The first 10 years of the 21st century were humanity’s finest — even for the world’s bottom billion.
Archive for January, 2011
What if the Doomsday Propaganda Is Even Just Half-Wrong?
Posted in Articles & Essays, tagged optimism, properity on January 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I Dare You to Flirt With the Taboo of Cagey Optimism
Posted in Articles & Essays, tagged africa, optimism on January 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
And now, the good news about Africa
Africa may often be seen as a lost continent, but a new study reveals a completely different image. Africans are becoming increasingly wealthy—at a faster pace than most assume. The growth spurt started in 1995 and is increasing at a constant rate. “Africa is reducing poverty, and doing it much faster than we thought,” write American National Bureau of Economic Research economists Xavier Sala-i-Martin and Maxim Pinkovskiy.
Meeting Your Minimum Daily Beauty Requirement
Posted in Images, tagged beauty, roads on January 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
An Obvious Secret to Feeling Good
Posted in Articles & Essays, tagged attention, happiness, presence on January 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Want to be happier? Pay Attention.
According to the article, “Whatever people were doing, whether it was having sex or reading or shopping, they tended to be happier if they focused on the activity instead of thinking about something else. In fact, whether and where their minds wandered was a better predictor of happiness than what they were doing.”
There Are So Many Other Modes of Consciousness and Types of Intelligence Besides the Dominant Ones
Posted in Courses & Workshops, tagged courses, indigenous medicine, shamanism on January 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
“Awakening the Cosmic Serpent: Shamanism and Plant Teachers in This Transformative Time”: a class offered by my favorite website, Reality Sandwich
Indigenous wisdom about plant medicine can open the path to deep personal healing and a profound understanding of the universe, and for many people this ancient knowledge is transforming modern life.
Not Quite Fair and Balanced, But We’ll Take What We Can Get
Posted in Articles & Essays, tagged heroes, media on January 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Now and then the mainstream media acknowledges what’s going right: The CNN Heroes Archive
Meet the CNN Heroes from past years and see who made the top 10, including 2008 Hero of the Year Liz McCartney, 2009 Hero of the Year Efren Penaflorida and 2010 Hero of the Year Anuradha Koirala.
Doomsday Predictions Sell Better Than Optimism? You’re Kidding Me!
Posted in Articles & Essays, tagged optimism on January 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Economic Optimism? Yes, I’ll Take That Bet
You can always make news with doomsday predictions, but you can usually make money betting against them.
…
Natural gas . . . is selling for less than half of what it was five years ago.
There’s so much available that the Energy Department is predicting low
prices for gas and electricity for the next quarter-century.
Not All Environmental News Is Bad
Posted in Articles & Essays, tagged environment, frogs on January 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Fungus out! The frog resistance is here
Frogs across may be recovering from a fungal disease that has devastated populations around the world.
Believe the Facts About Human Progress, Not the Demagogic Appeals of Irrational Cynics
Posted in Videos, tagged progress, violence on January 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Your Daily Dose of Beauty
Posted in Images, tagged beauty, birds on January 5, 2011 | 1 Comment »
It’s Time to Come Undone and Come out Laughing
Posted in Poetry, tagged gaiety, happiness, laughter on January 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Go gloom
Begone glum and grim
Off with the drab drear and grumble
It’s time
its pastime
to come undone and come out laughing
time to wrap killjoys in wet blankets
and feed them to the sourpusses…
