Notes (2026-08)

"God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance" - Neil deGrasse Tyson

• The God of the Gaps: This term describes using a deity to explain things that science cannot yet measure or understand.

• Shrinking Unknowns: As science discovers natural laws for things like weather, diseases, and the origins of the universe, the space left for supernatural explanations gets smaller.

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Perfect Sleep Graph (Apple Watch)

An ideal Apple Watch sleep chart shows 7 to 9 hours of total sleep, high bedtime consistency over 13 nights, with smooth transitions through three key sleep stages and minimal awake time.

Stage 1+2 Core / Light Sleep: Takes up about 45% to 55% of your night, shown in medium blue.

• • Light Sleep: The transition phase where you drift off.

  • Core Sleep: Heart rate slows and body temperature drops.

Stage 3 Deep/Slow-wave Sleep: Critical for tissue repair, immune function, and memory consolidation.

• • Accounts for roughly 10% to 20% of your night, usually occurring in longer blocks early in the night (shown in dark blue).

  • The average Apple Watch user gets 49 minutes of deep sleep per night —about 13% of total sleep time.

Stage 4 REM, Rapid Eye Movement: Associated with dreaming and emotional processing.

• • Makes up about 20% to 25% of your night, increasing in frequency towards morning (shown in light blue).

The ideal is a distinct stair-step pattern of balanced, alternating sleep stages. Because perfectly continuous sleep is biologically impossible, a healthy hypnogram will actually showcase a dynamic, cyclic landscape rather than a perfectly flat line. For any given night of sleep, six high-quality hours of repeatedly cycling through sleep stages will benefit your body and brain more than nine hours of restless or disturbed sleep.

• Sleep science tells us we usually spend the first half of a night’s slumber cycling between light and deep sleep. In the second half, we cycle between deep and REM sleep. No single stage is the most vital, but any sleep cycle missing a stage isn’t truly high-quality sleep.

Weekly and Monthly Trends: When you switch to the W (Weekly) or M (Monthly) views at the top of your Apple Health Sleep dashboard, perfection looks slightly different:

• Flat Top Bars: Your total sleep time bars should look relatively uniform across the days, highlighting high bedtime consistency.

• The Green Sleep Goal Line: An ideal graph shows your solid green "Time Asleep" bars consistently meeting or crossing over your horizontal dashed Sleep Goal line, rather than falling short.

Sleeping pills cause sedation rather than natural sleep, often reducing deep slow-wave sleep and REM sleep stages.

• Artificially induced sedation can lead to next-day grogginess, memory disruption, and a "rebound effect" of intense dreams or worsened insomnia when stopping the medication.

We all have dreams. If you don’t recall yours, it doesn’t necessarily mean you skipped REM sleep.

What Affects Sleep Cycles?
Your daily activities impact, for better or worse, how you sleep each night. Here are some factors that affect sleep cycles:

• Physical exercise: Increased physical activity (like regular gym fitness or running a marathon) increases deep sleep.

• Medication and supplements: While certain sleep aids (Ambien, Valium, Xanax, etc.) may increase your hours of sleep, they can also interfere with the quality of sleep cycles and stages, preventing your body and brain from getting what they need. Melatonin and CBD oils, used in moderation, promote healthy sleep cycling for some.

• Diet: Spicy foods that increase your core temperature — or high-protein, high-fat foods that take time to break down — often muddle sleep cycles. Avoid these foods at least three hours before going to sleep.

• Alcohol: A drink or two may help you fall asleep. But alcohol slows sleep cycles, so you don’t get as many as you need. You may find yourself awake again partway through the night. And even without a hangover, you could still feel poorly and mentally foggy the next day.

• Caffeine: Caffeine is another sleep-cycle disruptor. Avoid coffee, tea, energy drinks, and soda at least six hours before bedtime.

• Stress: Daily stressors, like work pressures or awakening multiple times a night to tend to a newborn, can disorder sleep cycles or lead to an overabundance of REM sleep.

• Environmental factors:

  • Blue light from tech devices suppresses the release of melatonin, the “drowsy” hormone. Switch off the computer, phone, and TV screens two hours before bedtime.

  • Sleep specialists recommend setting your bedroom temperature in the low 20's, the most comfortable range for sleep.

  • Health conditions: Healing from an injury or managing a health issue (like sleep apnea, which continually jolts you awake to breathe) can impede your progress through all the sleep stages.

  • Age: Common in adults over 60, insomnia causes a decrease in REM sleep cycles.

Source: 01 / 02 / 03

• Apple Sleep Score Explained: What It Means and How to Improve It

• The Apple Watch's Deep Sleep Problem (The Quantified Scientist)

Old Person Smell (Tokyo Study)

A famous study conducted by researchers at the Shiseido Research Center in Tokyo identified 2-nonenal as the primary chemical compound behind "old person smell," a scent known in Japan as kareishu. The 2001 study found that this non-water-soluble aldehyde increases on human skin after age 40 as antioxidant defences decline.

• The Cause: Skin produces more omega-7 unsaturated fatty acids and lipid peroxides as people age.

• The Reaction: When these fatty acids break down and mix with the air, they create 2-nonenal.

• Why Soap Fails: 2-nonenal does not dissolve well in water, meaning regular washing and scrubbing do not easily wash it away.

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"Life is just a blob of protein that reproduces. It's just chemistry."

Ricky Gervais, Brian Cox, and David Baddiel discuss the origins of life on Earth and the scientific likelihood of finding complex organisms elsewhere in the universe. The conversation explores the history of evolutionary biology, the potential for future space exploration, and how these findings might impact human behaviour and our perspective on existence.

