You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ category.
Be Happy – Be Healthy
By Shlomo Maital
I want to share this with my readers, probably I’ve written about it before.
I’ve observed among family and friends, and even strangers, that illness often follows periods of sadness, loss, distress and trauma. And there seems to be a reason.
Our immune system, which is crucial for fighting invaders and illness, seems to weaken in the wake of depression and sadness. Why? Well – here is a simplistic theory.
Our brain wants to know if we have full motivation to continue to live. If that motivation is weakened, so is the brain’s and body’s ability and desire to keep us safe and healthy and fight invaders.
I have seen this so often.
So – be happy. Not ‘ecstatic’ happy. But happy, active, vigorous, interacting, socializing, finding meaning and creating value…. It may prove to be the very best medicine.
Give the Poor Money? It Doesn’t Work
By Shlomo Maital
OK, so – I am a liberal. But my favorite erudite NYT columnist David Brooks is not! He says so in the heading of his latest column (Sept. 5): “Why I am not a Liberal”.
And, why indeed is he not a liberal? Because, apparently, liberals believe in giving poor people money – and the data show it does not work.
We’ve known this for a long time. Ever since Susan Mayer’s 1997 book, “What Money Can’t Buy: Family Income and Children’s Life Chances.” “Even if you double people’s incomes”, Brooks summarizes, “the evidence is that it would have a limited effect on their children’s dropout and teenage pregnancy rates or other outcomes.”
What DOES matter? Their parents’ characteristics. Values. Education. Social skills. Family setting. Etc.
But progressives doubled down, insisting on creating and supporting a welfare state, which simply…gives the poor money.
This, at a time, as Brooks observes, when “most of our problems are moral, relational and spiritual more than they are economic.”
And, as I boringly observe often, in the 1930’s Economist Lionel Robbins argued that “normative economics (involving right and wrong, good and bad) was wholly unscientific and should therefore be cast out of the field”. Thus making economics utterly irrelevant, for almost a century.
What does work for the poor? Investing in great schools, for a start. Narrowing the huge gap between, say, educational performance in Southern US states and those in the Northeast.
Many of my Jewish ancestors came penniless to North America – and rose to upper middle class standing, through hard work and aspiration. They weren’t given money. But they did instill key values in their children, i.e. myself and my sister.
At a time when ‘evidence-based’ is an accepted gold standard of policy, how is it that the liberal supporters of the welfare state continue to back it? When the evidence is against it.
The Politics of Hatred
By Shlomo Maital
Consider the ‘new populist politics’ now prevalent in Israel, the US, and other countries.
It is the politics of V. Not “V” for values and vision. V for vengeance, vindictiveness, vitriol, violence. It is the politics of hatred. Hate those who do not agree with you. And…worse, yet, act on that hatred.
This week, Jews everywhere are reading a key chapter in the book of Deuteronomy. And it counsels hatred (?). Remember “Amalek” (an enemy leader who attacked the Israelites from behind, on their way to the Holy Land), we are told.
UK Chief Rabbi, explains: The intent is the opposite. Remember, in order NOT to let hatred dominate your thinking and your emotions. Battle your enemies. Defeat them. And – do not hate them. This is stated clearly in this chapter of the Bible: do not hate the Edomites, do not hate the Egyptians, even though Egypt enslaved you and Edom fought you.
Some 20 years ago, Israel extracted settlers from Gaza. Members of the current Israeli government have vowed vengeance – and two decades later, seek to destroy the democratic system that led to the withdrawal from Gaza. It is driven by deep burning hatred.
The Hamas leader, imprisoned for two decades in Israel, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and killed many women and children and elderly, often brutally. The result led to a huge disaster for the people of Gaza – death and destruction. The UN Secretary General Gutierres asks Israel, ‘what did you expect?’, referring to the Hamas attack. We ask him, and supporters of Hamas – what did YOU expect? Give them expensive presents?
