Author: Daniela

  • Today’s Economic Commentary

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Credit: Jorb – The New Yorker

  • Break out the tissues

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Some young boys from Bridgewater rally around a boy who was being teased.

  • Pandora’s Box

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    The Myth of Pandora’s Box, Illustrated by Graham Palfrey-Rogers, read by Morag Hood.  

  • Becoming Minimalist

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Joshua Becker’s story begins on a fine spring day: Our story begins on a beautiful three-day weekend at our home in suburban Vermont. The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, the grass was beginning to green, and the trees were budding. I was cleaning my garage, my wife was cleaning the bathrooms, and my…

  • Life Under the Ice

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Science News‘ long piece on a study, conducted by Russian scientists at Lake Vostok, reveals evidence of a complex subglacial ecosystem: Lake Vostok is a behemoth, and not just by Antarctic standards. It is nearly as big as Lake Ontario and much deeper — estimated to be more than 900 meters in some places. By…

  • Poetry in Afghanistan: New York Times Profiles Matiullah Turab

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    The New York Times features the life and writing of Matiullah Turab. Mr. Turab is a popular poet who performs throughout Afghanistan and works during the day as a metalsmith. With his unflinching words, Mr. Turab, 44, offers a voice for Afghans grown cynical about the war and its perpetrators: the Americans, the Taliban, the Afghan government,…

  • Spirituality Enhances Health

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    In a study, posted on the Elevated Existence blog, research shows spirituality enhances a person’s health – particularly their mental health: “In many ways, the results of our study support the idea that spirituality functions as a personality trait,” said Dan Cohen, assistant teaching professor of religious studies at MU and one of the co-authors…

  • Peoples’ Top Regrets

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    This article by Sina Avari reminds us of what is important in life: For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives. When questioned about any regrets they had or…

  • Where Do Unicorns Come From?

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Originally posted on The Dish: Annalee Newitz looks to Chris Lavers’s book A Natural History of Unicorns for the answer: As Lavers explains, the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament mentions an animal called a “reem.” When scholars tried to translate this word into Greek, they were flummoxed. They had no idea what this…

  • The Reason Behind Religion

    —

    by

    Daniela
    in

    Originally posted on The Dish: Peter Gordon reviews Carlos Fraenkel’s Philosophical Religions, a tour of medieval and early modern thinkers’ attempt to square rational inquiry with divine revelation: The guiding thought of Fraenkel’s study is that what may strike us as an unforgivably elitist distinction, between philosophers and non-philosophers, actually went along with a universalistic…