Weekend Reading

  • The True Purpose of Microsoft Solitaire, Minesweeper, and FreeCell
    If you haven’t ever played Solitaire, Minesweeper, Hearts or FreeCell, it’s safe to say you’re in the minority. These simple Windows games have probably caused more lost worker hours than anything short of a worldwide coffee shortage.
    We’ve all been played! (geddit, played… ohh COME ON!)

  • The mild glory in being second best
    In a recent and quite gloriously camp interview with RuPaul, Graham Norton attempted to explain the Eurovision Song Contest. Ru is madly curious: does Britain ever win? What do you get when you win? “Oh, no,” says Norton, knowingly. “No one actually wants to win.”
    I’m competitive by nature but as I age, I mellow, like a fine wine that WANTS TO WIN AT EVERYTHING!! Mild glory? Pah!

  • A philosophy professor explains why you’re not entitled to your opinion
    Mike Pence has a tough job working for Donald Trump. When the president-elect lies, it often falls to his vice president-elect to defend him. For some, his defense can test the limits of logic.
    This is the type of article I wish I could get everyone to read and understand. Hey, I can dream.

  • What if we thought of monogamy as a spectrum?
    During my exploratory college years, I was often confused about my sexuality. I knew I had loved women, but found myself, drunkenly, in the arms of various men. I wasn’t sure why I was doing it.
    Interesting view on relationship fluidity, something that is becoming increasingly common.

  • A User’s Guide to Zadie Smith
    I recently joked on Twitter that I have a strict no-idols policy save for three people: Selena, Prince and Zadie Smith, though deep down I know this policy is less of a joke than I’d like to tell myself. The idol suspicion is straightforward enough.
    If you are a fan of her in any way, go read this now! If you aren’t, it’s still worth a look as she has some interesting viewpoints that more people need to hear.

  • “Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves, Should Enter the English Language
    There are some words out there that are brilliantly evocative and at the same time impossible to fully translate. Yiddish has the word shlimazl, which basically means a perpetually unlucky person. German has the word Backpfeifengesicht, which roughly means a face that is badly in need of a fist.
    *looks at shelves* SHUT UP!

  • 25 Short Books to Help You Meet Your 2016 Reading Challenge Goal
    Panic may be setting in for those of us racing toward the end of our 2016 Reading Challenge and falling a little short. Thankfully, there’s no need to fear or fail. Here’s a quick sampling of some fantastic speedy reads—all under 200 pages long.
    Posting for a friend…

  • San Francisco airport’s new therapy pig totally shows up all those therapy dogs at other airports
    That’s it. Air travel is just too stressful. Pre-Check is for the birds. Even a brigade of cute therapy airport dogs won’t cut it anymore. San Francisco International Airport thinks it has a solution: LiLou, a Juliana-breed therapy pig, who’s just shy of her second birthday.
    Offered without comment.

  • Going Bare Down There May Boost The Risk Of STDs
    Frequent removal of pubic hair is associated with an increased risk for herpes, syphilis and human papillomavirus, doctors at the University of California, San Francisco, reported Monday in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.
    Offered without comment (for different reasons).

  • Self-Control Is Just Empathy With Your Future Self
    The same part of the brain that allows us to step into the shoes of others also helps us restrain ourselves. You’ve likely seen the video before: a stream of kids, confronted with a single, alluring marshmallow. If they can resist eating it for 15 minutes, they’ll get two. Some do.
    This ‘clicked’ in my brain for sure. So much of what we are is wrapped up in who we (think) we are it’s scary.

  • ‘They Are Slaughtering Us Like Animals’
    You hear a murder scene before you see it: The desperate cries of a new widow. The piercing sirens of approaching police cars. The thud, thud, thud of the rain drumming on the pavement of a Manila alleyway — and on the back of Romeo Torres Fontanilla.
    This still doesn’t seem to be in the news, awful, terrifying, very graphic. Read with caution.

  • The Tina Fey Interview, by David Letterman
    THR’s Sherry Lansing Leadership Award honoree confesses to a fellow late-night pioneer her fear of bombing onstage (his response: “It’s like I have a twin”) as two comedy greats talk Trump’s feud with Alec Baldwin (“dignity of a seventh-grader”), the “endless anxiety” of parenting and more.
    Tina Fey for President anyone? David Letterman as VP?

  • The 100 Greatest Innovations Of 2016
    Each year, Popular Science picks the 100 greatest new innovations in science and technology to feature in our Best Of What’s New issue. These are the breakthroughs that will shape the future—and some may even make great Christmas presents.
    One for us geeks! I want ALL OF THEM!!!