Think Different

8/6/11. Rules for innovators.

http://www.economist.com/node/21525350

Book Review: "Lip Service"

8/6/11. When you're smiling...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904888304576476092585609116.html?KEYWORDS=carol+tavris

Who Gets Drunk and Why?

8/2/11. Some answers and questions.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903341404576482051743844220.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

Book Review: "Perplexities of Consciousness," by Eric Schwitzgebel

7/30/11. Nicholas Humphrey, a professor emeritus of psychology, reviews philosopher Schwitzgebel new book. We excel at not getting to know us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/books/review/perplexities-of-consciousness-by-eric-schwitzgebel-book-review.html?_r=1&ref=books

Mental Illness and Leadership

7/30/11. This is an excerpt from psychiatrist Nassir Ghaemi's new book, "A First-Rate Madness:  Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904800304576474451102761640.html?KEYWORDS=ghaemi

Robert Ettinger. R.I.P.

7/29/11. Cryonics inventor --- proponent of freezing people after death to be thawed out in the future. It is still better to be seen than viewed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/us/30ettinger.html?_r=1&hpw

September 11 and Psychology

7/29/11. Some lessons learned on the way to treating trauma.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/health/research/29psych.html?_r=1&ref=health

Unraveling the Mystery of Murderous Minds

7/27/11.Prison psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple speculates about the mind of a man who is evil incarnate.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904888304576476052920894000.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Book Review: "The Believing Brain"

7/27/11. Psychologist and founder of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer describes the science behind our belief-dependent reality.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303365804576432011569887724.html?KEYWORDS=shermer

When Gray Days Signal a Problem

7/26/11. Many people suffer with a treatable condition called dysthymia or chronic, low-grade depression. This disorder is frequently missed or mislabeled, leaving too many people to lead lives of quiet desperation.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904772304576467993357594526.html?KEYWORDS=dysthymia

A Woman's Place

7/26/11. A modern story about how one of the best of executive talent navigates corporate America.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/07/11/110711fa_fact_auletta?currentPage=all

18 Attributes of Highly Effective Liars

7/25/11. A research psychologist tells the truth about lying.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=18-attributes-of-highly-effective-l-2011-07-07&WT.mc_id=SA_20110721

Austerity in the U.K.

7/25/11. Psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple writes that shrinking government is much harder than expanding it. People want to get what they don't pay for.

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_3_otbie-uk-govt-spending.html

Book Review: An Anatomy of an Addiction

7/24/11. Surgeon and writer ("How People Die") Sherwin Nuland reviews the perceptive new book by Howard Markel: "An Anatomy of an Addiction." Sigmund Freud, William Halsted, and the Miracle Drug Cocaine."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/books/review/an-anatomy-of-addiction-by-howard-markel-book-review.html?_r=1&ref=books&pagewanted=all

Two New Book Reviews on the Life of Physicist Richard Feynman

7/18/11. Feynman was a remarkable human being who created effective explanatory surprises about the nature of reality.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jul/14/dramatic-picture-richard-feynman/?pagination=false

Monday Quotations

7/11/11.

"You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred."

--- Woody Allen (1935 -   )


"The biggest argument against democracy is a five-minute discussion with the average voter."

---Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)


"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of misery."

--- Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)


"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

---Albert Einstein  (1879 - 1955)


"He is a [sane] man who can have tragedy in his heart and comedy in his head."

---G. K. Chesterton  (1874 - 1936)

The Divorce Generation

7/10/11. The powerful effects of divorce on Generation X.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576430341393583056.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

Thinking Away the Pain

7/10/11. We have not learned the limits of the conscious mind to ease physical pain, and much more.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428151831584880.html?KEYWORDS=lehrer

In Defense of Antidepressants

7/10/11. Psychiatrist Peter Kramer reports on research findings claiming that antidepressants are no more effective than placebos.

