This is one of my favorite essays by Emerson and it was becoming difficult to find online, so I decided to add it to my website. Enjoy.
[Read more…]
David the Shepherd, King, and Murderer
A good underdog story is priceless. They never seem to get old and are often prone to embellishment. Underdog stories satisfy a part of the human consciousness present in all of us that craves reassurance from outside sources. We all want to know, despite our many failures, that success is still possible, even against great odds. [Read more…]
The Fine Art of Effective Worrying
There’s an odd habit I’ve developed over the years that leads me to uproot and move many thousands of miles away from home when opportunity or urge strikes. This habit of mine prompts a great many questions from friends and family about my future plans, current interests, and the state of my mental wellbeing or lack thereof. They are worried about me for various reasons, sometimes empathetic and other times schadenfreudean. [Read more…]
Double-Slit Experiment: Spooky Actions at a Distance
Imagine shining a light through a single slit cut out of a board in order to see the pattern of light it creates on the solid wall behind it. What results is something you might call the shadow puppet effect. Not unexpectedly, a single sliver of light matching the shape of the slit appears on the wall. Simple enough.
Yet when a second, identical slit is cut parallel to the first, the expected result—two slivers of light—is not what we actually get. Instead, what appears on the wall is an interference pattern—multiple (more than two) slivers of light of varying intensity. This is the double-slit experiment. [Read more…]
Self-Help Books – Why the Bad Rap?
When did “self-help book” become a pejorative term? Maybe the more important question is, why?
Whatever the reason, a lot of people wouldn’t be caught dead reading one. Okay, maybe it’s mostly us guys who are afraid of what other people might think if they catch us reading a self-help book. All of the sudden it’s become somehow emasculating to want to improve yourself or at least know yourself a little better. [Read more…]