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The Truth About Stella Artois

This isn’t just a beer story. It’s a masterclass in marketing deception, perception, and brand psychology.

• Source: Stella Artois Fooled The World (The Philosophy Of Marketing)

"Steel Man" vs "Straw Man"

A strawman distorts an opponent's argument into a weak caricature to easily defeat it, while a steelman builds the opponent's position into its absolute strongest and most rational form before engaging with it.

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"Lord, make me chaste, but not yet."

The famous quote from Saint Augustine in his autobiographical work, Confessions (Book VIII). Inner Conflict: It shows the struggle between knowing what is morally right and still wanting to hold on to worldly pleasures.

• Hesitation: Augustine was afraid of losing his old habits and desires, even though he wanted to change eventually.

• Honesty: It reflects human weakness and the delay in fully surrendering to a spiritual life.

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Classic Film Noir and Neo-Noir

Classic film noir and neo-noir differ primarily in their time period, use of colour, and self-awareness of genre tropes.

Classic Film Noir:

• Era: Flourished in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s post-World War II era.

• Visual Style: High-contrast, black-and-white cinematography using deep shadows and low-key lighting (influenced by German Expressionism).

• Filmmaker Intent: Creators were not consciously trying to make a "noir" film; they viewed them as standard crime or detective stories.

• Censorship: Bound by the strict moral guidelines of the Production Code (Hays Code), forcing creators to use subtlety, innuendo, and shadow to depict crime and sexuality.

• Key Examples: Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Boulevard (1950), The Big Sleep (1946).

Neo-Noir:

• Era: Emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s (during the New Hollywood movement) and continues today.

• Visual Style: Frequently utilizes colour cinematography, neon lighting, and modern digital techniques while paying homage to classic shadow play.

• Filmmaker Intent: Directors are fully self-aware of noir conventions and intentionally subvert or embrace them.

• Content: Free from old censorship codes, neo-noirs often feature more graphic violence, explicit sexuality, and modern anxieties like surveillance or corporate greed.

• Key Examples: Chinatown (1974), Blade Runner (1982), Se7en (1995).

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"Gottabeentjie" (Afrikaans Word)

A gottabeentjie is the Afrikaans colloquial term for the "funny bone"—the sensitive area at the back of the elbow where hitting the ulnar nerve causes a sudden, sharp, and numbing jolt of pain.

• Name Origin: It is a portmanteau of the English exclamation "gotta" (or gonna) and the Afrikaans word beentjie (little bone), named for the instinctive exclamation or swear word you blurt out when you bump it.

• Synonyms: Also known in Afrikaans as an einabeentjie, gonnabeentjie, tinteltonnetjie, or verneukbeentjie.

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Marital dissolution following a spouse's serious illness

Research on marital dissolution following a spouse's serious illness shows mixed findings, with some recent large-scale studies indicating that marriages are more vulnerable to ending when a wife falls ill compared to when a husband does.

• 2025 European Study: A study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family tracking over 25,000 heterosexual couples across 27 European nations found that marriages were significantly more likely to end when the wife reported poor health or depression, rather than the husband.

• Proposed Factors: Researchers suggest that the disparity—where present—may stem from traditional caregiving norms where wives historically shoulder more domestic care, making a role reversal more stressful, alongside economic vulnerabilities that affect a spouse's ability to leave.

Source https://share.google/aimode/5GugD03eXC86Qrm92

Apple Watch Health Features

• Vitals: Displays overnight metrics like breathing rate, wrist temperature, heart rate, and sleep duration and compare against your baseline.

• Heart:

  • Heart Rate

  • Heart Rate Variability

  • Resting Heart Rate

  • Hypertension Notifications

  • High and Low Heart Rate Notifications

  • ECG Alerts (signs of irregular heart rhythm)

  • Blood Oxygen Monitoring

• Sleep Score: Summarises your sleep quality based on duration, consistency, and time spent in different stages.

• Sleep Apnea & Breathing Disturbances

• Activities (Exercise): 

  • Move Ring: Tracks active calories burned throughout the day, encouraging you to reach a daily personal target.

  • Exercise Ring: Logs minutes of brisk activity or workout sessions, with a standard goal of 30 minutes.

  • Stand Ring: Tracks how often you stand and move for at least one minute per hour, aiming for 12 unique hours.

  • Performance Metrics:

    • Heart Rate Zones: Shows your current intensity level during a workout to help you optimise fat burn or endurance.

    • Cardio Fitness (VO2 Max): Estimates your body's oxygen consumption capacity during intense exercise to measure long-term aerobic health.

    • Training Load: Compares the intensity of your recent 7-day workout volume against your 28-day baseline to prevent over training.

    • Cardio Recovery: (also referred to as heart rate recovery) measures how quickly your heart rate drops immediately after you finish an exercise.

• Time in Daylight

• Fall Detection: Automatically calls emergency services if you take a hard fall and remain motionless.

• Medications App: Helps you log and schedule daily vitamins, supplements, and prescriptions.

• State of Mind: Lets you log daily moods and momentary emotions to build mental health awareness.

• Environmental Noise Monitoring & Alerts

Association between retirement and mortality

Studies on retirement age and mortality show that prior health status is the main driver of life expectancy, and early retirement does not inherently cause earlier death once health and socioeconomic factors are properly adjusted.

• The Danger of Boredom or Loss of Purpose: While retirement frees up time, a sudden loss of social structure, cognitive stimulation, or daily purpose can harm mental and physical well-being, whereas maintaining a fulfilling routine or part-time engagement supports longevity.

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"Fiemies" (Afrikaans Word)

"Fiemies" is an Afrikaans word meaning fussiness, whims, or being overly picky and hard to please.