My clinical experience matches Kramer's review:  antidepressants are often very helpful for treating severe depression, chronic mild depression or dysthymia, and anxiety in children and adults. Antidepressants often contribute to significant benefits of psychological therapy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/opinion/sunday/10antidepressants.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Book Review: Inside Scientology

7/8/11. Father Hubbard and the will to deceive.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304803104576428223909501518.html?KEYWORDS=scientology

Alan Dershowitz. Casey Anthony: The System Worked

7/7/11.  Perhaps the meaning  of "reasonable doubt" has changed with all the crime shows where all criminals are guilty with indisputable forensic evidence generated by powerful computers.  I wonder if being in the court room and hearing all the evidence is ALWAYS a much different experience than watching the trial on TV.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576429783247016492.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Rabinowitz: DSK and the District Attorney

7/6/11. There are some honorable men.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576427592896119826.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

The Great Proselytizer of Orgasm

7/5/11. A new book explores the legacy of Wilhelm Reich.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2011/06/the_great_proselytizer_of_orgasm.html

Stephens: DSK Lesson

7/4/11. Beliefs go one way - then reality intrudes.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304490004576422462548199624.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Looking for Someone

6/30/11. Love and the internet.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/07/04/110704fa_fact_paumgarten?currentPage=all

Top 10 Ways to Protect Your Kids from a High Conflict Divorce

6/30/11. Dr. Joan Kelly offers sound advice about coping with divorce.

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2009/howtodivorce/tips.html

Book Review: The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture

6/26/11. Stefan Kanfer reviews David Mamet's new book --- joining the club of liberals mugged by reality.

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/bc0608sk.html

Joseph Epstein: Heavy Sentences

6/23/11. Joseph Epstein reviews Stanley Fish's "On How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One."

http://www.newcriterion.com/articleprint.cfm/Heavy-sentences-7053

Timothy Leary - Psychologist, Huckster, Personality Researcher, Booster of LSD...

6/23/11. Tune out, tune in, and drop into a newly discovered collection of Leary's papers.

"...Cultural historians will turn to the collection in an effort to shed greater light on this paradoxical figure who typified the acid-fueled, utopian indulgences of a far younger generation..."

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2011/06/turn-on-tune-in-drop-by-the-archives-timothy-leary-at-the-nypl.html

Expert on Mental Illness Reveals Her Own Fight

6/26/11. Reminds me of a quote from psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan:

"We are all more human than otherwise."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/health/23lives.html?hpw

The Brain on Trial

6/20/11. If the brains of criminals are different from law-abiding citizens, should we rethink our laws about criminal responsibility and punishment?

n.b. Dr. Brian Weeks recommended this article.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-brain-on-trial/8520/

A Schizophrenic, a Slain Worker, Troubling Questions

6/17/11.

"The mind can make a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven."

--- John Milton (1608 - 1674)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/us/17MENTAL.html?_r=1&ref=health

Anthony Weiner and the National Adultery Ritual

6/16/11. What's the matter with men today?

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/the-national-adultery-ritual/

What is Social Psychology?

6/15/11. A look at social psychology, the conscious and unconscious mind, and evolution.

http://edge.org/conversation/social_psychological_narrative

Tim Harford: "Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure"

6/15/11.  Advice I gave to my kids:  "Everybody makes missnakes."

Ezra Klein interviews author Tim Harford.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/tim-harford-on-failure/2011/05/19/AGB1SvCH_blog.html

Jerome Kagan: The Temperamental Thread

6/14/11. More information about this splendid book.

http://www.dana.org/news/danapressbooks/detail.aspx?id=23486

See my review  June 21, 2010 post.

http://notesofapsychologywatcher.blogspot.com/2010/06/temperamental-thread-how-genes-culture.html

Joseph Epstein: Duh, Bor-ing

6/8/11. Interesting observations about boredom.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/duh-boring/

David Brooks: IMHO

6/8/11. The good sense of the sense of humility.

http://brooks.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/imho/?pagemode=print

Collapse of a Rotten Edifice

6/7/11. Some elites among us --- the more equals --- have cornered the market with their haughty, self-righteous, morally high ground sermons standing on quicksand.  These big shots - e.g. Spitzer, DSK, Edwards - have powerful rifles with bad aims,  strong IQs, and rotten judgment.