Now, it is time for efforts at conciliation. Not hatred. Athletes know that competing on the basis of burning hatred addles the brain and prevents it from properly strategizing and winning. Rattle you opponent, get them ‘emotional’ – and you are on your way to winning.
Same for nations. Nations with leaders who leverage hate will ruin their followers and their nations. It is happening before our eyes.
Alas.
Origami – in Space
By Shlomo Maital
Recently, my grandson and I followed YouTube instructions and built an origami military tank that shoots paper pellets, with the help of an elastic band. It was challenging and took a second try.
Origami originated in Japan, following the 7th century CE when paper was brought to Japan – and the art of folding paper quickly ensued. A brilliant New York Times article by Kenneth Chang describes ‘bloom pattern’ origami — ‘rotationally symmetric, around the center’, like petals of a flower.
Bloom pattern origami creates truly beautiful paper folding. But – is that all?
Consider the James Webb Space Telescope, that brings us almost daily incredible photographs from space. The whole telescope had to be folded compactly in order to fit inside the 5.4 meter space in the Ariane 5 rocket that launched it. Once in space, the telescope would unfold, like the petals of a very complex flower. The crucial sunshade of the telescope is 21 meters! Four times as big. As big as 11 tall men stretched end to end, head to heel – and a six-year-old to boot.
But how to do this?
Origami. It is an origami problem, in reverse. Take the final telescope. Then, calculate how to fold it, to fit neatly into the launch rocket. Like origami.
The telescope and its crucial sunshade were folded 12 times.
The skill in calculating how to do this involved bloom pattern symmetry.
One of the key principles of creative innovation is X + Y. That is, combining two things that seem unrelated.
Space telescope, = X. Origami bloom symmetry = Y. X + Y. Presto. Folded and unfolded space telescope.
Some pretty smart people figured this out. Well done!
What We Can Learn From….Cockroaches
By Shlomo Maital
A brave editor of the weekend Haaretz magazine (Hebrew) made the latest cover story describe…cockroaches. With a realistic cockroach on the cover.
Talk about bravery. For unclear reasons, people seem frightened, disgusted and even panicked by them.
Let’s defend these intrepid little insects. Here’s what we humans, on this planet for a piddling 50,000 years, can learn from these insects, who have been around for some 320 million years – and probably will still be around when we humans erase one another from the planet by CO2 or war or plague or some other mishap. Source: Wikipedia
* “They are common and hardy insects capable of tolerating a wide range of climates, from Arctic cold to tropical heat. Tropical cockroaches are often much larger than temperate species.” True, humans populate tropics and the Poles. But cockroaches shame us in how fast and well they adapt, in size, habits, and survival instincts. Humans near the equator are not larger, e.g., than those in Alaska.
* “Some species, such as the gregarious German cockroach, have an elaborate social structure involving common shelter, social dependence, information transfer and kin recognition.” Ever hear of a cockroach war? I don’t think so. Cockroaches are social insects and get along with one another really well. That’s one reason they have endured so long.
* “ Their name ‘cockroach’ comes from the Spanish word for cockroach, cucaracha, transformed by 1620’s English folk etymology into “cock” and “roach”. The scientific name derives from the Latin blatta, “an insect that shuns the light”, which in classical Latin was applied not only to cockroaches but other insects.” Recall the wonderful Latin song, La Cucaracha, which in part praises the little bug. It’s dance-able! Here are some words from it: People they say the cockroach Is a very small animal And when it gets into a house, It’ll soon be the master of it all. Hey – they aren’t kidding.
Look. Cockroaches are harmless. They do not spread disease, like mice. They’re just trying to make a living, like us. We make it hard for them, by extreme cleanliness. But, that’s a good thing, right? They spur us to sweep and mop the floors.
Next time you see one? Overcome your innate disgust and fear. Think about what that little creature has done to survive for 320 million years. And then, think about how we humans can change our ways to try to do the same.
Be happy…& be healthy
By Shlomo Maital
I have a theory I would like to share. It’s based on close observation of people around me.
To be healthy, you need to work at being in a happy frame of mind.
