bookmark_borderChristmas is coming

It’s December!

For many people, including me, that means Christmas is approaching and with it comes the annual cramming of the calendar with nights out and events, the eating and drinking of all the things, and the subsequent hibernating because, frankly, I think I’ll need a couple of quieter days.

I don’t have that many days off this Christmas, the joys of being a contractor, but those that I do I already have planned with a good mixture of frivolity on the busy days, and sweet F.A. on the quieter ones.

That said, in the lead up to Christmas I already have the following planned:

  • Christmas Market lunch (Glasgow)
  • Christmas Silent Disco
  • Bjorn Again gig
  • Work night out
  • It’s a Wonderful Life
  • Home Alone 1 & 2
  • Escape Room (work team event)
  • Christmas Market afternoon (Edinburgh)
  • Colonel Mustard & the Dijon 5 gig
  • Annual Christmas day with friends

I also still have some shopping to do (I’m trying to not buy everything from Amazon this year) and I’ve still to put up my Christmas Tree, I’ve got two flavoured gins to finish off (mulled and Parma Violet), one flavoured vodka (Parma Violet again), presents to wrap, and need to confirm if I need to make a trifle or not (for Boxing Day breakfast, obvs).

Add in all the usual things like going to work, going to the gym, and all that stuff – plus this year I’m coordinating calendars with someone else who is also very busy – and it’s a wonderful juggle.

Of course Christmas isn’t about being busy nor, for me, is it about buying lots of things. No, it’s a time to celebrate how happy I am, a time to celebrate all the love I have in my life, and a time to over-indulge (a little). It is most definitely a time to have tiny marshmallows atop rich dark hot chocolate, whilst watching all the Christmas movies, munching on a Chocolate Orange, before a dinner of leftovers and a nice big Baileys nightcap.

