Month: May 2019

Here’s How to Get People to Care About Climate Apocalypse

Even by the standards of dire climate news, a milestone hit last week is a shocker: atmospheric carbon dioxide levels just hit their highest level in 800,000 years.

But, according to experts, most people won’t care.

In fact, according to a series of studies by Yale University and George Mason University, if you want to persuade someone that climate change is an urgent problem–the newest study in the series, released on Thursday, says voters rank it just 17th among issues of concern–atmospheric science is the last place to start.

“It’s meaningless for most people,” said one of the series’ authors, Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

Here’s How to Get People to Care About Climate Apocalypse

The Secret Sex Lives of Nuns

Sisters Federica and Isabel knew that their feelings had gone far beyond a platonic friendship when they were on mission in Guinea Bissau in 2012. The nuns were from the same religious order near Turin in northern Italy, and they had never been alone outside the semi-cloistered life until they found themselves in missionary work in Africa.

Sister Federica, who prefers not to give her real name, says she can’t remember if it was an accidental touch that led to an embrace or eye contact that made her blush, but at some point in the mission, they kissed. By the time they made it back to Italy, they had cast aside their vows of celibacy and were madly planning their departure from religious life. In 2016, they were married by Turin’s mayor in one of Italy’s first same-sex unions.

Sister Federica, who is no longer a nun, says romance among women religious is far more common than many might believe. And it is not just lesbian love; nuns commonly fall in love with their priests or parishioners.

The Secret Sex Lives of Nuns

Every successful relationship is successful for the same exact reasons — Quartz

Hey, guess what? I got married two weeks ago. And like most people, I asked some of the older and wiser folks around me for a couple quick words of advice from their own marriages to make sure my wife and I didn’t shit the (same) bed. I think most newlyweds do this, especially after a few cocktails from the open bar they just paid way too much money for.

But, of course, not being satisfied with just a few wise words, I had to take it a step further.

See, I have access to hundreds of thousands of smart, amazing people through my site. So why not consult them? Why not ask them for their best relationship/marriage advice? Why not synthesize all of their wisdom and experience into something straightforward and immediately applicable to any relationship, no matter who you are?

Why not crowdsource THE ULTIMATE RELATIONSHIP GUIDE TO END ALL RELATIONSHIP GUIDES™ from the sea of smart and savvy partners and lovers here?

Every successful relationship is successful for the same exact reasons — Quartz

Tights, Tutus and ‘Relentless’ Teasing: Inside Ballet’s Bullying Epidemic | HuffPost

For years, ballet phenom David Hallberg was bullied. Growing up in South Dakota and Tucson, Arizona, the boy who would go on to become one of his generation’s greatest dancers endured teasing, name-calling, ostracism and physical abuse at the hands of classmates — all because he was a boy who danced.

In Hallberg’s forthcoming memoir, A Body of Work: Dancing to The Edge and Back, the American Ballet Theatre principal dancer describes the joy of discovering ballet and the misery of being bullied for it. He was called a “faggot” and a “girl,” and, on one occasion, boys at school emptied “an entire bottle of cheap drugstore perfume” on him. “Every last drop. In seconds. On my shoulders. My face. My hands. My arms. My clothes … Mission accomplished. I officially smelled like a girl.”

Hallberg found some sanctuary at a performing arts high school, where his love of dance was normal. It offered him and his fellow dancers a “haven where we could be ourselves,” and where the once-tormented dancer and his boyfriend could hold hands without anyone looking askance.

Hallberg’s experience with bullying is the norm for boys who do ballet, whose choice of after-school activity makes them vulnerable to harassment at the hands of classmates and adults — sometimes adults in their own family — who think ballet is an inappropriately feminine pursuit for boys and men.

Tights, Tutus and ‘Relentless’ Teasing: Inside Ballet’s Bullying Epidemic | HuffPost

Hitting the right nerve: the electronic neck implant to treat depression | Life and style | The Guardian

Steve Collins is a 45-year-old unemployed architect who has been living with severe depression for 15 years. “I’m like a hermit crab hiding under rocks, crouching in dark spaces and only venturing out occasionally; there’s no light, no hope, no way in or out. I’ve been in therapy for years and must have taken at least six different antidepressant drugs. I had ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) and that literally shocked me out of it for a bit, but the depression came back – and the idea of ECT was so shocking for my family. People say: ‘Well, at least you haven’t got cancer.’ But, honestly, I’d rather have almost anything than live like this.”

A new type of treatment, vagal nerve stimulation (VNS), may offer hope for people like Collins who don’t improve with conventional depression treatment. A small battery-powered device like a pacemaker is inserted under the skin in the neck, from where it emits pulses of weak electical current to stimulate part of the vagus nerve. The vagus normally monitors our vital functions; it collects information about our breathing, heart rate and joint position, and sends signals back to the brain that tell it to respond if there are fluctuations.

No one fully understands how VNS works in severe depression that has been unresponsive to other treatments, admits psychiatrist Prof Hamish McAllister-Williams, of Newcastle University. “We don’t know exactly how lots of treatments work in psychiatry, including antidepressant drugs. I’m more interested in whether something works and, in the case of VNS, I’m persuaded that it does.” He cites two recent studies supporting the role of VNS, in addition to the usual treatment options of drugs, talking therapies and ECT. He says it’s likely to be a true effect, not just a placebo, because a placebo tends to kick in quickly – and wear off quickly – whereas VNS takes six months to work, but at least half of those who respond, remain well. It may be particularly effective with people like Collins, who have improved after ECT, but whose depression keeps on returning.

Hitting the right nerve: the electronic neck implant to treat depression | Life and style | The Guardian