The alternative, of course, is that depression has a secret purpose and our medical interventions are making a bad situation even worse. Like a fever that helps the immune system fight off infection — increased body temperature sends white blood cells into overdrive — depression might be an unpleasant yet adaptive response to affliction. Maybe Darwin was right. We suffer — we suffer terribly — but we don’t suffer in vain.”

Read more at The New York Times

…

But there is another view, and Mr. Chen and some of his short-statured workers present it forcefully. One hundred permanently employed dwarfs, they contend, is better than 100 dwarfs scrounging for odd jobs. They insist that the audiences who see the dwarfs sing, dance and perform comic routines leave impressed by their skills and courage.”

Read more at the New York Times

Throughout the article, the authors refer to “dwarfism” as a disability and “persons of short stature” as “the disabled”. I found this strange while reading because I never considered “persons of short stature” to be disabled. After checking Wikipedia and performing a Google search, dwarfism is considered a medical condition under the American with Disabilities Act.

The question at debate in the article is, “Is the ‘Kingdom of the Little People’ in China degrading or empowering?”

Read more at the New York Times

Telling the brain to perform an act where it puts the body to sleep but also build in a mechanism to check up on that act, which causes it to be in its “awake” state, is not only ironic but also the funniest joke that the universe could pull on us. It’s ingenious. But, it sure is mean when we’re laying awake at night.

What is the answer to sleep then? To not think about it? That’s probably part of the equation. How do you get to that point is the next question.

Part 1

Part 2

Eventually, after reading these three articles, I want to write something about them. For now, the number of tabs I have open now is unsettling. Here goes “minus three”.

Mullenweg: 10 Blogs to Make You Think
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/11/wordpress.blog.mullenweg/index.html

The Theory of Supermarkets
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/10/magazine/the-theory-of-supermarkets.html

How-To: The Non-Expert: IKEA
The Morning News
http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/how_to/the_nonexpert_ikea.php

Then we wondered, “Where the heck is Biden?” and questioned Obama’s selection of the man. From the lack of seeing or hearing about him in the news, I chalked up the VP selection as one to generate votes.

Today, however, I was reading the nytimes website and on the front page was an article about Biden and what he’s been up to. Imagine that. It’s 8 web pages long, but the first page, alone, is worth reading if you want to get a grasp of who Biden is and what he’s been up to since getting into office with Obama. I’m pretty curious.

Apparently, I misjudged. Which means, that I fell for the media trap. That’s a whole other conversation, which I’ve already had with many of you. Who was I talking to about media, journalism and generating money to support investigative and in-depth reporting? I forget. But it was one of you.

I thought it was a good read and should be passed along. Here is the link.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/magazine/29Biden-t.html?_r=1&hp

To me, passion is an immense heartfelt action. It drives you. It motivates you. All at once, it’s everything. You can be passionate about one thing or many things. It’s knowledge of, and love for knowledge, acted out instinctually.

How do you show passion? I have an answer that I wrote, but ran across a better display of it  while watching the movie  Stranger than Fiction.  Below is dialog from what I like to call, the cookie scene.

Ana Pascal: Want a cookie?

Harold Crick: Oh no.

Ana: Come on, they’re warm and gooey and fresh out of the oven.

Harold: No, I don’t like cookies.

Ana: You don’t like cookies..? What’s wrong with you?

Harold: I don’t know.

Ana: Everybody likes cookies.

Harold: No, I know.

Ana: After a really awful, no good day, didn’t your momma ever make you milk and cookies?

Harold: No. My mother didn’t bake. The only cookies I ever had were store bought.

Ana: Okay… sit down.

Harold: No, I’m not…

Ana: No… Sit down.  …Now, eat… a cookie.

Harold: I… I really can’t.

Ana: Mr. Crick, it was a really awful day. I know. I made sure of it. So pick up the cookie, dip it in the milk, and eat it.

Harold: Wow… that’s a really, really good cookie. So when did you decide to become a baker?

Ana: Um, in college.

Harold: Oh, like a cooking college?

