NPR: Yayoi Kusama, high priestess of polka dots, has died by Elizabeth Blair
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Nepal
I've watched videos of this, and it is a jaw dropping tragedy.
NPR: Floods kill nearly 400 people in Nepal and Tibet, with 90 Americans among the missing
Eclipse
Thursday’s eclipse will begin at 9:23 p.m. ET, when the moon first enters the outer part of Earth’s shadow.
Doug Weiss - Seniors - The Surprising Reason Balance Declines As We Age
Work on your balance - The Management.
Altruistic
"In a study at the University of British Columbia, researchers found evidence that humans are inherently altruistic. In their study, toddlers under two years of age experienced “greater happiness when giving treats to others rather than receiving treats themselves.”" Lama Palden Drolma
From AI Gemini:
The research comes from a landmark 2012 study conducted at the University of British Columbia by psychologists Lara Aknin, J. Kiley Hamlin, and Elizabeth Dunn, published in PLOS ONE under the title "Giving Leads to Happiness in Young Children.”
Key Findings of the Study
Giving vs. Receiving: The researchers found that toddlers under two years of age displayed significantly higher levels of measured facial happiness when giving treats (such as Goldfish crackers or Teddy Grahams) to a puppet than when receiving the treats themselves.
"Costly" Giving: Children experienced the highest happiness levels when engaging in costly giving—meaning they forfeited one of their own treats to give away, rather than giving away an identical "found" treat that was provided by the researcher.
Evolutionary Context: Because this emotional reward ("warm glow") appears early in development before extensive social conditioning takes hold, the study provides evidence that prosocial tendencies and cooperation may be deeply rooted in human nature rather than solely learned through socialization.
From AI Gemini:
The research comes from a landmark 2012 study conducted at the University of British Columbia by psychologists Lara Aknin, J. Kiley Hamlin, and Elizabeth Dunn, published in PLOS ONE under the title "Giving Leads to Happiness in Young Children.”
Key Findings of the Study
Giving vs. Receiving: The researchers found that toddlers under two years of age displayed significantly higher levels of measured facial happiness when giving treats (such as Goldfish crackers or Teddy Grahams) to a puppet than when receiving the treats themselves.
"Costly" Giving: Children experienced the highest happiness levels when engaging in costly giving—meaning they forfeited one of their own treats to give away, rather than giving away an identical "found" treat that was provided by the researcher.
Evolutionary Context: Because this emotional reward ("warm glow") appears early in development before extensive social conditioning takes hold, the study provides evidence that prosocial tendencies and cooperation may be deeply rooted in human nature rather than solely learned through socialization.
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
The National - 'Bloodbuzz Ohio'
I love this song. There are too many aspects of it that are brilliant.
Bogan
'A Tale' by Louise Bogan 1897–1970
This youth too long has heard the break
Of waters in a land of change.
He goes to see what suns can make
From soil more indurate and strange.
He cuts what holds his days together
And shuts him in, as lock on lock:
The arrowed vane announcing weather,
The tripping racket of a clock;
Seeking, I think, a light that waits
Still as a lamp upon a shelf,—
A land with hills like rocky gates
Where no sea leaps upon itself.
But he will find that nothing dares
To be enduring, save where, south
Of hidden deserts, torn fire glares
On beauty with a rusted mouth,—
Where something dreadful and another
Look quietly upon each other.
This youth too long has heard the break
Of waters in a land of change.
He goes to see what suns can make
From soil more indurate and strange.
He cuts what holds his days together
And shuts him in, as lock on lock:
The arrowed vane announcing weather,
The tripping racket of a clock;
Seeking, I think, a light that waits
Still as a lamp upon a shelf,—
A land with hills like rocky gates
Where no sea leaps upon itself.
But he will find that nothing dares
To be enduring, save where, south
Of hidden deserts, torn fire glares
On beauty with a rusted mouth,—
Where something dreadful and another
Look quietly upon each other.
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Borges
To the One Who is Reading Me by Jorge Luis Borges
Translated by Tony Barnstone
You are invulnerable. Didn’t they deliver
(those forces that control your destiny)
the certainty of dust? Couldn’t it be
your irreversible time is that river
in whose bright mirror Heraclitus read
his brevity? A marble slab is saved
for you, one you won’t read, already graved
with city, epitaph, dates of the dead.
And other men are also dreams of time,
not hardened bronze, purified gold. They’re dust
like you; the universe is Proteus.
Shadow, you’ll travel to what waits ahead,
the fatal shadow waiting at the rim.
Know this: in some way you’re already dead.
Translated by Tony Barnstone
You are invulnerable. Didn’t they deliver
(those forces that control your destiny)
the certainty of dust? Couldn’t it be
your irreversible time is that river
in whose bright mirror Heraclitus read
his brevity? A marble slab is saved
for you, one you won’t read, already graved
with city, epitaph, dates of the dead.
And other men are also dreams of time,
not hardened bronze, purified gold. They’re dust
like you; the universe is Proteus.
Shadow, you’ll travel to what waits ahead,
the fatal shadow waiting at the rim.
Know this: in some way you’re already dead.
Trenchant
trenchant - adjective
1. Forceful and clear; penetrating. "a trenchant argument."
2. Caustic; cutting. "a trenchant wit."
3. Distinct; clear-cut.
1. Forceful and clear; penetrating. "a trenchant argument."
2. Caustic; cutting. "a trenchant wit."
3. Distinct; clear-cut.
Monday, August 24, 2026
Haunted
Originally found in 'Puck magazine in 1910, this illustration is 'The Haunted Auto'. The title refers to the ghosts of the animals chasing the car, because they were killed by the car driving over them.
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