Why? Because your immune system requires it. If your brain says you are unhappy, your immune system loses its motivation to keep you healthy.
I’ve known people who suffer setbacks, tragedy, car accidents, loss of loved ones… and fall ill.
This sounds naïve. My country is in deep trouble at the moment and it is easy to fall into despondency. Rebbe Nachman, who suffered from manic depression, taught us to practice irrepressible optimism. It was how he treated himself.
Consider ice cream. I make good ice cream. It makes me happy. I eat it. Not excessively. And I drink Coke. Also not excessively. Economists teach the law of diminishing returns. That second scoop? It will taste far less good than the first. Same for alcohol.
Do things in moderation, in daily life, that make you happy and keep you happy. In general, I believe, without a lot of deep medical evidence, that in the end it will keep you healthier. And by the way – practice it on those you love, not just yourself. Make those you love happy – so you can keep them healthy, and keep them with you longer.
The Role of Lithium in Alzheimer’s: Breakthrough?
By Shlomo Maital
A paper just published in Nature (August 6, 2025) reports: “New hope for Alzheimer’s: lithium supplement reverses memory loss in mice. Studies in rodents and humans suggest that low levels of the metal contribute to cognitive decline.” Here is a summary:
“Replenishing the brain’s natural stores of lithium can protect against and even reverse Alzheimer’s disease, suggests a paper published today in Nature. The paper reports that analyses of human brain tissue and a series of mouse experiments point to a consistent pattern: when lithium concentrations in the brain decline, memory loss tends to develop, as do neurological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease called amyloid plaques and tau tangles. The study also found evidence in mice that a specific type of lithium supplement undoes these neurological changes and rolls back memory loss, restoring the brain to a younger, healthier state.”
“If confirmed in clinical trials, the implications could be profound. Dementia affects more than 55 million people globally; most have Alzheimer’s disease. Anti-amyloid therapies on the market slow cognitive decline, but “they don’t stop it. They don’t restore function,” says co-author Bruce Yankner, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.”
Alzheimer’s has been researched for decades. It has been “a tough nut to crack”, say the researchers – a vast understatement. If lithium holds the key, it would be a huge surprise. What in the world is lithium, a metal, doing in the brain? What role does it play anyway? What irony, if the world that runs on lithium iron batteries should find that our brains run on lithium, too!
And a postscript: Co-author Bruce Yankner’s research grant has been slashed by actions of the President of the United States.
Capitalism Failed Us – Here is Why
By Shlomo Maital
David Brooks’ latest NYT column has the fascinating title “Why More People in the World Are Feeling Hopeful (Except Us)” The ‘us’ is of course the US.
Brooks cites results from the Harvard-led Global Flourishing Study published in Nature – Mental, April 30, 2025. Flourishing measures the wellbeing of people, measured by happiness, health, meaning, character, relationships, and finance. In other words, how countries measure up according to material, social and spiritual wellbeing.
The US ranks 12th or 15th out of 22 leading nations. The nations who have done well and risen in ‘flourishing’ are those that find a true balance between those three elements: material, spiritual and social. The US has done poorly, especially among its young people, who report NOT doing well and NOT having much hope for the future.
Why? Brookins recounts: “Why have rich nations lagged behind in this way? [Prof.] VanderWeele [who led the study] theorizes that maybe it’s a question of priorities. “I tend to think you end up getting what you value most,” he told me. “When a society is oriented toward economic gain, you will be moderately successful, but not if it’s done at the expense of meaning and community.”
Brooks continues: “I’d add that we in the West have aggressively embraced values that when taken to excess are poisonous to our well-being. Over the past several decades, according to the World Values Survey, North America, Western Europe and the English-speaking nations have split off culturally from the rest of the world. Since the 1960s we have adopted values that are more secular, more individualistic and more oriented around self-expression than the values that prevail in the Eastern Orthodox European countries such as Serbia, the Confucian countries like South Korea and the mostly Catholic Latin countries like Mexico.”
