Cancer and One Woman's Choice to Take a Pass on Chemo

Click on the link title above and read Amy Berman’s essay in the Washington Post about her choice to live a shorter life of better quality versus a longer life with a good possibility of nothing but pain and grief. This is powerful personal writing from a very brave woman.

Last year about this time I posted the short 4-minute film “Moments” on my Paper Notes in a Digital World blog. I promised I would post it every year. I’m not sure that I can say exactly what makes this little film so powerful, but there’s no question it makes you think. Stop at any ‘moment’ at any second of any day and think what all is happening at that ‘moment.’ We are all truly connected in a most mysterious way. And what is life, if not a massive collection of moments? Enjoy - and keep passing it along.

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A while back, I wrote about Eric Hoffer and his notebooks at Paper Notes in a Digital World. Here’s that article: http://bit.ly/9jhZnX Now, Tom Bethell has written a new biography, Eric Hoffer: The Longshoreman Philosopher. I can’t recommend this highly enough. If you’re a Hoffer fan, this is a must-read. Bethell mines the Hoffer papers at the Hoover Institution at Stanford and gives us a refreshing look at Hoffer. It is my hope that Bethell and the Hoffer literary estate can reach some kind of agreement to publish many of the notebooks and letters of Eric Hoffer.

A while back, I wrote about Eric Hoffer and his notebooks at Paper Notes in a Digital World. Here’s that article: http://bit.ly/9jhZnX

Now, Tom Bethell has written a new biography, Eric Hoffer: The Longshoreman Philosopher. I can’t recommend this highly enough. If you’re a Hoffer fan, this is a must-read. Bethell mines the Hoffer papers at the Hoover Institution at Stanford and gives us a refreshing look at Hoffer.

It is my hope that Bethell and the Hoffer literary estate can reach some kind of agreement to publish many of the notebooks and letters of Eric Hoffer.

Random: Hotel Perfection

I confess to having wonder at the fine hotel and its exquisite cleanliness. Over at Quora, someone asked about this and Michael Forrest Jones from Beechmont Hotels answered the question - in great detail. Why do I find something so random so fascinating?


John Derbyshire is one of those people I don’t always agree with, but he always makes me think. (Admittedly, his being a New Mysterian makes me feel a kinship with him as there’s not many of us). I love this piece by him titled, “Ridding Myself of the Day.” He touches on Émile Zola (photo above), but ends up thinking about how he spends his day - and why.

John Derbyshire is one of those people I don’t always agree with, but he always makes me think. (Admittedly, his being a New Mysterian makes me feel a kinship with him as there’s not many of us). I love this piece by him titled, “Ridding Myself of the Day.” He touches on Émile Zola (photo above), but ends up thinking about how he spends his day - and why.

Ralph Waldo Emerson died 130 years ago. The Diary Review blog looks at Emerson and his voluminous output as a diarist. Fascinating reading!

Ralph Waldo Emerson died 130 years ago. The Diary Review blog looks at Emerson and his voluminous output as a diarist. Fascinating reading!

A Mystery….

Imagine getting beat nearly to death and awaking a mathematical genius. That’s what happened to Jason Padgett, 41, who never had any interest in math - until he took a beating outside a nightclub. The rest is a mystery. If this story doesn’t make you say, “wow,” about what we simply don’t understand - nothing will.

Watch the story above from Nightline or visit ABCNews.com for the scoop.

Antidepressants In The News (Again)

The more we find out about SSRI antidepressants, the more questions are raised about its long-term side-effects and even efficacy.

Today, word from McMaster University in Canada is that antidepressants might actually do more harm than good.

Here is a link to the summary of the study at Science Daily.

If you want to read the entire paper, as published in the journal, Frontiers in Evolutionary Psychology… you can find it here.


The New York Times Magazine published an excellent piece this past weekend titled “Post-Prozac Nation”…it’s a must read if the use of antidepressants is on your interest radar.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

3 plays

This isn’t the easiest tune to find, but here it is:

“Little Ballerina Blue”

by George Fischoff

How can you not feel better after listening to that?

(By the way, does anybody know why my counter stopped on the audio player? My internal stats show this has been played 310 times and the counter just throws up random numbers and seems stuck.)

“We’ll See”

Maybe you’ve heard the Taoist tale of an old farmer whose horse ran away one day:

“Such bad luck,” his neighbors said sympathetically. “We’ll see,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “We’ll see,” replied the old man. The following day his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy. “We’ll see,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army and passed his son by because his leg was broken. The neighbors once more congratulated the farmer. “We’ll see,” he said.

——————————-

No single event can be considered “good” or “bad” until enough time has passed to see the long-term consequences. The old Taoist tale says it well.

Technology Loop

This about sums up our addiction to the iWorld.
It’s hilarious, but makes you think at the same time. Is technology really the huge productivity booster? Or, does it suck us for all we’re worth and leave us exhausted?

I don’t do Facebook. I see the whole thing as a walled garden that is like going back to high school. I plan on writing a longer piece on this later. For now, a couple of interesting articles. Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? From The Atlantic Facebook Use And Teen Depression From The Huffington Post

I don’t do Facebook. I see the whole thing as a walled garden that is like going back to high school. I plan on writing a longer piece on this later. For now, a couple of interesting articles.

Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?
From The Atlantic

Facebook Use And Teen Depression
From The Huffington Post

Soothing Moment #12

Soothing Moment #12

Paper Notes In A Digital World

  • Question From Lacy: Where's your Paper Notes website?
  • Answer: It's still at papernotesblog.com ... even the old archived posts are there. I'm posting most everything now though here at the notebook.