Christmas is what you make it, so if you celebrate it, however you celebrate it, a time to be of good cheer, a time when hearts will be glowing when loved ones are near.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • “Automated Customer Service”
    A short story.
    This day is coming, mark my words!
  • The Simple Joy of “No Phones Allowed”
    A few nights ago I saw Jack White in concert. It was a wonderful night, and a big part of that was due to a new rule he has imposed on all his tour dates: no phones.
    Kate Tempest asked the audience to do this a couple of years ago. Was utterly immersive. These days a few snaps and I’m done.
  • Three Ingredient Oreo Fudge Recipe
    Line the baking tray with aluminium foil, pressing it fi rmly into the corners and sides. Put the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl and pour in the condensed milk. Microwave on full power for 30 seconds.
    Traybake Tuesday is a new thing at work. Here’s what I ‘made’ this week.
  • The Internet Doesn’t Need Civility, It Needs Ethics
    We know this.
  • 16 Comforting Pasta Recipes You Can Make In Your Slow Cooker
    Everybody knows slow cookers are great for making soups and stews — but what if I told you you can make pasta in a slow cooker?Yep, with the right recipe, you can make delicious pasta completely in a slow cooker! We rounded up recipes that cook the pasta directly in the slow cooker, as well as one
    Pasta in a slow cooker? WHAT? (can you tell it’s winter now?)
  • RIP Ricky Jay, Master of the Sleight of Hand Card Trick
    Ricky Jay died yesterday, aged 72. He was a master magician with a deck of cards, an actor, writer, and historian. The definitive profile of Jay was written by Mark Singer in 1993 for The New Yorker. It begins like this…just try not to read the whole thing:
    I watched a documentary about him last year, amazing skill.
  • Field of dreams: heartbreak and heroics at the World Ploughing Championships
    Some compare it to snooker, others to figure skating. But for those who have given their lives to competitive ploughing, it’s more than a sport, it’s a way of life.
    Sport can be wonderful, in all its weird forms.
  • How To Stop Wasting Time On The Internet
    We all waste a lot of time on the internet these days. And due to mobile devices, we do it everywhere, not just at home.
    Stop reading, and go out and do something less boring instead!
  • Dimming the sun: The answer to global warming?
    Scientists are proposing an ingenious but as-yet-unproven way to tackle climate change: spraying sun-dimming chemicals into the Earth’s atmosphere.
    “It was who scorched the sky…”
  • 10 Magic Tricks That Prove Ricky Jay’s Genius
    For decades, Ricky Jay dazzled audiences with his card tricks, both up close and as far away as he could throw them (a world-record breaking distance, in fact). With his flowing mane and fast hands, the magician quickly became a fan-favorite both for his showmanship and his undeniable talent.
    Mind blowing.
  • Swiss hotels are hiring Instagram “sitters” to post photos for you
    A hotel chain in Switzerland is offering a new service: a “social media sitter” who will take photos of a guest’s Valley cation and post them on Instagram on their behalf. This is the world we are now all living in.
    OK. Enough already.
  • The Insect Apocalypse Is Here
    Sune Boye Riis was on a bike ride with his youngest son, enjoying the sun slanting over the fields and woodlands near their home north of Copenhagen, when it suddenly occurred to him that something about the experience was amiss. Specifically, something was missing. It was summer.
    Now that I think about it, this feels true (or is this article biasing me?)
  • How Restaurants Got So Loud
    Let me describe what I hear as I sit in a coffee shop writing this article. It’s late morning on a Saturday, between the breakfast and lunch rushes. People talk in hushed voices at tables. The staff make pithy jokes amongst themselves, enjoying the downtime.
    More soft furnishings, rug those walls!!
  • Researchers built a smart dress to show how often women are groped at clubs
    For a campaign on behalf of beverage company Schweppes, advertising agency Ogilvy created a touch-sensitive dress that tracked how often—and with what degree of intensity—women in Brazil were groped on an average night out.
    Surprised that Schweppes are behind this. Not surprised at the number. UGH.
  • Even in our digital world, the humble sticky note abides
    E-readers and tablets have us doing more of our reading on screens than ever before. The latter category, including devices such as the iPad Pro and Surface Pro, even offers pens for scribbling notes.
    So true. I still use them!
  • The Mistake I Made with My Grieving Friend
    A good friend of mine lost her dad some years back. I found her sitting alone on a bench outside our workplace, not moving, just staring at the horizon. She was absolutely distraught and I didn’t know what to say to her.
    Best advice I was ever given, you just need to be there, you don’t need to say anything.
  • Inside the Great Electromagnetic Resistance
    I walked past the stage and sat down at the bar, the neon lights illuminating my pink teddy, shadowed eyes, and crimson lips. I ordered my first drink of the night and took inventory of the club.
    I used to laugh at these types of people. These days I’m starting to wonder…

bookmark_borderLife is too short

I need to stop making excuses.

Life is too short.

I need to stop over-thinking things.

Life passes too quickly.

A recent and very sudden death has plunged my life into contrast. The sister of my ex-wife passed away unexpectedly, she was 49. She was a loving, fun, smart woman. She brought up four kids on her own, went back to college once they’d grown up and earned a BSc in Nutritional Science, ohhh and she needed at least one coffee in the morning before you could speak to her. She would’ve done anything for you as she valued people over possessions. She was quick to laugh at herself, had little common sense, and for the years I knew her she was the big sister I didn’t have.

Quietly and with humility, she wasn’t one to sing her own praises or make a fuss, she just got on with things. She helped Louise and I when we moved into our first house – painting most of the living room on her own without a break – if you asked for help she always said yes, she put others first, and I don’t think I can recall her ever being angry. These are not words blinkered by grief, she was a good ‘un through and through.

Her funeral was a mark of the impact she’s had on the local community; the seats in the crematorium filled quickly, it was standing room only after that, and many people had to stand outside and listen to the service through the loudspeakers that were set up as the building was beyond capacity.

It’s still hard to believe she’s gone.

Today the life I have in front of me is, suddenly, different. Not in any specific way, there is no specific sign, no specific thing to point at, but the shift has happened, it’s there, I can sense it. The gentle voice in the back of my head repeating that simple mantra, one I’ve said many times in the past but I don’t think I’ve either fully bought into, nor fully realised what it represented. Life is too short.

At the service, Chris, the eldest of the four children spoke to us all. His words captured his mother well, her love of love, how the choices she made enriched her life far more than any amount of money would’ve done.

