Author: Overcoming Adversity | Buteau’s Odyssey

A student sits before a blank screen, cursor blinking. Ten years ago, she would have wrestled with ideas, crossed out sentences, rebuilt arguments from scratch. Today, she types a prompt and watches words appear as if by magic. The essay emerges polished and coherent, but something subtle has been lost in translation: the cumbersome essential process of thinking itself. Are the same technologies that promise to make us smarter making us less capable of the hard mental work that builds genuine understanding? Brains That Forget How to Remember Our minds work like muscles, growing stronger through resistance and weaker through…

Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain and head of the U.N. World Food Program, suffered a mild stroke this week and is said to be recovering “well,” according to a press release Thursday from the humanitarian organization. The statement said McCain, 71, is expected to make a “full recovery” and will be traveling from Rome, where the WFP is based, to Arizona to focus on her recuperation. She will return to her post after her doctors have cleared her in four to six weeks. Cindy McCain, 71, head of the U.N. World Food Program, and the widow of…

The City Council approved legislation Thursday to ramp up testing requirements of building cooling towers for Legionnaires’ Disease, after an outbreak in Harlem over the summer sickened 114 people, resulting in 90 hospitalizations and 7 deaths. Intro 1390-A would require building owners to test for the presence of Legionella microbes at least every month during warmer weather months when the cooling towers are in use. The bill further requires that all such testing be performed by, or under the supervision of, a “qualified” professional. City Council has approved legislation to speed up testing requirements of building cooling towers to determine…

Bijan Robinson has some words of wisdom for Arch Manning. Robinson, who also attended Texas for his college career, gave some advice to the struggling quarterback during “The Rich Eisen Show” on Tuesday, telling him to ignore the media. “I would say to continue to stay consistent,” Robinson told Rich Eisen when asked about Manning. “Stay consistent as much as possible. You know, don’t listen to the media, because the media can either steer you in the right direction or it’ll tarnish you for your career. “So, for him, always know that everybody has his back in that building. Coach…

Both Israel and Hamas have agreed to President Trump’s peace deal to end the two-year war in Gaza and release the remaining 48 hostages, including the bodies of two Americans. But that’s just the first step of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war and rebuild the Palestinian enclave. What comes next could be even harder, observers warn. “There’s always concerns. I mean, this is a terrorist organization,” Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sherren Haskel told The Post. “They didn’t just say yes to the Trump peace plan like Israel did, like all the Arab countries did, like the international community…

Best looks as NYC Comic Con takes over Javits Center Cosplayers navigate the subway on day one of New York Comic Con 2025. Getty Images for ReedPop Cosplayer Kailey Carpenter dresses as Superman. Kyle Stevens/Shutterstock Comic Con is a four-day event at the Javits Convention Center. Getty Images for ReedPop A cosplayer attends as Gamora, a character from Guardians of the Galaxy. Getty Images for ReedPop A Lara Croft cosplayer from Tomb Raider. Kyle Stevens/Shutterstock There are many fans dressed as their favorite character. Niyi Fote/TheNEWS2 via ZUMA / SplashNews.com An attendee dressed as X-Men’s Rogue. Kyle Stevens/Shutterstock Deadpool and…

Israel’s security cabinet voted late thursday to approve a cease-fire and hostage release agreement with Hamas, ending the war in Gaza after two years and two days of fighting. The cabinet’s approval of the Israel-Hamas agreement officially set the cease-fire process in motion after battle had been ongoing in the hours leading up to the vote. The Israel Defense Forces will next begin to pull back to agreed-upon lines in Gaza, and Hamas will release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 of whom remain alive — early next week. Mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, celebrates the deal. Getty Images…

In a post I wrote last April, I argued that use of cellphones by children and adolescents in the evening is a primary cause of sleep insufficiency. In 2023, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) convened an international panel of experts to assess the research evidence for effects of screen use across the lifespan from childhood into adulthood. The panel offered recommendations based on their findings in an article published in the August 2024 issue of the official journal of NSF, Sleep Health (Hartstein et al., 2024). Quoting from the abstract, “The Panel achieved consensus that (1) in general, screen use…

There was some party politics Wednesday night as the city’s top ballet dancers skipped their own bash as part of an industrial action campaign. Tutus were in a twist at the New York City Ballet’s glitzy Fall Gala at Lincoln Center as dancers and stage managers boycotted parts of the evening as they a battle company bosses over pay. As stars like Sarah Jessica Parker (who is vice chair of the NYCB’s board of directors), Julia Fox, Nicole Ari Parker, and Helena Christensen posed for pictures, the drama brewed backstage as the dancers revealed that they’d be skipping the red…

Rob Zombie’s Halloween II is a good movie.  That sentence alone ignites arguments all over the internet and at horror conventions coast to coast.  Most of the arguments aren’t even fans taking opposing sides; it’s the fact the movie shouldn’t have been made at all, in addition to its predecessor two years earlier. [This article […]