Tag Archives: Wall Street Journal

This is an odd one

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Rotary phone
Do you remember when phones looked like this? You might not be old enough, but I do.

I should file this under Public Service Announcement:

An article in the Wall Street Journal caught my attention. It was about iphones and a setting default that is “on.” It’s something I didn’t even know was on my phone. And I looked. Yes, it was on. I turned it off.

Here’s an excerpt:

Apple Turned On a Buried iPhone Setting. You Might Want It Off.

The ‘Discoverable by Others’ switch is on by default. Here’s what it does—and why it isn’t as scary as it sounds. By Joanna Stern

This creepy-sounding setting is leading people to think their name and location are being shared without their knowledge or consent. That’s not the case, says Apple, but you might want to turn it off anyway.

Last year, as a part of iOS 17.2, Apple released the Journal app. You can use it to jot down personal notes about your day, your life, what inspires you. You know, journal-y things.

You can turn on Journaling Suggestions. This recommends topics to write about based on things your phone (but not Apple) knows about you—music you’ve listened to, people you’ve called or messaged, photos you’ve recently taken, places you’ve visited, etc. You decide if you want to turn this on. When you first launch the Journal app, it will prompt you to do that. Those suggestions aren’t ever shared with Apple.

Here’s where it gets weird. When you go into Settings > Privacy & Security > Journaling Suggestions, you’ll see that Discoverable by Others is enabled by default—even if you never turned on suggestions. Under the setting it says, “Allow others to detect you are nearby to help prioritize their suggestions.”

https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/apple-iphone-discoverable-by-others-journaling-suggestions-9d63086d?mod=wsjhp_columnists_pos3

I don’t quite get what this function does. The reporter of this story Stern reached out to Apple. They said it gives more suggestions on what to journal about, but doesn’t share info with others. That’s reassuring, but also confusing. What is Discoverable by Others anyway?

Were you aware of this journaling function? Or Discoverable by Others? Have you used it?

I wrote about weird coincidences on my iphone a few weeks ago HERE.

A Day of Rest

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A view from our walk.
View of the desert.

I had several plans for my birthday. I signed up for lap swimming at the YMCA. I was planning on going to my favorite cafe. I wanted to go for a hike.

But when I got up, I felt like doing nothing. I decided I’d like to sit around and read for my birthday. I was reading the Wall Street Journal and I ran across two interesting articles about doing nothing. I had no idea that my new birthday plans were trending.

One article was written by Ben Zimmer and was about Hurkle Durkle:

The unpredictable pathways of language usage never cease to amaze. Who could have foreseen that one of the trendiest words of 2024 would be an old Scottish term for lounging around in bed?

That word is the delightfully reduplicative “hurkle-durkle,” which has taken TikTok and other social media outlets by storm. As defined by the Dictionary of the Scots Language, it’s a verb meaning “to lie in bed or lounge about when one should be up and about.” That dictionary cites an older one published in 1825 by John Jamieson, who reported that the word came from the dialect spoken in Fife, a peninsula in eastern Scotland.

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/to-hurkle-durkle-or-lounge-in-bed-is-a-tiktok-trend-thats-200-years-old-ad9e7c52?mod=lifestyle_lead_pos5

The other was about a new vacation trend doing nothing on vacation called:

The Rise of the Do-Nothing Vacation

More travelers say they want to make relaxation their top priority while on holiday

By Allison Pohle and Rachel Wolfe

The pendulum is swinging away from jam-packed trips and Instagram-worthy adventures and toward vacations with little to write home about beyond a pretty sunset and a cold drink.

More vacationers say they want a true break to rest and recharge during their time off. Their do-nothing vacations have no schedule. These aren’t beach trips that involve surfing or kayaking, or foodie tours requiring hours of research—and decision fatigue.

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/travel/vacation-trends-resorts-all-inclusive-relax-ce3f9026?mod=lifestyle_trendingnow_article_pos2

The third article I read was about a mommy blogger who was making seven figures by Sara Ashley O’Brien:

She Was a Mommy Blogger. Now She’s Covering Trump and Kennedy on the Trail—and Making a Fortune.

Jessica Reed Kraus built a massive following by sharing celebrity gossip on Instagram. Now she’s on the campaign trail and running a growing media brand.

