Oct 19, 2022How to Be Happy #42: Get OldAs you can see, this blog is the forty-second entry in my series of sageortedly [purportedly wise] advice on how to find lasting contentment and peace. It looks like I’ve been wasting my (and your) time. All of those pieces suggest we have to do something to make ourselves feel…Aging3 min readAging3 min read
Aug 3, 2022How to Be Happy #40: If You Think Things Are Horrible Today…have an odd suggestion for cheering yourself up: go to the Mental Floss website and read A.J. Jacobs’ blog “The Bad Old Days.” Here’s a short list of some of the articles available: 6 Ways the Past Stank–Literally 7 Ways Dating in the Past Was Terrible 6 Ways Christmases Past…History3 min readHistory3 min read
Jul 26, 2022How to Be Happy #39: Thank Your Lucky StarsThe pull quote above pops out in an Aeon essay by Timm Triplett titled “You’re Astonishing!” Tim begins his story by noting that his grandfather was doing business in England and about to step onto the Titanic to return home when he got a sales invitation to Scotland and canceled…Self Improvement3 min readSelf Improvement3 min read
Jul 25, 2022The Curse of ChronoflictionIn Mexico, people who are “tocado” — “touched” — reveal that geological time can emerge through fissures in the land to alter the way we relate to our homes, cities, and even ourselves. Lachlan Summers, “Deep Time Sickness“ Reading Summers’ article, for some reason, evoked memories of the “Monsters of…History3 min readHistory3 min read
Jul 25, 2022How to Be Happy #38: Versachill OutHere’s a question: “Can reading poems relieve the physiological symptoms of stress and anxiety?” Writing for Nautilus, Marissa Grunes says, “Yes, it can.” In her article “Feeling Stressed? Read a Poem,” Marissa recounts the story of two literary scholars and biographers who, after experiencing a scary hospitalization of their daughter…Poetry3 min readPoetry3 min read
Jul 21, 2022Entangled Up in BlueQuantum physics reeks with strange terms, most, no pretty much all of them, incomprehensible to me. (In fact, strange is one of them.) My lack of knowledge about this particular science, better known as quantupidity, makes it difficult to follow along when I stumble across articles in places like Scientific…Astrophysics4 min readAstrophysics4 min read
Jul 21, 2022How to Be Happy #37: Up Your Felicific QuotientThe Conversation‘s Sara Pons-Sanz thinks one way to be happy is to dredge up and start using certain long-defunct words. Specifically, she names five “life-affirming” terms we should revive: adamate, autometry, biophilia, collachramate, and mesology. …Happiness3 min readHappiness3 min read
Jun 21, 2022How to Be Happy #36: Snap into Your Inner AntifragilityThere are only two types of people who do not experience painful emotions. The first kind are the psychopaths. The second kind are dead. Tal Ben-Shahar, Happiness and why ‘happily ever after’ is a myth Those cheerful words come “positive psychologist” and co-founder of the Happiness Studies Academy Ben-Shahar. Speaking…Happiness3 min readHappiness3 min read
Jun 20, 2022Up, Up, and Way AwayIf you are of a certain age or are someone with a strange fascination with the music of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the title of this blog will be familiar to you, although it is inexact. …Music3 min readMusic3 min read
Jun 17, 2022RatDog 5120208919°If you ever wanted to know, since it does not show up on your iPhone or Galaxy home screen, what the temperature of outer space is, now you do — well, sort of. Read on for a full explanation. Of course, you could ask Siri, Alexa, Echo, Bixby, or Jeeves…Science5 min readScience5 min read
