bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • Science Is Far Too Often Communicated as a One-Sided Conversation
    A 17-year-old named Gwen remained in my head after I read a recent story centered around the challenges of teaching climate science — i.e. our human contribution to climate change — to students already skeptical of its existence in rural, post-coal, post-manufacturing America.
    As with most things, communication is the make or break it seems.

  • In Defense of Coldplay
    The other day, a friend and I were chatting away and when Coldplay came up — she immediately bashed the band that I secretly and publicly adore.
    They do get a hard time, I too have been a Coldplay basher but more and more find myself NOT skipping tracks when they come on…

  • Gal Gadot will only be ‘Wonder Woman’ again if Brett Ratner is out
    “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot is continuing to battle accused Hollywood sexual harasser Brett Ratner by refusing to sign for a super­hero sequel unless the movie-maker is completely killed from the franchise.
    The best bit, yesterday they confirmed Brett Ratner is out! Awesome news.

  • How to Make a $1500 Sandwich in Only 6 Months
    I spent 6 months and $1500 to completely make a sandwich from scratch. Including growing my own vegetables, making my own salt from ocean water, milking a cow to make cheese, grinding my own flour from wheat, collecting my own honey, and killing a chicken myself.My quest does not just cover food.
    I like a good sandwich, but this puts into perspective just how much effort goes into making them

  • Hip-hop is getting old, man
    When neighborhood block parties in the Bronx birthed rap and hip-hop in the early 1970s, hardly anyone expected the music style—barely a genre on its own, resonant as it was within some specific communities—to get very big.
    Everything is getting old. Just ask my knees…

  • Spotify is abandoning the outdated idea of corporate holidays
    YES TO THIS.

  • To Guys Who Think It’s “Hard To Be A Man” Right Now, I’ve Got Some News For You
    As sexual harassment allegations continue to be made public against powerful men, there’s been a theme appearing among male commentators: discomfort.
    Good! We should, AT THE VERY LEAST, feel some discomfort!

  • How a Password Changed My Life
    “How could she do something like this to me?” said a voice in my head. All the time. Every day. Back in 2011, when everything had gradients, iOS icons made sense, and people used deodorants, I was stuck in middle of a pretty bad depression due to my divorce.
    Simple things can hold such power.

  • Five ways Apple could improve iPhone X usability
    I stand by my claim that iPhone X is the best damn product Apple has ever made but that doesn’t mean it can’t and shouldn’t get better. That includes how new features like Face ID, gesture navigation, Control Center access, and Lock screen buttons are currently implemented.
    Agree on most of these but none are dealbreakers. Letting me set Spotify as the default Music app now THAT would be good.

  • A robotic spy among the fish
    08.11.17 – A new miniature robot developed by EPFL researchers can swim with fish, learn how they communicate with each other and make them change direction or come together. These capabilities have been proven on schools of zebrafish.
    I, for one, welcome our new… etc etc

  • Can Carbon-Dioxide Removal Save the World?
    Carbon Engineering, a company owned in part by Bill Gates, has its headquarters on a spit of land that juts into Howe Sound, an hour north of Vancouver.
    This is both fascinating and terrifying. A $4bn dollar industry in the making, just how much corruption will there be?

  • Colin Kaepernick Will Not Be Silenced
    In 2013, Colin Kaepernick was on the cover of this magazine because he was one of the best football players in the world. In 2017, Colin Kaepernick is on GQ’s cover once again—but this time it is because he isn’t playing football.
    Powerful imagery to go with a powerful, currently silent, man.

  • I Made 6 Famous Mashed Potato Recipes And Found The Very Best One

    • The Ultimate Scrambled Egg Recipe • The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Share On facebook Share Share On vk Share Share On pinterest Share On pinterest Pin Share On lineapp Share Share On twitter Share Share On email Share On sms Share On wha
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  • Why Can’t People Stop Touching Museum Exhibits?
    You’re walking through a museum when a piece of art seems to call out to you. Maybe it’s a bowl, smooth and detailed with shiny gold leaf. Maybe it’s a statue of Venus, her hand outstretched. You walk over to this enticing object. You lean in as close as you can.
    Well how else am I supposed to know how Mona Lisa tastes??

  • Cards Against Humanity buys area of US border to prevent Trump building his wall
    The company behind a game that involves matching cards with humorously offensive phrases announced it had bought a piece of land on the US-Mexico border with the explicit aim of hindering Mr Trump’s signature policy promise.
    LOVE THIS!

