January 2011
19 posts
Realization of the day: the song “You Are My Sunshine” has a rather different meaning when you replace “sunshine” with “moonshine”.
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Mindfulness meditation training changes brain... →
Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced...
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The Man Who Never Cried →
A while back I had mentioned that my friend Andrew was working on a short film, The Man Who Never Cried, for the Doorpost Film Project competition. Right now, they are in second place. You can watch the film and vote for it here. Please consider taking a look at it and giving it your vote. They’re in 2nd place, and it’s tight race. You can vote once per email address. Thank you!
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“I think it’s important for all leaders, not just leaders of the Republican Party...”
– Representative Gabrielle Giffords on Violent Political Rhetoric, March 2010 « Student Activism
(via Sarah Benincasa on Facebook)
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Improvised dinner tonight
Chickpeas cooked with garlic and celery
quinoa (made with the liquid leftover from the chickpeas)
red, yellow, and green bell pepper
white onion and shallots
toasted walnuts
raisins
fresh parsley
fennel, curry powder, cinnamon, and lemon
fresh ground salt, pepper
Turns out when you mix these things together and cook, the results are absurdly tasty.
Note to self: keep doing this cooking...
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Weltschmerz →
readmorewikipedia:
Weltschmerz (from the German, meaning world-pain or world-weariness) is a term coined by the German author Jean Paul and denotes the kind of feeling experienced by someone who understands that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind.
The modern meaning of Weltschmerz in the German language is the psychological pain caused by sadness that can occur when...
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Global Food Prices in 2011 Face Perilous Rise →
Food prices globally are rising to dangerous levels. There is talk of a coming crisis, like the ones that produced riots around the world in 2008 and 1974. Many of the ingredients of a disaster are present, but governments can stop the problem before it causes too much damage.
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7 Things I Learned About Food in 2010 →
#1 The intersection of food, culture and class is a conversation we might finally be ready to have. In the course of 2 short weeks The Washington Post, Newsweek and The New York Times all ran articles about how class and food divide us, or don’t. At the same time, Sarah Palin fused food and politics, pitting herself against Michelle Obama and her anti-obesity initiative. Now maybe you...
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Distraction, noise cause overeating →
…Beegah says he usually does not eat this way. At home he wouldn’t think of loading up on triple portions of fatty foods for breakfast. But traveling, being on the go, it turns out Beegah’s brain isn’t processing food the same way as it would if he were having a quiet meal in his own kitchen. The sensory overload can really throw off judgment or inure us to the...