This week on The Happy Page: A very soothing video with strangely beautiful visuals and soothing music…depicting one of the hottest, most remote places on Earth. A broad volcanic crater 430 feet below sea level, littered with mineral-heavy hot springs feeding into acidic pools, where camel caravans venture to collect salt. It’s a deadly, fantastical place that’s been featured by National Geographic and still holds an old record for being the hottest inhabited location on the planet.

This week on The Happy Page: I happened upon a carved candle video a few week ago because YouTube’s ‘you might also like this’ suggestions tend to offer me a weird grab-bag of stuff, and I was intrigued because I’d never really thought about how they make those. This isn’t that video, though – I hunted around until I found one that showed more of the technique, and that had better music (better in my opinion, anyway). The one I chose ended up being from the Ural Candle Factory, which doesn’t just sell candles, as it turns out (thank you Instagram!), they also teach candlemaking and help other people to set up their own candle businesses.

I admire carved candles, but I’ve never owned one – I won’t let myself get one, you see, because I know I wouldn’t ever be able to bring myself to light it. 😉

This week on The Happy Page: It’s three days to the Fourth, and I almost forgot that this needed to be a holiday post! So here’s a classic. Have a safe and happy Independence Day, everyone!

On a side note, I hope that it won’t take an alien invasion to make us remember that ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ is more than just an empty saying.