Weekend Reading

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  • A Freudian theory, now backed up by neuroscience, explains why so many fear clowns
    Creepy clown sightings across the United States are no laughing matter. Glimpses of disturbing clowns began in South Carolina in August, but the phenomenon of pranksters in sinister costumes has become so widespread that it was even mentioned at a White House news conference.
    Hey… is it Halloween soon maybe?
  • We’re So Addicted to Our Gadgets That ‘Unplugged’ Tourism Is Booming
    If a tree falls in the Amazon, but you don’t capture it on Snapchat, did it actually fall? I had the thought while hiking through the rainforest, on the third day of a digital detox that was slowly killing me.
    I’m away for a few days myself soon, I will have ‘gadget’ but aiming to be ‘unplugged’ as possible.
  • The App Fueling Twitter’s Most Powerful Political Campaigns
    On September 27, there was a brief moment when 1,685,719 people’s Twitter feeds were flooded with an adorable emoticon rabbit urging them to vote. This was not the first time the charming text art has graced Twitter.
    Always remember to count the gap…
  • Let’s All Obsess Over This Intricate Map of Alt Music History
    It started with The Sex Pistols. Specifically, with The Sex Pistols’ June 4, 1976 show at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. The concert now ranks as one of the most influential performances of all time, up there with Woodstock. But the audience, not the band, made the show famous.
    GEEKGASMTASTIC stuff this!
  • How to Walk Past a Group of Teens Without Attracting Attention
    Do not make eye contact. They don’t need to know about your lifelong string of rejections or your secret need for approval. Just keep looking down at your practical shoes like the shame-filled, frightened adult you are. Don’t assume your personal safety. Most teen-agers are savages.
    This is ALL TRUE! They roam in packs, the buggers.
  • Twitter’s Woes Signal the End of the Social Wars
    Two buzzwords define the past decade of computing: mobile and social. Those days are coming to an end. Although smartphones and social media remain as important as ever, the war to control those platforms are over. Winners are being coronated as the losers are, at last, conceding.
    AKA what is the next big thing? (and how big is a big thing anyway… hmmm that sounds wrong)
  • How Did a Chunk of India and Eurasia Just Disappear?
    Half of the mass of Eurasia and India is missing, new research finds, and may have been swallowed up by the Earth’s mantle.
    Uhhhhh whaaaat?? We still know so little about the planet we occupy it’s scary.
  • Meet America’s Smokejumpers, the Navy SEALs of the Wild West
    It took three days for Vermaas and his crew to get their fire contained. They used chainsaws (to cut down trees that the fire would have otherwise used as fuel) and that Pulaski (to dig into the soil so there would be nothing on the ground for the fire to feed on).
    Nope, nope and nope. But WOW brave/mad/amazing guys.
  • The Japanese practice of ‘forest bathing’ is scientifically proven to improve your health
    The tonic of the wilderness was Henry David Thoreau’s classic prescription for civilization and its discontents, offered in the 1854 essay Walden: Or, Life in the Woods. Now there’s scientific evidence supporting eco-therapy.
    Damn tree huggers.
  • How Would “The West Wing” Handle Donald Trump?
    We had podcasters Joshua Malina and Hrishikesh Hirway weigh in. Before the dark drama of House of Cards and the political satire of Veep, there was The West Wing, the beloved NBC White House drama that aired 154 episodes over seven seasons, beginning in 1999.
    Posting this cos this is my blog and I can, so pfffftttt!
  • This is How Literary Fiction Teaches Us to Be Human
    Think about every bully you can remember, whether from fiction or real life. What do they all have in common? For the most part, they don’t read — and if they do, they probably aren’t ingesting much literary fiction.
    There are many reasons I enjoy reading but I hadn’t actually twigged that this was one of them.
  • But alas! the creature grows degenerate.
    sashayed: I started thinking absently about Steve Rogers’ jogging route during my run today and then i couldn’t STOP thinking about it because there’s literally NO WAY it makes sense unless you accept that he is specifically fucking up his entire morning routine to get another look at the cute guy.
    GEEKGASMTASTIC * 2! (I know, another one, so soon, geek stamina!)