Weekend Reading

  • Location Scouting for Wes Anderson
    I have another part-time job that nobody knows about. It doesn’t pay very well because … well, technically my “boss” doesn’t actually know I hired myself to do the job. But whenever he decides he needs me, I’m certainly ready and waiting.
    I love the look of the Wes Anderson world, if you do too, check this out.

  • The surprising number of American adults who think chocolate milk comes from brown cows
    Seven percent of all American adults believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, according to a nationally representative online survey commissioned by the Innovation Center of U.S. Dairy. If you do the math, that works out to 16.4 million misinformed, milk-drinking people.
    Something something guns something something Trump something…

  • How do you draw a circle? We analyzed 100,000 drawings to show how culture shapes our instincts
    Let’s do a quick exercise. Are you ready? Draw a circle in the box below. Don’t think too hard! Did you start at the top or bottom? Clockwise or counterclockwise? New data show that the way you draw a circle holds clues about where you come from.
    Start at top and draw clockwise.

  • Are You a Self-Interrupter?
    Our technology-rich world has proven to be both a blessing and a curse. While on the one hand we have access to information or people anywhere at any time, on the other hand we find our attention constantly drawn by the rich, multisensory, technological environments.
    I’m just leaving this here. Obviously I know no peoples who should read this (if they can stop checking FB long enough)

  • How Cats Used Humans to Conquer the World
    Ancient DNA from 209 cats over 9,000 years tell the story of their dispersal. Sometime around the invention of agriculture, the cats came crawling. It was mice and rats, probably, that attracted the wild felines. The rats came because of stores of grain, made possible by human agriculture.
    I KNEW IT!!

  • Dave Grohl’s daughter playing the drums with her dad in Iceland june 16th 2017
    In no surprise to anyone, Dave Grohl’s daughter is also a kick ass human being

  • Left handed people are more likely to be geniuses
    The belief that there is a link between talent and left-handedness has a long history. Leonardo da Vinci was left-handed. So were Mark Twain, Mozart, Marie Curie, Nicola Tesla and Aristotle.
    Hmmm I can type with both hands, does that count?

  • The 10 Most Depressing Radiohead Songs According to Data Science: Hear the Songs That Ranked Highest in a Researcher’s “Gloom Index”
    One of my favorite music-themed comedy sketches of recent years features a support group of Radiohead fans flummoxed and disappointed by the band’s post-Ok Computer output.
    I don’t think depressing is the right word. Yes, some of their songs instil melancholy but not all of them.

  • The myth of the ‘cool tech girl’
    In my early twenties I tried out the ‘cool tech girl’ thing. When you’re early in your career and one of the only women at a startup, it’s easy to fall in to the ‘cool girl in tech’ trap.
    One for all my IT friends, especially the ‘guys’ to read.

  • Dear Twitter: FWIW, this is how you spell “democracy”: EMPATHY
    When I caught the story of the mass shooting yesterday (and yes, I know, in my country, we need to specify which mass shooting yesterday, so I mean the mass shooting of Republican congressmen in Virginia, not the one in San Francisco, or any of the other 154 that have happened so far this year)
    Empathy is not a word that makes headlines. I wish it was.

  • When Totally Normal Books About Girls Turned into ‘Beach Reads’
    As a book critic, I am no stranger to listicles. The quickest way to condense and transmit recommendations, the listicle has been around almost as long as publications have, but the internet is a particularly potent vehicle for randomly numbered collections of items around a theme.
    Not sure if I agree/disagree, or like/dislike the general sentiment in this.

  • The Dark And Wild Fluorescence Of Lorde’s ‘Melodrama’
    In the most shredded moment off Lorde’s new record, Melodrama, she sounds nearly defeated. It’s just four words, the opening line of “Liability,” the second single off her sophomore album, and arguably the best bit of songwriting of her entire, still-brief career.
    Is this my album of the summer? It might be…

  • How An Entire Nation Became Russia’s Test Lab for Cyberwar
    The clocks read zero when the lights went out. It was a Saturday night last December, and Oleksii Yasinsky was sitting on the couch with his wife and teenage son in the living room of their Kiev apartment.
    Scary. Tht dystopian future is here. Now.

  • What I Learned About Interruption from Talk Radio
    But this, this thing where a man simply doesn’t let you get a word in edgewise, this doesn’t happen to me much. Sure, I’ve had my fair share of mansplainers (my favorite being a clone of Solnit’s book-explainer, the man who explained my own podcast to me).
    I wish I didn’t even have to share this article. But I do. How to interrupt people.

  • 10 Glasgow restaurants that deserve a Michelin star
    Despite having a flourishing foodie scene, Glasgow isn’t currently home to any Michelin starred restaurants. Here are a few of the city’s best eateries which are deserving of being awarded this coveted accolade.
    8 down, 2 to go!

  • Wait for the second date to reveal you’re poly?
    The last time I reported on a Dan Savage column a furious reader unsubscribed, writing, I have no quibble with his poly advice. However, Dan is a pretty bigoted dude across multiple axis, and has been known to harrass and denigrate employees that do not meet his standards for attractiveness.
    Is waiting to see if there is a connection (enough for a second date) also lying about your relationship status?

  • Why Your Brain Hates Other People
    As a kid, I saw the 1968 version of Planet of the Apes. As a future primatologist, I was mesmerized. Years later I discovered an anecdote about its filming: At lunchtime, the people playing chimps and those playing gorillas ate in separate groups.
    Not my circus…

  • Forget fidget spinners, it’s the toothpick crossbow that is worrying parents
    Handheld mini-crossbows that can fire needles and nails are the latest must-have toy in China but anxious parents want them banned before a young child gets blinded or worse.
    This is just ‘tech’… rubber band and a drawing pin, right?