OMM (On My Mind) – October 2023 -- #1
~ findings & research ~
::: The Open :::
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Take a breath.
Humans breathe less while checking email (The New York Times)
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::: Podcasts :::
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A new two-part episode of Hidden Brain in which Shankar Vedantam converses with Eliot Aronson about his life and work. The first episode gets into Aronson’s background in psychology and his studies under famed Abraham Maslow and Leon Festinger. In the second episode, we learn how Aronson marries the work of rivals Maslow and Festinger to develop a new theory of cognitive dissonance.
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NPR’s The Indicator (from Planet Money) – Episode 1,448
‘Chasing the American Dream at Outback Steakhouse’
Interesting episode about the importance of people having connections with others across socioeconomic backgrounds (in part for upward mobility).
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There’s a great episode of The New Bazaar in which Cardiff Garcia (a former host of The Indicator) speaks with Irish economic Angus Deaton about his new book, ‘Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality’. At times, this episode gets a bit heavily into economic speak; that being said, I still think it’s highly approachable (as a layperson) and very much worth a listen.
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::: Music :::
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I haven’t been listening to nearly enough Arlo Parks.
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My recent playlists* include a goodly amount of the following (mostly new playlists with longtime interests):
1975, Taylor Swift, Clairo, Maggie Rogers, boygenius (as well as the individual members), Caroline Polachek, soccer mommy, Japanese Breakfast, Omar Apollo, The National, MUNA, Frank Ocean, Solange, Tame Impala, The Radio Dept., [early] Radiohead, Bo Burnham, Lorde, CHVRCHES, Wombats, Tegan and Sara, Carly Rae Jepson, Bleachers, The Postal Service, The Weather Station, Westerman, Maroon 5, The Cure, Saves The Day, The Get Up Kids, Pixies, Linkin Park, Jay Z, Kanye, Justin Bieber, Mae, Drake, Snail Mail, A. G. Cook, Hall & Oates, Tears For Fears, The Replacements, Genesis / Phil, Michael Jackson, Stevie Nicks / Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Gin Blossoms, Kendrick, Charli XCX, Patty Griffin, R.E.M., Bon Iver, Lil Wayne, Jimmy Eat World…
*It’s entirely possible what my partner likes to listen to has some influence.
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::: The Natural World :::
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90 Animals Ranked by Eyesight and How They Compare to Humans
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Earthworms are the real heroes
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Not mind-blowing, but neat
465-million-year-old trilobite fossil reveals its last meal
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::: The Arts & The Literary World:::
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I found this essay all too relatable.
“The Politics of Chronic Illness Memoirs” (LitHub)
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Of poetry & bagels.
“Philadelphia’s renowned Korshak Bagels to close for good” (Billy Penn)
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Fake:
Things That Count as Writing (McSweeney’s)
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Real:
First ever AI-written poetry anthology is bleak and alarming: 'I have the power to end your world' (NY Post)
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‘To Be A Writer, You Must Write: Joan Didion’ (LitHub)
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::: Small Explorations & Deep Dives :::
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“I said to the president [of Paramount]: I don’t know what a computer wants. Will you ask the computer what it wants and then instead of spending a year andahalf on this really cool project only for the computer to say “no”, maybe let’s ask the computer first what it wants, and then maybe Bob and I can go and do that if we’re interested in it?”
[from] An Interview with David Cross (Guardian)
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List of current book bans across the United States.
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Substack newsletters continue to be on the rise.
Glad I’m not already hearing “Peak Newsletter” or anything like that… yet.
How did I learn about this article? Becky Tuch’s LitMagNews Substack. (Highly Recommend)
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Across US religious groups, many see decline of marriage negatively (PEW Research)
Some see it positively though, to be fair. Some also are not totally freaking out about declines in childbirth. Just sayin.
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“Fatigue patient’s case prompts discovery that may help with long covid” (The Washington Post)
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“These habits can cut the risk of depression in half, a new study finds” (NPR)
Not a lot of surprises here. One exception, based on my own readings in recent times, is the emphasis on rest. I’ve seen more articles over the past few months about resting during the day being positive. Lots of “pro nap” articles. This is positive but it’ll require a change in how most Americans live their days (work-life balance). Maybe, in coming years, I’ll hear less people make statements like, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
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Working from Home (WFH) can be good for the environment.
Not terribly surprising.
“Fully remote workers produce less than half the climate-warming emissions of people who spend their days in offices, according to a study published yesterday.” (The Washington Post)
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Demographics by State. Where older and younger concentrations of folks are living. (Flowing Data)
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‘Volunteering Later in Life Could Boost Your Brain, Study Finds: Here Are 7 Ways to Get Involved’ (Nice News)
“Upon closer examination, the researchers discovered that there was a correlation between volunteering and cognitive function. Those who had volunteered in the past year scored better when it came to both verbal episodic memory and executive functioning and those who reported volunteering several times per week scored the highest overall. The findings held true even when researchers adjusted for factors like age, sex, education, and income.”
