Imagine You’d Never Heard of a Solar Eclipse

If you’ve ever experienced a complete solar eclipse you know how powerful the experience is. The birds stop singing, the skies darken, and every fiber of your being capable of feeling awe is awakened.

They are magical events, and nothing is more magical than the fact that astronomers can tell us exactly when to expect one. People can put them on their calendars, wait for the moment on the appointed day, look up through welding glass, and watch the moon begin to eat the sun…Of course, predicting eclipses is not magic at all—really, it’s the opposite of magic. But this kind of accurate astronomical prediction of such events, which is now routine, wasn’t part of any human cultures until the last few thousand years at most.

John Hawks

Wendall Berry

The world lost an astounding poet, farmer, and prophet this week, someone who chose a way of life and a way of thinking that stands as an example for us all. May we all learn from the thoughtful decisions he made, and the gentle way expressed them.

The Peace of Wild Things, by Wendall Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Drop and Give Me… Fitness?

Pushups are the ultimate body weight upper body exercise (like squats are for the lower body). You don’t need any equipment, which means it’s a great way for people that are really busy (like medical students, residents, docs and other healers) to stay strong (and become stronger).

During busy seasons, fitness is often one of the first things that gets dropped. The push-up is one of the best “everything is crazy but I can still squeeze this in” movements I know.

Matt Myers

Link to download the Nerd Fitness guide to pushups

p.s The world record for consecutive pushups is 10,507, set in 1980 by Minoru Yoshida.

p.p.s You push the equivalent of ~60-75% of your body weight when you do a push-up.