• Definition: Oordrowe kieskeurigheid of nukke; being overly particular about details, especially regarding food.

• Common Phrase: "Vol fiemies wees" means to be full of fuss or extremely picky (often used when children refuse to eat certain foods).

• English Equivalents: Fussiness, pickiness, whims, or affectation.

Origin:

• The word comes from the Latin word "fimus", which means dung or excrement.

• It was historically used in early European medical slang (similar to how other taboo scatological terms evolved) before turning into a polite colloquial expression for being difficult or finicky.

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Nirvana Fallacy

The Nirvana fallacy is a logical error that happens when people compare a real, working solution to an impossible, perfect ideal and throw away the real solution because it is not flawless

• Other Names: Also called the "perfect solution fallacy" or "perfectionist fallacy".

• Origin: Economist Harold Demsetz created the term in 1969 to show how policy debates fail when people reject practical options for a fantasy standard.

• Core Saying: It matches the old proverb, "Perfect is the enemy of good".

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"Megafter" (Afrikaans Word)

Megafter is an informal, colloquial Afrikaans word used as a catch-all term for any mechanical gadget, tool, or contraption when you cannot remember its actual name (similar to "thingamajig", "katoeter", or "whatsit").

• Blending of Slang Mechanics: The word likely evolved as a playful, rhythmic blend mimicking other traditional Afrikaans placeholder words like katoeter or snasigafter.

• Because it was created by the community rather than formal linguists, it remains a word born purely out of spoken necessity—perfect for when you are working on a machine and need a placeholder name right away.

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Carrot on a Stick

The carrot on a stick effect is a motivational metaphor where a promising reward is dangled just out of reach to drive ongoing effort, movement, or goal-seeking behaviour.

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Report: National Poverty Lines 2026

Statistics South Africa’s National Poverty Lines 2026 report defines poverty thresholds for 2026.

• Upper-Bound Poverty Line (UBPL) is R2,962 per person per month.

• Lower-Bound Poverty Line (LBPL) is R1,457 per person per month.

• Food Poverty Line (FPL) is R868 per person per month.

These thresholds are based on the Cost of Basic Needs approach, considering both food and non-food requirements.

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Fetal Personhood

Fetal personhood is a legal and philosophical concept that grants an unborn fetus, embryo, or fertilised egg the same rights and legal protections as a born human being. It sits at the centre of modern anti-abortion debates and broader reproductive health discussions.

• The beginning of human personhood is the moment when a human is first recognised as a person. There are differences of opinion about the precise time when human personhood begins and the nature of that status.

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• Fetal Personhood: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

"No friends is better than bad friends"

"Doen wat jy kan, met wat jy het, waar jy is."

• Theodore Roosevelt & Nelson Mandela

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"Bad things happen when good people stand on the sideline."

The famous quote "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" is widely attributed to the 18th-century philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke. It means that harm wins when people choose to do nothing.

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"Ek is gewortel in Suid-Afrika en verweef met Afrika se mense."

• Gesprekke teen Gatvolgeit - Ruda Landman gesels met Christo van der Rheede

• Afrikaners vir Suid-Afrika

"Waar daar twee Afrikaners is, is daar drie kerke."

Hierdie humoristiese idioom dryf die spot met die Afrikaner se historiese geneigdheid tot kerkverdeeldheid, splintergroepe en intense debatte oor dogma.

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Stripper Index

The "Stripper Index" is an unofficial, anecdotal economic indicator. It suggests that when nightlife tips dry up and high-spending corporate clients vanish from strip clubs, consumers are cutting discretionary spending. This real-time drop in cash-heavy entertainment revenue often signals an approaching economic slowdown or recession before official data catches up.

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Socrates on Democracy

Socrates didn't just dislike democracy. He feared it would destroy society. His argument was simple. Not all opinions are equal. You wouldn't let a random person perform surgery. You choose a trained surgeon. So why let uninformed masses decide how to run a civilisation?

Democracy gives the same power to someone who studied governance for decades and to someone who never thought about it at all. Socrates said this leads politicians to stop speaking truth and start telling people whatever they want to hear. Whoever promises the easiest solutions wins. Not because they're right, but because they're popular.

Democracy ends up rewarding emotion over reason, noise over wisdom. And the irony is, Athens, the birthplace of democracy, sentenced Socrates to death by a democratic vote.

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Lipstick Lesbian

The term "lipstick lesbian" (often used interchangeably with "femme") refers to lesbian or bisexual women who exhibit a glamorous, traditionally feminine aesthetic

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Late-Stage Capitalism

Late-stage capitalism is a term used by economists, cultural critics, and everyday internet users to describe the current phase of the global economic system. Originally an academic concept meant to define advanced post-war globalisation and finance, it is now widely used in popular culture as an ironic or critical label for absurd economic inequalities, corporate monopolies, and the commodification of basic human needs.

• Original use: First coined by economists like Werner Sombart and later popularised by Marxist theorist Ernest Mandel to describe capitalism after World War II. [1]

• Cultural shift: Scholar Fredric Jameson applied it to postmodernism in the 1980s, noting how multinational corporations and digital technology began shaping everyday life.

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First Among Equals

"First among equals" (from the Latin primus inter pares) is a phrase for a person who has the same official rank as others in a group, but holds slightly more honour, duty, or power.

• Government: Used to describe a prime minister or president who leads a cabinet of ministers who are technically equal in rank.

• Religion: Used for leaders like the Ecumenical Patriarch in the Eastern Orthodox Church, who holds honour without rule over other bishops.

• Workplace: Used in teams where a lead worker guides the group but shares a peer status with coworkers.