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‘How many homeless people are in the US? What does the data miss?’ (USA Facts)
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“7 daily habits can cut the risk of depression by 57%, a new study finds” (NPR)
These are not a solution, and it can be annoying for some of us to hear “try X, X, or X”, but with that in mind, lifestyle changes can make a notable difference in your mood, levels of anxiety, and feelings of despondency and despair. For those with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) or “clinical depression” or many other disorders (often comorbid) it’s just not realistic to expect massive changes to your overall well-being from life hacks… it’s also not realistic for everyone to be able to make these change whether they have exception mental health or not. Part of the catch-22 of poor mental health is an inability to make the sorts of changes that would invariably assist you in feeling at least somewhat better and be able to move through the world feeling a little lighter on your feet.
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“One of the major findings from the study? That politicians should either protect trans people or not focus on trans issues at all.” (them)
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“Wildfire smoke has rolled back two decades of air quality gains.” (The Washington Post)
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Team Project (Seth Godin’s blog)
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“FDA rejects first nasal spray alternative to epinephrine autoinjectors” (USA Today)
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“Slightly less than half of U.S. adults describe themselves as religious, while 33% say they are spiritual but not religious and 18% are neither.” (Gallup)
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More vs. better
[on] Google & the problem with monopolies (Seth Godin’s blog)
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Individual impact on Voter Registration… The award goes to…
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Note-taking strategies:
“The rate of forgetting is minimised if students interact (re-read/discuss/write/engage) with their notes within 24 hours. A second repetition for a shorter period of time within a day brings recall back up to 100 percent. A third repetition within a week for an even shorter time brings recall back to 100 percent.” (The Conversation / Pocket)
There are four stages to good note taking:
Note taking
Note making
Note interacting
Note reflecting
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‘Distributed Practice’
“The trick here is deciding how often to space out your study sessions. Purdue recommends setting aside 50 minutes each day for studying, but leaving one day per week free of studying altogether. Choosing what you study during each day’s allotted time, though, comes down to your testing schedule.” (Life Hacker)
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Texting etiquette… according to one source
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According to The Washington Post:
“The rules for phone calls have changed. Here are the basics on when and how to make a phone call, and why you should think twice before leaving that voice mail.”
I disagree about voicemails. That being said, they should be used sparingly in modern times.
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As many already had guessed… putting plastic in the microwave probably isn’t super healthy. (Bon Appetit)
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We know at least some of reasons why we don’t sleep well at night…
‘The Apps Americans Use Before Bed, Visualized’ (digg)
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Parkland school shooting survivor develops Joy, an app built on AI that helps people heal (AP News)
If you try this app out—please let me know about your experience.
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Best Cities for Vegans & Vegetarians (2023)
Any truth in this assessment?
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Really, truly, worth reading.
‘US surgeons are killing themselves at an alarming rate. One decided to speak out’ (Guardian)
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Why Did Critics Hate Rom-Coms in the 2000s? (Decider)
Answer: Sexism, misogyny, poor taste
I’ve been wondering about this subject recently, in fact, as several of the best movies I’ve seen in the last few years are under the umbrella term of “rom-com”. This might mean I’m, well, getting old; I also think it means the bros writing reviews in the 90s-00s were biased and wrong.
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Seriously – a big deal.
I’ve tried my best to use cash, when possible, especially for smaller purchases at local businesses. This is especially true in the past couple years as well exit the early stages of the pandemic and shops/restaurants make it clear that 3%, 4%, 5% or even more of a credit card surcharge still might leave them in a bad situation.
‘Why many business owners would love it if you stopped using your credit card’ (NPR)
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A hard-hitting personal story.
‘When the Klan murdered my protector’ (Robert Reich’s substack)
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In West Virginia news…
‘Despite ‘Country Roads’ post, Waffle House says it’s not opening in Morgantown’ (WBOY)
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‘I took a 2-day vow of silence and stopped using my phone—here's the No. 1 thing it taught me about happiness’ (CNBC)
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What is it all for? – Univ. of Penn class on Monk style living (PennToday)
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Net global welfare may be negative and declining (EA Forum)
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A look inside the loneliness epidemic
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Panera gets in on the jokes.
‘Panera Just Launched a "Roman Empire Menu" Inspired By the Viral Trend’
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Deeply upsetting story I just learned about…
‘A grad student ‘full of dreams and hopes’ was fatally struck by a police car. What an officer said about her later has sparked outrage from Seattle to Capitol Hill’(CNN)
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‘Her students reported her for a lesson on race. Can she trust them again?’ (The Washington Post)
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Always interesting to know what you are reading