Glenn Beck is Worried We Will Become Obsessed With Robot Sex http://t.co/st4ZOPonOS

— FutureofSex (@FutureofSex) January 12, 2014

This from a New Yorker piece arguing against open offices is something that seems to go against pro-Coffitivity arguments.

But the most problematic aspect of the open office may be physical rather than psychological: simple noise. In laboratory settings, noise has been repeatedly tied to reduced cognitive performance. The psychologist Nick Perham, who studies the effect of sound on how we think, has found that office commotion impairs workers’ ability to recall information, and even to do basic arithmetic. Listening to music to block out the office intrusion doesn’t help: even that, Perham found, impairs our mental acuity. Exposure to noise in an office may also take a toll on the health of employees.

A doctor, Rafael Campo, and three of his students discuss the importance of poetry to their work. I'm taken by the doctor's words

"To me the patient's voice, the stories they have to tell are absolutely central to the work of healing. ... The poetry of the encounter helps me to think even more effectively and more thoughtfully really about that. I feel like listening to that story and really attuning my ear to the patients voice helps me listen to their heart more clearly ."

Explore cites Italo Calvino and suggests some comparisons.

“The idea of putting literature in second place, after politics, is an enormous mistake, because politics almost never achieves its ideals. Literature, on the other hand, in its own field can achieve something and in the very long run can also have some practical effect. By now I have come to believe that important things are achieved only through very slow processes.”

—	A Paris Review conversation with Italo Calvino. Pair with Calvino’s heartening new year’s resolution, his wisdom on writing, and his thoughts on America.

I like Ezra Pound's perspective, too. This is from ABC of Reading.

If a nation’s literature declines, the nation atrophies and decays.

Your legislators can’t legislate for the public good, your commander can’t command, your populace (if you be a democratic country) can’t instruct it’s ‘representatives’ save by language.

Having some coffee ... Dinner in a restaurant... Appreciating Art in a museum ... Nice conversation in the coffee shop ... A pleasant day at the beach ... Cheering the team at the stadium ... Dating your girl ... Sightseeing ... Albert Einstein: "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of IDIOTS."