His message is one I am repeating here, a message I heard through the tears as they streamed down my face.

“Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident, it’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice, choose to live a life that matters.”

The coming year will bring changes to my life, as it always does. Some I already know about and I’m excited for, some I do not but I will deal with them when they arrive. Throughout I hope I can remain mindful to make better choices.

Life is too short.

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • I’m Meditating (I’m Just Not Sitting Down)
    For a while, it seemed like everyone was talking about how meditation changed their lives—friends, acquaintances, podcast interviewees and interviewers, authors, even the baristas at the coffee shops I went to. Someone told me about the Headspace app, so I downloaded it.
    Other apps are available – I prefer Buddhify – but yes to this.

  • Re: Hate Mail
    I’ve received 15 emails from my internet stalker in the past four days. It’s like watching an inmate from behind a two-way mirror. He read a short story I wrote once satirically titled “The Greatest Story Ever Written.” It’s about a group of male writers who lose their way.
    One wish for the world: End hate.

  • How coffee protects the brain
    Scientists have now proved that drinking certain types of coffee can be beneficial to brain health, but how does this popular brew support cognitive function? A new study identifies some of the mechanisms that allow coffee to keep mental decline at bay.
    I bet TEA doesn’t do this, stupid tea.

  • Aaaand Now … an Oral History of the Greatest Starting Lineup Introduction in Sports History
    In the annals of the Great American Sports Songbook, a singular tune has reigned for more than three decades as the undisputed heavyweight champion of outré jock jams.
    I think the third CD I ever bought was purely to get this track.

  • A Day in the Life of a Mountain-Bike Trail Builder
    Clayton Woodruff, vice president of Progressive Trail Design (PTD) in Bentonville, Arkansas, misses digging in the dirt.
    Fun job! (But still a job).

  • Why Don’t We Forget How to Ride a Bike?
    Most of us learn how to ride a bike during childhood. But as we grow older, many of us stop riding and put those once-beloved bikes in storage. Years later, when we discover these relics and hop on, it’s as if we never stopped biking.
    Why don’t I forget song lyrics from 20 years ago but can’t remember what I did last week?

  • Tired of Pasted Text Messing Up Your Formatting? Try This
    You paste text into a document and for some dumb reason the formatting comes with. Gah! Here’s how to stop that.
    Mac users (posting ahead of potential new MacBook purchase…)

  • I Found the Best Burger Place in America. And Then I Killed It.
    I n my office, I have a coffee mug from Stanich’s in Portland, Oregon. Under the restaurant name, it says “Great hamburgers since 1949.
    Screw you internet!!

  • Does cutting carbs really help keep weight off? The big new diet study, explained.
    It’s probably the most contentious question in the dieting wars: How much do carbs really matter when it comes to weight loss?
    Another week, another sciencing of what we eat.

  • This mobile laundry gives homeless people free showers and washes their clothes
    Set up in 2014 by two friends, Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett, the Orange Sky Laundry started life as a van that had been fitted out with a washing machine and dryer. There are now 27 Orange Sky vans in Australia, which are operated by a team of volunteers.
    This is wonderful!!

  • The remote UK community living off-grid
    On a remote peninsula in the north-west Highlands of Scotland is the small off-grid community of Scoraig. Accessible only by boat or a five-mile walk, the residents of Scoraig live in relative isolation, partly powering their homes and school with wind power.
    Tempting.

  • The Wrong Pair
    Dr. Alvarez furrowed his brow, crouching to view my right breast head-on, inscribing something on it with a dark blue marker — a map for his scalpel.
    Men have it so so easy.

  • How to Control a Machine with Your Brain
    For eighteen years, Jan Scheuermann has been paralyzed from the neck down. She is six feet tall, and she spends all day and all night in a sophisticated, battery-powered wheelchair that cradles her—half sitting, half reclining—from head to toe.
    The upside of all those scary Boston Robotics and AI videos? This. Life changing.

