Stream of Consciousness
THE PATIENT WHO SAW BEYOND
On August 8th, 1991, a 35-year-old singer named Pam Reynolds Lowery entered an operating room at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. She was not there for routine surgery. She was about to undergo one of the most extreme medical procedures ever performed on a human being... a standstill operation.
By Veil of Shadows2 months ago in Humans
Roughly 75% of your brain is water. AI-Generated.
The Brain's Hidden Hydration: Understanding Why Roughly 75% of Your Brain is Water Imagine your brain as a busy computer. It hums along with circuits firing non-stop. But without the right coolant, it overheats and crashes. That coolant? It's water. Your brain relies on it more than you think.
By Story silver book 2 months ago in Humans
How To Suck Up To People
Ah, sucking up to one’s superiors. A much needed skill in the societies of both today and yesterday, mindlessly pleasing those with power over you has many benefits. From grandiose dreams like fortune and fame to more mundane ones such as survival and general improvement of everyday circumstances, sucking up to those with power can accomplish many goals.
By Snarky Lisa2 months ago in Humans
The Pickharness Principle
There exists a 14th-century play by a long-dead and long-anonymous individual known only by his (or her, but it was the 14th century, so-) highly aggrandizing epithet, The Wakefield Master. They are called that because they are considered to have authored four plays in the Wakefield Cycle, a series of biblical stories brought to theatre in Medieval England. Obviously these plays are written quite masterfully, otherwise the Wakefield Master would be considered the Wakefield Schlub. In whichever case, I would like to talk about one in particular, The Killing of Abel, which I, when I was at the tender age of 19, read for the first time so as to write what my professor called a “grotesquely long” research paper that annoyed her to no end. Most notably, the Wakefield Master’s Killing of Abel stood out to me because it is the first and only time I have ever encountered my favorite word in the wild.
By Steven Christopher McKnight2 months ago in Humans
Rebuilding Reciprocity
Truth alone can heal what pride has broken. The war between men and women is not natural. It is manufactured by a culture that rewards resentment and mocks responsibility. Men are not the enemy of women, and women are not the enemy of men. The true enemy is the spirit of division that turned cooperation into competition. To rebuild what was lost, both must return to the principle that made civilization possible: reciprocity.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast2 months ago in Humans
The Decline of the Marriage Covenant
Marriage was once the sacred foundation of civilization. It was the covenant upon which families, communities, and moral order were built. It bound man and woman together in purpose, duty, and devotion under the authority of God. Today, that covenant has been reduced to a fragile contract of convenience. What was once holy has become negotiable. What was once permanent has become temporary. The decline of the marriage covenant is not only a personal tragedy. It is a national one.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast2 months ago in Humans
The Moral Economics of Love
Every human system, whether spiritual, political, or relational, is governed by incentives. People repeat what is rewarded and avoid what is punished. Love is no exception. It may sound sacred and emotional, but it still follows the law of cause and effect. When love is rewarded with gratitude, it grows. When it is met with entitlement, it dies. Modern society has rewritten the incentives of love, turning what was once an act of sacrifice into a transaction of convenience. The result is a generation that no longer knows how to give without gain.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast2 months ago in Humans
A Hate Letter to Personal Statements. Top Story - November 2025.
I find myself once again writing personal statements for grad school applications. Why I would do such a thing to myself again after so many years of not doing that, I have no clue. Perhaps I have a sadistic streak, an echo of my Catholic upbringing which manifests the typical emotional self-flagellation into a desire to apply to and inevitably get rejected from grad school. I could put applications in all day, don’t get me wrong. I love going over checklists and reaching out to old professors asking them sweetly if they would be so kind as to say nice things about me on the official record for Miscellaneous University and their Obscure College of the Performing Arts. But good God, dude, why do I have to write a damn personal statement for each and every one of these programs?
By Steven Christopher McKnight2 months ago in Humans
