Nature Archives - Page 54 of 54

A beautiful spring day in my neighborhood

Saturday was such a beautiful day I couldn't resist walking in the park across the street from my building, making me late to meet my sister and nephew in Queens. The park is tiny but beautifully maintained by neighbors. It has a small walking path around it. The pictures in the slide show below follow my view walking around the path, sometimes looking forward, sometimes backward, sometimes toward the middle. It also turned out to be one of the biannual Jefferson Market Gardens Children's Festival of Flowers, so there were extra flowers, families, etc. My sister and nephew came back and enjoyed the park too. Until we got hungry, made nachos at my place, and ate them on my roof. Here's the slide show: Update:…

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May 23, 2011

Blog / Entrepreneurship / Nature

A vegetarian entrepreneur’s take on test tube meat

This week's New Yorker has an article on test tube meat -- that is, meat produced outside a body. I've been talking about it for a while, as someone who doesn't eat meat and as an entrepreneur. I'm looking forward to reading the article. I first read about the idea on a nerdy site called Slashdot a couple years ago. Technology recently made it possible. I think most people's reaction is that it makes them queasy. It can't be that palatable, right? Then people think of the ethical issues -- is it cruel or not? Are we doing something we shouldn't? To me these issues are clear. Whether it's palatable or not now is merely an engineering question and a matter of time. If it…

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May 18, 2011

Awareness / Blog / Evolutionary Psychology / Humor / Nature

Don’t be like a cheetah running into a wall

Every species has a few traits that give it advantages over any other. Cheetahs have their speed, for example. As far as I know they're the fastest animals on land. We have our intelligence, among other things. As far as I know, we're the most intelligent animal on land. Like other species with their traits, we have been using our intelligence to help us survive. We've been doing so for millions of years. So many people get so stressed over what they view as the complications of life or their lives. As I wrote recently, life is no more or less complicated than you believe it is. Everyone does what they think is best at the time -- as does every living creature. Some people…

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May 16, 2011

Awareness / Blog / Nature / Tips

Your life is no more complicated than anyone else’s

"Josh, I really want to do X, but I can't. Things are too complicated right now." "I'm so stressed because my life is so complicated right now." "I wish my life were simpler so I could enjoy it." "So-and-so is making my life complicated!" We've all heard it before. Most of us have probably said it. Complication is like beauty -- a subjective opinion of the observer -- not like height or weight, which you can measure and remeasure. Your mental model of the situation -- your belief -- influences your perception, leading you to see something as complicated or simple. Change your model -- that is, change your belief -- and you'll perceive things to be as simple as you want them. Try this…

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May 13, 2011

Freedombox flowers

Art / Blog / Freedom / Nature

Freedombox logo ideas

A friend and I were playing around with logo ideas for the Freedombox project based on this email solicitation from the Freedombox Foundation for T-shirt designs: T-Shirt Designs --------------- One of the things we offered Kickstarter donors was a T-shirt. We are thus soliciting T-shirt designs. The theme of the shirt is Community Angels. It would be good to involve our current logo http://freedomboxfoundation.org/images/freedombox_large.png. Sorry, we don't have a bigger version of that. The chosen design will be printed on t-shirts that we will give to donors. Of course, if your design is chosen, we will cover you in thanks and make sure you get a shirt too. I will also buy you a beer next time we meet. Send designs in a free file…

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April 17, 2011

Blog / Fitness / Freedom / Nature

Hudson River swimming

People who like living life to its fullest should read this post. My mom shouldn't, at least not the first link. Holy cow. Good thing I didn't read this article before I swam across the Hudson River! But then according to this article, no problem. And here's a whole organization, Hudson River Swim, dedicated to it, and raising money to find cancer cures. I think Dave and I started a trend (even though the guy who started Hudson River Swim started almost twenty years before us). The point is live your life. You can always find reasons not to do something you want to. You don't have to let it stop you. You can just as easily find reasons to.