  • The Fax Is Not Yet Obsolete
    Nicole Follmann arrived at the Brooklyn House of Detention last spring to post bail by fax. This is how it works: You can post someone’s bail from any jail or courthouse, but you have to send a fax to wherever the person is housed.
    BEEEEEoooooooo ksshshhhshshhshhh BEEooeEEOOOOOE Jahsajhjahajshjkkkkk (sorry, you don’t speak fax?)

  • Rape survivors are clear on the distress of a ‘not proven’ verdict
    1878 rapes and attempted rapes reported to the police, but only 251 prosecutions and 98 convictions. Just 39% of cases which are prosecuted lead to a conviction. This is the lowest conviction rate for any crime. Nearly 30% of acquittals were not proven, compared with 17% for all crimes and offences.
    This has to change. Come on Scotland, we are better than this.

  • In Defense of Puns
    Once upon a time—in 382 C.E., to be exact—Eve bit into an apple. Seeing it was good, she offered the apple to Adam, and he also took a bite. Whereupon Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked.
    I love a pun, I tried a number of puns here but none worked; no pun in ten did.

  • 24 Amazing, Homemade Dungeons & Dragons Maps
    Last week we asked Atlas Obscura readers to send us their greatest DIY Dungeons & Dragons maps. It was a critical success. We received dozens of fantasy adventure maps illustrating the amazing worlds in our readers’ imaginations.
    Wow. Never ‘got’ D&D but some of these are epic.

  • New Evidence Emerges of Steve Bannon and Cambridge Analytica’s Role in Brexit
    For two years, observers have speculated that the June, 2016, Brexit campaign in the U.K. served as a petri dish for Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign in the United States. Now there is new evidence that it did.
    But of course.

  • The Mystery of the Havana Syndrome
    In the winter of 2017, the American Embassy in Havana was in a precarious state.
    A fascinating insight into Cuba and the CIA.

  • A dark, handsome rival plans to muscle in on Nutella
    It’s being called the jar wars. For decades, the Italian spread known as Nutella has sat placidly upon its throne—the undisputed queen of the chocolate (and chocolate-hazelnut) spreads, with 54% of global market share. Now there’s a pretender looming in the wings.
    Just posting here. For reasons.

  • Why Scientists Are Rushing to Catalog the World’s Poop
    If a group of scientists is successful, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will be getting a cousin—one that may initially sound rather strange. Instead of gathering seeds to preserve plant species, this project involves gathering fecal samples from people all over the globe.
    I really must stop complaining about MY job…

bookmark_borderMan Up

#InternationalMensDay has been the rightful target of ridicule. A firmly established, if wobbling, patriarchy makes the notion of a day specifically for men an utter irrelevance. Isn’t every day is International Mens Day?

But whilst Yes, All Men is the cry, some people have taken this hashtag to point out that the very idea of masculinity still needs to be challenged, to make the very valid statement that many men still feel trapped by the notions of what it is to be ‘a man’ that are pushed at us day after day after day.

Man up
Sit down
Chin up
Pipe down
Socks up
Don’t cry
Drink up
Just lie
Grow some balls, he said
Grow some balls.
~ Samaritans by Idles

I have only ever been in one fight.

I say fight, it was more a push-fest until I got punched in the stomach and got winded. It was primary seven, I was being bullied and it all came to a head.

Picture the scene, a patch of grass just outside the school gates so we didn’t get into trouble for fighting in school, a few kids at the periphery shouting and cajoling two young boys. A few pushes, one punch, and I couldn’t breathe properly and doubled up, crying for mercy. It wasn’t a fight fuelled by anger, all I can recall was feeling a bit scared and annoyed at being made to do something I didn’t want to do – peer pressure sucks – and then embarrassed as everyone walked away laughing and mocking me, whilst I was left kneeling on the grass, sucking for air.

Later in my teenage years puberty brought with it a simmering anger that would, occasionally, peak and explode but I didn’t resort to violence against others. Instead punching bus stops became a wonderfully emo trait, but even that was mostly to show off and prove that I was a man because violence was something MEN did and I was a MAN. Right? It was also a good way to get attention focused on me. I was massively selfish as I grew up and it was years later before I figured out why and dealt with it (short version: I have a long standing need to feel loved and appreciated, and back then if it wasn’t obvious and evident, I didn’t recognise the love that people had for me so I acted out to get the attention that I craved).