We sold our souls to capitalism. It gave us vast wealth, billionaires. But it destroyed our souls. Thank economists in part for that. Mea culpa.
Postscript: My country, Israel, now a pariah among nations, vilified, owing to our disastrous leadership, ranks second or fourth (with or without the financial variable). In Israel, social bonds are very strong, especially during times of war and crisis. And so are spiritual values, not necessarily formal religious ones. Plus, our hi-tech has brought us material gain. But we did not sell our souls to the Capitalist Devil.
Noise You Stop Hearing
By Shlomo Maital
I am writing this blog, in my office at my university. Next door, huge jack hammers are busy pounding the ground to prepare the foundations for a new Computer Science building. Whump whump whump….the noise goes right through the ground to the floor of my office. Whump whump whump. And this has been going on for many months.
But – surprise! At some point, unbelievably, I no longer hear the whump whump whump of the jack hammers! Repetitive noise is often filtered out by our brains, who instruct us to simply ignore it.
This is not always the case. And if you let the whump whump upset you, your brain will continue to register it, because …that seems to be the instruction it is given.
There is a life lesson here. Telling our kids repeatedly not to do something … gets filtered out. Telling others too often is ineffective. A sound that is repeated without change is by definition noise.
We all of us create noise. Do not be surprised, then, if it is filtered out and ignored.
Have an important message for family? Friends? Colleagues? Repeating it won’t help much. Find ways to repackage, rephrase, retell it. Add a bit of humor – that often helps.
I am surprised that I can continue to work and write, while the jack hammers next door serenade me. Get into something, deep – and I don’t hear them.
Best not to become a jack hammer – and wonder why your screechy noise is not being heard.
How Astronomer Turned Lemons into Lemon Meringue
By Shlomo Maital
What do you do, when your struggling startup is hit with a public relations catastrophe?
You turn lemons into lemon meringue pie – with creativity and with humor.
Alisha Gupta, reporting in the New York Times, noted how “on Friday, Astronomer — the technology company whose married chief executive was caught on video at a Coldplay concert canoodling with a human resources executive at the firm who is not his wife — capitalized on the heightened attention when it released a video response featuring Ms. Paltrow as a “temporary spokesperson.”
The CEO resigned, and later, so did the female HR chief executive. Bad publicity, right?
Astronomer sought out a known and loved actor Gwyneth Paltrow, ex-wife of Coldplay front man Chris Martin.
In her video, she states: “Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days and they wanted me to answer the most common ones,” Ms. Paltrow says directly to camera in a video posted on Astronomer’s social channels.
The first question then appears onscreen: “OMG! What the actual f&^%”
“Yes!” she responds, a hint of knowing and exasperation in her voice. “Astronomer is the best place to run Apache Airflow.” She adds: “We’ve been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation.”
Gupta notes: “Viewers were given a peek at what Astronomer actually does, a move that was quite clever, I must say,” said Michel Pham, a business professor and marketing strategy expert at Columbia Business School. For companies that abruptly find themselves embroiled in scandal, he explained, using humor to capitalize on the spotlight requires a deft touch.” It does not always work. It can backfire – treating serious issues as amusing.
But many many people now know about little Astronomer, who previously had no clue. Astronomer turned lemons into lemon meringue pie.
Humor is a powerful weapon for messaging. Especially satirical humor.
Take, for instance, Tom Lehrer, the Jewish math prodigy whose musical satire amused – and strongly attacked the negative trends in US politics and society. He has passed away, age 97. Consider his “national brotherhood week” song – so relevant today, when MAGA vengeance and hatred led by Trump dominates the news daily.
“Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics, And the Catholics hate the Protestants! And the Hindus hate the Muslims. And everybody hates the Jews!” sang Lehrer, himself Jewish. “Be nice to people who are inferior to you, it’s only for a week, so have no fear, Be grateful that it doesn’t last all year!”
If only it lasted all year…or forever. Rest in peace, Tom Lehrer.
“
TIMnovate 