  • How Facebook Figures Out Everyone You’ve Ever Met
    In real life, in the natural course of conversation, it is not uncommon to talk about a person you may know.
    Another reason that I might start to cut back (cut out) Facebook. Maybe 2018 is the tipping point.

  • A 70s Photographer Unveils the Ultimate New York Punk Archive on Instagram
    A downtown fixture behind a Polaroid camera at Hell’s Angels bar-turned-nightclub CBGBs, Julia Gorton took hundreds of photos of the characters that epitomized the 70s, which are slowly making their way to the public eye through her Instagram.
    Some amazing candid snaps of some amazing talents

  • This Song Was Carefully Engineered To Make Babies Happy
    You’d think a whole happy baby Spotify playlist would already exist… but apparently not.
    Awwwwwwww

  • Jeremy Hunt humiliated by TV star who proved his boasts about NHS improvement are “total bullshit”
    Jeremy Hunt has been diagnosed with a case of severe “bullshit” after his claims about NHS improvement under the Tories were given a second opinion by an unlikely source – Dr Who star Ralf Little.
    How the fuck do these assholes still have power?

  • How the Voyager Golden Record Was Made
    We inhabit a small planet orbiting a medium-sized star about two-thirds of the way out from the center of the Milky Way galaxy—around where Track 2 on an LP record might begin.
    I had no idea about this, mostly because I hadn’t ever given it much thought. Cool AF.

  • CompuServe’s forums, which still exist, are finally shutting down
    Before there was a World Wide Web, a sizable chunk of all meaningful conversation between computer users happened in the forums at CompuServe, which was the dominant online service until AOL came along.
    Including this so everyone else can go through the ‘they were still going’ disbelief I experienced!

  • Meet the People Who Listen to Podcasts at Super-Fast Speeds
    Rachel Kenny started listening to podcasts in 2015 — and quickly fell behind. “As I started subscribing to more and more podcasts, they started stacking up, and I couldn’t keep up at normal speed,” the 26-year-old data scientist in Indianapolis told BuzzFeed News.
    I struggle at 2x this is bonkers

  • 11 Beloved Movies That Were Box Office Flops
    It’s hard to believe that some beloved films didn’t find immediate success when they were released, but sometimes movies are just ahead of their time. Here are 11 famous examples of celebrated classics that were box office bombs.
    I actually saw Shawshank at the cinema, loved it, and didn’t get why people were only ‘discovering it’ a couple of years later.

  • Monetising millennials: what the corporate world thinks it knows about young people
    Before the opening keynote of the Millennial 20/20 Sydney conference, a man strides up, folds me into a boardroom-firm handshake and gazes deeply into my eyes.
    OK. Time to just switch everything off, this is utterly fucked.

  • 006: Ann Friedman – The News Is Not Good
    How do you maintain your sanity — and avoid apathy — in the face of a relentlessly negative news cycle?
    An episode a new podcast that I’ve started to listen to. Well worth checking this one out.

  • Who Was Prince in Private?
    In his fifty-seven years, Prince mastered the art of control—not merely the show of self-possession but the daily practice of it. The gravitational pull of racial, sexual, spiritual systems did not appear to act on him.
    Still makes me so sad.

  • Psychologists Explain Why You Should Be Friends With People Who Swear A Lot
    Growing up, we’re usually taught to refrain from swearing because it’s inappropriate and rude. There’s definitely a bit of a social stereotype in which those who swear are seen as uneducated, but according to a recent study, potty mouths might be a lot smarter than they were once perceived.
    FUCK YEAH FUCKING SWEARING!

  • A New Phone Comes Out. Yours Slows Down. A Conspiracy? No.
    It happens every year: Apple releases new iPhones, and then hordes of people groan about their older iPhones slowing to a crawl. Just look at the recent data.
    Ha! Yes. Of course it’s a conspiracy (seriously if they COULD to this, some companies definitely would)

bookmark_borderWeekend 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!

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • Why Is It You Can Sense When Someone’s Staring at You?
    Say you’re engrossed in a task, scrolling through your phone or reading a book. Suddenly that creepy, prickly feeling grabs hold of you. Someone’s staring. You turn to find out who it is. Be they friend or foe, the feeling itself seems like an eerie sort of 6th sense.
    Wait, what, you mean this isn’t just me?!