And then there was the day I pushed my best mate off a stool.

I didn’t know it at the time, and boy oh boy would this double the guilt I felt later on, but he was struggling with coming out at the time. He’d been acting oddly, long walks home from the pub, that kind of thing, and that night I’d just had enough of what I perceived as attention seeking (seriously, I was a self-centred ass when I was younger). I’m not sure exactly what sparked my anger, if he said something, or someone else made a comment but the switch was flipped and next thing I know I’m shoving him to the floor.

I still feel the horror and guilt flooding back as I think back on that night. Today I’m very lucky to be able to say he is my best friend, that I love him dearly and I was so so proud to be his best man when he got married. Yet the legacy of my young male angst and anger is hard to brush away. What I still don’t fully understand is where it came from in the first place.

My own father is about the kindest hearted man I’ve ever known, I don’t recall him ever raising his hand to me as a child, let alone his voice. My sister was spanked once, one single smack, and it remains so notable that it’s become a family story. That one time that Dad spanked one of us!

I know I was so very lucky to have such tolerant parents, and as a role model my father is and continues to be the kind of man I aspire to become. That’s not to say I don’t get my quick emotional outbursts from the wind (shall I tell the story about getting a full glass of water thrown in my face? maybe another time…). Regardless, I know my childhood was blessed more with love than admonishment, and that on whole our family home was a peaceful one with lots of laughter and love.

Yet against the backdrop of my upbringing is the portrayal of how “men” should be that was/is played out in TV shows, movies, adverts, and newspapers. In those worlds men are tough, those men act, those men take control and dominate whatever activity is happening. There is a clear divide in the world between the things a man should do (if he chooses), and those a woman must do (because society has deemed it thus). Patriarchy to the max, especially in the 70s and 80s when I was growing up.

As a young man, unsure of himself, unsure of his place in the world, you do your best to try and fit in. You adhere to the rules that seem obvious as they are the ones propagated around you, you act a certain way, you adapt to your surroundings and pretty soon you aren’t sure who you are, or where you fit, or if there is even a place for you at all, it’s confusing and much easier to lash out at others than look inward. And so it was that bus stops became the enemy.

I read something about cliches the other day, about how the older you get the more you realise that they are cliches for a reason, that they hold more truth than your younger, world-challenging, sceptical self was willing to admit. It is all tied up in time and the realisation that YOU aren’t all that important in the grand scheme of things, so the only and best thing you can do is look after yourself. After that, be nice to others if you can, and after that it’s all gravy.

The times they are a-changin’, sang Bob. And those words feel like they are, finally, starting to hold true (I bet every generation says this). The definition of being a man has been increasingly challenged over the past couple of decades, from the metrosexuals to the millenials, there is room to be a man that isn’t a boorish thug.

So what is it to be a man?

Man up, Sit down, Chin up, Pipe down, Socks up, Don’t cry, Drink up, Just lie, Grow some balls? I don’t think so. The notion of just getting on and coping with things, not communicating, dealing with everything all on your own, never telling anyone how you really feel, and never EVER crying, is so far removed from the man I am that I struggle with those who show these traits. The alpha males, the bragging, chest thrusting egos, they are not me.

I am a man. I have a beard and tattoos. I am fragile. I am full of bravado. I am a phony. I have a soft heart. I am 186cm tall (6’1″ for those at the back). I am a complete asshole at times. I love my sister. I still catch myself mansplaining (thank you to friends for pointing it out when I miss it, I really am trying!). I love my niece more and more everyday. I am a feminist. I am strong. I love my best friends and have told them so. I cry, happily, at old movies and at all the injustice in the world. I love openly. I talk about my thoughts and feelings.

I am more than my father’s son. Which is as it should be, as I am the product of both my upbringing. Call me a snowflake and I’ll show you an avalanche*.

