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Your world is going to get very wet in the coming days. At least I hope it will. There are wrong moves you could make that would keep things pretty dry, or else move you away from the imminent deluge. But I hope you will go with the cosmic flow and allow yourself to get […]

Once every few years, a panel of Hindu and Buddhist judges in Nepal chooses a new “living goddess,” a young girl who serves, until she reaches puberty, as an incarnation of the deity Taleju. One of the tests each candidate must pass in order to be eligible for the role is this: She must show […]

Most art critics long regarded Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) as a second-tier modern painter, writes Don Thompson in his book The $12 Million Stuffed Shark. But that estimation got upgraded in 2006, when one of Klimt’s paintings sold for $135 million. Art history was rewritten with a checkbook, says Thompson. According to my reading of the […]

While working on his first draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson hung out at a tavern in Philadelphia and drank beer. While contemplating how best to motivate you Libras to seek more autonomy and self-determination, I was strolling along a California beach sipping a piña colada and watching windsurfers. In the grand tradition […]

For the citizens of Switzerland, it’s immoral to absentmindedly pluck wildflowers out of the ground and throw them aside. That’s because this enlightened country has a Bill of Rights for plants. The 22-page document, drawn up by a panel of theologians, philosophers, geneticists, and lawyers, strongly urges respect for the feelings and dignity of all […]

Ninety-seven percent of all youth play video games, dwarfing the number of kids who participate in activities like basketball, track, and javelin throwing. That’s why I’m an advocate of making video games an Olympic sport. We should recognize where the real future of competitive sports lies. I mention this, Sagittarius, because it would be a […]

In the ancient Chinese book Poets’ Jade Splinters, Lu Ji says: “Avoid the morning flower in full blossom and gather instead evening buds which are not yet open.” He’s telling his fellow poets not to rely on what has already ripened, but rather to concentrate on what’s still in embryonic form. Lu Ji’s colleague Song […]

If you use a cell phone, you have in your possession a metal called coltan, a component that’s essential to the phone’s function. Most of the world’s coltan comes from the Congo, and is mined by Rwandans who survived their country’s genocide in the 1990s. They often work for militias that sell coltan illegally to […]

In The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce defines history as follows: “an account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools.” Bear that in mind as you interpret what I mean by the following: You won’t make history in the coming weeks. Instead, you will help […]

Kenneth Koch wrote the poem “The Boiling Water.” Read this excerpt: “A serious moment for the water is when it boils / And though one usually regards it merely as a convenience / To have the boiling water available for bath or table / Occasionally there is someone around who understands / The importance of […]