All posts
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On Jenn Shapland’s ‘The Meaning of Life’ and boundary conditions.
As we live, we must fine a way to greet the world with delight & joy.
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On emptiness, ruin, and spirits.
We might see empty ruins. Someone else might see a place full of their ancestors’ spirits.
ancestor worship, ancestors, ancient civilizations, ancient cultures, ancient people, archaeology, Cahokia, Calusa, colonialism, high rise, Indigenous civilizations, luxury condos, Miami, oral tradition, prehistoric American civilizations, prehistoric civilizations, prehistoric ruins, prehistory of the Americas, real estate developers, real estate development, Rio Viejo, ruin, ruins, ruins as a home for spirits, spirits, spirituality, storytelling, Tequesta, Ucanal, worship
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On scientific misconceptions, Eurocentrism, and the evolution of skin color.
We shouldn’t consider the pressures faced by one group of people to be the default against which all others are measured.
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, Adam Rutherford, Against the Grain, anti-racism, Bruce Degen, cow milk, Crawford, dairy, dark skin, David Graeber, David Wengrow, dietary vitamins, Eurocentric, Eurocentrism, Europe, evolution, evolution of human skin color, evolution of lactase persistence, evolution of skin color, famine, farming, folate, Gail McCormick, Genome-Wide Patterns of Selection in 230 Ancient Eurasians, George Chaplin, human evolution, human migration, human skin color, hunter-gatherer, impact of farming on human evolution, influence of diet on human evolution, Jablonski & Chaplin, Jablonski and Chaplin, James Scott, Joanne Cole, lactase persistence, lactose intolerance, lactose tolerance, light skin, Loci Associated with Skin Pigmentation, Mathieson, melanin, migration, natural selection, Nina Jablonski, nutrition, nutrition in human evolution, racism, racism in science, scientific racism, skin color, sun screen, The Dawn of Everything, The Evolution of Skin Color, The Evolution of Skin Coloration, The Magic School Bus, The Magic School Bus Explores Human Evolution, uv light, uv penetration, Vitamin D, when did light skin evolve, why did light skin evolve, why did skin color evolve, why do we have different color skin, why do we have different skin color
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On Narcan and the perception of care.
I was talking to someone recently about the availability of Narcan where we live (a college town in southern Indiana, population 80,000). Narcan is a medication that blocks opiate receptors. When given to someone who recently overdosed on heroin, fentanyl, or painkillers, Narcan can save their life. # In the lobby of the county jail,…
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On bravery and Uncle Max
Uncle Max was a good dog.
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On ‘Babel,’ ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once,’ and violence.
Violence begets violence; to create a better world, we must act as though it could possibly exist.
Abel's sacrifice, Abraham, An Arcane History, authority figure, Babel, Bible, binding of Isaac, blessing, Cain and Abel, Cain's sacrifice, capitalism, curse, disease resistance, disruption, diversity of languages, Edenic language, electrical shock, Everything Everywhere All at Once, fantasy, fear, film critique, film review, folktales, Genesis 22, Genesis 4, germs, great floods, gun violence, guns, Guns Germs and Steel, Ham, hierarchy, hubris, human migration, immunology, inequality, language, leap of faith, love, Michael Bazzett, Milgram Experiment, Milgram shock experiment, Milgram test, multiverse, myths, Noah, Noah's curse, obedience, Old Testament, origin of Bible stories, origin of inequality, origin of languages, parallel worlds, quantum mechanics, R. F. Kuang, Rebecca Kuang, religion, slavery, spoken word, Stanley Milgram, Steel, The Matrix, The Necessity of Violence, The Popul Vuh, Tower of Babel, Translation, why did humans build the Tower of Babel, Yahweh
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On maternal bonds and cruelty.
We’ve all benefited from cruel research — so what do we do now?
animal activism, animal research, animal welfare, autism, baby monkeys, biomedical ethics, childhood, ethics, Harry Harlow, Harvard, John Gluck, Livingstone, macaque, Margaret Livingstone, maternal bond, medical ethics, monkey, monkeys, parenting, parenting advice, primate research, primates, research animals, research ethics, research macaques, research monkeys, rhesus macaque, rhesus monkey, science, scientific ethics, scientific research, separation at birth, trauma, Triggers for Mother Love, vegan, veganism, Voracious Science and Vulnerable Animals
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On urgency and gender-affirming medical care.
Sometimes, young people are right to be infuriated by our lack of urgency.
access to medical care, age discrimination, Emily Bazelon, estrogen, gatekeepers, gatekeeping, gender, gender transition, gender-affirming medical care, hormone blockers, hormone therapy, LGBTIA+, medical care, medical transition, medicine, nonbinary, patience, psychology, puberty, puberty blockers, queer youth, restricting medical care, testosterone, The Battle Over Gender Therapy, transgender, transition, transitioning, urgency
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On pandemic-era incarceration.
During the pandemic, a crummy situation has become even worse.
Bryan Stevenson, children of incarcerated parents, commissary, Covid-19, economics of incarceration, forgiveness, incarcerated parents, incarceration during Covid-19, incarceration during the pandemic, inflation, jail, jail economics, Just Mercy, mass incarceration, Midwest Pages to Prisoners, Pandemic, parents in jail, reading to children
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On ‘The Dawn of Everything’ and the Future.
If farmers lived in miserable societies, how did they conquer the world?
A New History of Humanity, Against the Grain, Appiah, building walls, capitalism, China, Civilization, civilizations collapse, climate change, climate justice, collaboration, collapse of civilizations, competition, David Deutsch, David Graeber, David Wengrow, Digging for Utopia, economic systems, economics, efficiency, entropy, equality, European expansion, expansion, farming, first peoples, fishing with a frying pan, freedom, Graeber, growth, heat death, history of civilization, history of farming, history of technology, human evolution, human prehistory, hunter-gatherers, in praise of inefficiency, inequality, James Scott, John Smith, justice, Kwame Anthony Appiah, land management, Maggie Nelson, Matt Siegel, mutual aid, Naomi Klein, Native Americans, On Freedom, origin of civilization, origin of inequality, origin of patriarchy, paleolithic diet, patriarchy, pilgrims, political philosophy, prehistoric diet, prehistoric farmers, prehistory, prehistory of farming, property systems, review, technology, The Beginning of Infinity, The Dawn of Everything, The Secret History of Food, United States, Universal Paperclip, Utopian philosophy, Wengrow
Frank Brown Cloud 