It’s always odd posting things from a week ago when the real focus of the news is the awful events from Nice, the continuing political maelstrom that is engulfing UK politics, and the brutal Police killings in America (and, literally as I type, a coup in Turkey? Good god). Now is the time for calm and considered thought, no matter how hard it is to find. Love will win, fear will lose.
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How discrimination feels
A short video featuring Jane Elliott. She’s a noted anti-racism activist famous for her blue eyes/brown eyes exercise, featured in the video linked.
This has been doing the rounds given recent events in America. Powerful, thought provoking stuff. Taught me a few things. -
2016 Will Be One Second Longer Than Expected
No more complaining that there’s not enough time to get it all done: On the last day of this year, you’ll have a whole extra second to finalize your New Year’s resolutions.
Why can’t I get to choose when I get my second?! Life is so unfair… -
The bleak truth about how we spend our time
What constitutes time well spent? One pitfall here is that we may think we’re in control when we’re not.
Reading random articles doesn’t count, I checked. -
Spin cycle: how stationary bikes went from curiosity to cult
Spin class or 6 a.m. rave with sweaty, aroused strangers? You’re not meant to dissect the difference. For the past decade, indoor cycling has pumped throbbing beats between stationary bikes and their gasping riders.
Have to admit, neither of these options massively appeal! -
Headphones Everywhere
Anyone who has recently spent time in a public space—traversing the aisle of an airplane, say, lurching toward your seat adjacent to the toilet, trying to shift your backpack without thwapping a fellow traveller on the forehead—has likely noticed the sudden and extraordinary ubiquity of headphones.
Given how the world is, maybe fewer headphones would be better? Talk to a stranger, learn and understand. -
Why Are There Seatbelt Demos On Airplanes?
A seatbelt is a fairly intuitive safety device: insert the flat end into the other piece and you’re secure in your seat — it’s fairly simple. We’ve all snapped one together, whether flying, driving or riding.
I do a lot of things without thinking about them, like trying to write silly comments about these links. -
Why Women Are Winning at the Politics Game
Now that two of the world’s five biggest economies — Germany and the U.K. — are headed by women, and the biggest one of all, the U.S., has a woman front-runner in its presidential election, the glass ceiling in politics can probably be declared broken, and it’s time to consider what kind of change this brings to the world.
Generalising massively, but ‘powerful men’ are prone to wanting to prove that more than they are interested in doing good (corrupted by power?). And anyway, women are smarter than men, so it’s all good. -
Hillary
This is not a profile of Hillary Clinton. It is not a review of her career or an assessment of her campaign. You won’t find any shocking revelations on her emails, on Benghazi, on Whitewater, or even on her health care plan.
Likely to be the next President (dear God I hope so), if you read the previous link, this one will be all the richer. -
How technology disrupted the truth
One Monday morning last September, Britain woke to a depraved news story. The prime minister, David Cameron, had committed an “obscene act with a dead pig’s head”, according to the Daily Mail.
A common theme, stop trusting the media. -
Chemists accidentally created this beautiful new color in a lab experiment, and now you can paint with it
Seven years ago, chemistry researchers accidentally created a brilliant new blue pigment, while testing the electronic properties of chemical compounds.
A new blue! What’s it called?… Ehh, what? AKA why scientists suck at marketing. -
For The Record
Let me start by saying that addressing gossip is something I have never done. I don’t like to give energy to the business of lies, but I wanted to participate in a larger conversation that has already begun and needs to continue.
All hail Jennifer Aniston. There’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever write! -
Sorry, Ghostbusters purists, but the original spirit exterminator was a woman who lived 100 years ago
Given the controversy over Paul Feig’s decision to remake Ghostbusters with an all-woman cast, one might be fooled into thinking that female ghostbusters are a shocking, newfangled phenomenon. Au contraire.
No comment to add. I’ve not seen the new movie, but I could care less that it’s got women in it. IS IT FUNNY?! -
A Precious Hour
I am told that the manner by which others understand that I am busy is when my writing coherence suffers. This primarily occurs in email when whole words are dropped, sentences become jumbled, and logic falls on the floor. Rands, I literally did not understand what you were asking in that email.
Taking time for yourself is increasingly important, I know you want to catch more Pokemon but maybe, just maybe, you should focus elsewhere? -
Nintendo doubles down on nostalgia with the $60 mini NES Classic Edition console
Nintendo has been laughing all the way to the bank this past week with the runaway success of the Pokémon Go augmented reality mobile app, but the Japanese gaming giant isn’t done cashing in on nostalgia quite yet.
Want. Want want want want want. WANT!!! -
In Senate floor speech, Tim Scott recalls ‘sadness and humiliation’ of being targeted by police
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott was stopped by police officers seven times in one year. He’s frequently told that he’s suspected of driving a stolen vehicle. While a local official back in Charleston, the hosts of a public event were reluctant to invite him inside.
It’s hard to write comments for these things when they continue to have to be a ‘thing’. It’s 2016, why is racism still a thing? -
10 Predictions About the Future That Should Scare the Hell Out of You
The future looks bright, except when it doesn’t. Here are 10 exceptionally regrettable developments we can expect in the coming decades. Listed in no particular order.
Item 11 – gentle brainwashing by people posting collated links.