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.—For a year during the pandemic, Jessica Reed Kraus and her husband, Mike, rented out the two-room hideaway behind their ranch-style home to help support their family of six.

Then came Depp v. Heard. 

Kraus, a stay-at-home mom who’d built a following as a lifestyle blogger, was part of the frenzy surrounding the 2022 defamation trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. She shared salacious stories from anonymous sources about Heard’s personal life and quotes from a phone call she said she received from Depp. Kraus told her followers she had once believed the actor was abusive, as Heard’s lawyers alleged in court. But now, she was taking his side. 

https://www.wsj.com/style/jessica-reed-kraus-house-inhabit-rfk-jr-trump-kennedy-newsletter-e17077c4?mod=lifestyle_lead_pos1

Wait a minute. I was a mommy blogger. Why didn’t I make seven figures? Maybe because I’d rather do nothing.

Have you ever heard of hurkle durkle?

Why do you think doing nothing is a new trend?

Do you ever feel the need for a day off of activities?

Struggling with a book

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Books I’ve read or am reading during my spree with Lisa See.

I’m struggling to finish “Peony in Love.” I zipped through the other books pictured above as well as “Dreams of Joy,” “Shanghai Girls” and “Flower Net.” I wonder if my problem with “Peony” is due to the power of suggestion. One of my close friends listens to audio books while she works. She sews for interior designers and creates duvets, curtains, throw pillows, sailboat sail covers and furniture slipcovers.

She gets through quite a lot of books during her working hours. She recommended “China Dolls” and “The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.” But she did add she couldn’t get into “Peony in Love.”

Is that little nugget of info tucked away in my brain? Or is it the story I don’t like? (It’s about a girl who is lovesick and quits eating until she dies. Then she hovers around her family trying to figure out how to come back to life.)

I read an article in the Wall Street Journal by Jason Gay this week called:

Is Watching a Movie the New Reading a Book?

In a zero attention span world, spending two hours locked in on a film feels like a trip to the spa

Here’s an excerpt:

My chest puffed with pride. I watched a whole movie, in one night, all by myself. No interruptions, no pauses, no iPhone diversions, no flipping channels, not even 30 minutes of falling asleep on the couch, drooling into a pillow and dreaming that I was an astronaut pizza maker who played point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

It was a revelation. You know what watching a movie felt like to my easily-distracted hamster brain? It felt like an accomplishment. It felt smart. It felt like a spa day for my skull. It felt like…finishing a book. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cost-of-biden-family-advice-700d12cf?mod=hp_opin_pos_5#cxrecs_s

I agree with the WSJ writer that our attention spans have shortened. I can find myself flipping through texts, X messages and assorted other distractions online. It’s much easier than reading an entire book – or sitting through an entire movie. I prefer reading to watching TV, though. I also like listening to podcasts.

Have you read “Peony in Love?” Did you like it?

Do you think your attention span has changed through the past years?

Do you like to watch entire movies or do find yourself distracted like me?

Interesting interview with a favorite author

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Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors. I enjoyed her book “The Dutch House.”

I read an interview of Ann Patchett in the Wall Street Journal by Lane Florsheim called

“Ann Patchett Shares Her Reading Resolutions for 2024“

The author, most recently of ‘Tom Lake,’ talks about her to-be-read pile, running her beloved Nashville bookstore and when she gets her best writing done

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/ann-patchett-tom-lake-nashville-35f2415b?mod=arts-culture_trendingnow_article_pos5

I learned some interesting facts about this author including that she owns a bookstore in Nashville. She writes on a treadmill desk. (I never heard of that before). She also has a tip for writers to work during their most productive time of day. She said it’s different for everyone and we all know when it is. She doesn’t have a set number of words she must write each day or a set schedule.

Of her nine novels, two children’s books and five nonfiction books, I’m not a fan of all the ones I’ve read. I admire how she has such diversity in her writing. Her fiction books take on different tones, styles and subject matters. That’s probably why I absolutely love some — and others not so much. I’ve actually put down one or two and didn’t finish them. On the other hand, her writing speaks to me and I find some of her books are outstanding.

