Stories By Van

With the Mueller report deposited (if not yet released), the right has set its sights on rooting out the “deep state” agents behind the alleged conspiracy to take down President Trump. They look for collusion behind the investigation of collusion. They dig for an illicit report buried even deeper than the report we cannot yet see. The idea of a deep state has been a hallmark of the Trump administration. But the ideas peddled by conservative outlets — including Fox News Channel’s insistence on purging a disloyal federal bureaucracy and Trump’s charge that the Justice Department is filled with “angry Democrats” — are not new. In the Nixon White House, ruminating about the threat of a deep state was common fodder. President Richard Nixon’s team sought to discredit, even destroy, political opponents, inside government and out, by pursuing them as un-American traitors. Nixon’s deep-statism illustrated the self-destructiveness undergirding conspiracism, and ultimately led to his res

Imagine yourself at your 10-year high school reunion, a long anticipated get-together for you and all your old friends. You haven’t seen many of them since graduation day, and naturally everyone is comparing notes on the lives they have lived since then. This puts you in a reflective mood, but not in a good way. Life has been unkind to you—compared to the lives of your friends, who have all been spared your travails. For days after the reunion, you can’t focus on anything but your difficulties, and the unfairness of it all. If you’re a brooder, that is. Someone else might have the same reunion experience, yet come away with a very different interpretation. Every life has its ups and downs, and yours is not unusually good or bad. That’s life. Brooding is a particularly toxic kind of rumination, and it’s strongly associated with clinical depression. Brooders see their own problems as debilitating, and this self-focus sabotages any real effort to make things better. It leads

The legend of the Leprechaun is one of the most enduring myths in Ireland and relates to a mystical type of fairy who is originally linked to the Tuatha De Danann of Irish mythology. According to fables, Leprechauns are tiny entities that normally take the form of an old man in a red or green coat. They are known to be mischievous little creatures that like to make shoes and store their gold coins in a pot of gold that is hidden at the end of a rainbow. If you happen to capture a Leprechaun, he will give you three wishes provided you let him go. Leprechaun Origin Most Leprechaun legends can be traced back to the 8th century tales of water spirits which were known as ‘luchorpán’ which means ‘small body’. It is said that these spirits merged with a household fairy and developed a penchant for heavy drinking so no cellar was safe! According to other researchers, the term Leprechaun actually comes from the Irish term ‘leath brogan’ which means shoemaker. It is inter

Society influences people by shaping their belief systems, controlling their behavior and determining their values. It sends these messages to individuals through the media, school curricula, community leaders, family and churches. Family Matters One way that society influences people is through laws and rules that determine how they should behave. For example, parents establish rules for their families that show the children proper behavior. They may insist that children wait their turn before speaking instead of interrupting other or that children must sit or lie on the furniture instead of jumping and climbing on it. When the children fail to follow the rules, they face consequences. In this way, the children learn how to adjust their behavior to fit in with their families and with others. The Rule of Law Similarly, governments create laws that direct behavior. State and federal governments establish speed limits for roads that tell people how fast they can

Has your mind ever hooked you with this question: "What do I want to do with my life?" Mine certainly has, and I can tell you: it’s a recipe for misery. The more you get hooked by this question, the more dissatisfied you become with the life you have. The problem is, this question is sooooo big, almost nobody can answer it (except for the tiny number of people who have some sort of grand calling or vision for their whole life, which is almost always to do with religion or politics). For most of us, this is not a useful question to ask; it’s just too big, too overwhelming. Here are some far more helpful questions to ask yourself: What do I want to do with … My evening My weekends My summer holiday The rest of this week The rest of this day This hour This next 10 minutes My body – today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year My job/work/career – today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year My finances – today, tomorrow, next week, next month

Fun theory tells us that novelty makes things interesting and making something fun makes it feel good. When something is both novel and fun, it becomes intrinsically rewarding and we love doing it. What’s more, it can have a lasting effect, because when you do something fun you not only feel good about what you’re doing at the time, but afterwards you want to do it again. Fun can be mildly addictive which makes it powerful stuff. Fun is so powerful it can turn mundane and apparently ‘boring’ things into attractive options. Just think back to when PokemonGo was released and how it incited all sorts of normally sedentary gamers to get out of their bedrooms and go running around looking for Pokémon. Without any nagging, cajoling, incentives or lectures on the benefits of getting out and exercising. That’s the power of fun. It makes people want to do things. Making 'Boring' Things Fun, The Piano Stairs Way It just goes to show that fun can be used for serious pur