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/

Monday Quotations

6/6/04

"Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from
which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed."

---Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)


"I cannot grasp all that I am."

--- Augustine (354 - 430)


"Man is a masterpiece of creation, if only because no amount of determinism can prevent him from believing that he acts as a free being."

--- Georg C. Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799)

Dalia Skye Ceresnie's Blog

6/3/11. My smart and beautiful grand-niece has a blog. I wonder what she will do at 6 months?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html?hpw

R.I.P. Dr. Jack Kevorkian

6/3/11. Dr. Death dies.

His blunt, passionate, audacious, often reckless support for the right to die made him both a hero and villain.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04kevorkian.html?hpw


"...Over 130 people died painlessly with the help of these machines and the doctor who invented them. The first was Janet Adkins, a former college instructor on disability, who resolved to kill herself the day she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and did so, with Dr Kevorkian in attendance, in his rusty van in a Michigan campsite. Those who followed her seemed unremarkable: a bus driver, a doctor, a supervisor at a pillow factory and so on, all terminally ill, or so they believed. Studies of those who sought out Dr Kevorkian, however, suggest that though many had a worsening illness, cancer perhaps or a neurological disease, it was not usually terminal. Autopsies showed five people had no disease at all. Those who came to him were more likely to be women than men, often unmarried and typically ill-at-ease when talking to doctors. Little over a third were in pain. Some presumably suffered from no more than hypochondria or depression..."
http://www.economist.com/node/18802492

National Dating Standards Lowered

6/3/11. The Federal Government took steps to lower the national dating standards, although many groups protested that mandating lower standards was not possible.

http://www.theonion.com/video/national-dating-standards-lowered,20647/

On David Eagleman

6/2/11. A man of many talents.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/cms/printthis.php?file=feature5.php&issue=2011-06-01

Thomas Sowell on Seductive Beliefs

6/1/11. The toxic mix of envy, haves, and have nots.

Seductive Beliefs        http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell053111.php3

Seductive Beliefs II    http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell060111.php3

Murder Most Academic

5/31/11. "Sometimes reality is far in advance of satire when it comes to absurdity...not always funny."

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_2_otbie-homicide-studies.html

Atul Gawande,M.D. Commencement Address, Harvard Medical School, 2011

5/31/11. Nobdy does it better.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/05/atul-gawande-harvard-medical-school-commencement-address.html

Is Hypersexuality a Psychiatric Disorder?

5/31/11. Some men have their forethought removed.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-psychiatry-roundup-20110523,0,4198997.story

David Brooks: It's Not About You

5/30/11. The hello-how-am-I generation graduates into a world with limits, where losing oneself in family, work, and community is more important than the theology of finding oneself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/opinion/31brooks.html?_r=1

The Feminine Mystique of Hugh Hefner

5/30/11. The world according to the chief boy bunny.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704816604576334342984316906.html

Woody Allen on Inspiration

5/28/11. What's it all about Woody?

http://thebrowser.com/interviews/woody-allen-on-memory?print

James Q. Wilson: Hard Times, Fewer Crimes

5/28/11. Social scientist James Q. Wilson examines the puzzling phenomenon that over the past decade, crime falls while unemployment rises.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576345553135009870.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

David Mamet's Coming Out Party

5/27/11. Coming out of the bubble.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304520804576347110395478634.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop#printMode

Practice Parameters for 30 Child Psychiatric Disorders

5/27/11. From the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/member_information/practice_information/practice_parameters/practice_parameters

Eric Cantor's Remarks to AIPAC - 2011

5/26/11. A leader who understands.

http://majorityleader.gov/newsroom/2011/05/leader-cantors-remarks-to-aipac.html

The 50 Best Science Writers of All Time

5/23/11.

http://www.onlinecollege.org/2011/05/22/the-50-best-science-writers-of-all-time/

Need Therapy? A Good Man is Hard to Find

5/22/11. The feminization of psychological therapy. Where have all the good men gone?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/health/22therapists.html?_r=1&hp

I am blogging for mental health

This is a day when psychologists around the country are blogging for mental health.