  • 80+ Epic Design Fails You’ll Find Hard To Believe Actually Happened
    For the LOLs

  • How Can We Live Beautifully in an Age of Vitriol?
    These are days of snark and bluster. How do we live better and communicate more beautifully?
    Social media is amazing. Social media sucks. Like anything, balance can be found.

  • 30+ diversity and inclusion activists and organisations I look up to
    I’m not a massive fan of listicles, and I feel like they could become exclusionary very easily, but I wanted to talk about a few individuals and organisations I look up to on a daily basis in the space of diversity and inclusion.
    Expand your bubble.

  • Google ‘drops everything’ to fix burger emoji
    Google CEO Sundar Pichai has tasked employees returning to work on Monday morning with one key objective: fix the burger emoji. The tech giant’s big cheese (sorry) stepped in after a tweet from author Thomas Baekdal highlighted inconsistencies in different tech companies’ burger construction.
    Good grief. I mean look how awful it looks. Glad Google is focusing on the important stuff…

  • Why Americans have stopped eating leftovers
    American consumers throw away 27 million tons of food each year, according to the food waste coalition ReFED, clogging landfills, generating greenhouse gasses, and costing the economy an estimated $144 billion. The solution, however, could be simple: get people to eat leftovers again.
    I’m pretty guilty of this. Mostly batch cooking for one = boredom of the same base meal 3/4 nights in a row.

  • France Is Running Out of Butter for Its Croissants
    France’s much-loved croissant au beurre has run up against the forces of global markets. Finding butter for the breakfast staple has become a challenge across France.
    Sacre bleu!!

  • Kate Maltby: Damian Green probably has no idea how awkward I felt
    Westminster is an unpleasant place this week. After the Weinstein scandal we are asking new questions about the sexual abuse of power: all to the good. But for women who work in SW1, especially those of us who are outspoken feminists, everyone has particular questions.
    More reports. How the media is handling this is unsettingly awful.

  • Sony’s Aibo Robotic Dog Is Back, With Some New Tricks
    Sony Corp. is bringing back its iconic robotic dog, aibo. The new version (which Sony is marketing as “aibo” instead of the prior “AIBO”) comes equipped with a powerful computer chip, OLED displays for eyes and the ability to connect to mobile networks.
    But can it fetch me a beer?!

  • The worst Halloween candy can also put you in the hospital if you eat too much
    Even if you’re going to gorge on candy this Halloween, there’s one type you should absolutely only eat in moderation. On Oct. 30, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a reminder that black licorice poses serious health risks if eaten in excess.
    1. It’s liquorice (stoopid merkins) 2. It’s disgusting anyway, who cares?

  • A Japanese convenience store used drones to deliver fried chicken to Fukushima
    Almost seven years after the nuclear meltdown in Japan’s northeastern Fukushima prefecture that was triggered by an earthquake and tsunami, life is very slowly returning to normal. But in some areas, the conveniences of Japan’s ubiquitous convenience stores remain out of reach.
    Whilst it’s a frivolous headline, it has deeper meaning and offers some hope for remote areas

  • The Radical Paintings of Laura Owens
    Serious but friendly, a woman who rarely jokes but readily laughs, the Los Angeles artist Laura Owens, forty-seven years old, was pleasantly dishevelled in mom attire: shirt, baggy shorts, sneakers, big glasses.
    Love or loathe. The attitude is what sells this for me.

  • I spent a week with 8,000 worshippers of the fake, fantastical cult of zumba
    If going to church called for sweatbands instead of prayer books, salsa music in the place of scripture, and a near-insane amount of neon, it might look something like this.
    Ugh. Looks horrific. Sounds horrific. Yeah same reasons ‘religion’ doesn’t sit well with me.

  • Nigella delights the nation by using her spiralizer to make chips 
    When Nigella Lawson pulled a spiralizer out of an enormous wooden cupboard on her new TV show, At My Table, last night, I tensed up. I have loved Nigella for as long as I can remember because she gives us all permission to eat and enjoy food without feeling guilty about it.
    Love or loathe. CARBS ALWAYS WIN

  • Watch a Step-by-Step Breakdown of La La Land‘s Incredibly Complex, Off Ramp Opening Number
    La La Land, writer and director Damien Chazelle’s award-winning Valentine to Hollywood musicals, attracted legions of fans upon its release last December.
    One of my favourite movies of last year, this opening number was incredible.

