Mondays are good days if you are lucky and love working.  Today we learned that scientists could have achieved a net energy gain using a fusion experiment.  If you grew up in the 80s, you knew that someday Doc Brown’s Mr. Fusion would come along, and all our energy needs would be met.  Fix climate change – go Back to the Future. 

Elsewhere in the news today, we talk about the art and science of conversation, festive cocktails, why Nick Cave goes to church, and an inspiring story about teaching creativity in schools.  Thanks for being here!

A link to an old TED Talk hit our radar recently; this story was originally underneath our Spotlight section and bumped up to Big Story due to its content.  The TED Talk is from 2006, given by Sir Ken Robinson, a creativity expert who previously led the British government’s 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education.  As a speaker, Robinson is smart and funny, a storyteller in his own right, and he brings a compelling message to the TED talk stage.

The talk was titled Do schools kill creativity? And focused on outdated education models formed a hundred years ago to produce workers.  Robinson has written several books, and we will further read and research what he’s been up to over the last fifteen-plus years since this TED Talk.  We assume he answered his question and has been working on transitioning the current education system into something better.

In the middle of the talk, at minute 8:16, according to the transcript, Robinson talks about how similar the education system is worldwide.  The hierarchy is; math and languages on top, humanities in the middle, and art on the bottom.  With his comedic timing, he asks why we don’t teach dance as often as we do the math. 

Over the last several years, education has been changing and slowly addressing some of the issues Robinson brings up.  Before the pandemic, small changes in curriculum, core class requirements, and even flexible seating were popping up in schools.  Post-pandemic will accelerate transformation based on technology that allows education from anywhere to expand.  The challenge we continue to ponder is whether or not increasing the availability of education in the arts will give us better artists.  In other words, does the fact that you have to fight to become an artist of any kind provide you with something education cannot?  In some cases, there is a push to make accommodations for everything and everyone.  If we remove adversity, what are you working for? 

We are asking the questions, willing to fail, and chasing originality with gusto.  Let’s continue this discussion.

Jessica Chastain is known for playing solid characters with the conviction to do what they believe is right.  From Zero Dark Thirty to Molly’s Game, she can control the scene like the best in the business.  The Guardian’s Emma Brockes interviews Chastain and highlights her process and motivation.  In the piece, The Guardian introduces the reader to some things the journalist does to get the interview and the most out of the discussion.  Brockes talks about the research she did before meeting with Chastain and a few areas she would have to dance around to respect her subject.  A little behind the scenes before the interview is an excellent way to set up the stage, although that might mean more to writers than general fans.

One of the most revealing aspects of the interview was when Chastain talked about reading Shakespeare in her car as a teenager.  While telling that story to Brockes, she became emotional and started to tear up.  It’s easy to see how that power and hold over her could translate into her performances on the big screen. 

Yesterday we mentioned the creative way Alex Cohen used the recently released ChatGPT app to build a weight loss plan.  We dug through the post again today, and it’s web search on steroids.  We experimented and did a side-by-side with Google Search and ChatGPT.  You can find all this information using Google and several free websites to help you fill out a diet plan with calorie restrictions, meal planning, a grocery list, and workouts.  The big difference was the time it took to find each website and fill out the forms to get the info. 

On the ChatGPT side, you can tweak and answer questions to get to the same place in a quarter of the time.  As we’ve discussed before, AI can save you time, but you need to have enough experience and knowledge to know that the weight loss plan you are looking at from ChatGPT makes sense. 

If the results you get from ChatGPT or Google tell you that eating fast food every day with exercising will help you achieve weight loss goals, you should head to the library.

Our first link to The Spruce Eats highlights a great list of holiday cocktails to cheer you up during the dark season or to spice up your holiday party.  The list of 20 Festive Christmas Cocktail Recipes is impressive for its variety and relative ease of creation.  The With A Shout holiday party will include the Christmas Margarita & Jones!

[Music Notes]

Words | Music | Art | Unknown

Deck the Halls.

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Thank you for spending a few minutes with us!

With A Shout Team