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"People with dead parents have an entirely different definition of the phrase: 'everything is going to be okay'"

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"Once the rain is over an umbrella becomes a burden to everyone."

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This is the best thing I have seen on the internet, in a long time

mattthemechanic43 (Matthew Parker) is a popular mobile mechanic and social media creator based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who shares automotive repair videos, mechanical tips, and heartwarming community outreach stories on TikTok

Mobile Repair Work: He documents real-world diagnostic challenges, deep-dive repairs like timing chain replacements, and day-to-day mobile mechanic realities around Tulsa.

Community Kindness: He frequently goes viral for performing free repairs, helping stranded motorists, and surprising community members or people in hard life circumstances with necessities, financial help, or vehicle.

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• mattthemechanic43 on TikTok 

Cinema Attendance in South Africa

According to AMPS and MAPS cinema attendance in South Africa has dropped dramatically in half a century. In 1975, 14% of adults had been to the cinema in the last 7 days. By 2015, only 3.5% of adults had been in the past month, despite the adult population nearly tripling from 14.2m to 38.3m. In 2025 that percentage had dropped to 1% of the population of 45.7m adults.

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Rotary International Criticisms 

Rotary International faces criticisms ranging from historical elitism and an "old-boys club" image to modern challenges with organisational inertia, internal politics, and the perception that networking and commercial gain outweigh true altruism.

• Elitism and Business Networking

• Demographic and Cultural Stagnation

• Governance and Internal Politics

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"The strong will do what they will, and the weak will suffer what they must"

• A famous line in the Melian Dialogue from History of the Peloponnesian War by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides

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The Lindy Effect

A theory stating that the future life expectancy of non-perishable things—like technologies, ideas, or books—is proportional to their current age. The longer an idea or item has survived, the longer it is expected to continue surviving.

• The test of time: Survival acts as a filter. If a book is in print for 40 years, it is likely to remain in print for another 40. If it survives another 10 years, its expected remaining life jumps even higher.

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What is "Machtpolitik"?

Machtpolitik is a German term meaning "power politics". It is a style of international relations where countries use force, threats, or wealth to gain an advantage and protect their own interests, ignoring moral rules or international laws.

It comes from the scholar Patrick Porter, who says that it is "the corrupt cousin of realism" and I t's precisely when the restraints have been blown away, when a power is no longer cognizant of its own limits, that's when it really starts to make mistakes. It is a warning that unrestrained power leads to the demise of a nation.

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Rorschach Test

The Rorschach test is a psychological assessment tool where people describe what they see in 10 symmetrical inkblot cards. Created in 1921 by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach, clinicians use these projective drawings to evaluate a person's thought patterns, emotional functioning, and personality traits.

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• Video: How does the Rorschach inkblot test work?

Rent living human brain cells to run your code

You can actually rent living human brain cells to run code through a cloud-based service called "Wetware-as-a-Service". A company called Cortical Labs is renting them out starting at $300 a week. It's called Cortical Cloud, real neurons grown from stem cells attached to a silicon chip accessible through a Python API, basically like renting a regular AWS server, except the hardware is a real neural network that can learn on its own.

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Chelsea Handler’s Open Letter To Family’s ‘Lack Of Manners’

Chelsea Handler’s viral "manners essay" is an open letter to her family detailing strict vacation etiquette. Originally featured as a chapter in her 2025 essay collection [I'll Have What She's Having], it gained massive online attention when she shared it on social media.

• Handler wrote the list after a family trip left her feeling embarrassed and taken advantage of due to a "shortfall of manners" from her siblings, nieces, and nephews who acclimatised and accustomed themselves too much.

• She posted a nine-slide text excerpt on Instagram, declaring that family trips "are not a free-for-all" and future invitations are not guaranteed. 

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Word: "Ingrates"

Ingrates is the plural form of the noun ingrate, which means a person who does not show thanks or appreciation for kindness, help, or favours. When you call people ingrates, you mean they take your help and do not say thank you.

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"I am not what I think I am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am."

• Charles Horton Cooley

This famous quote, popularised by sociologist Charles Horton Cooley through his "looking-glass self" concept, means our self-image is built on how we imagine others see us, trapping us in a perception of a perception rather than our true reality.

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Self Concept Clarity

Self-concept clarity (SCC) in psychology is the extent to which your beliefs about yourself are clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and stable across time and situations. Coined and defined by researcher Jennifer Campbell, it measures the structural coherence of your self-knowledge rather than how much you like yourself.

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Afrikaans Word: "Loeder"

"Loeder" is an informal and derogatory Dutch and Afrikaans word meaning a rascal, scoundrel, or a nasty/difficult person (historically derived from Middle Dutch for bait or lure). 

• In Dutch and Afrikaans slang, it describes a misbehaving person, a sneaky individual, or a tough/annoying character.

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Catholic DJ: Padre Guilherme

Father Guilherme Peixoto, known globally as Padre Guilherme, is a Portuguese Catholic priest and electronic dance music DJ. He gained international fame by mixing techno beats with religious speeches and sacred music, performing for massive crowds—including 1.5 million people at World Youth Day.

• Age & Background: Born in 1974, he has served as a priest in Portugal since 1999. He is also a military chaplain and lieutenant colonel.

• The DJ Style: He blends melodic techno, house, and ambient sounds with vocal samples of popes and prayers.

• Global Stardom: He went viral after performing ahead of Pope Francis's mass in Lisbon and later hosted high-profile open-air tribute raves internationally.

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Where Did The F-Word Come From?

The word "fuck" has a murky etymology but likely originates from Northern European Germanic root words meaning "to strike," "to thrust," or "to move back and forth," with written records dating back to around the late 15th to 16th centuries.