Even in 2011, going to a psychologist carries stigma for too many people in need. There is no reason why mental problems should be less common than physical problems - yet, people can spend lots of time and money treating illusory physical symptoms, and miss symptoms of psychiatric disorders that can be successfully treated.

We live in the best time in human history to get help for psychological distress.

http://www.yourmindyourbody.org/mental-health-month-blog-day-may-18/

Harvey Mansfield: Principles That Don't Change

5/17/11. Remarks on accepting the Bradley Prize.

http://www.city-journal.org/printable.php?id=7127

Beyond Happiness

5/16/11. Psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman revises his ideas on the good life in his book "Flourish."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/science/17tierney.html?_r=1&hpw=&pagewanted=all

"Flourish" reviewed in "The Economist:"

http://www.economist.com/node/18678991

Monday Quotations

5/16/11.

"Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."

--- Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900 - 1944)


"What is hateful to you do not do to your
neighbor. That is the whole Torah. The rest is
commentary."

--- Hillel (60 B.C - A.D. 9)


"I've got Bright's Disease. And he's got mine."

--- S. J. Perelman (1904 - 1979)


"Nowadays, I can't tell the difference between the ringing of the ice cream man's truck and my phone."

--- Steven J. Ceresnie


"This fellow cuts so many corners he's going 'round in circles."

--- Steven J. Ceresnie


"He has a sandpaper personality, he rubs everybody the wrong way."

--- Steven J. Ceresnie


He greeted everybody the same way, "Hello. How am I?"

--- Steven J. Ceresnie

Commit Yourself

5/15/11. Take control now.

http://reason.com/archives/2011/04/18/commit-yourself/print

The Conversion of David Mamet

5/14/11. David Mamet breaks from the herd and becomes a conservative --- a liberal mugged by reality.*

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/converting-mamet_561048.html

*A liberal is a conservative who has been arrested.

Do Our Genes Decide if We're Kind or Cruel?

5/14/10.   ?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576313083073123352.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_8

Book Review: "What is Mental Illness?"

5/13/11. Psychiatrist and resident scholar at AEI Sally Satel reviews Harvard psychologist Richard J. McNally's book.

http://www.aei.org/article/103603

The Top 29 Cities to Visit in 2011

5/11/11.

http://www.askmen.com/specials/2011_top_29/29-amsterdam.html

The Tricky Chemistry of Attraction

5/11/11.

"Much of the attraction between the sexes is chemistry. New studies suggest that when women use hormonal contraceptives, such as birth-control pills, it disrupts some of these chemical signals, affecting their attractiveness to men and women's own preferences for romantic partners..."


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704681904576313243579677316.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

Book Review: "On China"

5/11/11. Bret Stephens reviews Henry Kissinger's "On China."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576314931204039982.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

Perverse Incentives

5/11/11.

"Though the recession has blunted overall demand for cosmetic surgeries, one subcategory appears to be entering a growth phase, at least judging from the fifth annual Congress on Aesthetic Vaginal Surgery, held late last year in a luxury resort outside Tucson. There, about 60 doctors, most of them OB-GYNs, converged to discuss the expanding field of “cosmetic-gyn”—elective surgeries for women seeking to “rejuvenate” and/or “beautify” their vaginas. Attendance at the conference has been increasing by about 20 percent each year—one doctor there explained that his services are in such demand, he has multiple operating rooms so he can move quickly from one surgery to the next—and last year a competing conference was held at the Venetian in Las Vegas..."