  • Astro-Matic Baseball: Houston’s Grand Experiment
    In the late 1980s, when people got too drunk and were kicked out of the other casinos in Lake Tahoe, they ended up at High Sierra, a place where there was no such thing as being too drunk. Sometimes they staggered over to a blackjack table manned by a young dealer named Sig Mejdal.
    I’m not a baseball fan, but this is incredible story from a few years ago, that just came true.

  • Inside The Great Poop Emoji Feud
    It’s been a trying year for the world’s most visible institutions. Congressional gridlock, partisan divide, and federal indictments torment Washington.
    Poop? POOP? It’s POO, drop that last P! Whaddya mean I’m focusing on the wrong thing?

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • Single, Unemployed and Suddenly Myself
    I was 37, single, unemployed and depressed because in a couple of months I was going to be moving out of my studio apartment on East 23rd Street in Manhattan and in with my mother in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
    Reading more and more articles about this kinda thing. Resonating.

  • Dogs have pet facial expressions to use on humans, study finds
    Showing tongues and puppy eyes, and facial movement in general, was more likely when scientists faced the animals, suggesting conscious communication.
    But LOOKIT SOOOO CUTE WIF DEM EYES!!!

  • Kids? Just say no
    In 2006, I published a book called Better Never to Have Been. I argued that coming into existence is always a serious harm. People should never, under any circumstance, procreate – a position called ‘anti-natalism’.
    This doesn’t entirely match why we (my ex-wife and I) chose not to have kids, but some of it rings true.

  • For Guys Reading #MeToo Testimonies
    First, read the #metoo stories on your Facebook or Twitter feed. Read about the bosses and teachers and neighbors and friends who have sexually harassed and assaulted the people you know and maybe even love. Pay special attention to the stories. You will see patterns.
    I’m still reeling from last week. This week is no better. But that’s the point.

  • Sarah Solemani: ‘The TV and film industries are toxic – and it starts in the audition room’
    The Harvey Weinstein scandal puts us at a crossroads. Can we remake the industry? My first experience of sexism in showbusiness came early, when I was 19. I was invited to the director’s house for dinner, just the two of us. He cooked. It was delicious.
    More strong voices on this.

  • Woe is Man
    It seems then that the average heterosexual British man, be he a journalist or not, is in considerable peril. Giles Coren and Brendan O’Neill have observed the Kriss and Myers cases and decided they constitute a threat.
    Wonderful takedown of those proposing that ‘men’ are under threat. I am a ‘man’ and we SHOULD be under threat for all the horrific behaviours we perpetrate.

  • Why You Shouldn’t Buy a “New” Book on Amazon
    Amazon, a company Jeff Bezos invented to piss off everyone in the book industry simultaneously, likes to make books as cheap as possible. To that end, this spring they moved third-party options up to the top of the page, sometimes even listing third-party sellers as the default buying option.
    I REALLY need to get off the Amazon wagon.

  • Bento Stack for Apple Accessories
    Function 101 is a team within the Apple industry that shares one common thread –  a passion for Apple products. We are the guys and gals that stay up until midnight to order the new iPhone or Apple Watch…and always looking for the trendiest accessories to go with them.
    More a bookmark for myself but thought others might appreciate this (I really need to get off the Apple wagon… nah!)

  • The Gift of Death
    Pathological consumption has become so normalised that we scarcely notice it. There’s nothing they need, nothing they don’t own already, nothing they even want.
    I am still down-sizing my possessions. It’s not always easy, but focussing on WHY I want to buy something (do I need it, or just want it) helps.

  • Scenes I expect to see now a female Doctor has an older, white, male companion
    The Doctor comes up with a brilliant plan, which everyone ignores until Graham repeats it word for word. Graham explains time travel to the Doctor.
    Hahahaa…. oh god this isn’t funny at all.

  • In a Distracted World, Solitude Is a Competitive Advantage
    Technology has undoubtedly ushered in progress in a myriad of ways. But this same force has also led to work environments that inundate people with a relentless stream of emails, meetings, and distractions.
    Less is more. Definitely feels like a ‘life path’ for me at the moment.

  • Like to sing in your car? Montreal man says he was ticketed for Everybody Dance Now sing-along
    Taoufik Moalla may have just been letting the rhythm move him. But that didn’t stop Montreal police from giving the 38-year-old father of two a ticket after pulling him over near his home in Saint-Laurent.
    Man, I’d have been banned YEARS ago if they did this over here!!

  • Making Progress
    Ohhhh how I laugh/cried at this! (read the tooltip too).

