Only at the end of the year can a full appraisal be made of the figures—and landmarks—that the world has lost. From Harry Belafonte to Henry Kissinger, from Silvio Berlusconi to the Sycamore Gap tree, we review the lives and legacies laid bare in our obituaries.
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Stories #4 and #3 of the "Top Ten Countdown" for most read articles on the 1819 News website.
National
Another Narrative turned on its head in 2023 by raw facts: the origins of Covid 19, and the cover up of Ivermectin as a viable and immediate drug for treating the virus
From the years 59 to 53 BC, three high-ranking Romans conspired to control the Roman political system for their own benefit. They called this system a triumvirate.
A decade later, Rome found itself under the control of three more men and yet another triumvirate.
This one was very different than than the first. It was given actual legal authority, and it was far more deadly.
Learn more about the Second Triumvirate, how it started, and how it ended on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Do you like philosophical thought experiments and probability theory and have a structured settlement and want cash now? Have I got the podcast episode for you! Dr. Bryan Gillis takes us through some fun and fascinating philosophical quandaries related to the Simulation Hypothesis! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here! Please please pretty please support the show on patreon! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!
Boredom is an enduring problem. In response, schools often do one or both of the following: first, they endorse what novelist Walker Percy describes as a 'boredom avoidance scheme,' adopting new initiative after new initiative in the hope that boredom can be outrun altogether, or second, they compel students to accept boring situations as an inevitable part of life. Both strategies avoid serious reflection on this universal and troubling state of mind.
In Why Boredom Matters (Cambridge UP, 2022)k, Gary argues that schools should educate students on how to engage with boredom productively. Rather than being conditioned to avoid or blame boredom on something or someone else, students need to be given tools for dealing with their boredom. These tools provide them with internal resources that equip them to find worthwhile activities and practices to transform boredom into a more productive state of mind. This book addresses the ways students might gain these skills.
From reviews:
‘Kevin Gary’s important and insightful book challenges readers to consider the moral and practical dimensions of boredom so that we might educate for lives of meaning. He gathers a range of sources from across time, traditions, and disciplines, and he puts these in conversation with our everyday experiences of boredom in the modern world, while also exploring ways that boredom has been written about and experienced in the past. It is an excellent book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.’--Jeff Frank
‘Why Boredom Matters is one of those delightful books in which the author seamlessly draws from thinkers from across multiple disciplines such as education, theology, philosophy, literature, and pop culture. Søren Kierkegaard, Walker Percy, David Wallace Foster, Leo Tolstoy, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Dewey, Albert Bormann, Simone Weil, Josef Pieper, St. Benedict, Groundhog Day, and The Karate Kid all contribute to a richer understanding of boredom.’-- Elizabeth Amato
Adrian Guiu holds a PhD in History of Christianity from the University of Chicago and teaches at Wright College in Chicago.
We're telling you about a second state deciding to keep former President Trump off the 2024 ballots.
Also, there was a landmark change to the military judicial system, and what's considered one of the military's most fascinating secrets just blasted off into space.
Plus, a kitchen appliance is being recalled; some people are choosing to get rid of negativity before the new year, and a confession from a former convict went viral.
2023 was filled with scientific innovation, exploration and new discoveries. A few of the biggest threads we saw unraveling this year came from the James Webb Space Telescope, the changing climate and artificial intelligence. Today, host Regina G. Barber wraps up these three areas of science news with the help of correspondent Geoff Brumfiel and All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro.
Got more science news? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
Between Christmas and New Years, The Daily Signal is looking back at the most popular interviews from the year. Enjoy episode four of our "Best of 2023" series!
Baroness Caroline Cox has a long history of service in public office, but her passion for justice has led her not only to Great Britain’s House of Lords but to war-torn, poverty-stricken nations around the world.
“The mission is to work for people who are suffering oppression and persecution in areas which are largely unreached by the major aid organizations like the [United Nations],” Cox says of the Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, which she leads.
Cox, who joins this episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast,” says her organization intentionally goes where others can’t because the U.N., for example, “can only go places with permission of a sovereign government.”
The work is “risky” but also a “privilege,” says Cox, who is an independent member of the House of Lords who served as deputy speaker there from 1985 to 2005.
“The majority we work with happen to be Christians because Christians are suffering a lot of persecution around the world today,” Cox says.
The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust also works with Muslims who are suffering in Sudan’s Blue Nile State, as well as with Buddhists in Myanmar (formerly Burma), she notes.
On the podcast, Cox also talks about her fight for the rights of Muslim women who are forced to live under Sharia law in the United Kingdom, as well as her advocacy work for persecuted religious groups across the globe. She also describes the response in the U.K. to the Israel-Hamas war.
