These Interesting Times

This Interesting Week (July 21 - 25, 2008)

Carmine Coyote — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:51:00 +0000

Interesting, amusing and provoking topics from this week's news.

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]

Procrastination is NOT a disease

Carmine Coyote — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:40:00 +0000

A Professor Joseph Ferrari from DePaul University in Chicago claims procrastination is a serious disease that needs to be recognized and treated by clinicians. This, to my mind, is so much academic twaddle, created by expensively educated people with not enough real work to do. More and more people are being encouraged to imagine themselves as patients with the latest fashionable 'syndrome' instead of dealing with their own problems and learning how to live better lives.

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]

Will Credit Problems Lead to a Saner World?

Carmine Coyote — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:20:00 +0000

Maybe today's financial crisis has an unexpected upside. Maybe the hard times will help us to appreciate what we have, instead of demanding instant gratification of our fantasies about investment gains or our ability to shop until we drop. Maybe not. Times will change and there will be a new upsurge in the markets. When that happens, will our new-found resolution to avoid past excesses remain intact?

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]

Pre-Op Music Lowers Stress and Decreases Heart Rate

Carmine Coyote — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:49:34 +0000

A study by an eye surgeon in Hawaii that found playing live classical piano music in the "preoperative holding area" produced a beneficial decrease in heart rate and other signs of anxiety once the patient was in the operating theater. Does music have a greater part to play in medical situations?

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]

No Short Cuts to Happiness

Carmine Coyote — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:15:28 +0000

Being happy takes a decision: the choice to value yourself enough to create a life you will love living. It will also take some work and much persistence. It isn't merely a matter of 'five easy steps' or 'ten sure-fire ways' or anything of that type. Self-help, to be worthy of the name, means doing for yourself what you might do for others in a similar situation.

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]

This Interesting Week (July 14 - 18 2008)

Carmine Coyote — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:41:00 +0000

Another miscellany of the odd and interesting from the press and the web.

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]

Reptiles of the Mind

Carmine Coyote — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:19:00 +0000

Why do we get so hung up about consistency? The US presidential campaign has thrown our obsession with consistency into sharp relief. Over and over again, the words ‘flip-flopping’ are brought into play as a form of attack. Past speeches and writings are combed for supposed — or even real — inconsistencies with what is being [...]

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]

What Value is a Educated Mind?

Carmine Coyote — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:34:07 +0000

The educational quality of US workers is starting to decline in absolute terms. Over the coming years, baby-boomers departing from the labor force will have better educational qualifications than the younger workers replacing them. In many other countries, the proportion of people aged 25-34 with at least a college education is now as high as, or higher than, in the US — and still climbing. Does it matter?

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]

Is the Economy Becoming The Ultimate TV Reality Show?

Carmine Coyote — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:59:00 +0000

Is the gap narrowing between TV reality-show fantasy and today's economic activity? Both our current economic models and TV reality shows reward all-out competition driven by material self-interest. The message of these reality shows seems to be that no one has time to think long-term or help anyone else. It's all about avoiding the 'walk of shame' as you're voted off the show. What future are we creating for ourselves?

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]

Enough With The Whining!

Carmine Coyote — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:12:46 +0000

An important adviser to US presidential hopeful John McCain was reported last week as saying that the U.S. had become a nation of whiners. Naturally, there was a fuss and the guy's remarks were disowned, but a little thought shows he had it about right.

[[This is just an excerpt. You can read the full text of this article on the blog's website]]