  • Inner Peace
    “Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.”
    A simple quote. A powerful message. (more on this soon)

  • Men photographed in crocodile trap dubbed ‘idiots of the century’
    Photos of the men swimming around and even climbing into the trap at the Port Douglas Marina have surfaced online, leaving the mayor of Douglas Shire, Julia Leu, stunned. “I was absolutely gobsmacked, this is incredibly stupid and dangerous behaviour.”
    Alas no Darwin awards were handed out. Yet.

  • The Power of Inclusion at Astral AR
    Recently, we featured the co-founders of Backstage Capital portfolio company Astral AR on Mission & Values, one of our podcasts. Astral AR is a remarkable startup — they make drones designed to save human lives.
    We need more articles about companies like this.

  • Boko Haram strapped suicide bombs to them. Somehow these teenage girls survived.
    The girls didn’t want to kill anyone. They walked in silence for a while, the weight of the explosives around their waists pulling down on them as they fingered the detonators and tried to think of a way out. It was all happening so fast.
    Warning: this is horrific.

  • The Future of Online Dating Is Unsexy and Brutally Effective
    When I give the dating app LoveFlutter my Twitter handle, it rewards me with a 28-axis breakdown of my personality: I’m an analytic Type A who’s unsettlingly sex-focused and neurotic (99th percentile).
    Can machines find me love? Given they still sometimes struggle to turn my lights on, I’m a little wary…

  • Spend More Time Alone
    I recently read three books on the topic of solitude. Two were actually titled Solitude, while the third, and most recently published, was titled Lead Yourself First — which is pitched as a leadership guide, but is actually a meditation on the value of being alone with your thoughts.
    I enjoy being alone. Not all the time, but I’m becoming much more comfortable just being with ‘me’.

  • Building Googletown
    Last month, at an event in San Francisco, Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff discussed how his company—a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet—was pursuing one of the tech industry’s recurring fantasies: building its own city.
    Hello future dystopian nightmare cityscape!

  • Scientists made robotic bees to one day study the ocean
    What’s better than a robot inspired by bees? A robot inspired by bees that can swim.
    Awww cute lil… ohhh wait, nope, they are not cute at all. BOOOOOO

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

I don’t often muck about with the order of what follows, I tend to list things in the order I’ve read/bookmarked them. But given there was one topic that dominated and resonated I’ve bumped them all together. I’d urge any men to read the first few links in particular, especially if you’ve missed the horrifying build of the #metoo on social media this week (horrifying in terms of the numbers as they rose and rose through the week).

