The Power of Writing by Hand

Here’s where to see groups of monarch butterflies in Richardson

Kaleidoscopes (yes that’s the official term for a group of butterflies) of monarchs are continuing to make their annual spring migration from Mexico to North Texas this month and Richardson’s five dedicated butterfly gardens where you can view them.

The city’s butterfly gardens are located in the Durham, Collins, Berkner, Yale and Prairie Creek parks. Butterfly-friendly plants are also found in the landscaping of CityLine and Fox Creek parks.

Despite the harsh winter weather in February, the plants are flourishing, the city said in a prepared statement.

Richardson participates in the National Wildlife Federation’s Mayor’s Monarch Pledge, which is designed to help preserve the orange-and-black winged beauties. Pledge communities commit to create habitat for the monarch butterfly and other pollinators, and to educate residents about how they can make a difference at home, the city said.

Richardson joined the program in 2015 and since then the parks and recreation department has planted butterfly-friendly native plants in all new parks.

Parents Are Sacrificing Their Social Lives on the Altar of Intensive Parenting

The Repressive Politics of Emotional Intelligence

The Simple Dutch Cure for Stress

How to Love: Legendary Zen Buddhist Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh on Mastering the Art of “Interbeing”

Brain wifi

Instead of a code encrypted in the wiring of our neurons, could consciousness reside in the brain’s electromagnetic field?

How To Make Pita Bread at Home

I went through a home made bread phase. It was fun and delicious but the carbs almost killed me. Maybe pitas – small and unassuming – might be doable.

Everything You Need to Know About Sleeping Pads

How to think like a detective

The best detectives seem to have almost supernatural insight, but their cognitive toolkit is one that anybody can use

Aria Code

Writing in pencil > writing in pen

Phone call anxiety: why so many of us have it, and how to get over it

I DO NOT like to talk on the phone. I get so stressed when I have to call I have trouble dialing right. When my phone rings, I jump and I feel the panic rising (although now its usually junk calls). I know and see people talking on the phone for hours and don’t understand it. When I stop at a light on the way home and watch the cars going by and more than half are on their phones – I wonder, “Who the hell are they talking to?”

Brain fog: how trauma, uncertainty and isolation have affected our minds and memory

After a year of lockdown, many of us are finding it hard to think clearly, or remember what happened when. Neuroscientists and behavioural experts explain why

Oh, and I thought I was just getting old.

Our Brain Typically Overlooks This Brilliant Problem-Solving Strategy

People often limit their creativity by continually adding new features to a design rather than removing existing ones

The Stoic Antidote to Frustration: Marcus Aurelius on How to Keep Your Mental Composure and Emotional Equanimity When People Let You Down

The art of tempering your fury with an infuriating existential truth.

I tried making a ‘to-don’t list’ instead of a to-do list. Here’s what I learned

For the last two weeks, I’ve been using “to-don’t” list, which sounds like an inverse to a to-do list, but is a bit more exacting. In essence, the list is a curated collection of activities that can derail your energy and motivation. They’re often alluring but end up creating a distracting spiral, sapping you of your most productive hours.

Office Reopening Anxiety

“I Do Not Trust People in the Same Way and I Don’t Think I Ever Will Again”

Workers are really, really not ready for offices to reopen.

The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

Ángel León made his name serving innovative seafood. But then he discovered something in the seagrass that could transform our understanding of the sea itself – as a vast garden

Anxiety Is in Your Body, Not Your Mind

Why you might want to stop talking about your anxiety and try this instead

Ian Fleming Explains How to Write a Thriller

“You have to get the reader to turn over the page.”

How Fit Can You Get From Just Walking? 

Walking is good for you, obviously. But can it whip you into shape?

Lessons From a ‘Local Food’ Scam Artist

Working summers at an authentically quaint roadside produce stand, a teenage salesperson is schooled in the not-so-subtle art of how to con a foodie from the big city.

How Crisco toppled lard – and made Americans believers in industrial food

Perhaps you’ll unearth a can of Crisco for the holiday baking season. If so, you’ll be one of millions of Americans who have, for generations, used it to make cookies, cakes, pie crusts and more.

But for all Crisco’s popularity, what exactly is that thick, white substance in the can?

If you’re not sure, you’re not alone.

Cycling is ten times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities

Electric cars aren’t truly zero-carbon – mining the raw materials for their batteries, manufacturing them and generating the electricity they run on produces emissions.

Construction kicks off soon on Plano’s $1 billion Collin Creek redevelopment

I remember in 1981, when I first moved to Dallas, driving all the way from Oak Cliff to Plano in horrible evening traffic (it took over an hour) to visit this brand-spanking new wonder of a mall that had just been built – Collin Creek. Now its gone. I think I actually shopped there twice in those forty years, even though I’ve lived very close to it.