• Acronym Myths: Popular urban legends claim it stands for phrases like "Fornication Under Consent of the King" or "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge". Etymologists dismiss these stories entirely, as acronyms of this type were virtually non-existent in English before the 20th century.

• Germanic Roots: Linguists connect it to cognates across Northern European languages like the Middle Dutch fokken (to thrust/copulate), dialectal Norwegian fukka, and Swedish focka (to strike or push).

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Video: Where Did the F-Word Come From? (@FactQuickie on YouTube)

Shakespeare Woman Roles

During Shakespeare's time, women were legally and socially barred from performing on the public stage. Instead, all female roles—from Juliet and Lady Macbeth to Cleopatra—were played by young boys and male youths whose voices had not yet changed. Women did not act in English public theatres until 1660.

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Rocket and Feather Pricing

"Rocket and Feather" pricing is an economic term for asymmetric price adjustment. It describes how consumer and retail prices shoot up fast like a rocket when production or material costs rise, but drop very slowly like a feather when those input costs go down.

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Crank Magnetism

Crank magnetism is a psychological and sociological phenomenon where an individual who holds one fringe, unconventional, or unscientific belief tends to accumulate many other unrelated, absurd, or mutually contradictory beliefs. Coined by physicist and science blogger Mark Hoofnagle, it describes how belief in one conspiracy theory or pseudoscience acts like a magnet for others.

• If you've ever wondered why the people who are anti-vax are also anti-sunscreen, anti-climate change, anti-5G, anti-trust-the-experts, to name a few, it could be this. Feeling like you might know something that other people don't know feels really good. Instead of filtering individual information through critical thinking, you instead filter it through your identity as a contrarian or conspiracy theorist, even admitting that you will only do the opposite of whatever the news, government, or mainstream says.

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The Michelangelo Effect

The Michelangelo effect, or Michelangelo phenomenon, is a psychological concept where close partners in a relationship help each other grow into their ideal selves. Named after the famous sculptor who saw the statue of David hidden inside a block of marble, it describes how supportive people "chip away" at flaws to reveal our best traits.

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Word Origin: "Sandwich"

The Sandwich is named after John Montague, fourth Earl of Sandwich Kent. Sandwich means market town on sandy soil. Who was this rich guy who loved gambling and would always have his valet bring him roast beef between two pieces of toast during the game because it was easier to hold whilst he was gambling?

The modern English word and popular concept of the sandwich originated in 1762 in London, England. It is named after John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, an 18th-century English nobleman.

• Story says the Earl loved to gamble.No Interruptions: He did not want to leave his card game to eat a formal meal.The Request: He asked his servant for meat placed between two slices of bread so he could eat with one hand and keep his fingers clean.

• People put food on or between bread long before the 18th century. In the Middle Ages, Europeans used thick slabs of stale bread called trenchers as plates to hold food. While people ate meat and bread before him, the Earl popularized the specific term when the habit spread through London high society.

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James Joyce's Ulysses

James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses chronicles the ordinary events, thoughts, and encounters of three Dubliners—Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and the young writer Stephen Dedalus—over the course of a single day, June 16, 1904. The book maps these mundane activities onto the structure of Homer’s ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey.

• The entire plot in one sentence: "On 16 June 1904, an ordinary Dubliner named Leopold Bloom wanders around Dublin while his wife Molly prepares to have an affair; by the end of the day, Bloom returns home and the two go to bed."

• Salman Rushdie recaps 'Ulysses' in 20 seconds: "Middle-aged, cuckolded Jewish advertising salesman walks around Dublin for the day, letches after club-footed girl at beach, goes to red light district, gets even more drunk, meets young guy, brings him home in the middle of the night, maybe tries to pimp out his wife to young guy. The end."

Why is it called Ulysses?
Because Joyce structures the entire novel around Homer’s Odyssey. The Greek hero Odysseus (Ulysses is the Latin for Odysseus) spends years wandering the Mediterranean trying to get home to his wife, Penelope. Bloom spends one day wandering around Dublin trying, in a much more mundane sense, to get back home to Molly.

Main Characters:

• Leopold Bloom: A middle-aged Jewish advertising salesman. He acts as the modern Odysseus, wandering through Dublin visiting a morgue, a pub, a funeral, and a newspaper office.

• Stephen Dedalus: A young, struggling intellectual and schoolteacher. He represents Telemachus, searching for purpose and a father figure after rejecting his own.

• Molly Bloom: Leopold’s wife, a professional singer. She corresponds to Penelope and anchors the end of the book in bed.

It is famous because it completely reinvented what a novel could do. Published in 1922, it broke away from old 19th-century storytelling styles to deeply explore the human mind, turning an ordinary day in Dublin into a legendary work of art.

• Stream of Consciousness: It uses a groundbreaking writing style that mimics real, unfiltered human thought. Thoughts bounce, drift, and fragment just like they do in real life. 

• Changing Voices: Every single chapter is written in a totally different literary style. Joyce used parodies, newspaper formats, plays, and shifting tones to push language to its limits.

• The Epic Ordinary: It maps the events of a single day (June 16, 1904) in the lives of ordinary people onto the grand, mythic framework of Homer’s Odyssey.

Cultural Impact and Legacy:

• Banned and Censored: The book was banned for years in the United States and the UK for being "obscene", leading to a landmark free-speech legal battle that changed censorship laws. 

• Global Celebration: June 16 is now celebrated worldwide as Bloomsday, where fans dress in Edwardian-era clothes and read the book aloud in the streets of Dublin. 