  • Two alternatives to #WomenBoycottTwitter that don’t rely on women’s silencing
    After Twitter extending their risible “abuse” policy to a suspension of a celebrity white woman speaking out against sexual violence, the problems in their model have been laid bare, and to my pleasant surprise, people are talking about taking action (I’d been pessimistic about this).
    Quite a week. From a one day boycott…
  • My life has been marked by sexual harassment – just like all women
    ‘It doesn’t happen here,’ one boss told me. He was wrong: from the flasher in the park to the ‘groper’ manager, the abuse has never stopped I didn’t grow up in Hollywood. Far from it. But I did grow up a girl, and I remember. Because who can forget? We are in the park.
    … to stories of harassment and abuse…
  • It’s not just one monster. ‘Me too’ reveals the ubiquity of sexual assault
    Is it too much to hope that the revelations about Harvey Weinstein – and the rage they have unleashed – will bring about a shift in the culture? Me too may be another hashtag. With good intentions. But this time it is showing the ubiquity of sexual assault.
    … to #metoo hashtag which sadly flooded my timelines…
  • The myth of the ‘perfect victim’
    Due to the Weinstein abuse allegations some elements within the media has apparently dredged up the idea of the ‘perfect victim’ so have some thoughts. Please note I am using woman and man/he and she in this as a result of the particular case being discussed at length in the news.
    … to thought provoking articles that help challenge how these things can spin…
  • The Harvey Weinstein allegations are monstrous. But it’s not just monsters who harass women
    How many men have read the news this last week and reassured themselves – come on, I’m not as bad as that guy? It was initially very hard to say anything bad about Harvey Weinstein. He was protected by battalions of lawyers and his formidable status as a Hollywood power-broker.
    … to thought provoking articles that hit home hard…
  • The unexpected, paradigm-shifting power of #MeToo
    I’ve known for nearly 20 years that those born wealthy had a head start compared with me in my chosen career. I’d accepted that—as a mixed-race woman making her way through a conservative and predominantly white male world of work—I’d face microaggressions and systemic bias.
    … to further considerations…
  • Men paralyzed by #MeToo: Here’s why you need to speak up—and how
    Like many women, I’ve been disturbed and enraged by the allegations that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been sexually harassing and assaulting women for decades—and by how closely the story resonates with my own experiences, and those of every woman I know.
    … to advice as we are all part of this issue …
  • 20 Things Men Can Do RTFN to Support Women, Beyond Just Literally Ceasing to Sexually Harass Us
    A friend of mine, who is a man, reached out to me privately earlier today to say how paralyzed he felt seeing the flood of “Me too” posts on his Facebook wall, a phrase women are posting to indicate that they have been the victims of sexual harassment and assault.
    … to more specific and actionable things to do, helpful when you feel helpless …
  • Did the internet create a generation of feminists?
    If, 10 years ago, you had asked me if I was a feminist, I would probably have said no. Aside from a few university lectures, feminism just wasn’t a term that was on my radar, or that of my friends.
    And it was timely that this article popped up. My Mum is a (fierce) feminist but it’s definitely a term that is more readily seen these days.
  • Miscarriage – Yes I’m ‘one in four’.
    This is a blog that I’ve been psyching myself up to do for a long time.
    Sticking with women, I hope a lot of men read this. It’s not an easy read but that’s kinda the point here.
  • I have a message for you…
    Klara Prowisor, now 92 and living in Tel Aviv, escaped the gas chamber at Auschwitz by leaving her sick father and jumping from a train in Belgium. Years later, she received a message from him. Just watch this…it might be the best 13 minutes you’ll spend online all week.
    Note: have the hankies ready (it’s not all sad, don’t worry).
  • One person’s history of Twitter, from beginning to end
    At some point in 2006, or possibly late 2005, Noah Glass walked into our office all excited about something. That in itself isn’t news because Noah was always excited about something. Dude had an energy.
    Another timely article? White ‘dude’ writes about why Twitter is white ‘dude’ heaven. Doesn’t leave me with much hope for Twitter.
  • I let Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson run my life for a week
    Because sometimes it’s good to step away. Not that it sounds like The Rock ever does (love him or hate him, you can’t deny him!)
  • Americans are pack rats. Swedes have the solution: ‘Death cleaning.’
    If your family doesn’t want your stuff when you’re alive, they sure won’t want it when you’re dead. That’s the blunt assessment of yet another self-help author from abroad who is trying to get Americans, who have an addiction to collecting and storage units, to clean up their acts.
    And the bestselling book on this topic will be whichever one comes up with a better (more marketable) name…
  • How to Reach Out to Someone Who Is Struggling
    There is a story told and retold in the Middle East about how to help someone who’s drowning. The story goes that a man had fallen into a river. He was not much of a swimmer and was in real danger of drowning. A crowd of concerned people wanted to rescue him.
