BY RAND LEEB-DU TOIT – 28 OCT 2020

Shut up, I’m manifesting

Rebecca Jennings | Vox | 23 OCT 2020

Think your way to a better life. It worked for Rhonda Byrne twenty years ago. The Secret sold 30 million copies. Tik Tok teenagers are taking to it today with scripting: repeatedly writing down a wish until it emanates for them. Manifesting, the practice of thinking aspirational thoughts with the purpose of making them real, has skyrocketed as a Google search term 669% in 3 months (2,980 words)

Claire Wilcox: “When I look at clothing, I’m thinking about narratives’

Rachel Cooke | The Guardian | 24 OCT 2020

The fashion curator at the V&A, Claire Wilcox, sees herself as a highly unlikely fashion curator. She believes fashion exists ‘in the folds of time’ with its roots in the past, yet also centred on the present. Her memoir, Patch Work, is a book about the quiet, everyday secrets our clothes hold and at time also betray. What stories do they tell? While not fashionable herself and she does find some aspects troubling, she sees it as a complex subject, far more so that is generally realised. (2,830 words)

The Dementia that can be Cured

David Cox | The Guardian | 25 OCT 2020

Autoimmune dementia is caused by rogue autoantibodies rather than an underlying neurodegenerative disease. This means that the memory loss and confusion that can come on like ‘dementia on steroids’ with this subtype of dementia can be cured. By undergoing a plasma exchange patients can undergo a complete transformation. This is an exciting illustration of a broader trend towards more and more treatable diseases across the entire spectrum of neurological illnesses. (1,790 words)

No Implants Needed for Precise Control Deep Into The Brain

Megan Scudellari | IEEE Spectrum | 26 OCT 2020

A combination of light and genetic engineering, optogenetics, can be used to control brain cells and accurately switch them on and off without surgery. This technique has previously required implants, but can now be done less invasively. It has been used to map brain pathways, identify how complex behaviours are regulated, create false memories and has even been used to develop an optogenetic pacemaker. (740 words)

The Sources of Resilience

Marcus Buckingham | MIT Sloan Review | 27 OCT 2020

Our capacity for resilience is a key determination factor for how we survive and thrive in difficult times. Resilience is about our ability to bend in the face of a challenge and then bounce back. Studies were done to determine how to create a greater capacity for resilience, which arrived at a set of ten resilience statements which proved reliable in measuring thoughts and feelings associated with resilience. (2,700 words)

Afterthought:

Leverage is a force multiplier for your judgement

― Naval Ravikant

This post is only for subscribers of Conked, but please feel free forward it to any friends who deserve some entertainment today, especially if you think they might be interested in becoming Conked subscribers in the future.

Rand Leeb-du Toit, Conkerer

Editorial comments and conk suggestions to the Conkerer: rand@exoscalr.com

Registered office: 68 Dorset Drive, St Ives, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2075

Conked is an EXOscalr House venture.