Weekend Reading

  • In Defense of Rachel and Joey (with tweets)
    A well reasoned argument about why Joey should’ve ended up with Rachel (and why Ross is an asshole). 100 tweets in Storify format.
    Interesting reading this so long after Friends aired. I’m more aware now than then and WOW, Ross is a dick.
  • Sorry, Google memo man: women were in tech long before you
    James Damore’s controversial manifesto says women are genetically unsuited to tech roles. Doesn’t he know they were the original computer programmers? We’ve all met him.
    Men are dicks.
  • Why Are There No New Major Religions?
    The story of one imprisoned prophet illustrates the difficulties of getting a “baby religion” off the ground. Cipinang prison stands like a huge fortress in East Jakarta, its massive walls and guard towers separating the city’s bustling traffic from the criminals held within its gates.
    Isn’t social media the new religion? Nuances abound but this is fascinating (for a non-believer)
  • The Loveliest Living Fossil
    The ocean of ideas, teeming with words and numbers, is underpinned by a vast tectonic plate that’s powerfully transforming the language. It’s the force that gives rise to new continents of meaning, while it inters the remains of countless extinct species.
    This weeks ‘If you only read one post read this’ entry.
  • Letter of Recommendation: Gum
    Chewing gum usually comes in two forms, either small, pillow-shaped pellets or flat, oblong sticks.
    Juicy Fruit though, yay or nay?
  • I’m a Google Manufacturing Robot and I Believe Humans Are Biologically Unfit to Have Jobs in Tech
    I, a manufacturing robot at Google Factory C4.7, value diversity and inclusion. I also do not deny that machines are sometimes given preference to humans in the workplace. All I’m suggesting in this document is that humans’ underrepresentation in tech is not due to discrimination.
    Ha ha ha… except this is an article from the year 2076 and it’s ALL REAL.
  • MIT scientists created “living” jewelry that moves
    Scientists from the MIT Media Lab believe that future jewelry should not be static, but “living objects on the body.” So they developed Kino, a line of jewelry that can move and interact with the environment.
    AKA tiny little robot death ninjas that will kill you in your sleep.
  • How to turn off Facebook Memories
    Sadly, not all the memories Facebook throws up in its On This Day feature are as happy as the one in the publicity photo above. Inspired by this incredibly sad post, we want to show you how to turn off Facebook Memories if you don’t want to see the posts anymore.
    Useful for many reasons.
  • A comprehensive guide to the new science of treating lower back pain
    Cathryn Jakobson Ramin’s back pain started when she was 16, on the day she flew off her horse and landed on her right hip. For the next four decades, Ramin says her back pain was like a small rodent nibbling at the base of her spine.
    I occasionally get back spasms but at least they only last a day or so.. constant pain is a horrible horrible thing.
  • 20 Essential Truths That Women Over 50 Want To Share With Younger Women
    Do you know that there’s something that happens to a woman when she turns 50? Call it an awakening of sorts; or, for so many, a tipping point.
    Lessons for all genders in here.
  • 11 Ways That I, a White Man, Am Not Privileged
    1. I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon. That’s right, I had to work for what I’m given. When I went to college, I worked hard for those grades. I didn’t get in on nothing, I took school seriously! I worked each day to pay my rent and my tuition. 2. I earned my job.
    YEAH! PREACH!! Finally a voice for us white men that … uhh… wait, what? OH SHIT [this is sarcasm people]

  • Notoriously Dapper’s Kelvin Davis is Inspiring Body Confidence in Men
    Kelvin Davis is a body-positive men’s fashion blogger. He is a model for Chubbies, an admin for Eff Your Beauty Standards, a dancer, a modern-day gentleman, a style icon, and a celebrator of body positivity on Instagram.
    As a larger gent I’m looking for more of this. I need some body positivity in my life that reflects me.
  • Uber’s “next chapter” won’t include Travis Kalanick as CEO
    Uber’s “next chapter” won’t include Travis Kalanick as CEO, co-founder Garrett Camp said in an Aug. 7 email to employees. “It’s time for a new chapter, and the right leader for our next phase of growth,” Camp wrote, according to a copy of the memo obtained by Quartz.
    Good.

  • An Algorithm Trained on Emoji Knows When You’re Being Sarcastic on Twitter
    Scroll through Twitter and you’ll find plenty of sarcastic comments—not to mention lots of cases where sarcasm apparently went straight over someone’s head.
    Yeah right, as if! [this is not sarcasm, I just watched Clueless recently]

  • How to win every sexist argument: an 11-point guide
    This. This this this this this. I might even print each one out a few times so I can hand them out accordingly. “Ahhh point 5.. here you go”.
  • I work in a tech company and started talking about feminism — this is what happened
    It all started with our HR manager suggesting a new knowledge sharing format on our intranet. The aim was not to talk about our daily work or our products but to discuss non-work-related topics we know and care about.
    Talk is good. Always. ALWAYS. (Except in cinemas, and at the theatre, and … ok GOOD TALK at APPROPRIATE TIMES is good… whatever).

  • The Left’s Supporting Role in American Hate Theater
    On the second Saturday in July, more than 1,000 people showed up in a small Southern city to shout down the Ku Klux Klan. That very same afternoon, up North, left-wing counter-protesters chased a band of alt-right Proud Boys out of a public park where they’d tried to rally.
    The battle continues in joyless, horrible, self-perpetuity