It’s complex →

Published January 23, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 23  ·  

So you think your choices have reasons behind them and, if these reasons are good ones, then you think that others, in principle, could see this, too. You recognise in yourself, and think that others should recognise in you, a choice aimed at something worth seeking, and a choice by someone who can make that call. This means that what you are after is ‘good’ not just in a sense confined to you, but visible to everyone. Once the goodness of your choice is visible to everyone, it is a kind of absolute goodness – a goodness that anyone could recognise.

~ Christine Korsgaard, from Philosophers and other animals

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Really complex. The road to hell is marked by unconsidered decisions.

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Autism →

Published January 22, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 22

Silberman chronicles the history of autism and examines some of the myths surrounding our current understanding of the condition in his new book, NeuroTribes. Along the way, he revisits Asperger’s calculated efforts to save his patients.

~ NPR, from ‘NeuroTribes’ Examines The History — And Myths — Of The Autism Spectrum

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Another facet to an interesting issue.

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The benefit is in the effort →

Published January 21, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 21

The benefit is precisely in the bureaucracy of it.

~ Matt Webb, from Beaches are for people who enjoy the bureaucracy of going to the beach

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Webb isn’t really making a point about beach-going.

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Personal →

Published January 20, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 20

Everyone has an atmosphere peculiar to himself, pervaded by all of his characteristics. We cannot radiate anything unlike ourselves or our ideals. The qualities you radiate will either attract or repel people. Your atmosphere will affect your career.

~ Orison Swett Marden, from The Power of Personal Atmosphere

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We could debate whether such atmospheres are a good thing, and what responsibility we each have to cultivate ours. But first, it’s just interesting to study it and wonder about it.

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Curiouser and curiouser →

Published January 19, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 19

English speakers know that their language is odd. So do people saddled with learning it non-natively. The oddity that we all perceive most readily is its spelling, which is indeed a nightmare. In countries where English isn’t spoken, there is no such thing as a ‘spelling bee’ competition. For a normal language, spelling at least pretends a basic correspondence to the way people pronounce the words. But English is not normal.

~ John McWhorter from, English is not normal

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It had never occurred to me to wonder if spelling competitions existed in any other languages.

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Small changes →

Published January 18, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 18

The most obvious way to stabilize blood sugar levels is to decrease sugar and carbohydrate intake. However, this is not the only way. Research has proven that simple changes can drastically mitigate volatile blood sugar fluctuations. Some strategies to stabilize blood sugar and optimize mood include […]

~ Mary J. Scourboutakos, from Blood sugar fluctuations after eating play an important role in anxiety and depression

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Worth reading just for the little 6-point bullet list at the bottom…

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A small number →

Published January 17, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 17  ·  ,

[…] a small number [of books] were truly transformative for me. They served as intellectual lighthouses on my journey, helping me understand what was happening to me as I explored my past, my psyche, and my pain.

~ Tiago Forte, from The 10 Most Transformative Books on Personal Development I’ve Read

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An interesting list. I’ve not read any of these books. I do have one of them in my pile of books at hand. I’m not endorsing the specific books. I do very much endorse the idea of making top-ten lists to share what one has learned.

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Archeology and music →

Published January 16, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 16  ·  

Simply sound-related things today: An image of a babbling brook and archeology…

It is possible that some 8,000 years ago, in this acoustically resonant haven, people not only hid from passing coastal thunderstorms, they may have used this place to commune with their dead—using music. That’s a possibility hinted at in the work of archaeologist Joshua Kumbani, of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and his colleagues.

~ Sarah Wild, from What Did the Stone Age Sound Like?

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Seems obvious that archeology would be interested in sound— but I’d never thought of that aspect of it before.

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Detailed →

Published January 15, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 15

I often stroll around exploring all the little nooks and crannies of places. I found this at Winterthur as part of small display of dried flowers. The display was barely mentioned at the info center, off the normal route (especially if one had taken the minibus ride to avoid walking the slightest distance), and hanging in the back of gazebo mostly out of sight. On the other hand, the sun peeked out just as I was standing there.

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Can you explain it? →

Published January 14, 2025  ·  All posts on Jan 14

Physi­cist and sci­ence com­mu­ni­ca­tor Richard Feyn­man came up with anoth­er cri­te­ri­on, one that applies direct­ly to the non-sci­en­tist like­ly to be bam­boo­zled by fan­cy ter­mi­nol­o­gy that sounds sci­en­tif­ic. […] Rather than ask­ing lay peo­ple to con­front sci­en­tif­ic-sound­ing claims on their own terms, Feyn­man would have us trans­late them into ordi­nary lan­guage, there­by assur­ing that what the claim asserts is a log­i­cal con­cept, rather than just a col­lec­tion of jar­gon.

~ from Richard Feynman Creates a Simple Method for Telling Science From Pseudoscience (1966)

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Confronting scientific-sounding things on your own terms is actually very difficult. What he’s described is not meant to be a way to decide if something is true—that’s much harder. He’s giving you a tool for quickly spotting scientific-sounding rubbish.

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