Miscellaneous
“Age and youth have the same appetites but not the same teeth”
An aphorism by James Geary, author of The World in a Phrase and Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists. James Geary | December 2008 issue Teeth are the feet of the mouth. Overlooked and unloved, they crunch through rough vegetal underbrush and wade knee-deep through vast morasses of meat. Read More...
Doctors reduce error with electronic prescriptions
The CEO of Allscripts, a Chicago-based health-care technology company, explains we can improve the healthcare system and save more lives by moving away from traditional handwritten prescriptions. What’s the problem with handwritten doctors’ prescriptions? “Every year, 1.5 million Americans Read More...
Central Asia Books
Carol Greenhouse | December 2008 issue If you’ve fantasized about opening a bookshop, you’re not alone. But with the death of the independent bookstore in the U.S., the idea has shed some of its age-old appeal. Or maybe it’s time to look farther afield. That’s what David Korowicz did in Read More...
A different kind of home security
Community financial institutions can help take the edge off the credit crisis. Amy Domini | November 2008 issue While its influence has touched the world, the financial crisis created by subprime mortgage lending has its roots firmly planted in the U.S. Because the crisis serves as a warning to Read More...
Offsets and upsets
Is carbon offsetting a help or hindrance in tackling climate change? Duncan Clark | November 2008 issue Steve and Lisa met while on holiday in Spain, and quickly fell head over heels for each other. That Christmas, at a party, Steve got drunk and unavoidably repeatedly cheated on Lisa with Cheri, Read More...
Africa by air
For 20 years, George Steinmetz, has taken aerial pictures from a motorized paraglider flying above some of the most stunning landscapes in Africa. George Steinmetz | November 2008 issue Photographer George Steinmetz has seen it all, in ways most people could never imagine. For some 20 years, the Read More...
It’s all in their heads
Our brains don't mature until our 20s. Knowing that could change how you talk to young people. David Servan-Schreiber | November 2008 issue Ben, 18, borrows his father’s car to go on a trip with friends. At 2 a.m., he’s driving more than 100 mph (160 km/h) on a country lane, the music blaring, Read More...
You are how you write
Does handwriting analysis offer accurate insights into personality? Ode went to a graphologist to find out. Marco Visscher | November 2008 issue In preparation for my meeting with graphologist Maresi de Monchy, I was told to supply a handwritten text on a sheet of unlined paper. The content was Read More...
A call for guts
The future depends on mastering the art of positive courage. Lappé Frances Moore | November 2008 issue Like a lot of us, I keep asking myself, How did we get into this mess? Since humans have innate needs and capacities for cooperation, empathy and fairness, which science now confirms, why does Read More...
“You can be a tree”
Cynthia Beal, founder of the Natural Burial Company, thinks we should all become bushes, meadows or trees after we die. Marco Visscher | November 2008 issue What’s wrong with conventional burial? “Conventional burial typically has us preserved in formaldehyde-based fluid, packed in one box Read More...