Old School R&B

Raphael Saadiq on NPR.

NDT: "If you're scientifically literate, the world looks very different to you."

Stop Junk Mail

Via the Oakland Recycles website:

In order to cut down on the amount of junk mail you receive, you will need to prevent your name form being traded, rented or sold. This page will help you do just that.

Be patient. It may take three to six months to see the results of your actions. However, your time and effort are well worth a reduction in the amount of unwanted mail you receive.

You can also visit www.stopjunkmail.org for simple instructions.

TED Talks: Bjarke Ingels

"Will You Return" by The Avett Brothers

Conditional Parenting is Counterproductive

Author Alfie Kohn cites recent research that "conditional parenting" -- i.e., rewarding children with praise for desirable behavior and/or punishing them for undesirable behavior -- is counterproductive. Using a system of punishment and rewards does not promote moral development; instead, it increases negative feelings toward parents/teachers and promotes unhealthy emotions in a child, like anxiety, guilt, and shame.

Instead, parents/teachers should practice unconditional acceptance accompanied by "autonomy support": explaining reasons for requests, maximizing opportunities for the child to participate in making decisions, being encouraging without manipulating, and actively imagining how things look from the child’s point of view.

Kohn states, "Most of us would protest that of course we love our children without any strings attached. But what counts is how things look from the perspective of the children — whether they feel just as loved when they mess up or fall short."

Read the full article at the New York Times.

Mind-Controlling Wasp Parasites

Learn more about zombie animals and the parasites that control them at Discover.

Via Radiolab.

Mr. Rogers at the Emmys

Speedflying

Southern Soul

Nietzsche Quote

The individual has always had to work hard to avoid being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high for the privilege of owning yourself.

Profound Thought No. 5

From the very start Colombe and I have been at war because as far as Colombe is concerned life is a permanent battle where you can only win by destroying the other guy. She cannot feel safe if she hasn't crushed her adversaries and reduced their territory to the meanest share. A world where there's room for other people is a dangerous world, according to her pathetic warmongering criteria. At the same time she still needs them just a bit, for a small but essential chore: someone, after all, has to recognize her power. So not only does she spend her time trying to crush me by every available means, but on top of it she would like me to tell her, while her sword is under my chin, that she is the greatest and that I love her. So there are days when she drives me absolutely crazy. And as for the frosting on the cake, for some obscure reason Colombe, who most of the time is totally insensitive to what's going on with other people, has figured out that what I dread more than anything else in life is noise. I think she discovered this by chance. It would never have crossed her mind spontaneously that somebody might actually need silence. That silence helps you to go inward, that anyone who is interested in something more than just life outside actually needs silence: this, I think, is not something Colombe is capable of understanding, because her inner space is as chaotic and noisy as the street outside...In short, since she can't invade anything else because I am totally inaccessible to her on a human level, she invades my personal auditory space, and ruins my life from morning to night. You really have to have a pretty impoverished concept of territory to stoop this low; I don't give a damn about where I happen to be, provided nothing stops me from going into my mind. But Colombe won't stop at just ignoring the facts; she converts them into philosophy: "My pest of a little sister is an intolerant and depressive little runt who hates other people and would rather live in a cemetery where everyone is dead--whereas I am outgoing, joyful, and full of life." If there is one thing I detest, it's when people transform their powerlessness or alienation into a creed. With Colombe, I've really lucked out.

from The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery