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April 18 · Issue #7 · View online
A monthly curation for those of us who
• Think critically.
• Teach young minds how to think critically.
• Communicate critically assessed information to interested audiences.
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It’s all COVID-19 today. There’s almost nothing I have come across that speaks of anything else. I have put together a bunch of reading that offers perspectives which are not the usual descriptions of the disease; by now, we are saturated. And, there are a handful of articles about the world outside the virus. Just remember the old saying: “This too will come to pass”. Yes, but our lives will definitely need a lot of introspection and change.
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Antidotes to Fear of Death: Astrophysicist Janna Levin Reads Astronomer and Poet Rebecca Elson’s Stunning Cosmic Salve for Our Creaturely Tremblings of Heart
A bow before the rapturous, humbling fact that “the majesty of the universe is only ever conjured up in the mind.”
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Time Has No Meaning at the North Pole
A interesting perspective of a geographical fact that we rarely ponder: lines of longitude, on which time zones are based, converge at the poles and are walking distance from each other.
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The intangible effects of walls | Alexandra Auer
More barriers exist now than at the end of World War II, says designer Alexandra Auer. And when you erect one wall, you unwittingly create a second – an “us” versus “them” partition in the mind that compromises our collective safety.
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Being disagreeable shown to help fight Alzheimer's disease
- Researchers from Switzerland followed 65 senior citizens over five years and tested their personality traits.
- Being curious and curmudgeonly appears to help stave off Alzheimer’s disease.
- The researchers point to nonconformist attitudes as a potential trait that helps keep seniors independent.
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Thomas Piketty takes on the ideology of inequality
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Talent, you’re born with. Creativity, you can grow yourself
Creativity, it is said, is intelligence having fun. It’s the ability to generate ideas, solutions or insights that are strikingly original, and yet feasible: in cognitive terms, a compelling creative idea doesn’t break down if one were to systematically tease apart its logic.
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It's hard to fool a nose
Theories of perception are heavily tilted to the visual: we have much to learn from our surprisingly acute sense of smell AND NOW, ON TO COVID 19
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Environmentalists Look on the Bright Side of COVID-19
Millions of people sheltering in their homes for fear of catching a deadly virus is not normally a sign of a healthy environment. Yet some environmentalists and members of the media think they’ve found a big silver lining in this whole global pandemic thing: Harmful emissions are down, and quarantine life is acclimating people to more sustainable ways of living.
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5 things that won’t change in the post-coronavirus economy
… numerous trends that were underway before the current global shutdown began will not only continue, but accelerate. Here are five such undercurrents that will be reinforced by the pandemic.
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Thinking like a Buddhist about coronavirus can calm the mind and help us focus
While scientists are working hard to find medical solutions, concepts from Buddhism can provide us with some solace for our overburdened minds. The Buddha’s answer would be to focus solely on the existential facts, aiming first for understanding and then to adopt a pragmatic meditation practice.
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The Routines That Keep Us Sane
Now that social-distancing measures have been adopted worldwide in response to the coronavirus pandemic, many people are suddenly finding themselves in the position [wherein] … Whole sections of the day that previously ran on blissful autopilot now require conscious decision making and the reluctant hand cranking of dusty willpower.
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How the 'Stockdale Paradox' Can Help You Embrace Uncertainty
Believing in a better future—while still acknowledging the darkness of our present reality—seems almost impossible right now. Doing so may make all the difference.
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Five things coronavirus can teach us about life and death
For the first time in many people’s lives they are having to face their own mortality and that of their loved ones. Facing up to this fact can be painful and disabling, but … it offers an opportunity to rediscover truths about life – both individually and in society. |
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