On Listening, The Meaning of Respect, The Tao of Pooh, etc.

In which "Things Are As They Are."

🧸 Just finished The Tao of Pooh, which allegorically employs A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories to explain basic principles of Taoism.

“Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.

"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."

"And he has Brain."

"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."

There was a long silence.

"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything.”

🎧 People should listen to more music, especially aspiring musicians, so says Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden. “Listening to a lot of music and really exploring it and doing that level of investigation of really understanding where things have come from.

If you listen to a current record now that samples an old nineties record, and then you check out the old nineties record, find out that sample’s like an old soul record for the drum break or whatever.

Everything’s there, all the information’s there. And then if you take everything you learn from that and then combine it with your own ideas and your own emotions… you’re set up to sort of push things forward.”

🥇 Sunday Morning Not Live: I hope the men’s basketball and women’s soccer teams ate their Wheaties little chocolate donuts this morning.

🐆 Why Olympic runners can learn from cheetahs. “Cheetahs are famous for being the fastest land animals – but research suggests there's much more to their athleticism than just speed.”

🦈 Sharks are testing positive for cocaine. “According to a study published on July 15 in Science of the Total Environment, researchers at Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Foundation have confirmed trace amounts of cocaine and its main metabolite, benzoylecgonine, in at least 13 Brazilian sharpnose sharks purchased from commercial fishers in Rio de Janeiro. As IFL Science notes, this marks the first-ever detection of the drug in wild sharks.”

🚶A study of the world’s most, and least, walkable cities. All 100 of the least active cities studied are in North America.

🥵 Earth’s hottest day on record broken last week… twice.

🍅 How the fridge changed flavor. “The opportunity to consume frosty drinks and desserts opened up an entirely new vocabulary of sensation. Some found the cold shocking at first.”

🖥️ Oddly, there is now a bundle with Hulu, Disney+ and… Max. “While Disney has offered a bundle deal with its services Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ since 2019, this is the first bundle offered with a competing streaming service.”

🧠 The science behind Inside Out 2: “It was pretty clear there are more than just five emotions. But the whole world and story was complex enough that we really needed to simplify. This sequel afforded the opportunity to bring in some of the emotions we hadn’t been able to use.”

🐲 A very important question: if dragons were real, how would their fire-breathing work? “Let’s start with the fuel. Methane could be a candidate. Animals produce it during digestion. The images on the screen of Westeros show dragons are keen on eating sheep. However, our methane-fuelled dragons would need to have a diet and digestive system more like that of a cow to produce enough gas to burn down a city.”

🎥 When actress Laura Dern was at UCLA, she landed a role in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. Unable to get a leave of absence, she was forced to drop out. “First of all, if you make this choice, you are no longer welcome at UCLA. You’ll be out. But secondly, having read this script, that you would give up your college education for this is insane.”

Today, Blue Velvet is required viewing for your masters in film studies at UCLA.

❤️ Philosopher and psychologist Eric From on what respect really means: “Care and responsibility are constituent elements of love, but without respect for and knowledge of the beloved person, love deteriorates into domination and possessiveness… To respect a person is not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind if they were not guided by the knowledge of the person’s individuality.”

✌️ Keep that Hoping Machine running, you guys.

Love,

Luke