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/06/perverse-incentives/8489

Three Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed

5/9/11. Sent by my friend Jack Haynes, this is an inspirational 5 minute story.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ric_elias.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-04-26&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email

Is Sex Good for Your Health?

5/4/11. Read this.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704569404576298953365120630.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

In Treatment

5/3/11. Watch all the HBO award winning programs --- the best illustrations of psychotherapy - anywhere.

http://www.hbogo.com/?camp=GoG304#search&browseMode=browseGrid?searchTerm=in%20treatment/browse&assetID=GOROSTGP25449?assetType=SERIES?browseMode=browseGrid/

Man Raised by Parents Struggling to Adjust to Human Society

5/3/11. Developmental psychologists are puzzled about how a man raised by two parents who did not divorce will be able to adjust to modern life.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-raised-by-parents-struggling-to-adjust-to-huma,20263/

Monday Quotation

5/2/11.

"Earlier this evening, President Obama called to inform me that American forces killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al Qaeda network that attacked America on September 11, 2001. I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude. This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."

George Walker Bush (1946 -   )

The Online World of Female Desire

4/30/11.  Men and women are very different in how they use the Internet to indulge their sexual desire.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704463804576291181510459902.html

Mitt Romney - Haunted by Past

4/26/11. Mitt Romney dogged by past efforts trying to help uninsured sick people.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/mitt-romney-haunted-by-past-of-trying-to-help-unin,20097/

Walter Williams: "Race and Economics"

4/26/11. Thomas Sowell reviews Walter Williams' new book:  "Race and Economics."

In 1975, I read Thomas Sowell's "Race and Economics,"  a sober look at facts and fallacies about the economics of race.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/04/26/race_and_economics_109659.html

Antidepressants and Aspirin

4/26/11. Study suggests that aspirin and antidepressants don't mix well.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704132204576285183033104082.html

Message to American Atheists

4/23/11. From Chistopher Hitchens.

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/618232-message-to-american-atheists

Religious Studies: The good god guide and a response from a religious scientist.

4/22/11. Scientists are asking:  exactly what is religion, and what is it for?

http://www.economist.com/node/18584074

My friend Tom sent me the following email in response to this article. Tom is a chemist --- and a firm believer in science and religion.

Steve,

Well I guess scientists should start looking somewhere, but I honestly do not think studies like this will generate much findings, other than the spiritual mystery that is beyond scientists ability to study.  A year ago I was asked to write an editorial piece for apaper back East that would help the lay person better understand the origins of universe, based on current astrophysical findings, in relation to this mystery.  The editor did not publish it because, even with the effort I made, it could not be understood by him enough to print.  I am not sure if we have discussed this, but if we have please forgive the repetition.  If one studies time, Einstein’s “theory of relativity” (now a confirmed law), the big bang expansion models, the age of the universe based on the most recent supercollider  energy of condensation and space background temperatures, all the visible mass in the universe (including even all those small neutrinos, cosmic rays, & electromagnetic radiation convertible mass), the astrophysics’ models come together in an astounding finding.   I found a presentation a few years back delivered to the American Academy for the Advancement of Science brightest scientists by a Director of US Dept of Energy programs that is coordinating all of the deep space probe findings, super-accelerator particlestudies, as well as many other related studies.  After making a considerable effort to understand this and other presentations, as well asreading some of Einstein’s original works to truly understand relativity,the appreciation of the finding was awe inspiring.  The Director had to discuss each program he was coordinating.  He had the courage to begin each section with a passage from the Genesis creation story, because the findings were uncanny, if not suggestive beyond one’s imagination. It took me quite a bit of time before I reached the place where I actually felt I had enough background to understand the significance of each finding and how it fit together.  I think the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation studies are perhaps one of the important keys to the puzzle.  The first major finding was that cosmic forces are so well “fine tuned” to create an almost impossible balance of “critical density” that enables the entire universe to “stay together”.  On earth, our meager study of natural laws, in an experimental environment, teach use that such an extraordinary balance does not happen by chance, but requires considerable effort somewhere and somehow of systems working in concert to come about.  The second most astounding discovery has to do with what scientists now call “dark energy” and “dark matter”.  Anything in the universe that is “physical” is visible because it produces some type of electromagnetic radiation, so we can see it and measure it.  The “dark energy and matter” is, in effect, invisible and is beyond scientists' ability to study it, over than just knowing that it is there, because if it were not there then everything (from subatomic particlesto galaxies) would not hold together.  The Director ended the presentationat a point where everyone who understood the astounding significance of the findings was now probably very silently awaiting his conclusion.  Not knowing where to go from here he simply ended by saying: “The fact that dark energy and exotic dark matter now comprise 95% of our universe, while galaxies of bright stars that fill the heavens are less than one percent, is a good lesson, compelling humility.”   The scientists there were among our brightest, and this was no little error in the model.  All our observations, all our theoretical modeling, and all our confirmed natural laws are telling use that ALLwe can study is encompasses no more than 1% of what exists.  Science can never tell us anything about the other 95%, because it is invisible, thus inaccessible to any physical measurement.  We can only know that it is just there – everywhere.   I believe deeply in science, but I also believe in the God of your forefathers.  I think heaven is very real, if not more real than what we “see” around us.

