Writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau is best known for his book "Walden," a reflection on the two years he spent living in a cottage near Walden Pond in Massachusetts. In his journals, he worried that leaving his humble life to travel would numb him to the unique pleasures of a quiet, simple existence. Thoreau was a Transcendentalist, valuing nature and personal spirituality over materialism: It’s no surprise that he measured a person’s riches in terms of emotional satisfaction and not luxury. He reminds us that we alone decide what fulfills us and brings us joy, and often those joys are much easier to reach than we think.
21st CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Japanese man arrested after dating 35 women at the same time in bid to ‘get birthday presents.’
Bird Photographer of the Year 2021 Finalists
The Bird Photographer of the Year competition has released a selection of images from their shortlist of finalists for the 2021 contest. I selected three of my favorites above: Zdeněk Jakl’s duckling, Fahad Alenezi’s fox & eagle, and David White’s swallow. You can see more entries at Colossal, BBC, and Science Focus.
It’s been a slow week. Enjoy Nick Cave’s egg cup / Ian’s revolutionary shoelace knot / the sounds of Heretical Sect / the What makes this song great?series / Keep your distance, pandemic photographs by Matthew Chattle (via BBC News) / watch Sisters with Transistors, out today / read two fascinating MeFi posts: Text Adventures: Past, Semiconditionally Modified Past, and Present and Unearthing the Forgotten Design History of the Recent Past / at home with designer David McKendrick / How Many Plants?Caring for the current influx of indoor greenery / have wargaming fun with the Missile Strategy Computer.
How the book trade is changing (NYT).
How good are bad NBA players? (NYT)
Which are the most interesting critiques of your work?
