President's Speech; Post-Truth; Harmony Zhu; Brain Expansion; Ulysses; Cats

Overcast and 60 degrees.  Kind of depressing, but not Wintry.

The President's Speech to Congress

Smart speechwriter, but remember a famous song's first line:  "Never smile at a crocodile!"

His unexpected and  restrained tweet after the speech:  "THANK  YOU!"

POST-TRUTH

I was not satisfied with my definition of this Oxford selected Word of the Year for 2017, so let's try this:

The Economist defines post-truth as: "Art of the Lie."

Its usage of "post" in a sentence supposedly is similar to "post-war."

Delightful Pianist

Now 11 years old, Harmony Zhu is back in the spotlight with her piano playing.  Her little hands fly over the keyboard.  If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing or hearing her, visit YouTube.  She was also a presenter on "From the Top" last Sunday.

Brain Expansion?

I am currently listening to a Great  Courses program called Brain Myths Exploded (Lessons from Neuroscience) presented by Professor Indre Viskontas.  Indre "explodes" 18 myths that people hold about the human brain, such as:

We only use 10% of our brain's capacity

Left handed people are more creative than right handed people

Indre is a very interesting speaker.  She was one of the two investigators for the "Miracle Detective" series of programs and is part of the current "Inquiring Minds" program.  Since my son showed me how to get Podcasts, I can listen to these programs whenever I want to.

The "Miracle Detective" program took reported "miracles" and investigated them from two viewpoints:  religious and scientific, and let you decide which was the reason for the "miracle."


Ulysses

That marvelous book, Ulysses, by James Joyce has always been difficult for people to read, because of Joyce's use of his "Stream of Consciousness" style of writing, and for the many classical and linguistic references embedded in the text.  I was introduced to Joyce's work by a graduate student who was devoting his life to that author's work.  As I've mentioned before, Joyce's Ulysses is a recitation about  a typical day of a certain Mister Leopold Bloom in Dublin, Ireland.  Mr. Bloom is a sensitive, caring individual among some who do not share that characteristic.

I recently found out that a gentleman named Frank Delaney had a podcast where he was reading aloud, and with an Irish brogue, the whole of Joyce's Ulysses.  As he read, he interpreted some of the difficult (arcane) (obscure) references in the work.  A glorious "find"for me, thanks again to my son introducing me to podcasts.

Unfortunately for us "Joyceans,"  Mr. Delaney died last week at the age of 74.  Fortunately for us Joyceans, his many books, articles and podcasts remain for all of us to enjoy.


Cats!

I just heard somewhere that cats are afraid of cucumbers.

I just heard somewhere that  Australian cats eat more seafood than Australian humans.

Since I like cats and want to know more about them, I found an "Inquiring Mind" podcast on the subject of our feline friends.  A lady named Abigale Tucker was interviewed about cats.  As a "cat lady,"  Ms. Tucker has written a book about them.  I downloaded the book to my Kindle and am about to start reading it.   The book is:

The Lion in the Living Room, by Abigale Tucker

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Meow!