To what lengths should we use our right to free speech such that, in doing so, it would not impede the rights of others? In a world of differing points of view, we often find ourselves engaging in discourse about our values and the application of these in society.

Some conflict can be beneficial as it could lead to a synthesis of points between two opposing parties that would make everyone better off. That is what we call the process of negotiation and compromise.

But when two sides cannot agree and when one uses force to impose their convictions, then we must ask ourselves whether we should still tolerate their actions. This was the same conundrum that Austrian philosopher Karl Popper highlighted in his book "The Open Society and Its Enemies".

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You can learn many things from reading books. They can also be just as entertaining. And there are times when you see books that don't make any sense.

This list of how-to books on Amazon have very particular topics. From "How to Avoid Huge Ships" to "Fancy Coffins to Make Yourself", you will find some very peculiar DIY books. These matters probably wouldn't even cross your mind but just in case you need some information about them, you can go and grab your own copy.

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In an age of global warming and extensive human development, many animal species are being threatened to extinction. To make ourselves aware, here are some of the most endangered species in the US, one from each state. via Kottke

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Planning for the future seems like the most pragmatic way of preparing yourself for what might happen or even, for reaching a certain goal that you have set to achieve at a certain point in time.

But though we can prepare as much as we want, many know that you cannot be too prepared. At times, it might even look pointless to think ahead into the future but bear with us, there is some use to it.

In relation to this, here are some principles from Marina Gorbis of the Institute for the Future about future thinking. via Long Now

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Music affects and changes people just as much as it evolves and takes on different forms as people experiment the various dimensions of music.

One dimension that people like Brian Eno took notice and has explored is music's temporality or how it relates to time.

The tempo of music can make us feel different emotions from a slow, soothing melody to an upbeat, thrilling vibe. And Eno among others, found that by slowing down the tempo, one can experience another dimension of music.

This led to the exploration of ambient music. Other artists like John Cage and Paul H. Miller, inspired by the soundscape created by ambient music also delved into it.

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Dylan Tweney of Popula had a sudden turn in his life due to a midlife crisis, one that so far he says has made a positive impact on him.

Recently, he had been hanging out with a group of Buddhists and, under whose influence, he started on a path to sobriety.

Reasoning that it would make it difficult for him to meditate in the mornings, apart from being part of the five precepts, he stopped drinking. He recounts his experiences here.

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Many depictions of Siddhartha Gautama show him meditating and posing certain hand gestures called mudras that symbolize different ideas relating to events that happened on his way to enlightenment.

Though there are several mudras that different Buddhas and bodhisattvas use in their practice, quite a few have been known to specifically associate with Gautama Buddha or Shakyamuni.

Here are some of them, their meanings, and the context in which they were done.

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It wasn't really Swiss cheese but it was a material that researchers, who conducted the experiment to validate the theory about photonic calculus, liked to call "Swiss cheese".

“Our device contains a block of dielectric material that has a very specific distribution of air holes,” Engheta says. “Our team likes to call it ‘Swiss cheese.’” The Swiss cheese material is a kind of polystyrene plastic; its intricate shape is carved by a CNC milling machine.

“Controlling the interactions of electromagnetic waves with this Swiss cheese metastructure is the key to solving the equation,” Estakhri says. “Once the system is properly assembled, what you get out of the system is the solution to an integral equation.”

(Image credit: Nader Engheta/University of Pennsylvania)

Researchers have found that Jupiter was initially very distant from the sun and only after a span of several hundred thousand years was able to migrate closer into the solar system.

“This is the first time we have proof that Jupiter was formed a long way from the sun and then migrated to its current orbit. We found evidence of the migration in the Trojan asteroids orbiting close to Jupiter”, explains Simona Pirani, doctoral student in astronomy at Lund University, and the lead author of the study.

(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Being able to ride cross country on a train is possibly one of the most exhilarating adventures you could ever go on. And it would be a lot more enjoyable when you can do so in your own personal train. However, it may just be too much now.

Unless you’re a fictional Old West secret agent or a modern dictator who likes to travel in bulletproof style, being a private railcar owner never made a lot of practical sense.

They’re huge, heavy, and ruinously expensive to buy, maintain, and store, especially if you want to actually give it some exercise on the tracks. But recently, being a private railcar owner has become even harder.

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It's a cycle. Conspiracy theories tend to beget more conspiracy theories. It acts in the same manner as gossip. And we tend to drum up these stories in order to process the information we get from various sources, especially media.

Why we find an irresistible affinity to listen to and create conspiracy theories is a question that researchers wanted to dig deeper on.

Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist at the University of Miami, cataloged and coded more than 100,000 letters to the editor published in The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, and found the number of letters alleging and discussing conspiracy theories to have been pretty consistent over the last 120 years.

We try to find an explanation to the events that happen around us and being unconvinced, we turn to making vague connections about the details we hear in a certain story.

Why we love concocting half-baked stories with only a shred of truth and facts embellished with fantasies is a curious thing. And even if we could stop them from spreading, scientists think we wouldn't.

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Working temp jobs is one way of getting by especially if you are strapped for cash and just need some way to earn a few bucks without doing much effort.

Sam Dunnington had no other choice but engage in several of these jobs until he found one that was more interesting and fulfilling than his previous ones. He became a professional fake shopper.

These fake shoppers were instructed to create a fun atmosphere in a retail store that would encourage people to enter, shop, and make a purchase. Sam would soon find out how abysmal it was to walk around a store without having the means to make a purchase. This is his story.

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The discourse on artificial intelligence and whether it would be beneficial or harmful in the long run is something that we should all think about as we are gradually moving toward a society that relies heavily on AI.

If you have seen the movie "I, Robot" then you would know that the primary argument of Will Smith's character as to why he disliked robots was the absence of something like a sense of humanity.

Well, of course, they are robots. But with its power to process vast amounts of data, what it lacks is human values which help humans decide on what is important and what is not.

AI will not make decisions based on emotions or personal convictions. They only rely on data. Though it is efficient, it could be disadvantageous in certain situations.

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Many natural disasters are beyond our control. But there are some disasters that humans have had a hand at, influenced by the destructive activities we do.

In 2017, South Korea experienced their second worst earthquake in history but it wasn't a natural occurrence completely, as an investigation reveals that a geothermal plant in Pohang had caused it.

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What are lava crickets' secrets to living in a barren wasteland? That is what a group of researchers will try to find out as they set out for Kilauea's lava fields.

The problem with trying to study lava crickets is that they don't stay long in a certain area.

Led by Marlene Zuk, an entomologist at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, the team hopes to understand how these insects have come to be such effective colonists in a hostile environment.

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