Kafka In Amadora

Certa vez, uma menina recebeu um brinquedo novo no dia do seu aniversário. Na manhã seguinte, uma amiga foi até a sua casa para brincar. Mas a menina não podia ficar com a amiga, pois tinha que sair com a mãe. A amiga pediu que a menina a deixasse ficar a brincar com seu brinquedo novo até que ela voltasse. Ela assim o fez. No entanto, quando voltou a casa, a amiga já não estava lá e o brinquedo estava partido! Ela ficou furiosa e quis ir à casa da amiga pedir explicações! Mas a mãe ponderou: "Lembras-te quando o teu sapato ficou sujo com lama? Querias o limpar imediatamente, mas a tua avó não deixou. Ela avisou para primeiro deixar o barro secar pois  depois ficaria mais fácil limpar. Ora, com a raiva é a mesma coisa. Deixe primeiro a raiva secar, depois resolva a situação." Mais tarde a campainha tocou: era a amiga, que pediu desculpa e tinha comprado um brinquedo novo para oferecer. A menina agradeceu e respondeu: Não faz mal, a minha raiva já secou!

"To the brain, information is its own reward, above and beyond whether it's useful," says Ming Hsu, a researcher at UC Berkeley, "and just as our brains like empty calories from junk food, they can overvalue information that makes us feel good but may not be useful." Psychologists have long seen curiosity as an innate motivation that can spur actions by itself. For example, sports fans might check the odds on a game even if they have no intention of ever betting. Sometimes, we want to know something, just to know. Ming Hsu found that information activated the regions of the brain specifically known to be involved in valuation, which are the same dopamine-producing reward areas activated by food, money, and many drugs. This was the case whether the information was useful, and changed the person's decisions, or not. While the research does not directly address overconsumption of digital information, the fact that information engages the brain's rewar

“Harrison Bergeron” is a dystopian science-fiction short story by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in October 1961. In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the Constitution dictate that all Americans are fully equal and not allowed to be smarter, better-looking or more physically able than anyone else. The Handicapper General’s agents enforce the equality laws, forcing citizens to wear “handicaps”: masks for those who are too beautiful, loud radios that disrupt thoughts inside the ears of intelligent people and heavy weights for the strong or athletic.

The former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Lord Macdonald, told BBC there was "a major problem in particular communities" of men viewing young White girls as trash and available for sex. The problem must be recognised "for what it is, which is profoundly racist crime," he added. Twenty young women had given evidence covering a period from 2011 to 2014. A total of 17 men and one woman have now been convicted of, or have admitted, charges including rape, supplying drugs and inciting prostitution. Those prosecuted were from the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, Iraqi, Iranian and Turkish communities and mainly British-born, with most living in the West End of Newcastle. [Jon Sharman (2017), The Independent ] White children from poor or working-class backgrounds are falling behind their peers from other ethnic groups in educational achievement, and they face the worst prospects for economic advancement, experts told UK lawmakers. Efforts to raise education

Ah, os paquetes, os navios-carvoeiros, os navios de vela! Vão rareando — ai de mim! — os navios de vela nos mares! E eu, que amo a civilização moderna, eu que beijo com a alma as máquinas, Eu o engenheiro, eu o civilizado, eu o educado no estrangeiro, Gostaria de ter outra vez ao pé da minha vista só veleiros e barcos de madeira, De não saber doutra vida marítima que a antiga vida dos mares! Porque os mares antigos são a Distância Absoluta, O Puro Longe, liberto do peso do Actual… E ah, como aqui tudo me lembra essa vida melhor, Esses mares, maiores, porque se navegava mais devagar. Esses mares, misteriosos, porque se sabia menos deles. [ODE MARÍTIMA, Álvaro de Campos, Fernando Pessoa]