• A Monumental Challenge: Because it is so complex, dense, and packed with puzzles, it became the ultimate badge of honor for readers and a major influence on almost every major writer who came after it.

Underneath it, Joyce is exploring:

• marriage, infidelity, fatherhood, motherhood, death, sex, religion, Irish nationalism, colonialism, Jewish identity, Catholicism, masculinity, loneliness, memory, language, art, consciousness, what it means to be “Irish”.

Source

JoyceProject.com - The Joyce Project is a comprehensive, annotated online hypertext edition of James Joyce’s landmark 1922 novel, Ulysses. Created by literature scholar John Hunt, it features the full text of the novel paired with integrated hyperlinks, visual illustrations, and explanatory notes to help readers decode the book's dense historical, literary, and biographical references.

Videos:

• Why should you read James Joyce's "Ulysses"? - Sam Slote (TED Ed)

• Ulysses by James Joyce: Great Books Explained

Book:

• Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)

Movies:

• Bloom (2004)

• Ulysses (1967)

Water of Immortality

"Water of immortality, the beautiful lady that never refused to be kissed, the stumbling stallion that never refuses to call up, can you please take me home before you knock me down."

• From a famous humorous, poetic toast about alcohol, often misattributed to classic literature like Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart or Ola Rotimi's plays. It is a metaphor for a potent drink (like palm wine, beer, or gin) that tastes sweet and inviting, but carries the heavy risk of severe intoxication.

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• Funny Toast Video

Jesuit

A Jesuit is a member of the Society of Jesus, a large Roman Catholic religious order of priests and brothers. Founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius of Loyola, the order is known for its deep commitment to education, global missionary work, intellectual research, and social justice.

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“Marriage is a lot like a marathon. Sometimes, you puke.”

• TV Series: Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (2026)

"I am awash, in dilemmas and deficiencies."

• Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon

Philosophical Views

Nihilism: The view that life has no intrinsic meaning or objective purpose.

• Example: Viewing societal expectations as arbitrary constructs rather than cosmic mandates.

• Takeaway: Often discussed by Friedrich Nietzsche, it challenges inherited values and forces the question: what really matters?
  
  

Stoicism: The practice of mastering your internal state by governing your judgments and accepting external events.

• Example: Remaining calm when a flight is canceled, knowing anger will not change the airline's schedule.

• Takeaway: Popularised by Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, it teaches that peace comes from accepting what you cannot control.
  
  

Solipsism: The radical position that only your own mind is verifiably real, while external reality remains unprovable.

• Example: Realising you cannot prove beyond doubt that the people around you are not elaborate simulations.

• Takeaway: A classic thought experiment that highlights the absolute limits of human perception and certainty.

Hedonism: An ethical framework asserting that pleasure and happiness are the highest good and proper aim of life.

• Example: Prioritising personal enjoyment and balance over endless status-chasing or wealth accumulation.

• Takeaway. Different forms range from physical gratification to the pursuit of lasting well being and peace of mind.

Relativism: The concept that truth and morality are not universal, but relative to culture, history, or perspective.

• Example: A hand gesture considered polite in one culture being viewed as offensive in another.

• Takeaway: Denies universal standards, asserting that context (not absolute law) defines correctness.

Empiricism: The theory that knowledge is primarily derived from sensory experience and observation.

• Example: Refusing to accept a claim about plant growth until testing it through a controlled experiment.

• Takeaway: Formulated by John Locke and David Hume, this principle helped shape modern scientific inquiry.

Rationalism: The view that fundamental knowledge is discovered through reason and logical deduction rather than primarily through sensory experience.

• Example: Working out a mathematical proof that is true without needing to test it in the physical world.

• Takeaway: Associated with René Descartes, it contrasts with empiricism by emphasising reason as the primary source of knowledge.

Determinism: The doctrine that all events, including human choices, are the inevitable result of prior causes.

• Example: Viewing a decision made today as the unavoidable outcome of your genetics, environment, and past.

• Takeaway: Directly challenges the concept of free will by framing human action as a chain reaction.

Utilitarianism: An ethical theory stating that the most moral action is the one that maximises happiness for the greatest number.

• Example: A city choosing to repair public transit overbuilding a luxury park because it serves more residents.

• Takeaway: Advanced by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, it measures morality by outcome rather than intent.

Existentialism: The view that existence precedes essence, meaning you are free and responsible to create your own purpose.

• Example: Choosing a career path out of personal passion rather than fulfilling family expectations.

• Takeaway: Associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and often linked to Albert Camus, it holds that people must create meaning for themselves rather than discover a predetermined purpose.

"Vrede op aarde, en al die mense welbehae."

• Bron: Fliek: Hans-die-Skipper (1952)

• Definisie: "Welbehae": 'n Diep gevoel van behae, genot, intense tevredenheid of goedkeuring. Dit dui op iets wat vir iemand baie aangenaam is of waarin 'n mens (of god) 'n groot vreugde vind.

"Ek verval huidiglik in middelmatigheid."
(die brits is: "mediocrity")

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"Duiwelskind"

Toe ek klein was het my ma altyd gesê: "duiwelskind", wanneer ek stoud was.

"You learn a lot about your friends by their other friends."

• Eugene Khoza on the Trevor Noah podcast.

Definisie: "Knewel"

In Afrikaans, a knewel is an informal noun that describes something or someone remarkably large, hefty, or strapping—often translated as a "whopper" or a big specimen (like a giant fish or a massive person).

