Published under ‘life’

Lifetime advice

Published under Education/Raising Children, Life Dec 15, 2009

I may be cheesy, fine, I admit it.  But I really liked this email forward: Written  By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio "To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is  the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to [...]

Natasha Singer wrote a very compelling piece here about the way the pharmaceutical industry aims to turn all of our ordinary weaknesses and human frailties into pathologies in need of a pharmacological cure.  “PE” or premature ejaculation may be a rite for passage for young people who discover their passion for someone, yet for the [...]

Interesting UC Berkeley study on human compassion… UC Berkeley social scientists build case for ‘survival of the kindest’ Published: Wednesday, December 9, 2009 – 09:26 in Psychology & Sociology Researchers at UC Berkeley are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing [...]

I was really touched by Maureen Dowd’s eulogy column about Abe Pollin. He follows the tradition of frugal leaders like David Ben-Gurion, and characters from Isaac Bashevis-Singer’s shtetl stories, whose Judaism was about helping those in need.

This fascinating article doesn’t directly address global governance. But the increasing uses of information and technology at the municipal level portend positively for models for global governance for the 21st century. And at all levels, this trend hints at the sweeping changes that will come in how we leverage data.

The gift of giving

Published under Health, Kinded, Life, Philanthropy Dec 03, 2009

Here is an interesting article that scientifically confirms one of the underlying assumptions of the KINDED Movement and the KIND philosophy: that doing good onto others actually feels good and benefits the one doing the KINDING as much as the person being KINDED.

Altruism by Nature

Published under Anthropology, Family, Global, Kinded Dec 03, 2009

According to this provocative study, children from the very beginning are predisposed to help others – we are wired to be KIND to others. 

My father taught me a very important lesson when I was a girl growing up in East Germany. He said, “Always be more than you appear and never appear to be more than you are.” -as told to Bono (U2) and captured by him in a New York Times opinion piece. New York Times November [...]

5 Rules To Eat By That I Dug

Published under Favorite Quotes, Health, Life Nov 30, 2009

These are my favorite responses to Michael Pollan’s NYTimes blog request for readers’ rules about eating: From my Romanian grandmother: “Breakfast, you should eat alone. Lunch, you should share with a friend. Dinner, give to your enemy.” – Irina A. Dumitrescu “Never eat something that’s pretending to be something else…no textured vegetable protein or veggie [...]

My wife is a Doctor and she often shares stories about how the medical “system” leads to unsavory paths, often including terminally-ill elderly & infirm patients who are dragged through the indecency of two extra weeks of herculean efforts to keep them alive when it is pretty clear they are victims of technology and bureaucracy [...]