There are so many choices we make as we grow. From the bullied child to the (overly) angst-ridden teenager, through my younger formative adult years, to the man I am today, I’ve made a lot of choices. Not all of them good, some of them have caused pain to others and I’ll never fully forgive myself for that. But I am proud of the man I have become, and the man I’ve yet to realise. I am happy and content with my masculinity.

My sister is getting married next year. I will cry the happiest of tears.

I am a man.

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • The Fascinating, Creepy New Research in Human Hibernation for Space Travel
    No interstellar travel movie is complete without hibernators. From Prometheus to Passengers, we’ve watched protagonists awaken in hibernation pods, rebooting their fragile physiology from a prolonged state of suspended animation—a violent process that usually involves ejecting stomach fluids.

    It’s such a staple of Sci-Fi that it’s hard to imagine it any other way.

  • It is not a woman’s responsibility to make a man a better human being

    Women don’t want to be caretakers of badly raised, ill-mannered or generally troubled men. Essentially, women don’t want to raise men, we want to grow together.

    Yes. Still. All Men.

  • GoGo Penguin’s Guide To Manchester’s Jazz Underground

    After a stunning gig last week, I stumbled across this. This is NOT the Jazz you think it is.

  • Ultrarunner Courtney Dauwalter Takes On The World’s Most Sadistic Endurance Race

    Gary Cantrell clanged a bell at 6:40 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, signaling 70 runners to jog off into the woods on his farm in Tennessee. They had an hour to complete a 4.1667-mile loop trail. Easy. Most of the group finished with 15 minutes to spare. The bell clanged again at 7:40 a.m.

    I have an odd liking and awe for these lunatics.

  • Man Arranges Leaves, Sticks, And Stones To Create Magical Land Artworks

    Scottish sculptor Andy Goldsworthy creates transitory works of art by arranging leaves, sticks, rocks or anything else he can find outside. Most of Goldsworthy’s art is considered transient and ephemeral, causing people to perceive it as a criticism on the Earth’s fragility.

    Some pretty for your weekend.

  • The real trick to staying young forever

    People are living longer today. But how do we make sure those extra years are good ones? For people in wealthy countries, it’s a question of increasing urgency. In 2019, for the first time ever, there will be more Americans over age 60 than under age 18.

    It had better be pizza and ice cream… if so I’m sorted!

  • Stores use these tricks to get you to spend money. Don’t fall for it.

    The holiday season in America is one giant spending fest, as the months of November and December can account for 30 percent of a brand’s sales, according to the National Retail Federation.

    It’s holiday season, keep an eye out!

  • How to Be a More Patient Person

    Relax. It’s going to be O.K. My jaw clenches when Hulu videos buffer. I huff and puff when stuck in a sluggish line at a coffee shop. Slow cars in the fast lane send me into a curse-filled tizzy. I’m ashamed how quickly I lose my cool over these minor things.

    Valid advice for the always-on, 100mph society we are told we should participate in.

  • What Happened When I Started Intuitive Eating

    It was 6 a.m. and we’d been up for five hours already, wildly jet lagged from our recent honeymoon. (The cake was a mini version of the one from our wedding, which he’d surprised me with the day we came home.

    It had better be pizza and ice cream… ohh it is! (note: this is essentially the latest diet fad, I’m not suggesting you do this!)

  • Post Malone is the perfect pop star for this American moment. That’s not a compliment.

    Him? The most popular young artist in the most unpopular young nation is a rhinestone cowboy who looks like he crawled out of a primordial swamp of nacho cheese.

    Seconded. Where are the original talents?

  • When does a spork become sentient? Inside the existential “Toy Story 4” teaser

    At what point does a spork become a toy?

    Important questions, we must have answers!

  • Comics legend Stan Lee dead at 95

    The legendary comic-book author, publisher, and film producer Stan Lee has died. He co-created Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, the X-Men, Black Panther, and many more characters and imaginary worlds we’ve come to know through comic books, games, and movies.

    What a life.

  • ‘Being silenced is not acceptable’: Doctors express outrage after NRA tells them ‘to stay in their lane’

    At first, Judy Melinek didn’t know how to respond when she learned about a National Rifle Association tweet last week telling doctors who dared enter the gun debate “to stay in their lane.