Kind Regards,

Tom                 

David Eagleman: The Possibilian

4/22/11. The profile of a neuroscientist who studies time and the brain.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/25/110425fa_fact_bilger

A Portrait of the Subatomic World

4/16/11. Jeremy Bernstein reviews Jim Baggott's "The Quantum Story."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704662604576202572029439118.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_LS_Books

When Scientists Confuse Cause and Effect

4/16/11. Knowing when an event is the fire (cause) and when it is the smoke (effect) is crucial for understanding.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703385404576258783367180312.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5

New Efficiencies in Health Care? Not Likely

4/16/11. Unless people pay some of their own money for health care, nothing will change.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116404576262943694897016.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5

Taxes and Politics

4/15/11. Old news - tax rates do not equal tax revenues.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell041311.php3

Ralph Waldo Emerson - Quotation

4/14/11.

To laugh often and much;

to win the respect of intelligent people and the

affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to

endure the betrayal of false friends;

to appreciate beauty;

to find the best in others;

to leave the world a bit better

whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a

redeemed social condition;

to know even one life has breathed easier because

you have lived.

This is to have succeeded.

This poem resonates with the life of my Uncle George Horwich (1924 - 2008)

Is Your Jar Full?

4/13/11. Notes on the busy life --- uncommon common sense.

http://www.oceancityfools.com/text/jar.htm

On Metaphors

4/12/11. We can't get along without them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/opinion/12brooks.html?_r=1&hp

Another Spending Cut Plan

4/12/11. Go after the billionaires.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/04/12/another_spending_cut_plan_109519.html

Monday Quotations

4/11/11.

"Psychologists treat other people's theories like toothbrushes - no self-respecting person wants to use anyone else's."

--- Walter Mischel (1930 -   )


"It is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. In fact, some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it is that it is unquestionably correct.”

--- Michio Kaku (1947 -    )


"We are more heavily invested in the theories of failure than we are in the theories of success."

--- Albert Bandura (1925 -    )

How to Get a Real Education

4/9/11. Good advice --- from the creator of Dilbert.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704101604576247143383496656.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

Do You Get an 'A' in Personality

4/7/11. Sometimes personality assessment when done in a therapeutic manner, brings insight to help start effective therapy for couples and individuals.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576242690486216416.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read

Monday Quotations

4/4/11.

"There are elements which, if added to one's experience, make life better; there are other elements which added to one's experience, make life worse. But what remains when these are set aside is not merely neutral:  it is emphatically positive...The additional positive weight is supplied by experience itself, rather than by any of its contents."

