Quote of the day
I have a question. What is wine?
~FERRAN ADRIA, author of The Family Meal.
GENDER
Do sinking ships put women and children first? PNAS | Tweet
Since the sinking of the Titanic, there has been a widespread belief that the social norm of “women and children first” (WCF) gives women a survival advantage over men in maritime disasters, and that captains and crew members give priority to passengers. What are the findings?
CREATIVITY
Ferran Adrià feeds the hungry mind, NYT | Tweet
The El Bulli Foundation operates as a nonprofit and is intended to appeal to chefs as well as anyone who is interested in the creative process. It is not a charity, but it is also not a traditional commercial business. It’s a think tank for creativity.
THE BRAIN
Q&A: The Teaching Brain, NPR | Tweet
There is all sorts of research on how humans develop this cognitive skill from birth through adulthood and then we utilize that to design plans to intentionally help children to learn. Teaching, however, is inherently an interaction between humans.
LEARNING
All you need to know about ‘The Learning Styles” myth in two minutes, Wired | Tweet
We learn in different ways, and we tend to prefer some ways more than others. Here are some tips for adapting.
HEALTH
Do you need to see a dentist twice a year? WSJ | Tweet
Dental professionals recommend a teeth cleaning every six months. Some people can get by with less frequent visits to the dentist, others should consider going even more often.
BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS
How to keep your New Year’s Resolutions, Bloomberg | Tweet
The Fresh Start Effect: At certain salient times — a new year, a new month, a birthday, a holiday — people really do refocus their thinking and even reorient their conduct.
BOOKS
Literature of India, enshrined in a series, NYT | Tweet
The Murty Classical Library of India will offer something the world had never seen before and something that India had never seen before: a series of reliable, accessible, accurate, and beautiful books that really open up India’s precolonial past.
Scare Tactics: Michel Houellebecq, author of The Map and the Territory on his new book Soumission, The Paris Review | Tweet
It’s 2022, and France is living in fear. The country is roiled by mysterious troubles. Regular episodes of urban violence are deliberately obscured by the media. Everything is covered up, the public is in the dark … and in a few months the leader of a newly created Muslim party will be elected president. On the evening of June 5, in a second general election—the first having been anulled after widespread voter fraud—Mohammed Ben Abbes handily beats Marine Le Pen with support from both socialists and the right. The next day, women abandon Western dress. Most begin wearing long cotton smocks over their trousers; encouraged by government subsidies, they leave the workplace in droves. Male unemployment drops overnight. In formerly rough neighborhoods, crime all but disappears. Universities become Islamic. Non-Muslim teachers are forced into early retirement unless they convert and submit to the new regime.
WRITING
How to develop a daily writing habit [The Artist’s Way], Medium| Tweet
Lao Tzu says, “Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have have time,’ is like saying ‘I don’t want to.’”
The 5-steps to become a full-time writer, The Write Practice | Tweet
In many ways, becoming a full-time writer really has been a dream come true. Every day is exciting and I’m constantly growing and pushing myself. Would you like to write full-time in 2015 too?
Getting started with Scrivener, The Kill Zone | Tweet
Scrivener is actually simple to use for many cool functions. Any other stuff can be learned at your leisure.