You already know I’m partial to flash mobs, so I’ll neither explain nor apologize for today’s post. 🙂 Maybe it’s the turn in the weather here in Minnesota – from warm and sunny to cold (as in 30 degrees colder overnight) and overcast — or maybe it’s being midway through the semester and feeling like I’m falling way behind, or maybe it’s looking at three trips (each one of which I really look forward to) in the next two weeks, but needed a pick-me-upper this morning. And when I stumbled across this video of the Copenhagen Philharmonic playing Grieg’s Peer Gynt in the subway to the surprise and delight of the...

We are closing in on the climax of another presidential campaign. Tonight we will have the first of three presidential debates and in a little over a month we will vote. Rather than offer opinions on a particular candidate – don’t worry, I have them, but haven’t typically used this space to share them – I’d instead like to take a moment and think about the political process, particularly in this “age of information.” In this TEDTalk, internet-expert Clay Shirky invites us to consider what we can learn from the changes occurring the worlds of technology and science as a result of the new “open-source” culture in which we...

What’s the meaning of life? In 1991, the editors of Life Magazine published the answers that 300 “wise women and men” gave to this very question in The Meaning of Life: Reflections in Words and Pictures on Why We Are Here. Their responses, as you might expect, are far-ranging and diverse. Author John Updike (raised a Lutheran, by the way ☺), suggested that “Ancient religion and modern science agree: we are here to give praise. Or, to slightly tip the expression, to pay attention.” Noted scientist Stephen Jay Gould, disavowing divine inspiration, argued instead that, “We cannot read the meaning of life passively in the facts of...

During an election season, it’s very easy to get captivated by the reasoning of one party over another. Actually, strike that. During an election season, it’s very hard not to get totally captivated by one side over another! While some level of partisanship may be understandable during an election, however, it impedes actual governance. What I really appreciate about Jonathan Haidt’s TEDTalk on “The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives” is that he outlines the positive contributions of each side of our political spectrum. His conclusion – that though he may stand on one side of the debate (and address an audience that does...

Have you ever wondered why most news headlines are dire? Or why almost all news shows lead with tragedies? Or why so much of our idle conversation turns toward the difficult and dour rather than the hopeful and happy? I know I have, and I learned why in the following TedTalk by tech guru Peter Diamandis. We are by nature, he argues, programmed to pay attention to threats. While this made evolutionary sense at an earlier point in history when our species was beset by dangers, today it can cloud our view of the world so that we miss the incredible abundance and potential that surrounds us. Diamandis founded and now runs the X Prize, which...