Ana: I went to Harvard Law, actually.

Harold: Oh. Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed that…

Ana: …No, no… um, I just did it.

Harold: Something happen?

Ana: No. I was barely accepted. I mean, really, barely. The only reason they’d let me come was because of my essay. How I was going to make the world a better place with my degree. And, anyway, we would have to participate in these study sessions. My classmates and I… sometimes all night long. And so I’d bake. So no one would go hungry while we worked. Sometimes I would bake all afternoon in the kitchen and the dorm, and then I’d bring my little treats to study groups. And, people loved them.

Eat.

I’d make oatmeal cookies, peanut butter bars, dark chocolate, Macadamian nut wedges. And everyone would eat, stay happy, study harder, do better on the tests… Then more and more people started coming to the study groups and I would bring more snacks. And I was always looking for better and better recipes. Then soon, it was rocotta cheese and apricot croissants. And mocha bars with an almond glaze, and lemon chauffant cake with zesty peach icing. And at the end of the semester I had 27 study partners, 8 Meade journals filled with recipes, and a D average. So I dropped out. I just figured if I was going to make the world a better place, I would do it with cookies.

Ana: Do you like them?

Harold: I do.

Ana: I’m glad.

Harold: Thank you for forcing me to eat them.

Ana: You’re welcome.

But how do you show passion in a presentation? Or for a presentation?

When you’re giving a presentation, if you truly have passion, it will show itself. The only way that I know for certain how to “show” passion is to pick something that you really enjoy or want to do. These are things that cause you to want to learn more about something without any intervention. These are things that you are willing to spend so much time and effort on. Passion is usually tied with something you believe in; that you love. Will you fight for it? Will you champion it? In a presentation, the best way to show others your passion is to study your topic and become the expert of it, then engage your audience and ask them questions. Your excitement in your presentation will show and, in turn, will make them want to know more.

Here is the scene from Stranger than Fiction.

There was a beach. My girlfriend was there. The discussion was about rings. I think she had one on her hand, or we were trying some on. It was about diamonds and how I didn’t like diamonds. The topic of diamonds and jewelry came up before. It went like this.

Me: I don’t understand it.

Her: I don’t care for it.

Problem solved, right? Not really.

I remember having a conversation with my girlfriends about this. (I can say that right? My female friends? I can refer to them as girlfriends, right? I’m just gonna save that for another post. It could get messy. But, in this case, the girlfriends that I will use in this post refers to my close female friends.) I think we all agreed that we didn’t want conflict diamonds and that the idea of a diamond engagement ring trumping the act of marriage is absurd.

Here is a good opinion article about the history of the diamond engagement ring if you want more reading.

BUT, we also agree that the engagement ring is so ingrained in Western society that for me to not offer one to my future fiance, or for my girlfriends to not receive one from their future fiance, would bring about awkward social moments for the bride-to-be. As a man, I wouldn’t want to put my fiance through that.

Does this mean that a diamond is important? Or will a silver band do?

It’s up to her. In the end, she’s going to be the one wearing it, so I say, whatever makes her happy. If she likes diamonds, then go for it. If she doesn’t like diamonds, then don’t get a diamond. If she says she doesn’t care and wants you to pick it out? Ask her two more times on two separate occasions, and if that doesn’t work, take her ring shopping so that she can help you pick a few ring styles that she likes.

My girlfriend says she wants a small one; something nice. I said okay- and I do have a style in mind. But then, I had this dream last night.

It was about a pearl. Like I said at the start of this post: we were on the beach. Sometimes we were in the water, snorkeling, maybe even looking for a pearl. The water was blue, clear. Then the sun was setting. We were on the beach. She had on a white summer dress. I think we were trying to find a good ring to fit the pearl. It was a soft pink color.

The ring changed different forms to fit the pearl. I don’t think we decided on a final form before I woke up, but throughout the day, my mind’s been constructing different types of bands to match the pearl. I think I have a good idea now, but I wonder if I can find it.

Whatever I finally decide on, it will have one thing that she requests:

Her: It has to have meaning.