Politics: when and how who gets what (according to De Waal, quoting Harrold Laswell). No wonder it's so freaking boring. This is just one of my insights/learnings today. There are more.

Self-esteem in America, as a result of coffee-table self-help books and daytime TV shows, has become a goal in and of itself and increasingly disconnected from actual merit and worth.

Isn't it interesting that Eden can be scrabbled to spell Need?

Apparently aphasia patients have lost the ability to understand language. However, they are so adept at reading non-verbal clues during communication that they are practically impossible to lie to. An anecdote by neurologist Oliver Sacks (1985): when the presidential debate was shown at an aphasia ward, the whold room convulsed with hysterical laughter.

A parallel between philosophy and art: they are both useless.