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Cancer Rates Today and Predictions For The Future
Research shows cancer could replace heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States by 2020Cancer is replacing heart disease as the leading cause of death in the United States. This fact may sound alarming — but what does it really mean? Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine looked at millions of American death records recorded between 2003 and 2015 and identified a clear transition underway. While heart…
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“Defending Your Life”
A cult classic comedy film exploring the meaning of life through a lens of dark humor and fantasyIn the arena of films exploring death and dying, I’m taking a look back at 1991, the year that gave us “Defending Your Life,” a high-concept romantic comedy written, directed, and starring the brilliant Albert Brooks. Brooks plays Daniel Miller, a 39- year-old, recently divorced Los Angeles advertising executive, who buys a new BMW and…
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“Seasons of Love”
What moments add up to your days, your years, your life?The morning the musical “Rent” was about to make its off-Broadway premiere, its creator, 35-year-old Jonathan Larson, died unexpectedly of an aortic dissection. The show, a rock-opera based on Puccini’s La Boheme, did go on that night— but not in front of a public audience as planned. The shocked cast mourned the loss of Larson by first,…
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Servers with Dementia Will Surprise You at This Tokyo Restaurant
The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders is wonderfully uniqueAre you an adventurous diner? Would you eat at a place called Cheesy Does it? How about Lord of the Fries? Poopsies Food and Drink? Would you consider dining at Baguetteaboutit? If your answer is “yes,” then you probably have a sense of humor, a spirit of adventure and a healthy appetite. The Restaurant of…
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Artificial Intelligence Outsmarts Past Practices that Predict Patient Outcomes
Google’s “Medical Brain” can even predict how long a hospital patient has to liveGoogle has been playing a guessing game with the human race for quite some time now. Its Smart Replies, which is built into Gmail, reads the message our colleague has sent to us and suggests a number of short, plausible answers. Google Photos uses artificial intelligence to start applying edits to photos we’ve taken even before…
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Yayoi Kusama’s Captivating Infinity Rooms
The Hirshhorn Museum shares four decades of the Japanese octogenarian’s workBorn in Matsumoto, Japan in 1929, Yayoi Kusama is an internationally recognized avant-garde artist whose work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including shows at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford England, The Center for International Contemporary Arts in New York, and, more recently, Tate Modern, London and the Whitney Museum of…
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What is the Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program? (Interview)
A conversation with Laurel Thom, a volunteer who visits the ill and the elderly with her Labradoodle, Homer, Part TwoToday SevenPonds is pleased to speak with Laurel Thom. Laurel and her Labradoodle, Homer, are a Pet Partners’ human-animal therapy team bringing comfort to the elderly and the ill. Pet Partners is an organization that facilitates animal-assisted interventions. Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and readability. All photos of Homer courtesy of Laurel…
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Woman Writes Love Poems Every Sunday to Her Husband Who Died
Adèle Fontaine has self-published the poems in a new bookA woman in Edmonton, Alberta, writes a love poem to her husband every Sunday. The act is, of course, wonderful in-and-of-itself. However, it’s even more touching considering that he died four years ago. Adèle Fontaine’s husband Normand died November 24, 2014, following complications of a stroke that occurred during open-heart surgery. The two were married…
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“Let Me Grieve but not Forever”
A book tracing a journey out of the darkness of lossLoss happens to someone else. Tragedy affects other people. Until it happens to you. So writes Verdell Davis in her book, “Let Me Grieve but not Forever: A Journey out of the Darkness of Loss,” first published in 1994 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. On June 28, 1987, four Christian men were returning in a private…
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