The Jolie Laide Of Philosophy

By E.K. Mam

Stylishly disillusioned and angsty, I started wearing turtlenecks and tweed blazers regularly when I was 16. Not so coincidentally, that’s when I also gravitated to Existentialism. I was a high school student taking classes I didn’t care for; forced into a routine I was strangled by; had responsibilities I was burdened with shackled to my ankles. I searched for a meaning, a reason, an excuse to justify my stagnated life. Surprise: I didn’t find much of an answer. “That’s just how it is” or “We all had to go through it, too” was the comforting counsel of some adults. Others tried to convince me that these were the necessary growing pains one had to endure to eventually comfortably take strives as an adult. But I felt I was wasting my youth in preparation for an adulthood I was not interested in. I was not just confused as to why things were the way they were; I was angry. My anger brewed into bitterness until I grew tired, not just of raging in vain: I had grown tired of life. Melodramatic? Excessive? Prematurely flinging myself into an emotional crisis? Perhaps. But I very much doubt that the core of my teenage rage is shared among many, across all age groups. At that age, I relished too much in the aesthetic of Existentialism to actually read deeply into the philosophy. Little did I know that the answer I was so desperately looking for was underneath my nose, in the very aesthetic and philosophy I claimed to live by.

Posted on August 30, 2020

Chicago: American Medina

By The Chicago History Museum

“This introductory video for American Medina: Stories of Muslim Chicago (October 2019-May 2021) greets visitors as they enter the gallery.
“American Medina draws from more than 100 interviews conducted with Muslim Chicagoans sharing their stories of faith, identity, and personal journeys.
“Dozens of objects from local individuals and organizations, such as garments, artwork, and photographs, as well as videos and interactive experiences expand on how and why Chicago is known as the American Medina.”

Posted on August 27, 2020

Work-At-Home Reshipping Scam

By The U.S. Postal Inspection Service

“Think about it: What legitimate company is going to send you items in somebody else’s name and ask you to ship them? Why wouldn’t they just do it themselves?”

Posted on August 24, 2020

Adults Need Vaccines, Too!

By The American Lung Association

August is National Immunization Awareness Month, and a yearly reminder of the importance of vaccines. During National Adult Immunization Week, the American Lung Association reminds to help protect themselves from potentially serious lung diseases such as influenza (the flu) and pneumococcal pneumonia.
An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 adults in the United States die from vaccine-preventable infectious diseases or their complications each year.

Posted on August 20, 2020

Cold More Deadly Than Heat

By UIC

With the number of extreme weather days rising around the globe in recent years due to global warming, it is no surprise that there has been an upward trend in hospital visits and admissions for injuries caused by high heat over the last several years. But cold temperatures are responsible for almost all temperature-related deaths, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research.
According to the new study by researchers at the University of Illinois-Chicago, patients who died because of cold temperatures were responsible for 94% of temperature-related deaths, even though hypothermia was responsible for only 27% of temperature-related hospital visits.
“With the decrease in the number of cold weather days over the last several decades, we still see more deaths due to cold weather as opposed to hot weather,” said Lee Friedman, associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences in the UIC School of Public Health and corresponding author on the paper. “This is in part due to the body’s poorer ability to thermoregulate once hypothermia sets in, as well as since there are fewer cold weather days overall, people don’t have time to acclimate to cold when those rarer cold days do occur.”

Posted on August 18, 2020

Brain Scientists Haven’t Found Major Differences Between Women’s And Men’s Brains In Over A Century Of Trying

By Ari Berkowitz/The Conversation

People have searched for sex differences in human brains since at least the 19th century, when scientist Samuel George Morton poured seeds and lead shot into human skulls to measure their volumes.
Gustave Le Bon found men’s brains are usually larger than women’s, which prompted Alexander Bains and George Romanes to argue this size difference makes men smarter. But John Stuart Mill pointed out that, by this criterion, elephants and whales should be smarter than people.

Posted on August 15, 2020

Joan Mitchell’s City Landscape

By The Art Institute of Chicago

‘In City Landscape, painted in 1955, a tangle of various colors – pale pink, scarlet, mustard, sienna and black – evoke the streets of a bustling metropolis. The spontaneous energy conveyed in the composition is at odds with Mitchell’s slow and deliberate process.’

I paint a little, then I sit and look at the painting, sometimes for hours. Eventually, the painting tells me what to do.

Posted on August 10, 2020

History Of The U.S. Postal Inspection Service

By The U.S. Postal Inspection Service

An in-depth look at the rich history of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service – the oldest federal law enforcement agency.

Posted on August 8, 2020

Now You Can Speak At Your Own Funeral

By Speak At Your Own Funeral

Have you ever thought about writing your own obituary? How about speaking at your own funeral? Now the public can.
A new Utah company (www.SpeakatYourOwnFuneral.com) allows consumers to literally speak at their own funeral – virtually. They will come to the client’s home and create a five- to ten-minute video document that family can then show at the actual funeral or memorial service. They also give their clients a longer, less edited version with the additional details, stories and sometimes even humorous out-takes less appropriate for the funeral.

Posted on August 5, 2020

Suffering With Stoics & Cynics

By E.K. Mam

To mock or to remain indifferent? Convince the world they’re wrong or change what’s wrong about yourself? Cynicism and Stoicism are two ancient Greek philosophies that have a long history together, with the former influencing the latter. The colloquial terms “cynic” and “stoic” are both different from the classical meanings. Colloquial cynic refers to a distrusting and snarky individual, while colloquial stoic refers to a cold and emotionless individual. In this column, I’ll be focusing on the classical definitions.
The Stoics believed in self-mastery through wisdom, courage, justice and temperance. Unlike the modern interpretation, classical Stoicism is not meant to eradicate all feelings; however, it aims to control the irrational, toxic emotions that lead to suffering.
Cynicism is marked by its disdain and ridicule of society, particularly the socially accepted conventions of fame, money and power. According to Cynics, indulgence, desire and ignorance are the three main causes of human suffering.

Posted on August 1, 2020