Think Different: Finding Creativity Through Balance
Creativity will save the world. To business leaders, this means more than just creating new works of art or Pulitzer Prize winning literature. The global economy depends upon people and businesses thinking differently, according to Jonah Lehrer, author of Imagine. This sentiment mirrors Apple’s famous “Think Different” ad, which included many “traditionally” creative writers and artists, like John Lennon, Alfred Hitchcock, Pablo Picasso, and Jim Henson. Apple, though, looked beyond the Kermit the Frogs of the world to exceptional scientists, business people, and political leaders—people who...
read moreMad Cow Disease: What’s Your Risk?
The US Department of Agriculture confirmed the nation’s fourth case of mad cow disease on Apr. 24. In a statement, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack reassured Americans that the food supply is safe. “The beef and dairy in the American food supply is safe and USDA remains confident in the health of U.S. cattle. The systems and safeguards in place to protect animal and human health worked as planned to identify this case quickly.” The USDA, however, is now searching for offspring of the infected cow, citing evidence that mad cow disease can be passed from mother to calf. They are...
read moreWhite Killer Whale Spotted For First Time in Wild
“There she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!” By now, Captain Ahab is stirring in his grave at reports of a white killer whale—or orca—spotted off the coast of Kamchatka in eastern Russia. But this isn’t the fictitious white sperm whale of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. It’s the first sighting of an all-white adult orca in the wild. The white whale—appropriately nicknamed Iceberg—was spotted by Russian scientists and students during a research cruise in the wild and windy waters of the Russian Far East. It appears to be healthy and is living in its pod. Orcas, by...
read moreThe Truth About Alcohol’s Creative Powers
Creativity is the bread and butter of fiction writers. Well, that, and alcohol. Many great writers of the twentieth century struggled with alcohol, including Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever, and Jack Kerouac. The prevalence of alcohol in writers’ lives is so strong that it often shows up in their stories. John Cheever starts off his short story, “The Swimmer,” by describing the world in which his narrator—and many writers—finds his inspiration: it “was one of those midsummer Sundays when everyone sits around saying, ‘I drank too much last night.’” How many times does a writer, trapped...
read moreNo Surprise at New Species of Frog in New York City
The discovery of a new species of leopard tree frog in New York City is hardly surprising (see “A New Species in New York Was Croaking in Plain Sight,” New York Times 13 March 2012). We are taught as children that nature is something “out there,” beyond the borders of our comfortable cities and towns. We forget that creatures lurk in every niche, whether that means behind a rotting log in upstate New York, or a few hops from Wall Street. In addition, the use of highly sensitive DNA testing only increases the likelihood of finding amazing creatures “hiding in plain...
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Stop Waiting – Read the New Short Story Now
