Category Archives: philosophy
Coping with anything, from an expert
Laurent Grenier was a sports-loving youngster when a dive into a pool went wrong, and he broke his neck. Compared to that, the worst in my life and yours is trivial. In this 22.5 minute podcast he uses a series … Continue reading
How to have a vibrant social distancing experience
Scott Kelly was in charge of the International Space Station for a year, so his advice on how to deal with social distancing is worth considering. Here is a thing I find interesting and validating. Every one of his recommendations … Continue reading
Spend less money to save the world
This is Katherine Martinko’s message, and not for the first time. Even if you have read my essay, How to change the world, you will gain from reading Katherine’s brief essay. As usual, I went looking for a royalty-free image … Continue reading
Do evil people deserve to be reincarnated?
This was a question at Quora. You may be interested in reading my answer.
How I deal with a virus gone viral
The COVID19 virus is a beatup. Yes, it needs to be contained, but media-whipped panic is counterproductive. Here is my response: It’s not in my area as yet. All the same, I see people wearing face masks (which have low … Continue reading
More on respectable bird brains
Animal intelligence is one of my hobby horses. Birds have proportionally tiny brains, but scientists keep finding species after species to achieve remarkable feats of intelligence. Here is a recent report about a parrot that can estimate probabilities.
No, I won’t jump off the planet
Once a month, I participate in Rhobin Courtright’s round robin on writing. This month’s topic was how politics influences what I write. Well, it STRANGLES MY WRITING! The issue inspired me to write a major essay on how to cope … Continue reading
Web intelligence
No, I am not referring to the internet, but to that wonderful web-creating form of life, spiders. This New Scientist article demonstrates that a spider’s web is as much a part of its intelligence as, say, my computer is mine, … Continue reading
No, I won’t jump off the planet
Heaven knows, I have plenty of inducement. But there is a reason for being, and continuing, and striving for sanity. Every day, I feel the need to check the news. Every day, I wish I hadn’t. Worldwide, politics has gone … Continue reading
Plants can complain
Well, at this stage, scientists have only detected auditory complaints, but perhaps further study will show that they can say other things too. A number of species, including tomato and tobacco, have been found to emit ultrasonic shrieks when water-starved, … Continue reading
