An archaeologist explains how new evidence stands to change what we thought about how ice age humans prepared food. This article was originally published at The Conversation, January 11, 2023 and has been republished with Creative Commons. WE HUMANS CAN’T STOP playing with our food. Just think of all the different ways of serving potatoes—entire books... Continue Reading →
[These lessons come via Claudia of Recomendo, via Twitter, via Cory, via the monks ... and probably several others in-between. For the record, I do NOT do Twitter. SB SM] from Cory Muscara on Twitter 36 lessons from Buddhist monks Cory Muscara meditated 15 hours a day for 6 months and wrote a list of 36... Continue Reading →
The Outside Story By Susan Shea I saw a new bird at my feeder last winter. In mid-December, a small, reddish-brown bird with an upturned tail, a white eyebrow-stripe, and a long, slender, downcurved bill was on the deck below our feeder. Looking at its cocked tail, I suspected it was a type of wren... Continue Reading →
[GQ talks to James Patterson. I've never been a fan of his writing, but I admire him about coming clean about how he manages the writing machine that is the James Patterson brand. SB SM] “My grandmother said, ‘Hungry dogs run faster,’” says the 75-year-old. “I've always been a hungry dog." BY CLAY SKIPPER January 3,... Continue Reading →
[Sometimes the best way to express gratitude is just to live in someone else's shoes for a day. SB SM] 01.09.2023 WORDS BY JEFFREY SHOCKLEY An incarcerated person writes for The Frontline about winter’s lessons in helping him navigate seasons of light and dark, hope and despair. This story is part of a partnership between Prison Journalism Project and Atmos... Continue Reading →
[And you read it first on Silverback Digest. Read about the scam, then watch the trailer for the Real Deal. SB SM] from tasteatlas.com You may be familiar with the truffle oil scam, but everything else you think you know about truffles is probably a lie too. BY MATT BABICH DECEMBER 24, 2022 Credits: TasteAtlas/Shutterstock You... Continue Reading →
Best of the 'Gest ... the other day we took you back to 1958, when cars had fins and breasts had points. When beer was yellow, and bread was white. Today, we take you back to the 15th century, when ... Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only... Continue Reading →
Today's encore selection -- from Mama's Last Hug by Frans de Waal. Emotional expressions are innate and part of biology:"[Researcher Paul] Ekman set up controlled tests with people from more than twenty different nations, showing them pictures of emotional faces. All these people labeled human expressions more or less the same way, showing little variation in recognizing anger, fear,... Continue Reading →
Today's selection -- from The Life Cycles of Butterflies by Judy Burris & Wayne Richards. Summer butterflies live only for a week or two: "A butterfly emerges from its chrysalis as a fully grown adult. You may see different sizes of the same species of butterfly, but often the difference is due to factors such as weather and food supply... Continue Reading →
[This is from the Magnetic Notes feature in Medium.com. Medium is (from their website): The best ideas can change who we are. Medium is where those ideas take shape, take off, and spark powerful conversations. We’re an open platform where over 100 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered... Continue Reading →
