Posts tagged as:

brain

Lost in The Shallows

by Bill on July 14, 2010

“According to an extensive 2009 study conducted by Ball State University’s Center for Media Design, most Americans, no matter what their age, spend at least eight and a half hours a day looking at a television, a computer monitor, or the screen of their mobile phone. Frequently, they use two or even three of the [...]

{ 1 comment }

I feel better now — and at least for now. I finally changed something that has been bothering me for a long time. My header use to say Writelife and below it, “Musings on the craft of writing, technology, social media and whatever else comes along.” Apart from being a bit pretentious with words like [...]

{ 3 comments }

Intention and human behaviour

by Bill on July 5, 2010

You make something. It’s intended to do this and to be used in a certain way. Then people come along and muck it all up by using it in an entirely different way. You intended this; people did that. People make you nuts sometimes. Ian Roundtree had a post on the weekend where this came [...]

{ 1 comment }

This world will amaze you

by Bill on June 22, 2010

I just came back from walking the dog in the park. While there, we met a guy. We stopped and chatted. He told me his story. I now feel exuberant. His story contained joy and tragedy; points of recognition; coincidence; verve and laughter. It amazed me. It goes like this: If you’ve read my posts [...]

{ 2 comments }

“Life could be so sweet on the sunny side of the street.” – McHugh/Fields – (This review originally appeared on the Thoughtwrestling blog, June 8, 2010.) I think it’s safe to say most people would rather be happy than unhappy. You feel better when you’re happy. There is also another reason why I prefer it: [...]

{ 3 comments }

Breadth, depth and brains

by Bill on June 15, 2010

I’ve always liked Nicholas Carr for his skepticism. Unlike contrarians, who take opposing views for their own sake, Carr as a skeptic asks questions, the kinds that challenge assumptions. Challenging assumptions is good for the brain. I’ve just picked up his latest book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains and I’m [...]

{ 1 comment }

‘Emotions are contagious’

by Bill on June 8, 2010

I wrote a review of a book I’m currently rereading, Exuberance: The Passion for Life by Kay Redfield Jamison. (You’ll find it over at Thoughtwrestling.) This morning, I was looking over a chapter titled “Throwing up rockets,” a phrase from P.T. Barnum and it started me thinking about a few other things, like school murals [...]

{ 0 comments }