The Alien Next Door

You’re Less Likely to Get Sick If You Actively Socialize on Nov 4, 2009 in virtual socializing Facebook physical and mental health socializing and sickness socializing and health social identities scientific american social networks isolation and sickness Isn’t that an oxymoron? More sociable people are more exposed to germs, after all. Yet a study by Sheldon Cohen and his colleagues published in Psychological Science (2003) showed that less sociable people caught colds more often than those who soc...

Three Mistakes Not to Make When Crossing the Border on Oct 28, 2009 in crossing the border Canada Border Services U.S. border nina munteanu border crossings I wasn’t long back from my month-long sojourn out of province and country when I had to cross the border yet again into the United States on a mailing errand. I thought nothing of it, as I grabbed my passport and the package I was taking across the...

The Speed of Life: Slow Down and Taste Life on Oct 20, 2009 in slow food recipe slow food fast food speed of life good food Europeans really know how to eat. More to the point—they know how to slow down so they can enjoy what they are eating. When I was in Paris last year, I witnessed the bustle and rush of working Parisians in the Metros and the crowded streets; but I...

In Search of a New Paradigm—Part 2: Pixar’s “Collective Creativity” on Oct 12, 2009 in collective creativity movie-making Harvard Business Review power to the creatives good ideas vs. good people capitalism Pixar Ed Catmull computer animation The view that good ideas are rarer and more valuable than good people is rooted in a misconception of creativity—Ed Catmull, Pixar Recently, Piet Voute, my neighbor and a cool animator (you may have read my interview with him here) passed me an art...

In Search of a New Paradigm—Part 1: Is Our Love Affair with Capitalism Over?...An Ecologist’s Perspective on Oct 5, 2009 in reciprocal altruism ecology and economics Michael Moore capitalism Richard Wolff Do you remember when you first fell in love? Nothing beat the exalting thrill of that first scintillating kiss. The kiss never lies. You just knew you were both in love and that it would be forever. Then followed the exciting romance…. But when the...

The Fiction Writer Now on Amazon.com! on Oct 1, 2009 in writing guidebook nina the writers coach The Fiction Writer fiction writing nina munteanu language arts creative writing “The Fiction Writer is at the top of the required reading list for my students. With its engagingly direct, conversational style and easily accessible format, it is a veritable cornucopia of hands-on help for aspiring writers of any age…the quint...

Choosing the Less Worn Path of Intuition on Sep 23, 2009 in gut instinct Carl Jung intuition psychology Women Who Run With the Wolves art in God scientific american God In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost—Dante Alighieri, The Divine ComedyIntuition is sometimes called “gut instinct” as opposed to using evidence-based rationality. Some des...