    I’ve read something similar before, but a timely reminder. We all struggle, but we don’t always know how to ask for help.
  • Elbows in Cider Tumblers
    On a balmy, mid-June evening in the summer of 2017 inside Webster Hall, located in the east village of Manhattan, New York, punk legends Buzzcocks were firmly in the throes of delivering a blistering set.
    If you go to gigs, read this (then book some tickets for a gig in Glasgow!)
  • Hear 1,500+ Genres of Music, All Mapped Out on an Insanely Thorough Interactive Graph
    If you are ready for a time-suck internet experience that will also make you feel slightly old and out of step with the culture, feel free to dive into Every Noise at Once.
    Apparently there was a Monday night this week. I’ve no idea if that is true because I was several levels deep into this for most of it…
  • US vs. Japan: Giant robots are about to face off, fighting for their country
    The United States and Japan will put their reputations on the line on Tuesday, as they prepare for an expensive showdown in technological superiority. What’s the test? Giant battling robots.
    This has now happened, but no spoilers. Ohh and when they say giant, they mean it, these fuckers are huge! (but don’t worry Optimus Prime has our back)
  • Ophelia was the 10th hurricane to form in the Atlantic in the last 10 weeks
    It’s been 10 long weeks of 10 straight hurricanes. The remnants of Hurricane Ophelia tore into southwest Ireland today (Oct. 16), the latest storm of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season to break records.
    What? Climate change? Pah such #fakenews… hey is that a tree that’s been ripped from the ground flying towards m….
  • Meet the two amazing women running across America — to break the same record
    Think of all the people at home who think that you’re going to fail. In the middle of the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert, a steady IV drip pressed into Mimi Anderson’s arm and a dark, barren expanse lying ahead, this was the thought that got her through.
    Amazing. Bonkers. Driven. Powerful. Awesome.
  • Are We Ready for Intimacy With Androids?
    Hiroshi Ishi­guro builds androids. Beautiful, realistic, uncannily convincing human replicas. Academically, he is using them to understand the mechanics of person-to-person interaction. But his true quest is to untangle the ineffable nature of connection itself.
    No. Well. Hmmmm maybe? Technology is moving fast, but can our emotions keep up? Challenging times ahead I think…
  • We’re in a ‘Dream Deprivation’ Epidemic
    My mom keeps odd hours. Around 9:30 p.m. every night, she goes to bed; after that, she goes exploring. Once, in a dream, she ran through dewy grass, jumped into the moonlit sky, and cleared the roof of a barn. Once her dream self walked to a mall just to people-watch.
    I barely remember the last dream I had (at least, the last one I’m gonna repeat here… ahem).
  • Tory power is only sustained by cruel confidence tricks
    The Conservatives exist largely to misinform the public, to convince austerity-crippled voters they have the same interests as billionaires. Many people are shocked that Theresa May having a cough during a speech is considered a sackable offence…
    I love how Frankie Boyle writes, especially when his hackles are up…
  • List of common misconceptions
    This list of common misconceptions corrects erroneous beliefs that are currently widely held about notable topics. Each misconception and the corresponding facts have been discussed in published literature.
    Danger: this list comes with high risk of you becoming ‘that person’ at parties that corrects everyone (I’m sorry!)
  • The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions
    We are surrounded by hysteria about the future of artificial intelligence and robotics—hysteria about how powerful they will become, how quickly, and what they will do to jobs. I recently saw a story in MarketWatch that said robots will take half of today’s jobs in 10 to 20 years.
    Not a topic I’m massively close to but it’s coming to us all (hint: it’s already here you just don’t realise it yet). “Imagining Magic” is the takeaway here for me.
  • Maria Anna Mozart Was a Musical Prodigy Like Her Brother Wolfgang, So Why Did She Get Erased from History?
    When people ask why we have specifically black histories, or queer histories, or women’s histories, it can be hard for many who do historical research to take the question seriously. But in fairness, such questions point to the very reason that alternative or “revisionist” histories exist.
    I’ve never researched him but I didn’t even know Wolfgang had a sister at all. Awful.
  • Tina Roth Eisenberg on Twitter
    What is a book that has changed your life?
    Because books.
  • The Gentle Art of Self-Control
    After somebody threw a flask of acid on the Mona Lisa in 1956, they put her behind bulletproof (and presumably acid-proof) glass. Same with Picasso’s Guernica, after a man spray-painted “Kill all lies” in giant red letters across the canvas.
    Struggling to change some habits, get yourself a velvet rope.
  • The History of the Ampersand
    These days everybody knows about the ampersand. It’s one of typography’s most unique and interesting characters.
    Yeah? Says who? I bet YOU don’t have a tattoo of ampersands!! #ampersandswars
  • The world’s first floating wind farm could be a game changer for renewable power
    Wind turbines are impressive structures, towering higher than some of the world’s tallest buildings. When installed offshore, the extent of the construction beneath the surface is just as impressive (and costly).
    Pssssst… it’s in Scotland!

