habits.

1. Regular physical activity. Dr. Chen says regular physical activity, such as brisk walking, relieves stress and boosts overall heart health, explaining, “The exercise helps release endorphins, which can improve your mood.”
2. Yoga. Dr. Kalra loves how yoga combines breathing, movement and meditation, helping to lower blood pressure.
3. Social activities. It’s so hard to keep track of friends and family, but it does your heart good. “Human-to-human connection and communication triggers many pathways that improve stress,” Dr. Geloo says.

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• Dr. Nadim Geloo, MD, a cardiologist and the senior director of medical affairs for Abbott’s Structural Heart Division
• Dr. Craig Basman, MD, an interventional cardiologist with Hackensack University Medical Center
• Dr. Nishant Kalra, MD, an interventional cardiologist and the regional chief medical officer at VitalSolution, an Ingenovis Health company
• Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center
• Psychological Health, Well-Being, and the Mind-Heart-Body Connection: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation.
• Cardiovascular Reactivity to Mental Stress and Adverse Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease. Journal of the American Heart Association.
• Relation between resting amygdalar activity and cardiovascular events: a longitudinal and cohort study. The Lancet.
• Vagus Nerve. Cleveland Clinic.