Another one of my favorites by Ann Patchett.

Here’s a snippet from the WSJ article:

Reporter: I read that you wrote “Tom Lake,” in its entirety, on a treadmill desk. How was that experience, and what were those hours like? 

Ann Patchett: I loved it. I would go to work around 9 a.m. I would stay on the treadmill anywhere from two to three hours at 1.5 [miles per hour], which is slow. Usually, I would get off when my feet hurt, when I would just start to think, “Oh. I’m tired.” Then I would get off, and I would not go back to the book for the rest of the day. 

I always think about Liz Gilbert. All great advice comes from Elizabeth Gilbert. That’s what I should say. She says in her book “Big Magic” that everybody has two hours a day in which you’re your best, and everybody knows when those hours are. She said, “Don’t spend those hours answering email.” One of the things that makes the treadmill desk so great is the fact that the two things that I want to do in the morning when I get up are write and exercise. I’m like, “Oh. Look. I’ve done them both. That’s great.”

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/ann-patchett-tom-lake-nashville-35f2415b?mod=arts-culture_trendingnow_article_pos5

I also learned that she used to write for Bridal Guide and wrote so many articles for issues that they changed her byline for some so it didn’t look like she wrote the entire magazine. In one article she asked for wedding advice and shared a tip from her stepmother:

“[She] told me that the brain naturally focuses on what is wrong, what it doesn’t like—towels on the floor, or somebody who interrupts, or somebody who’s late,” Patchett, 59, says. “And so then, every time your partner does that, it’s just like hitting a gong.” The good things, by contrast, often go unnoticed or forgotten, her stepmother told her. “She said, ‘It is possible, with practice and discipline, to flip the equation.’” 

Are you an Ann Patchett fan? What are some of her books you like?
Who are your favorite authors?

When were you picked?

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Me and my brother, back in the day.

There was an article in the Lifestyle section of the Wall Street Journal that captured my interest. It was written by Rich Cohen and called:

We Never Really Escape the Gym-Class Draft

Does the childhood fear of being picked last explain our insecurities later in life?

For some reason, I was always picked last or second to last in PE — whether it was Red Rover, dodgeball, volleyball or anything. How depressing is that? I am somewhat athletic. I started skiing at age two. I could swim. I took ballet. Yet, my school chums saw me as someone they didn’t want on their team. I think it was my thick glasses. I was terribly near-sighted from birth.

From the article:

It’s the sort of alienation you experience in junior high school but feel forever. Being just another number among a pool of available picks, you see yourself, maybe for the first time, through the cold eyes of an appraiser. You are no more than a body in the mind of this person, an object with too many deficiencies to catalog: chubby, knock-kneed, weak-armed, timid, poorly coordinated, scared of the ball, slow.

You will also feel yourself, for the first time, trapped in a body, isolated from even your closest friends, of whom you might think: Oh, dear lord, as bad as it gets, as long as it takes, let me be taken before him.

What’s worse, you know that you’re being judged on all the wrong qualities, in all the wrong ways. Yeah, I’m slow, you think as round three gives way to round four. I can’t throw very hard, and I don’t move too quick. But there’s one thing I know how to do well: kick ass at dodgeball.

Apparently, this picking by your peers is no longer allowed. Of course most things that make kids uncomfortable is no longer allowed.

When were you picked? Do you think they should still allowing choosing teams by peers? Why or why not?

Decide how you feel

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A beach walk with my husband in the distance during our recent vacation.

I found a powerful article written by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey in the Wall Street Journal called The Power to Decide How You Feel. I think it’s exactly what I needed to read.

Here’s an excerpt:

Feelings, in the enterprise of your life, are like weather to a construction company. If it rains or snows or is unseasonably hot, it affects the ability to get work done. But the right response is not trying to change the weather (which would be impossible) or wishing the weather were different (which doesn’t help). It is having contingency plans in place for bad weather, being ready, and managing projects in a way that is appropriate to the conditions on a given day.

The process of managing this weather is called metacognition. Metacognition (which technically means “thinking about thinking”) is the act of experiencing your emotions consciously, separating them from your behavior, and refusing to be controlled by them. Metacognition begins with understanding that emotions are signals to your conscious brain that something is going on that requires your attention and action. That’s all they are. Your conscious brain, if you choose to use it, gets to decide how you will respond to them.

