Weekend Reading

  • The Unforgiving Minute
    Men, get ready to be uncomfortable for a while. While forgiveness may come one day, it won’t be soon.
    If you are a man, and you only read one thing from this list. READ THIS.
  • LEGO Lawnmower Man Kinetic Sculpture
    A kinetic LEGO sculpture of a man pushing a lawnmower. Inspired by Josh David’s lawnmower model (https://youtu.be/_1T15UydfEs), I decided it needed a figure, so combined it with the figure from my Sisyphus model.
    If you are a man and you haven’t read the previous article, sod off
  • Why we pretend to know things, explained by a cognitive scientist
    Why do people pretend to know things? Why does confidence so often scale with ignorance? Steven Sloman, a professor of cognitive science at Brown University, has some compelling answers to these questions.
    Been very guilty of this in the past (desire to be ‘liked’) and still catch myself sometimes.
  • ‘Chinning’ phenomenon on Instagram was started by this Bentley U. student as a way to get laughs
    In middle school, Michelle Liu sometimes felt insecure about her looks — especially when her friends would get together to take photographs. To ease her discomfort, Liu turned to humor, as many people do. She started making funny faces in the group shots and getting laughs.
    Brilliant. Although hadn’t heard of this until now.
  • I love spoilers
    In June, I noticed that people online were in a froth over the upcoming finale of The Leftovers, which was in its third and final season. The show sounded intriguing — and it seemed like I was missing out on a lot of TV references — so I decided to watch the pilot.
    Sharing just to make some people twitch.
  • 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Contest, Part II
    Jacaranda trees in Sydney, a ruined French castle seeking adoption, spooky scenes from Halloween and the Day of the Dead, and much more.
    Because our world is full of wonder (despite what the news tries to tell you)
  • 12 Incredibly Useful Things You Didn’t Know Google Maps Could Do
    Google Maps is great for just getting around. But don’t be fooled: The app is much more than a glorified Garmin. Maps has all sorts of powerful features and time-saving shortcuts that aren’t obvious, but are just waiting to be discovered.
    Handy stuff in here.
  • How the internet changed the market for sex
    “Elle” is a 63-year-old sex worker. She’s been at it for decades, and what makes her extraordinary isn’t just her longevity in the business, but her ability to adapt to a changing market.
    Good that it has helped some sexworkers be safer, bad that is has made the worst behaviours even worse.
  • If We Fire All Sexual Assaulters, Will We End Up Firing Everyone?
    Almost two years ago, I wrote about being sexually assaulted by a male friend — let’s call him “Brad” — who stuck his fingers in my vagina when I was drunk.
    As the headlines continue to roll in, some of the articles have been disturbing but very worth reading.
  • The Elegant Mathematics of Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci’s Most Famous Drawing: An Animated Introduction
    Nearly 500 years after his death, we still admire Leonardo da Vinci’s many and varied accomplishments in painting, sculpture, architecture, science, and quite a few other fields besides, most of which would have begun with his putting down some part of the formidable contents of his head on to a
    *adds to tattoo list* (yeah it’s a cliche but I don’t care)
  • iPhone X Camera Review: Guatemala
    I’m here capturing another amazing Ker & Downey adventure and have been testing the iPhone X along the way. Although I just conducted my iPhone 8 Plus Camera Review in India recently, I wanted to get out and capture the unique aspects of the iPhone X
    I’ve already been impressed but some of these are stunning. Add some decent lens add-ons and… do I need a DSLR at all?
  • The United States of Guns
    Like many of you, I read the news of a single person killing at least 26 people in Sutherland Springs, Texas yesterday.
    I kinda give up on this topic tbh.
  • Google’s Mass-Shooting Misinformation Problem
    When no reputable information is available, the search engine promotes fake news. It happened again.
    And this doesn’t help!!
