Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Snow!
I was musing this morning, whilst shoveling my driveway, if the memory of snow is like the memory of pain. For some reason, over breakfast with my kids, we were talking about the fact that as humans we have a short memory for pain. We may remember, “Oh, that hurt,” but we don’t really remember…
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Quote
“I believe I found the missing link between animal and civilized man. It is us.” -Konrad Lorenz, ethologist, Nobel laureate (1903-1989)
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A second opinion
My middle daughter was diagnosed with scoliosis three years ago. For two years we simply monitored it every six months because the doctor believed she was nearing the end of her skeletal growth. Then she shot up five inches (overnight?) and the minor curve grew alarming. A Boston brace was ordered. I cringed in sympathetic…
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THE KILLING SEA by Richard Lewis
I finished Richard Lewis’s most recent YA novel The Killing Sea in two days. Really one and a half. I purchased it for my son but couldn’t wait for him to get through a trilogy he is currently reading and so I picked up The Killing Sea and read it myself. Am I glad I…
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Help end the mass slaughter of dolphins
The Japanese fishing industry labels dolphins as “pests” and conducts a mass slaughter each year to keep down the dolphin numbers so that competition for fish such as bluefin tuna is reduced. Dolphins are rounded up in underwater pens, deliberately disoriented by the excruciating noise of metal poles being struck beneath the water (especially painful…
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Cooperation among fish
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) has released a fascinating article that details a new discovery: Groupers and Moray Eels coordinating to hunt for food in the Red Sea. Groupers can hunt quickly over a reef, but if prey goes into a crevice, it can’t be reached. Enter Madame Moray, who quickly dives in and…
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Lessons from NaNoWriMo
For the second time (first was in 2004) I participated in National Novel Writing Month–or NaNoWriMo as those in the know refer to it. The goal is to write a novel in a month–50,000 words minimum. A lot of novices particpate in NaNoWriMo and many writers with higher literary aspirations look down their noses at…
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Protect your intellectual property
Read why, and find out how here. (With thanks to Neil Gaiman.)
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Jim Ruland’s BIG LONESOME
Not only do I love the way Jim Ruland thinks and views the world, I love the way he makes me think and view the world. Seriously, if you want to read a book of short stories that kicks ass and takes names, Jim Ruland’s debut collection BIG LONESOME is it. These stories are far…
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Help save the bluefin tuna
This is from the World Wildlife Fund: The Atlantic bluefin tuna is an amazing creature. A warm-blooded fish, it accelerates faster than a Porsche and covers thousands of kilometres in its lifetime. But the fish, which swims into the Mediterranean each year to reproduce, is facing a crisis. Prized for sushi in Japan and across…
Got any book recommendations?