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Definisie: "Loeder"

In Afrikaans and Dutch, loeder is a colloquial or derogatory term that typically means a rascal, scoundrel, bad egg, or a mean/nasty person. A scoundrel, rogue, or a tricky, untrustworthy person

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"Every bastard is a king"

"Every bastard is a king" is a cynical political and social idiom—popularized in regional commentary, particularly regarding Israeli politics—meaning that in a chaotic, fragmented system, every minor player, individual, or small faction acts with absolute, unyielding self-importance and holds the power to block progress.

It plays on and subverts the older populist slogan "Every man a king," changing the tone from an idealistic dream of equality to a bitter description of ego and extortion.

• Origins and Contexts: The original phrase "Every man a king" comes from a famous 1930s populist economic plan by U.S. Senator Huey Long, meaning every citizen should have enough wealth and dignity to feel like a sovereign.

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Oshkosh Airshow

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is the world's largest annual aviation celebration and air show. Held every summer at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA, the week-long event attracts nearly 700,000 attendees and over 10,000 aircraft, temporarily making it the busiest airport in the world.

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Hip Hip Hooray

"Hip hip hura" (commonly "hip, hip, hurrah" or "hooray") originated in 18th-century Britain as a drinking toast and group cheer. "Hip" started as a call to grab attention, while "hurrah" evolved as an expressive shout of triumph. By 1813, the combined phrase solidified into a celebratory tradition.

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Cardinal Virtues

A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do what is morally right and avoid what is wrong. It is a positive personal strength that builds strong character and guides decision-making to contribute to human flourishing.

The four cardinal virtues are foundational character traits in classical philosophy and Christian theology. Derived from the Latin word cardo (meaning "hinge"), these virtues are the core principles upon which all other virtues depend:

• Prudence (Wisdom): The ability to discern the appropriate course of action in any given situation and make the right choices.

• Justice: The practice of ensuring fair treatment, honouring duties to others, and working toward the common good.

• Fortitude (Courage): The mental and emotional strength to resist temptation, overcome fear, and endure hardship in the pursuit of what is right.

• Temperance (Moderation): The self-control to manage impulses, avoid extremes, and maintain balance in life.

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"The person who takes medicine needs to recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine." 

- Sir William Osler

Lake vs Pond

A lake is typically deep enough to have distinct temperature zones. A pond is shallow enough for sunlight to reach the bottom throughout.

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• Afrikaans: Meer vs Dam

Mist vs Fog

Mist is made of tiny water droplets that reduce visibility, but you can still see more than one kilometre ahead. Fog is thicker and denser, reducing visibility to less than one kilometre.

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Hitler was an aspiring artist, a vegetarian, a teetotaller, and probably had a micro-penis

• In his youth he tried to become a professional painter. He moved to Vienna and applied to the ⁠Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 1907 and 1908, but was rejected both times.

• He followed a meat-free diet during the later years of his life, particularly from the mid-1930s onward.

• He was largely a non-drinker in his later public life, avoiding standard alcohol to project a clean, disciplined image.

• Scientific analysis of DNA extracted from a blood-stained fabric sample from the sofa in Hitler’s Berlin bunker suggests Adolf Hitler likely had Kallmann syndrome, a rare genetic disorder affecting sexual development.

Source: 01 / 02 / 03 / 04

• Definition: "teetotaller" - A teetotaller (also spelled teetotaler, or in Afrikaans: "geheelonthouer") is a person who completely ⁠Abstainer from drinking alcohol.

• Docuseries: Hitler's DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator

CNN Interview with Emily Wilson, the translator of the original text of The Odyssey

Nolan was influenced by Emily Wilson's English translation of "The Odyssey," which has sold over one million copies. Wilson, a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has spent much of her career studying Homer's original text. She joins Walter Isaacson to discuss how her translation differs from others — including Nolan's telling of the tale.

• Video: CNN Interview with Emily Wilson (YouTube)

Memento Mori

Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning "remember you must die". It is an ancient philosophical and artistic reminder of the inevitability of human mortality, designed to bring urgency, meaning, and humility to daily life.

• Classical Roots: Prominent in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, particularly among Stoics like Marcus Aurelius and Socrates, who viewed the contemplation of death as a way to live wisely.

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NIMBY, AI Data-Centre Addition

An overwhelming majority of Americans say they’d oppose a data centre being built near where they live.

• Podcast: The A.I. Giants Weren’t Prepared For This (The Ezra Klein Show)

• Definition: “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) is a term for when people oppose new buildings, changes, or public projects in their own local neighbourhoods, even if they agree the project is needed somewhere else.

The Looming Bubble

Both Ray Dalio and Jeremy Grantham reckon we are in an AI financial bubble that will be crashing down (soon).

• Ray Dalio is an American billionaire investor and founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world's largest hedge funds. He originally achieved fame through successfully navigating the 2008 financial crisis and building the world's largest hedge fund.

• Jeremy Grantham is the co-founder of GMO, an institutional investment firm in Boston, and serves as the firm’s long-term investment strategist. He is also the man who predicted the dot-com crash and the 2007 housing collapse.

Podcast: The Diary Of A CEO:

• Ray Dalio: I Predicted The 2008 CRASH, I Know What Comes Next!

• Jeremy Grantham: Billionaire's WARNING: I'm SELLING. The Crash Is Already Here!

James Joyce's "Ulysses" and the Ten Great Writers Seminar (1987)

Ulysses is a modernist novel by the Irish writer James Joyce. Partially serialised in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, the entire work was published in Paris by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, Joyce's fortieth birthday. It is about three central characters (Leopold Bloom, Stephen Dedalus, and Molly Bloom) as they go about their ordinary lives in Dublin, Ireland, on a single day: June 16, 1904.
Banned in 1920, yet subsequently lionized for its compelling characterization, breadth of humor, and use of the stream-of-consciousness technique, James Joyce's Ulysses expanded the literary possibilities of the novel.

