Using ChatGPT

Amanda Smith provides a guide to Getting Started With ChatGPT .

Rare Planetary Alignment

Chandelis Duster calls our attention to a rare alignment of the planets visible from the mainland United States.

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Weather and Social Disruption

Elizabeth Rayne explains how just a few years of bad weather and economic disruption can wreck the health and welfare of a population.

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Lying and Distrust

Gemma Ware and Grant Duncan discuss why distrust for politicians is so strong. Richard Gunderman suggests that the public distrusts liars.

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The British 1946 Birth Cohort Study and Alzheimer's Disease

Marcus Richards and Jonathan Schott discuss the continued study of the British 1946 Birth Cohort, which among other things is providing clues to resisting the onset of Alzheimer's Disease .

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Recovering From a House Fire

Eleanor Whitney reveals the needs of those devastated by a house fire , and advice for healing.

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Republic, Democracy, and Monarchy

Miranda Jeyaretnam notes that the Founding Fathers were opposed to establishing a monarchy . She provide two quotes from John Adams, who in 1814 who warned that a democracy tends to devolve into a lesser form of government:

There never was a democracy yet, that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. (“From John Adams to John Taylor, 17 December 1814,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-6371.)

Adams also warned that factions within democratic government typically gives rise to a yearning for a strongman or king:

They soon cry, ‘this will not do; we have gone too far! We are all in the wrong! We are none of us safe! We must unite in some clever fellow, who can protect us all — Caesar, [Napoleon] Bonaparte, who you will! Though we distrust, hate, and abhor them all; yet we must submit to one or another of them, stand by him, cry him up to the skies, and swear that he is the greatest, best, and finest man that ever lived!’
(“From John Adams to John Taylor, 12 December 1814,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-6368.)

I note that the desire to serve a chief or king has existed throughout human history, as documented in 1 Samuel 8:4-9:

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, 'You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead[b] us, such as all the other nations have.' 6 But when they said, 'Give us a king to lead us,' this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: 'Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.'

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Health Care and Financial Security Are Common Anxieties

Nisha Dua and Susan Lyne document the two issues of concern to Americans of any political persuasion: health care and finances.

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Ötzi the Iceman

Sarah Kuta reports on Ötzi , the man murdered among the prehistoric Tyrolean Alps and frozen for millenia.

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Valentine's Day

Taysha Murtaugh and Terri Robertson write about the origin of Valentine's Day .

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Building Community

Deb Feder suggests that building community is more important than building engagement. Therefore, hesitate to make social media posts that promote yourself or your brand, crafting instead posts which inculcate social values.

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Kindness

Maria Popova provides quotations on kindness authored during the past two milenia.

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Dangerous U.S. Cities

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Lindsey Puls lists the ten most dangerous cities in the United Sates.

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China's Earliest Imperial Dynasty

Yu Mingren reports on the early Chinese emperors Yao and Shun, who governed from the city of < href="https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/erlitou-0016300" target="_blank">Zhenxun long before the founding of the Roman Republic in Italy. These Chinese emperors created huge public works projects to fight massive flooding in the Yellow River valley, initating four millenia of national flood control efforts.

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Camper Van Life

Heron McTague reports on common problems for those living in a camper van , and offers solutions.

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Perils of Weightlessness

Elizabeth Howell writes about the effects of weightlessness on astronauts.

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Removing Price Stickers

Lindsey Ellefson demonstrates how to remove stubborn price stickers with either a magic eraser or a blow drier.

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Delegation With Accountability

Paul Axtell suggests two items which must conclude every meeting : specific commitments and clear delegation of responsiblity.

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Baking Sweet Potatoes

Casey Barber offers five methods for baking sweet potatoes . For additional sweet potatoe recipes, see this link to an article by Katherine Sacks.

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