    Also worth noting NRA budget is shrinking. Bravo Dr. Melinek!!

  • What happened when I tried the U.S. Army’s tactic to fall asleep in two minutes

    If you often find yourself having trouble falling sleep, you’re not alone. The American Sleep Association (ASA) says that 50 million to 70 million U.S. adults have a sleep disorder. Among that group, insomnia is the most common.

    I kinda do the ‘relaxy’ thing already, who knew.

  • How I Use and Manage Apple Photos

    Problem: You have a camera phone in your pocket and, over time, you’ve accumulated a LOT of pictures. Like, a whole lot. What now…?

    This sounds very familiar.

  • 8 Warning Signs You’re Mentally And Emotionally Exhausted

    Riding on that crazy rollercoaster called life can sometimes be really tiresome. One minute you’re high up and the next second you’re back down where you started. All that madness and unpredictability can really mess with a person’s physical as well as mental wellbeing.

    Worth a read as it’s never always obvious.

  • 10 ‘Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible’ Facts About Comic Book Writer Stan Lee

    Pop culture legend Stan Lee’s life has always been an open book. The co-creator of some of the greatest superheroes and most beloved stories of all time has become just as mythical and larger-than-life as the characters in the panels.

    Genuinely nice man. What are the odds.

  • The kilogram is changing. Weight, what?

    SEVRES, France (AP) — The kilogram is getting an update. No, your bathroom scales won’t suddenly become kinder and a kilo of fruit will still weigh a kilo. But the way scientists define the exact mass of a kilogram is about to change.

    comment

  • Paper coffee cups will be the death of us

    While driving around the country on a mega-road trip last year, I relied on a lot of things to keep me going: gas, protein bars, peanut butter pretzels, water, and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

    Guilty, so so guilty

  • Monsoon V

    Mike Olbinski is back with another of his jawdropping storm chasing videos. I find clouds endlessly fascinating — it seems like there’s always something new to consider while watching these kinds of videos.

    Nature. AMAZE.

  • The World’s Largest Hot Sauce Collection Might Be in an Arizona Living Room

    Hot sauce dominates Clinco’s living room. Vic Clinco is an assistant manager at US Foods, the food service distributor. But in his free time, he takes on a different identity entirely: that of a hot sauce collector supreme.

    I do love me a wacky collection.

  • School shootings have fueled a $2.7 billion school safety industry. What makes kids safer?

    The expo had finally begun, and now hundreds of school administrators streamed into a sprawling, chandeliered ballroom where entrepreneurs awaited, each eager to explain why their product, above all others, was the one worth buying.

    Jesus fuckin christ. Talk about ‘fixing’ the symptoms.

  • *privacy not included

    Teddy bears that connect to the internet. Smart speakers that listen to commands. Great gifts—unless they spy on you. We created this guide to help you buy safe, secure products this holiday season.

    Alexa, please turn yourself off.

  • The Leonid Meteor Shower Will Peak This Weekend

    Change your Saturday night plans! The Leonid meteor shower is going to peak this weekend so be ready to find a dark spot away from city lights to enjoy this stellar spectacle. The Leonids is considered one of the most prolific meteor showers for historical reasons.

    HEADS UP!!

  • The Best Way To Save People From Suicide

    It was still dark outside when Amanda woke up to the sound of her alarm, got out of bed and decided to kill herself. She wasn’t going to do it then, not at 5:30 in the morning on a Friday. She told herself she would do it sometime after work. Amanda showered. She put on khakis and a sweater.

    Reach out. Just reach out.

  • ‘Toxic’ is Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year, beating ‘techlash’ and ‘gaslighting’

    At least that’s according to Oxford Dictionaries’ official word of the year selection. The British publisher said “toxic” beat out other expressions including “techlash” and “gaslighting” thanks to the “sheer scope of its application.”

    Great. That’s my earworm for the day sorted.

  • The Ubiquity of Smartphones, as Captured by Photographers

    According to reports issued by several market-research firms, including Forrester Research, the total number of smartphone users worldwide will reach 3 billion this year—40 percent of the human population.

    The future is bleak? Golden? Lit by a thousand LCD screens?