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • Phoebe Waller-Bridge on Fleabag, Star Wars and presenting this year’s Evening Standard Theatre Awards

    When Phoebe Waller-Bridge was writing Fleabag, her show about a chaotic twentysomething woman who, as she winningly puts it, “w**ks down the barrel of the camera”, she had just started dating the man who is now her husband.
    Massive fan of this very talented person. If you haven’t seen Fleabag, find it, watch it now. I’m getting really fed up recommending it to people WHO HAVEN’T WATCHED IT YET!!

  • ’Our minds can be hijacked’: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia

    Justin Rosenstein had tweaked his laptop’s operating system to block Reddit, banned himself from Snapchat, which he compares to heroin, and imposed limits on his use of Facebook. But even that wasn’t enough.
    There is a balance that can be found but this does make me question if I’m actually as good at maintaining that as I think

  • McDonalds’ Rick and Morty Szechuan sauce stunt backfires

    A McDonalds’ PR stunt to bring back a rare dipping sauce left thousands of fans disappointed and police called to some restaurants on Saturday.The Szechuan sauce, which was only made in 1998 to promote the film Mulan, has become well known after featuring in the popular cartoon Rick and Morty.
    AKA some people are just fuckin morons.

  • A Pre-History of Slashdot on its 20th Birthday

    Jeff chipped in a few bucks for the fees. Kathleen told me the name was stupid. I thought, “That’s kinda the point!” I originally used the name ‘slashdot’ on my desktop a year earlier when I got my first static IP in the Voorhees Hall dorm room I shared with Dave.
    One of the first tech websites I followed back in the day.

  • The Horizon of Desire

    “Man fucks woman. Man: subject. Woman: object.” The first thing you need to understand about consent is that consent is not, strictly speaking, a thing. Not in the same way that teleportation isn’t a thing. Consent is not a thing because it is not an item, nor a possession.
    A must read. Not easy but uncomfortable truths rarely are.

  • Louise Redknapp Isn’t Following The ‘Perfect Wife’ Script

    We’re used to Strictly stars undergoing transformations. Perhaps a heartwarming tale of a male sportstar getting in touch with his emotions or a female celeb showing off her hot new bod after 10 weeks of shimmying around the dancefloor.
    Not really close to this story but the basic principle appears to be ‘women aren’t allowed to do what they want’? FFS

  • Hacking is inevitable, so it’s time to assume our data will be stolen

    Companies are prone to understating the scale of hacks, which suggests that there needs to be better standards for disclosing breaches. Yahoo recently confessed that its data breach actually impacted 3 billion user accounts, .
    IT reality as predicted 10 years ago? Longer? If you aren’t managing your accounts/passwords smartly by now then you are too late.

  • Dating yourself

    I am single and actually loving it, finally. It has taken a year or so but I am finally feeling whole and happy as a person who is not in a relationship. I do not need someone else to complete me or make me more of a person, or more content in my own skin.
    Right in the feels.

  • The Creator of Bitcoin Comes Clean, Only to Disappear Again

    Ten men raided a house in Gordon, a north shore suburb of Sydney, at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9, 2015. Some of the federal agents wore shirts that said “Computer Forensics”; one carried a search warrant issued under the Australian Crimes Act 1914.
    I’m a suburb!

  • Logical

    So simple. So true. (read the tooltip!)

  • Glasgow Science Centre send a Tunnock’s Teacake into space

    Glasgow Science Centre have carried out one of the most momentous space launches in Scotland’s history – sending a Tunnock’s Teacake into orbit. Staff at the Clydeside centre have launched the humble teacake, named Terry, from pad in Houston (that’s Houston, Renfrewshire, not Houston, Texas).
    Conflicted: YAY SCIENCE IN SCOTLAND! Booooo, what a waste of a teacake?

  • On living with the feelings in my head

    When I was 10 years old, I learned that my father had a brain tumour. He was treated, our family life continued.
    More feels.

  • How to Care for Your Introvert

    (Not to be confused with Caring for Your Introvert.) I started this video thinking it was a serious thing but ended up laughing embarrassingly hard almost all the way through. A pair of introverts is called an ‘awkward’. A group of introverts is called an ‘angst’.
    LOLs

  • The crazy, true story of the birth of the Warriors’ historic offense

    The sanctuary for the early check-ins, the merely laid-over and the maddeningly delayed is tucked between Gates 25 and 26 in Terminal 2 at Oakland International Airport.
    Bit early (3 years in) to say historic? Actually… no.

  • How Men Like Harvey Weinstein Implicate Their Victims in Their Acts

    If you have ever experienced sexual assault or harassment, you know that one of the cruellest things about these acts is the way that they entangle, and attempt to contaminate, all of the best things about you.
    Utterly vile the way these things play out. Where is the humanity?

  • First Evidence That Online Dating Is Changing the Nature of Society

    Not so long ago, nobody met a partner online. Then, in the 1990s, came the first dating websites. Match.com went live in 1995. A new wave of dating websites, such as OKCupid, emerged in the early 2000s. And the 2012 arrival of Tinder changed dating even further.
    This is both fascinating, and a little bit ‘no shit sherlock’.

  • How Video Games Satisfy Basic Human Needs

    Grand Theft Auto, that most lavish and notorious of all modern videogames, offers countless ways for players to behave. Much of this conduct, if acted out in our reality, would be considered somewhere between impolite and morally reprehensible.
    This is also both fascinating, and a little bit ‘no shit sherlock’.