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April 9, 2011

Blog / Education / Fitness / Humor / Nature

The fun side of raw food

One of my raw food friends met these guys who call themselves the Raw Brahs (sounds like Raw Bro's). They make goofy, funny, informative videos about eating raw food, being buff, living a life of abundance, and having fun. They eat tons of food, mostly fruits and vegetables, and are seriously buff. I watched them videotape their antics at a McDonalds in Union Square, which they made fun of. In a few days I guess I'll see it posted. In the meantime, I've been watching and laughing at their videos. Plus salivating at their smoothies and fruits. I'm ambivalent about raw food, but I like having fun, laughing, and enjoying whatever I eat, which these guys do in spades. Check them out.

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April 1, 2011

Blog / Nature

More awesome friends

I haven't forgotten about finishing up the creativity series. I got Creativity: Beyond the Myth of Genius out from the library again and am researching about the research before Jacob's. In the meantime, and continuing yesterday's topic of friends doing awesome things, check out what my friend from graduate school days, when she was a post-bac pre-med, is doing: a micro-farm in Nyack, 24 miles from Manhattan. Here's a recent article about them getting started and what they do in a local magazine. Here's a story about them in NPR. It sounds like various members of my family, who are all into gardening, cooking, composting, etc, will be visiting and bringing nieces and nephews. Speaking of composting, I've been collecting compost to bring to Union…

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March 12, 2011

Blog / Freedom / Nature

Fracking — unhealthy for people who drink water or breathe air

(copying my post to another board where I learned about the movie, slightly out of context) I saw the movie Gasland about fracking last night at Cooper Union and heard Josh Fox, the guy who created it, speak. I don't recommend many movies, but I recommend this one. If you can talk to Josh Fox, all the better. I've since watched and read other web pages and videos. I don't claim to be an expert, but I believe I've learned enough to draw reasonable conclusions. I'm open to finding out I'm missing important points. Debates over Cheney's specific role or if showing the movie is the best way to influence policy are nearly negligible side issues to the issue that fracking is dangerous to huge…

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February 4, 2011

Blog / Education / Nature

The best book on the environment, economy, and ecology

Everyone has something to say about the environment, the economy, and ecology. People believe in human caused global warming or they don't, but they have something to say about it. They believe improving the environment will ruin the economy or save it or something. Everyone has something to say. One major trend I see is based on the interests of the source. If the person speaking comes from the business world there is a good chance he or she will communicate that others' environmental concerns are overblown, things aren't as bad as they say, you should keep doing what you're doing, and buying his or her product or service will make things better. If the person comes from a science or nature focused world, he…

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January 30, 2011

Awareness / Blog / Nature

Where does value come from?

What creates value? Do things have inherent value?Many parts of society value gold, money, status, and so on. But if you're hungry enough, those things will lose their value relative to a modest apple.On the other hand, if your material needs are covered, a simple apple loses its value. Water and oxygen are necessary for life, but since they are nearly freely available at least to individuals reading these words, people take them for granted, which means they don't behave like they value them much.My current working model is that things don't have inherent value. Value -- and for that matter meaning, purpose, importance, and related concepts -- comes from the person considering the thing in question. So a thing's value can change based on…

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January 21, 2011

Awareness / Blog / Nature

Awareness

Jet lag knocks off more than just your sleep cycles. Since I've been jet lagged the past few days I've had the chance to notice.Your body temperature is higher during the day and lower at night. When you're jet lagged, you'll find yourself lying in bed trying to sleep when your body temperature is high. Everyone I've asked about it has remarked that, yes, when they're jet lagged they remember throwing off all their covers because it's so hot. You may also find yourself unable to bundle up enough to keep yourself warm during the day.Check it out next time your sleep cycles are off.Update: Yup, last night I kept kicking off all the covers while wide awake. Today I'm shivering in a warm room,…

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January 18, 2011

Awareness / Blog / Fitness / Nature

Food

A few years ago I stopped eating partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and high fructose corn syrup. I learned more than I expected from it. The change affected more than my eating habits. I didn't know how healthy they were, nor did I care, since I eat plenty of unhealthy food. The issue was not that partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is bad for you. Lots of things are. Nor was it learning that food manufacturers tested it and knew it was worse for you than regular oil. The clincher was that the manufacturers continued to say it was better for you after knowing it was worse. Once I realize their shareholders are more important to them than the people eating their product, I realized I couldn't…

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February 9, 2010