Essays

The Cultural Phenomenon of Jólabókaflóð, Iceland’s Book Flood

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‘Twas the night before Christmas, in each Icelandic home,   When families gathered, not a soul felt alone; Kleinur and laufabrauð were arranged with great care, As the magic of Christmas filled the crisp evening air. The children were nestled all snug with a book in their hands,   Sailing through sagas and tales from faraway lands; And mamma with her mystery, and I with my book,   Had just settled our brains in our cozy nook. During the Christmas festive season, the Icelandic word Jólabókaflóð makes the rounds …

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How Did English Achieve Its Worldwide Reach? (part 2)

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The English language’s global dominance is no accident. It can be traced back through a three-stage process: the initial spread of English by the British Empire, its proliferation through the two World Wars, and its reach through the soft power of the Internet age. The British Empire, often referred to as “the empire on which the sun never sets”, reached North America, India, Australia, Africa, and Asia. English became the colonies’ official language of administration, justice, business, and education. Proficiency in English was a …

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How Did English Achieve Its Worldwide Reach? (part 1)

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I first became interested in the topic of my thesis [the spread of the English language] while on holidays in Crete; there a guide jokingly told us that if the capital of the island would be destroyed and unearthed a thousand years later, future archaeologists would probably conclude that the inhabitants spoke English because all the shop-signs are in that language. Daniel Spichtinger – The Spread of English and its Appropriation Learning English presents a considerable challenge due to its linguistic irregularities. From spelling and …

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Exaptation, Nature’s Way to Bridge Past and Future

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Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. Frank Herbert – Dune  Exaptation, a term coined by palaeontologists Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba, refers to repurposing a trait during evolution. Initially serving one specific function, a trait can be co-opted for a different purpose. Charles Darwin was the first to propose that a trait’s function can evolve and change over time. This idea was initially referred to as “preadaptation”. However, because …

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Metaphorical Thinking – The Cloud Metaphors

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Metaphorical Thinking – Introduction Metaphorical Thinking – the Guest Metaphor Metaphorical Thinking – the Cloud Metaphors Metaphorical Thinking – the Web Metaphors The ethereal, shape-shifting quality of clouds makes them a perfect instrument for concepts that apply to metaphors, meditation, behavioural science, or computer science. I am on cloud nine. Every dark cloud has a silver lining.  I have my head in the clouds.   Cloud Computing In the remarkable Dictionary of Symbols by Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, clouds are defined as “instruments of apotheosis and epiphany” and “clouds were connected with the symbolism of …

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Changing the Face of War – Sir Harold Gillies and the Origins of Modern Reconstructive Surgery

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[Describing World War I] Only one village in all of France escaped without losing at least one of its citizens. This explains why, even in the tiniest of villages, there is a monument honouring those who were killed in the war. Every year, wreaths are laid, and ceremonies are held. Wherever we went, people kept returning to one theme: the extraordinary amount of blood that had been shed. “World War II,” they would say. “Oh, it was terrible, but it was nothing compared to …

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How Joseph Lister’s Visionary Approach Changed Modern Medicine

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Until the middle of the nineteenth century, surgery was nothing more than butchering services provided by barbers or people with no formal medical training (some were even illiterate), which performed tooth extractions, bloodletting, enemas, and amputations without a thorough understanding of either human anatomy or infection causes. No wonder hospitals were called Houses of Death, where mushrooms and maggots thrived in dirty sheets and, sometimes, the flesh of patients. Most patients were tortured in surgeries until they died or miraculously survived. As there were no …

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How Do People Change Their Minds? 

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In theory, the formula for changing our minds should be simple. We change our minds when we come across new information from credible and trustworthy sources that contradict our existing beliefs. But we tend to forget that Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings. Physicist Richard Feynman And so, because of the weight we give to our beliefs, feelings, or biases, changing a person’s mind can’t be solved through formulaic approaches. We may need help seeing what we can’t or …

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