The Epic Parallel:

• Homer's Odyssey: The book is structured around an 18-episode framework that mirrors the ancient Greek epic, ⁠The Odyssey. 

• Modern Heroes: Bloom represents the wandering hero Ulysses (Odysseus), Stephen represents his surrogate son Telemachus, and Molly represents the wife Penelope. 

• Everyday Epic: Joyce uses this classical parallel to argue that the ordinary, quiet moments of modern, everyday people are just as heroic and profound as ancient myths

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  • Ten Great Writers Seminar (1987):

    • James Joyce's "Ulysses"

    • Franz Kafka's "The Trial"

    • T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"

    • Virginia Woolf and Mrs. Dalloway

    • Fyodor Dostoevksy

"Enshittification"

Enshittification is the gradual decline in quality of digital platforms and online services. Popularised by author Cory Doctorow, it describes how companies exploit users and businesses to maximise profits.

• Stage One: Platforms offer great services and free value to attract users.

• Stage Two: Companies shift focus to exploit business customers like advertisers and sellers.

• Stage Three: Platforms squeeze both groups to hoard all value for shareholders, leaving a broken product

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SA: Gender Pay Gap & Average Salaries

The pay gap shrinks dramatically with education: while the national gender pay gap sits at 23-35%, it narrows to as low as 5.9% among tertiary-educated South African workers.

• Source: Average Salary in South Africa 2026 (employsome.com)

Average Worldly Household Income

The world’s average household income is $9,733 a year, but the median (what a typical person actually earns) is only about $2,920. The ‘average’ looks 3x higher than reality because a small number of ultra-high earners drag the mean way up.

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Podcast: The Painful Psychological Cost Of Becoming A Dad

Dr Darby Saxbe is a clinical psychologist, professor at USC, and author. She discusses: what actually happens to dads after moms give birth, the physiological changes that happen to dads after birth, which behaviors create the effect known as “dad brain”, the biggest upsides and downsides of fatherhood for men, why postpartum depression in fathers goes unrecognized, the worst advice dads get, and more…

• Source: Modern Wisdom Podcast

Donald en die Kerk-Mense

Ek verstaan nie hoe al my kerk-mense so vir Donald Trump like nie. Ek dink hy het al amper agt van die tien gebooie gebreek en is die letterlike definisie van 'n "skynheilige".

36 Questions

The 36 questions are a set of personal questions created by psychologists Arthur and Elaine Aron to help two people build closeness and love. They are split into three sets that start easy and get deeper. The questions are designed to foster intimacy through escalating vulnerability. The full list of questions, which covers topics from personal dreams to deep reflections on life and relationships, can be found in the linked study.

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, who would you want as a dinner guest?

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?

3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?

7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.

9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

11. Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.

12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
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13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?

14. Is there something that you’ve dreamt of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?

15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

16. What do you value most in a friendship?

17. What is your most treasured memory?

18. What is your most terrible memory?

19. If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?

20. What does friendship mean to you?

21. What roles do love and affection play in your life?

22. Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your partner. Share a total of five items.

23. How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people’s?

24. How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?
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25. Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling…" 

26. Complete this sentence: “I wish I had someone with whom I could share…"

27. If you were going to become a close friend with your partner, please share what would be important for them to know.

28. Tell your partner what you like about them; be very honest this time, saying things that you might not say to someone you’ve just met.

29. Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life.

30. When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?

31. Tell your partner something that you like about them [already].

32. What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?

33. If you were to die this evening with no opportunity to communicate with anyone, what would you most regret not having told someone? Why haven’t you told them yet?

34. Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?

35. Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing? Why?

36. Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how they might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.

Source: 01 / 02

Hedonic Treadmill

The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the human tendency to quickly return to a stable level of happiness after major positive or negative life events. As people get more money or success, their expectations rise too, meaning they do not feel permanently happier.

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Gold Medal Syndrome

Gold Medal Syndrome is a psychological state of emptiness, loss of identity, and depression that occurs after achieving a major life goal.

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"Trajectory and direction is more important than position"

⁠Jimmy Carr highlights that moving upward is far more powerful than holding a high spot that is slipping. True satisfaction comes from the daily habit of getting better rather than guarding a static title.

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The Five Eyes

The Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance composed of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Rooted in World War II and formalised by the 1946 UKUSA Agreement, it coordinates signals intelligence and global surveillance among member nations. Broader Tiers: Expands into wider cooperative groups known as the Nine Eyes and Fourteen Eyes with select European nations. Modern Focus: Directs collective priorities toward cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and strategic challenges involving China and emerging AI threats.

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• Podcast: Ex-Military Hacker: The Secret World Of Government Surveillance - Bill Thompson (Modern Wisdom)

Double Feature Show

A double feature is the showing of two different full-length movies or events.

The Origin: This practice started in movie theaters during the Great Depression to give people more value for their money.

• A and B Movies: Theaters paired a major, high-budget "A" movie with a cheaper, lower-budget "B" movie.

• Drive-In: The trend lived on for a long time at outdoor drive-in movie theaters.

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Lame Duck

A lame duck is an elected official whose successor has already been elected or will soon be decided, leaving them with diminished political power. This period typically occurs between the election and the inauguration of the new official.

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In a world of South African tech billionaires, be a Mark Shuttleworth, not a Elon Musk.

• South African tech billionaire who gave his domestic worker and gardener a R1 million bonus

American Socialism

"Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." - John Steinbeck

• Definition: "proletariat" - The social class of wage-earners who do not own the means of production and must sell their labor to survive (commonly referred to as the working class).

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