My latest posts

  • Healthy foods, exercises & habits page
    This blog’s Health & Exercise page has been reorganized. There now are separate sections (headings) for articles:
  • ‘Politics is about sacredness’ – overlapping moral orbits
    Fables were part of the moral fabric when I was growing up. Perhaps yours as well. Especially some of Aesop’s Fables. (Yet, I was suprised that this was not the case for many of my middle school students, when a […]
  • Happiness pension plan – a pillared formula?
    This article (below) discusses happiness as a direction, and the elements of that state of mind. And, yes, there’s a science of happiness. And a “happiness pension plan.” Yet, in such direction, recall our mantra: What’s the good news about […]
  • the BIG picture – from beginning of time
    Like a mandala, here’s an interesting visualization … a 13.8 billion year chronicle. • NASA > APOD > “Time Spiral” – Illustration Credit: Pablo Carlos Budassi via Wikipedia (9 August 2020) Explanation (quoted): What’s happened since the universe started? The time […]
  • Algorithmic demagoguery – Monsters from the Id redux
    A delirious, inexhaustible, social fountain of information … what could go … A new book (below) reminded me of the sci-fi classic 1956 movie Forbidden Planet, and how an extinct godlike race fell prey to the ultimate persuasive technology (“unaffected […]
  • Make 1 new friend a year?
    Here’s some advice on building the sense of being connected socially. • Washington Post > Advice > “Making new friends can be hard. Here are 5 ways to make 1 friend a year.” by Emma Nadler, psychotherapist and author (June […]
  • Seeing ourselves beyond simplified scripts
    So, simplified strategies help us cope with emotional & mental burdens, like too many choices. This article discusses cognitive shortcuts in a similar context: “Our minds are naturally inclined to use simplified strategies to conserve mental energy and reduce cognitive […]
  • Holding the middle – gerbil lessons
    Over the years, when there’s been conflict between groups – like what’s been in the news lately, I’ve thought of a lesson from watching pet gerbils. About what sparks conflict in situations where both sides avow nonviolence. And when, in […]
  • if choice = freedom, are > choices always better?
    I remember reading the book Small Is Beautiful in grad school. About rethinking “when enough is enough.” Does more = happiness? Does “choice” = “freedom?” Is “more, more, more” sustainable? Freedom of choice can be a luxury, especially when so […]
  • Beacons & broken souls – the challenge of modernity
    I regularly chat with an aspiring screenwriter about writing stories, narrative arcs, TV streaming series & films, … So, recently the ‘Beacon 23’ series returned to MGM+ for a second season. I watched the first season on Amazon Prime. There’s […]