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Sunday, March 15, 2020

The connection between philosophy and travel

This link isn’t left wing enough to be philosophy

“They had learned nothing, and forgotten nothing.” 
–Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord


The Guy Who Wore a Giant Donut in Public to Enforce Social Distancing Is the Hero We Need Popular Mechanics 



The Weird, Cool World Of Rare Books Gets Its Own Film



And just in time – a lot of the “dream cast” for the documentary is aging, with at least one collector/vendor/devotée dying before the documentarians could get to work. “The profession is driven by equal parts commerce, scholarship and sheer love.” – The New York Times

Best Blogs in 2020 - 30+ Examples of Popular & Successful ...



Designer Kunel Gaur, head of a creative agency called Animal, has redesigned the packaging for several familiar brands using minimal black & white graphics and unadorned typography. The designs don’t seem to be collected in one place, so you’ll have to poke around his Instagram to find them.


That LV bag actually looks like something Virgil Abloh would design — it would sell like hotcakes. Dye it millennial pink and you’ve got a freaking worldwide sensation. Fashion design is so easy


Playing out: Waverley's (NSW Down Under) kids are reclaiming the streets from cars via Carlos 

In a nod to a different time, busy suburban streets in Sydney's east are being closed to traffic to allow local children to play.

A Joyful Flash Mob Plays Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9


This is an oldie but a goodie. Watch as a single busking bass player grows into the Vallès Symphony Orchestra and a pair of choirs to perform a rousing rendition of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Ode to Joy) in front of a delighted crowd. 

19 Examples of Blogs That Are Loved by Their Visitors - 2020


Declining health on the prairie: why more plant growth may be bad news

The world's vegetation may be getting a boost from rising levels of carbon dioxide but a lot of the extra growth turns out to be junk food for grasshoppers.

    The most recent addition to the complete reviewis my review of 2018 Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk's Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead


An episode of Reply All about a guy who remembers a 90s pop song that no one else does (not even the internet or Rolling Stone critics). 

  The connection between philosophy and travel — as explored by Emily Thomas (Durham)

If it is almost impossible to raise good kids, don't have them. And in 2020, it is almost impossible to raise good kids— a once would-be mother of 8 and bioethicist Thalia Arawi (American University of Beirut) on how she became an anti-natalist 

When it comes to the origins of the coronavirus, "vital human interests so clearly run parallel to the interests of nonhuman animals" — Peter Singer (Princeton) and Paola Cavalieri argue for shutting down “wet markets”

CORONAVIRUS NEWS YOU CAN USE: Masturbation boosts your immune system, helping you fight off infection and illness.
Between that and the protective effect of hard liquor, I feel like a lot of y’all will do just fine.


"One of the main lessons of the 20th century is that good things can be pursued in terrible ways" — Alex Guerrero (Rutgers) on why Sanders should stop praising Castro

"There was footing to be found in Aurelius’ instruction ‘not to be overwhelmed by what you imagine, but just do what you can and should’" — a moving account from Jamie Lombardi (Bergen Community College) on how she dealt with her husband’s unexpected death 

An interesting philosophy class assignment to develop students’ listening skills — pairs of students discuss a topic, record the discussion, and then separately write up reports on it in which the emphasis is explaining their interlocutor’s view 

Morally disgusted by something? — maybe a ginger pill would help 

Jeremy Bentham has been moved — and apparently the kids call him “Jezza” 

“At 10 a.m. the Chinese army surrounding the city sealed it off, trapping me and about 9 million others inside” — Spencer Case (Wuhan University) recounts his “escape from Wuhan”. In a note, Dr. Case adds, “Matt Lutz, Tim Perrine, and many Chinese philosophy faculty—I’m not sure how many—remain stuck in the lockdown.” 

Substantial update to the Diversity Reading List — 351 texts by underrepresented philosophers recently added 

Wondering Freely is a new philosophy blog — by Helen De Cruz (SLU) 

Zeno’s paradoxes — today’s “daily obsession” at Quartz 

Feminism would be improved if it was less caught up with backward-looking, retributivist anger — Martha Nussbaum (Chicago) on oppression, feminism, and varieties of anger

The dual status of cats as both predator and companion requires a new ecology Anthropocene
Pint-sized bird may be smallest dinosaur yet Straits Times
New Weather Patterns Are Turning Water Into a Weapon Bloomberg
U.S. Recession a Coin Toss as Chances Climb to 53% Within Year Bloomberg
Investors pull $41.7bn from emerging markets since start of outbreak FT
If Muddy Waters Is Shocked, You’ve Really Been Bad Bloomberg. FTSE 100-listed healthcare company NMC Health Plc. Health care, eh?
Boeing moves to preserve cash and draws down $13.8bn loan FT
U.S. ‘looking at’ CalPERS holdings in Chinese defense firms: top White House official Reuters