  • The iPhone X Is A User Experience Nightmare
    Need proof? Just take a look at this cheat sheet published alongside the Wall Street Journal’s iPhone X review:
    Hmmm reeks of clickbait. The UX isn’t that massively different from the iPhone 8 (7/6.. it’s iOS after all)
  • Hide the iPhone X Notch with a Wallpaper Trick
    Don’t like the prominent black Notch across the top of the iPhone X screen? You can hide it with a little wallpaper trick.
    Because it’s THAT big an issue? Ehhhh nope.
  • Beyond the finish line
    It’s a literal road to nowhere.
    Go outside to a flat safe open space. Now close your eyes and run. Now do that for 26 miles. ON YOUR OWN.
  • The Bully and the Buddhist
    People can change.
  • T. Rex’s Tiny Arms May Have Been Vicious Weapons
    The precise purpose of T. rex’s relatively tiny arms has long been mysterious. Over the years, scientists have suggested that they might have been used to grasp struggling prey, to help resting dinosaurs push themselves up from the ground, or to grip tight to mates during sex.
    Yeah, so let’s stop making ‘tiny T. Rex arm’ jokes, cos it’s mean!
  • Kazuo Ishiguro: ‘Write What You Know’ is the Stupidest Thing I’ve Ever Heard
    Kazuo Ishiguro, author of The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go, and most recently The Buried Giant, and oh, also our newest Nobel Laureate in Literature, turns 63 today.
    Wonderul words but then, they kinda should be
  • Your Playlist May Reveal if You’re a Psychopath or Not
    Kevin Dutton, an Oxford psychologist and author of “The Wisdom of Psychopaths,” has been gathering data on musical tastes and other preferences for a psychopath study with UK broadcasting company Channel 4. More than three million people have responded to his online surveys so far.
    *turns of sharing in Spotify*
  • You’re Lousy At Picking Good Pictures Of Yourself, So Ask A Stranger To Do It
    Whether it’s a social network like Facebook or a job-seeker site like LinkedIn, most of us are guilty of overthinking our profile picture selection from time to time.
    SO TRUE.
  • From the Mixed-Up History of Mrs., Miss, and Ms.
    We’re living through some odd times when it comes to women’s rights.
    I find myself defaulting to Ms these days, but even that presumes a gender.
  • Twitter’s 280-Character Own Goal
    Twitter’s destroyed its USP. The whole point, for me, was how inventive people could be within that concise framework. USP is “unique selling proposition”. By doubling the character limit, Twitter has eliminated what made them unique.
    Yes to this. I’m not THAT bothered but already getting a sense of this.
  • Maybe the People Would Be the Times
    Almost everything of interest in New York City lies in some degree of proximity to music.
    Let’s go back to the 70s in NYC. Wonderful article capturing a place and time so vibrantly.
  • The tension between creativity and productivity
    Cory Doctorow was an early adopter of the lifehacking lifestyle and toolkit, including David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done. Allen’s book is a fantastic and inspiring read.
    Dear god yes to ALL of this (I’ve been through the GTD stuff too)
  • Swan, Late
    I discovered I couldn’t dance when I was ten years old. My parents had signed me up for a ballet course in Toronto with a dour, shriveled Romanian teacher, chosen no doubt because of our shared totalitarian traumas. In her class I felt uncoordinated, impossibly gawky.
    You are never too old, too fat, too anything! This is wonderful.
  • The Gruesome, Bloody World of Victorian Surgery
    Joseph Lister came of age as surgery was being transformed. With the invention of anesthesia, operations could move beyond two-minute leg amputations that occasionally lopped off a testicle in haste.
    To be fair, the title says it all, bloody hell! (baddummmttsshhhh)
  • When an Umbrella is More Than Just an Umbrella
    One of the endearing features of Charles Dickens’s “umbrella work” is the number of uses to which he put his brollies. They are rarely merely umbrellas but the signifiers of something else, whether through similarity, metaphor or context.
    Mind blown. Harry Potter, Mary Poppins fans, read this!