The stranger in your home

You must run. You only have a few days, perhaps only minutes, to pack all the things you can take with you. You don’t know whether you’ll arrive at a safer place, or whether anyone will welcome you, or whether you’ll ever return home.

Snail racing: The strange social dynamics dictated by social networks

Social interactions and the tools that facilitate them are changing the world in ways that even now, after all this time, we cannot anticipate.

The story of Yassine Mazzout and his one chance

We deem what they do worthy of pity or contempt. We see them searching through the garbage, gathering plastic or aluminium in bags, without realizing that they are part of a group of 15 million people globally who turn waste into honest income and who, involuntarily, care for the environment. Among them is Yassine Mazzout. Garbage not only saved his life, but transformed...

The appeal to novelty: How can it be faulty when it’s so bright and shiny?

To make an argument by appealing to the novelty of an idea— to the innovation it brings to a certain area—is not necessarily wrong. The visionary thinker Alvin Toffler coined the wonderful phrase nostalgia for the future, referring to his appreciation of the adventure the future promises through the desire many of us have to merge with 'the new' that is still developing...

Loving yourself, flaws and all

In a society that is more concerned with form than substance, character ranks second. It is the power of the image that dictates things.

“My Utmost for His Highest” | Book review

Oswald Chambers’ devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, has a remarkable circulation and is considered probably the most well-known and beloved Christian devotional. It was first published in 1927 in the United Kingdom and has been in print ever since. It has been officially translated into 39 languages, with over 13 million copies sold.

How to cope with manipulation

Many of us probably know at least one manipulative person — or perhaps we’ve even caught ourselves falling into that category. But do we really know when this tendency to control or influence others becomes harmful? And more importantly, how can we deal with manipulative people?

The slow-paced family

Women work an average of 68 hours per week, while men work 55 hours—a total that includes both professional commitments and household responsibilities. This was the conclusion of a 2007 study conducted by sociologists at the University of Cambridge across European Union countries.

The most common mistakes parents make with their own parents

I just got back from the funeral of a fifty-four-year-old mother who left behind a grieving teenager. His father told how the boy wanted to ask his mother for forgiveness, on her deathbed, for all the stubbornness typical of a seventeen-year-old. He was already forgiven.

Dealing with negative emotions in times of crisis

Many years have passed since I last lived with my brother. Recently, I decided to go and stay with him for a while. One day we both decided to visit a place in nature that neither of us had been to before. When we got there, it started to rain—while not very heavy, rain was not what either of us had wanted. But...

A sharp mind at the age of 100

Growing old is inevitable, but experiencing a significant cognitive decline isn’t. An encouraging piece of news uncovered by several studies that focus on people in their old age suggests that changing one’s lifestyle could increase the chances of having a sharp mind up until the age of 100.

“Divine Providence: God’s Love and Human Freedom” | Book review

Bruce Reichenbach's book, Divine Providence: God’s Love and Human Freedom is impressive first of all due to the author’s total disinterest in impressing his readers. Instead, he has a legacy to pass on.

The fragility of the good news about COVID-19 mortality

The mortality rate of COVID-19 remains high, but not as high as its transmission rate, and this good news needs nuances and explanations.

The most arrogant of all sophisms: the false accusation of logical error

In practice, people often accuse each other of making logical errors, but sometimes the accusation is false. Such an accusation is made by someone who does not understand what logical fallacies are and how they work, or by a manipulative person who takes advantage of the ignorance of those in the first category.

Are you really okay?

Let me ask you a question: if a friend of yours or I were to stand in front of you today and ask, “Are you OK?” how would you respond? Could you, or would you, share how you really are? As a society, we seem to be becoming more and more aware of the mental health crisis we are in. On 8 September, Australia...