“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
― Rumi
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Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts’
Don’t Be Satisfied
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, creativity, Thoughts on March 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Spring is Springing!
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Spring, spring equinox, Thoughts on March 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »
How do I know when it is Spring? There’s the calendar, of course, and yesterday was the March Equinox, yay. But that’s not as reliable as some other indicators. Like what, you may ask?
It’s still too early for cherry blossoms or daffodils here, but there are other signs of spring.
For example:
- Canada geese flying overhead? check
- the season’s first roar of a motorcycle? check
- melting snow in my yard? check
- the Fish Doorbell up and running in the Netherlands? check! I haven’t seen any fish yet but it’s still fun. The migration has begun, so the lack of sightings are probably because I’m watching during work hours my time, which are snoozing hours for Dutch fish (do fish have nationalities? unique patterns of DNA by country? accents? so many questions!)
Happy Spring!
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Day of Happiness
Posted in Holidays, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #InternationalDayOfHappiness, kindness, Thoughts on March 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Is the world on fire? Yes, often literally, but that’s not all it is. The world is also astonishingly, incredibly, heart-achingly beautiful.
Today is the UN’s International Day of Happiness, and I’m going to celebrate by remembering that there is so much to see, to love, and to support.
Then I’m going to go do just that.
While we’re at it, here’s the new World Happiness Report and its ranking of countries by happiness.
A key finding: “…people are much too pessimistic about the benevolence of others. For example, when wallets were dropped in the street by researchers, the proportion of returned wallets was far higher than people expected. This is hugely encouraging.”
Well, that makes me happy!
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”
— Howard Zinn
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Thank Canada
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #ThankACanadian, Canada, sports, the benefits of friendship, Thoughts on March 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Hey, all you sports fans out there! Enjoying March Madness? Thank this Canadian from Almonte, Ontario.
How a Gym Teacher Invented Basketball
He thought hard, going over the philosophy of sports, considering what made games popular, grasping for how he could invent a new principle that wasn’t already steeped in tradition. And finally, he had a lightbulb moment.
“I can still recall how I snapped my fingers and shouted, ‘I’ve got it!’”
For more on Dr. James Naismith and his game, bounce on over to the Naismith Basketball Foundation.
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When Irish Pirates Changed History
Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Thoughts, unintended consequences on March 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! One great thing about this holiday is that you don’t need to be Irish to enjoy it. Find a green shirt in your closet, break out the food coloring and drink green drinks and eat green foods, and have a fun day.
But hang on, what’s this? The day hasn’t always been about having fun or the color green?
The Color of St. Patrick’s Day – Atlas Obscura
St. Patrick’s Day usually conjures images of partying, Catholicism, Irish nationalism and, perhaps most famously, the color green: green clothes, green shamrocks, green beer, and green rivers.
So my students are often surprised when I tell them that St. Patrick’s Day was once a solemn feast day when you’d be far more likely to see the color blue. In fact, there’s even a color known as St. Patrick’s blue.
Have to say, I prefer our modern version.
I was also surprised to learn that St. Patrick wasn’t Irish, or named Patrick.
He wasn’t Irish; rather he was born in Wales, the son of a Roman-British official. He was, however, captured by Irish pirates and enslaved in Ireland. After six years he went back to Britain but returned to Ireland as one of the missionaries to convert Irish pagans to Christianity. At some point he adopted the Latin name Patricius.
And so, after a bit of piracy, a name change, and the appropriation of a solemn holiday for patriotic and community-building purposes, here we are.
To the long tail of unintended consequences. Enjoy!
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It Will All Make Sense
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, advice, art, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on March 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Don’t throw any of yourself away. Don’t worry about a grand scheme or unified vision for your work. Don’t worry about unity — what unifies your work is the fact that you made it. One day, you’ll look back and it will all make sense.”
— Austin Kleon
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A Simple Act
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, creativity, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on March 14, 2025| 2 Comments »
If you’re stuck on a problem, don’t sit there and think about it; just start working on it. Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, the simple act of working on it will eventually cause the right ideas to show up in your head.
— Mark Manson
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What One Can
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, inspiration, Thoughts on March 12, 2025| 2 Comments »
A great warhorse comes upon a tiny sparrow lying on its back with its feet in the air, eyes squinched tightly shut. The horse asks what it’s doing.
“I’m trying to help hold back the darkness,” replied the sparrow.
The horse roars with laughter. “That’s pathetic. What do you weigh, about an ounce?”
And the sparrow replies, “Well, one does what one can.”
— fable, recounted by Anne Lamott
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What Grandma Knows
Posted in Other, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, history, infectious disease 101, memories, public health, Thoughts on March 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Measles Is One Of The Most Contagious Diseases On Earth
Measles infection can result in severe and sometimes permanent complications including pneumonia, lung damage, brain damage, and death.
But unlike some infectious diseases, measles has a safe, effective vaccine that can protect us from infection.
We, the general public, can control measles outbreaks.
… [this bit’s for the grandparental units out there; stay healthy, folks!]
The first live measles virus vaccines—which are more effective—were available in 1969.
So anyone born between 1957–1968 may not have sufficient antibodies to avoid infection. Consult your doctor about immunization.
Many of our parents, grandparents, and other waybacks lived through a lot of difficult things: two world wars, the Great Depression, Spanish Influenza, polio, smallpox, or life before basic standards of health and safety, for example. (Coincidentally, today is also the anniversary of the declaration of the Covid pandemic. Because history may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.)
If you’re fortunate enough to still have relatives who lived through those times, consider asking them what it was like, and who they lost.
You might hear some interesting stories.
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What AI Needs, Part 2
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, AI, creativity, technology, Thoughts on March 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
One thing that often happens when writers talk about writing is a discussion of the creative voice. Separate from the critical voice, the creative voice has been described as “a two-year old who just wants to play.”* It is key to writing.
Problems occur when that urge to play is shut down by the critical voice. That is the side of your mind that is trying to keep your child self from running out into the street without looking both ways, from getting baked** in public, from forgetting your homework, or otherwise making mistakes.
The critical voice is very little help when it comes to getting words on the page. It is pretty good, however, at keeping you from being run over and/or caught making up cases in legal filings. Just, you know, for example.
Bad ChatGPT, bad!
It occurs to me that in some ways, AI is that two-year old running around, trying to give you answers without thinking too hard about whether or not they are the right answers.
It needs a parental figure.
Am I thinking of a caretaker program that follows the AI around like a nanny, keeping it from sticking its finger in a light socket and cleaning up after it?
Yes, yes I am. (Fun story idea idea, too, my inner two-year old must be on the job.)
And hey, we’re already teaching AI mindfulness, why not this?
* I’m sure lots of people have said some version of this but I’m thinking specifically of Dean Wesley Smith.
** I meant to type “naked” but this works too.
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