--- Thomas Nagel (1937 -   )


"'I think, therefore I am' is the statement of an intellectual who underrates toothaches. 'I feel, therefore I am' is a truth much more universally valid, and it applies to everything that's alive."

--- Milan Kundera (1929 -  )


"Happy the hare at morning, for she cannot read
The Hunter's waking thoughts.
Lucky the leaf
Unable to predict the fall."

--- W. H. Auden (1907 - 1973)

"When we reflect on the shortness and uncertainty of life, how despicable seem all our pursuits of happiness? And even, if we would extend our concern beyond our own life, how frivolous appear our most enlarged and generous projects...hurried away by time, lost in the immense ocean of matter."

--- David Hume (1711 - 1776)


"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment."

--- Woody Allen (1935   )

Jonah Lehrer: Measurements that Mislead

4/2/11. Measurements of performance over the short-run miss what it takes to succeed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471904576230931647955902.html?KEYWORDS=jonah+lehrer

Bernard Lewis: "The Tyrannies are Doomed"

4/1/11.

The West's leading scholar of the Middle East, Bernard Lewis, sees cause for optimism in the limited-government traditions of Arab and Muslim culture. But he says the U.S. should not push for quick, Western-style elections.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703712504576234601480205330.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

A Letter: Women and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Women and ADHD


REGARDING NICOLE Crawford's excellent article, "ADHD: a women's issue," (February Monitor http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr03/letters.aspx ) attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a well-known disorder that is not known well. What is not known well is that gender stereotypes contribute to missed opportunities for identification and effective medication and psychological treatments for female adults with ADHD. For example, many females do not present with the classic "Dennis the Menace" triad of ADHD symptoms--restlessness, distractibility and [lack of] self-control. Rather, they suffer severe chronic and pervasive difficulties with distractibility--a difficulty filtering out external distractions that is often misdiagnosed and sometimes associated with disorders such as anxieties, substance abuse and depression.

A core problem in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD is that scientists know much about how brains and minds work but have no knowledge about how brains produce minds. This wide brain-mind gap is often filled by political ideologues--both liberal and conservative--claiming they do not "believe" that ADHD exists, or at least know it is vastly over-diagnosed. Liberal ideologues tell us we mask the problems with medication. Conservative ideologues say ADHD is another myth of mental illness.

Until we have a medical test to identify ADHD, no amount of scientific knowledge, clinical experience or testimonies from those with the disorder will convince some citizens of the validity of neurophysiology disorders such as ADHD in adult females or anybody else. Your article does much to clarify the influence of stereotypes and myths about adult females with ADHD.

Steven J. Ceresnie, Ph.D.
Plymouth, Michigan

Book Review: "The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neurologists Quest for What Makes Us Human"

3/29/11. Colin McGinn reviews this new book by V.S. Ramachandran.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/mar/24/can-brain-explain-your-mind/?pagination=false

Why Women Can't Stand Nice Guys

3/29/11. Many women describe their ex-husband as that macho, tough guy.

Any truth to this?

http://www.yourtango.com/experts/lucia/12-reasons-women-can-t-stand-nice-guys

When We Cannot Predict Risk

3/28/11. Scientists discuss prediction and risk. What we know but can't predict can hurt us.

http://www.edge.org/documents/tsunami/tsunami11_index.html

Monday Quotations

3/28/11.

"Whether someone has a network of good relationships or is alone in the world is a much stronger predictor of happiness than any other objective predictor."

--- Roy Baumeister, Professor of Psychology, Florida State University


"Reason is an ought only to be the slave of the passions, they can never pretend to any other office than to serve and objey them."

--- David Hume (1711 - 1776)


"We hear and apprehend only what we already half know."

--- Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)


"Epistemological modesty is an attitude toward life. This attitude is built on the awareness that we don't know ourselves. Most of what we think and believe is unavailable to conscious review. We are our own deepest mystery."

--- David Brooks (1961 -    )