You know what’s such a crock? WORRY!

Monday, August 27th Crock Cast at SuchACrock.com

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Did you know that worry can literally change your brain structure? According to Psychology Today and WebMD,  “Chronic Stress Can Damage Brain Structure and Connectivity”.

All about solutions, Katherine shares a couple of her favorite worry releasers. One of them can even reverse anxiety’s brain changes. Check out this Harvard University Gazette story to see how that works.

But you don’t have to go so far as brain renovation to get some relief from worry. Just take a look at human history! Katherine recommends checking out some Ken Burns for solace. From his Civil War documentary to the Oscar-winning piece he did on the Statue of Liberty, Burns uses narrative mastery and primary sources to bring history alive. History serves as our greatest teacher in times of turmoil. That’s because it shows predictable patterns in human behavior. This can thus help us better understand and accept the confusing and worrying events of today… at least Katherine thinks so.

What are you worried about anyway? At least we’re not getting hit by asteroids.

Did you know that asteroids are zipping by us on the reg?

In the last decade, we’ve had a visitor that flew by the earth at close range – closer than the moon. But what’s even more astonishing? In February of 2013, a meteor actually exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia.

The Chelyabinsk Meteor

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Exploding with the force of approximately 30 Hiroshimas, the Chelyabinsk event injured hundreds… Albeit mostly from broken glass.

The Chelyabinsk asteroid was only a few paces across, but flew at almost 30 kilometers per second. A larger one could cause catastrophic damage… But it would take one maybe two kilometers across to have “worldwide effects”.

From NASA: “Five Years after the Chelyabinsk Meteor: NASA Leads Efforts in Planetary Defense”

Meditation Can Be a Cure for Worry

Katherine stays remarkably chilltacular even while raising a family and working in NYC. How does she do it? Her easiest and most effective method, meditation, alleviates worry and can work for pretty much anyone. Best part is, you don’t need to get a Netflix account or even break a sweat to get all the perks.

So, Katherine shares her years of experience with meditation, and in particular, the Headspace app. We get it if the notion makes you groan. But fact is, meditation WORKS. Want more evidence? Even skeptical articles can’t ignore the profound and positive impact meditation has on those who practice.

Worry is SUCH A CROCK. I mean, we could be getting invaded by a biblical pestilence or something

From Ars Technica: “US invaded by savage tick that sucks animals dry, spawns without mating”

So it turns out that several US states — including our home state of New York — are reporting infestation from the Asian Longhorned Tick.

Each female tick is essentially a clone-bomb of itself, dropping as many as 2,000 eggs. Attacking in swarms, these ticks exsanguinate their victims. Those victims are generally livestock or pets today, but the ticks do carry viruses that can be lethal to humans.

Between near-miss asteroid strikes and infestations of insatiable insects, there are just too many terrible things out of our control to waste our energy, worrying… Don’t you think? Michael does, anyway.

Even with Michael’s worrisome stories, our tenth crockcast still has some major laughs and a silly/fun taste test to boot. Show your support and share the love! Subscribe at Such a Crock – Apple Podcasts then follow us on Instagram  and check out our funky fresh Twitter.

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Monday, August 20th. Our best crock yet!

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Are all deep thoughts “Such a Crock”? We hope not… Otherwise we might not have much of a podcast.

BUT! There are many excesses of “mental masturbation” that make philosophical and academic thinking seem distant from common sense. This week we look at some of them with a delightful mix of pragmatism and humor.

Antinatalism is Such a Crock

Michael starts off this week with a hoot he found in The New Yorker.

David Benetar is possibly the world’s most pessimistic philosopher. Benetar advocates for antinatalism, a philosophy imagining that we would all be better off if we had never been born. While Benetar would say death, like life, is problematic; we can collectively avoid a great deal of suffering by simply not having any more children.

Example excerpt:

We’re almost always hungry or thirsty. When we’re not, we must go to the bathroom. We often experience “thermal discomfort” —- we are too hot or too cold -— or are tired and unable to nap. We suffer from itches, allergies, and colds, menstrual pains or hot flashes. Life is a procession of “frustrations and irritations” —- waiting in traffic, standing in line, filling out forms. Forced to work, we often find our jobs exhausting; even those who enjoy their work may have professional aspirations that remain unfulfilled. Many lonely people remain single, while those who marry fight and divorce. People want to be, look, and feel younger, and yet they age relentlessly.

Cheery, huh?

“The Case for Not Being Born” at The New Yorker

“Fake Academia” is Such a Crock!

While Katherine’s own stories from her years as an academic are crock enough, at least her experience was real.

Unfortunately a new trend in academia is FAKE. People can buy their ways into academic journals or speaking positions at conferences for about six hundred bucks. As a test, a professor submitted a paper to a “fake academic” conference using the auto-complete feature of his smartphone.

Why might academics lower themselves to this kind of behavior? “Publish or perish.”

Professors-to-be need to publish their work and raise their profiles. Academic journals and conferences thus help them realize their ambitions… But are meant to be rigorous and lined with experts; not pay-to-play.

Learn more from “A Peek Inside the Strange World of Fake Academia” at The New York Times

“Teaching the Conflicts” is Such a Crock

In a sad turn, Michael talks about an academic model that focuses on the conflicts between different professors, rather than coming to any useful conclusions. The best example might be the student who aces an economics test and a poli sci test… By providing two wholly incompatible answers.

Michael first learned about the philosophy in a book about Pooh Bear; but the concept has since been appropriated by anti-evolution pseudoscientists an their “teaching the controversies” movement. Equal time, right?

Some basics about this from the University of Alberta

… What Makes Your Deep Thoughts so Special Anyway?

Thing is, deep thoughts are not really so precious – even children express them effectively. It could be argued that deep thoughts are best expressed in the most accessible way possible – as simple expressions about everyday stuff.

Captchas has me asking myself questions like…
Are banks stores?
Are stop signs street signs?
Am I a robot?

— gabrus (@Gabrus) August 17, 2018

And even sometimes from the mouths of children…

My 5yo, in the span of one hour:

“what if we are all having the same dream?”

“what is reality?”

“who makes days?”

— Quiara A Hudes (@quiarahudes) August 15, 2018

Katherine points out how deep thoughts happen in our everyday life to bring us laughter even as we ponder their meaning. Then she wraps it up with some gems from the eminent Jack Handy and his SNL genius from the days of yore.

We love bringing you Such a Crock each week. So, if you dig it too please subscribe at Such a Crock – Apple Podcasts and follow us on Instagram. Thank you for supporting the CrockCast!

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