Weekend Reading

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  • New No’s by Paul Chan
    After the 2016 election, artist and writer Paul Chan wrote the following poem that he called “New No’s”. I ran across this several times at The Whitney; it’s part of their great exhibition An Incomplete History of Protest.
    Print and put up in every school and workplace!

  • If you want to save the world, veganism isn’t the answer
    Veganism has rocketed in the UK over the past couple of years – from an estimated half a million people in 2016 to more than 3.5 million – 5% of our population – today.
    Science says… (as ever, it’s all about balance, something humankind just isn’t that great at)

  • This company embeds microchips in its employees, and they love it
    When Patrick McMullan wants a Diet Dr Pepper while he’s at work, he pays for it with a wave of his hand. McMullan has a microchip implanted between his thumb and forefinger, and the vending machine immediately deducts money from his account.
    Geek G says YES! The rest of me says ouch, wtf, and what does this mean for the future?

  • Scotland’s free tampons show the true mark of an evolved civilization
    This week, Scotland became the first nation in the world to guarantee free sanitary products to all students at schools, colleges, and universities. It’s part of a £5.2 million ($6.
    Once again, proud to be Scottish.

  • The New Old Age
    I am five years older than my mother was when she died of breast cancer, in 1982. She was sixty-five, which now seems ­merely middle aged. I don’t know what expectations she had about aging; I doubt she had any, especially after her diagnosis, but I know what mine are.
    Hold those you love closely. Life is far far too short.

  • How Tourists Are Destroying the Places They Love
    Travel is no longer a luxury good. Airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet have contributed to a form of mass tourism that has made local residents feel like foreigners in cities like Barcelona and Rome. The infrastructure is buckling under the pressure.
    This! Plus tourists visiting cities and only sticking to tourist stuff. Get off the beaten track already.

  • This Is Personal
    There’s this miracle happening at home right now. And before it’s over, I feel like I need to put it on paper — just to make sure I have some documented proof. Riley, our six-year-old daughter, wants to be like her parents.
    More men need to say these things.

  • Listening for Silence With the Headphones Off
    Immersive portable audio—the ability to be out in the world while listening to your favorite music privately, on headphones—is a relatively new phenomenon. In 1972, a man named Andreas Pavel more or less invented it.
    Out in a country park last weekend I paused and listened to the silence. Magical when you can find that space.

  • Alexa Is Losing Her Edge
    It’s easy to imagine a world in which “Alexa” is synonymous with talking computers, or Echo with smart speakers—just as Kleenex is synonymous with facial tissue, Xerox with copy machines, or Google with online search.
    I have Alexa. My usage hasn’t really expanded beyond the first few things I learned.

  • Begging the Question
    I do not know anyone who would be like this just to wind people up. Nope. I do not. *coughs*

  • ‘Growing up, we were the weird ones’: The wizarding, mermaiding, cosplaying haven of Epic Nerd Camp
    Okay, campers, everyone into the pool for fourth-period mermaiding. Or, merfolking, if you prefer. “We are sirens of the sea! Lie on your back and make love to the sky,” instructed Amber Kofman, waving her high-waisted aqua tail above the water.
    More spaces, more tribes, choose love.

  • Inside the slimy underground hunt for humanity’s antibiotic saviour
    The first time Naowarat Cheeptham ventured down into the Iron Curtain Cave, one day in 2011, the darkness was all-consuming. Turning away from the steel ladder – the only route back to the small square of sunlight far overhead – the biologist forced herself to continue forward.
    One day you will die. We will all die. Humanity will die. Bacteria won’t cos it’s smart than us.

  • Nostalgia is gaming’s biggest trend
    Tanglewood is a glitch in the matrix. As only the second video game released on the Sega Genesis since it was discontinued in 1997, it shouldn’t exist, but it does — a humble, beautifully realized 2D adventure platformer.
    Retro gaming isn’t about graphics and nostalgia, it’s about playability. Pick up and play!