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/the-power-to-decide-how-you-feel-9550c0c7?mod=lifestyle_lead_pos4

The idea in this article is that we can separate our thoughts and view them as though the emotions are happening to someone else. What would we tell them to do? If they feel trapped in a job they don’t like, they can make a change.

For example, let’s imagine you have a job that is really bringing you down. Let’s say you are bored and stressed, and your boss isn’t competent. You come home every day tired and frustrated, and you wind up drinking too much and watching a lot of dumb television to distract your mind. Tomorrow, try a new tactic. During the day, take a few minutes every hour or so, and ask, “How am I feeling?” Jot it down. Then after work, journal your experiences and feelings over the course of the day. Also write down how you responded to these feelings, and which responses were more and less constructive.

Do this for two weeks, and you will find you are feeling more in control and acting in more productive ways. You will also be able to start seeing how you can manage your outside environment better, perhaps making a timeline to update your résumé and asking a few people for job market advice, and then you might actually start looking for something new.

Thinking about thinking, separating ourselves from emotional outbursts or feelings sounds like a positive approach. I do think journaling has helped me through the years to feel more grounded.

Have you heard about metacognition before? What are your thoughts about “thinking about thinking?”

Views and things on my mind

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Olive got into my suitcase while I was unpacking and began scratching and biting it. I got her message loud and clear.

After a week home, I’m starting to feel settled. It’s been a super busy week, filled with long to do lists. What is helping me avoid gripping anxiety is morning walks, a few swims at the YMCA and having Olive fall asleep on my lap.

I read an article about cancer the other day in the Wall Street Journal. I learned something new that I feel is valuable to share. Cancer runs in families.

The article was called “Cancer Runs in Families. Too Few Are Getting Tested.”

by Brianna Abbott:

Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider knew what her father’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis meant for his future. She didn’t realize what it meant for her own cancer risk. 

Steven Ungerleider’s doctors ordered genetic testing in 2022 to see if his cancer might respond to a new treatment. They found he had a mutation in the BRCA2 gene, which raises risks for cancers including pancreatic, breast and ovarian—and can be passed from parents to children. 

Ungerleider and her sister got tested and discovered they had the same mutation. 

“I had no idea that this was possible for me,” said Ungerleider, 43, an internal medicine doctor and founder of End Well, a nonprofit focused on end-of-life care. 

Doctors are recommending genetic tests to more cancer patients and their families. Testing costs have dropped, and the results are helping doctors choose newer targeted drugs and encourage relatives to confront their own cancer risk. 

“We can test you for dozens of genes at the same time, and it’s going to influence your treatment,” said Dr. Jewel Samadder, co-leader of the Office of Precision Medicine at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Phoenix.

I’ve had cancer on my mind, obviously after my future DIL was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer and has undergone successful surgery. What this article told me is all too clear. In my DIL’s family several of her sisters were diagnosed and treated for cancer in their 20s and 30s.

I think it would be wise if you have had family members with cancer, to get tested, too.

Here’s more from the article:

Some 10% of cancers are associated with genetic inheritance, including the BRCA mutations linked to breast and ovarian cancer risk in the 1990s. BRCA mutations have since been linked to other cancers, and dozens more gene variations have been shown to raise cancer risks. 

Tests that hunt for these variations using blood or saliva samples cost around $250 out-of-pocket, down from around $4,000 a decade ago. 

Doctors have broadened guidelines for who should get tested, including all patients with ovarian, metastatic prostate and pancreatic cancer and some with colorectal and breast. Some are pushing for universal testing after some studies showed that around half of genetic cancer links are missed under standard testing guidance. 

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/cancer-runs-in-families-too-few-are-getting-tested-4e14b8a6?mod=Searchresults_pos2&page=1

Here’s a beauty of a barrel cactus in bloom outside my window.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Screen-Shot-2023-09-06-at-11.59.36-AM-606x1024.png

This roadrunner found a perch to watch the quails in our backyard.

What are your thoughts about cancer running in families? Would you get tested if your parents or siblings had cancer? Would you recommend friends to have testing done?