Ruminations

Last week, Chana was visiting us before heading back home, and we were discussing a number of different ideas, which somehow led to my showing her The Book of Think. The essential theme of the book, meant for kids but amazing for adults, is to see that there's often another way of looking at something. With that in mind...

• My friend Memphis II sends out a periodic e-mail with interesting links and the like called A Southerner's Harangue. One of them today discusses making peace with cancer instead of fighting it: Instead of using treatments which are designed to kill the cancer but rarely do, we should focus on turning the cancer into something treatable - reducing tumors to the point where they can be lived with.
• He also discusses Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, meant to challenge Google. (Which it won't - Google will simply add in every feature Microsoft has that they don't right now, and they'll continue their domination.) It's actually not bad - it's getting good reviews on different aspects, especially health searches, travel cost comparisons, and the like. I was curious about the video searches after reading about it: You can preview a clip just by scrolling over it, which is great usually - just don't do it at work. I was most interested in testing their Maps features, and found that their aerial view is actually clearer than Google's; their traffic updates are better; their directions are clearer, include relevant information, and pop up each step more clearly. The main issue? It didn't recognize my address! It also doesn't have a Street View like Google yet.
• My friend Jay emailed me about the Cavs' loss:

  Ezzie- I may not be the first to come up with a consolation- but how bout the fact that regardless of whether you win a championship or not, you have the most exciting fun player to watch. you cant take that away from cleveland and i would just say to heck with championships just enjoy watching lebron.

  Definitely an interesting way of looking at things.
• Finally, via Eliezer StrongBad, DryBones on Obama's relationship with Israel and the Palestinians.
  

Enjoy!