Weekend Reading

  • This Melissa McCarthy Story Just Might (Maybe? Possibly?) Cheer You Up
    Melissa McCarthy was hovering six feet above Los Angeles, in a glass tube, wearing a helmet and goggles.
    Just when you thought you couldn’t adore her more.
  • There is no non-wanky way to sign off an email, study finds
    THERE is no way to end an email that does not make you sound like a bit of a twat, it has been confirmed. The Institute for Studies found all email sign-offs suffered from problems such as being weirdly matey, passive-aggressive or sternly formal like a threatening letter from a bank.
    Thanks. Sincerely, with regards.
  • The Denial Diaries: On #MeToo Men With No Self-Awareness
    Dan Harmon had no plans to say anything about the way he had treated Megan Ganz. But then, in January, the writer who used to work for him on “Community” accused him of sexual harassment on Twitter.
    My biggest bug-bear/pet peeve. Lack of self-awareness. Ugh.
  • Should I get a tattoo? You asked Google – here’s the answer
    I got my first tattoo 14 months ago. I see it every day except when I am especially absentminded in washing myself. Yet, still, the sight of it takes me by surprise. Almost 20% of Britons aged 18 and over are estimated to have a tattoo. Among 25- to 39-year-olds it could be as high as 30%.
    Yes. Life is too short. Just get the damn thing already.
  • The world’s longest and shortest flights, compared
    A new record was set earlier this month with a flight that links Singapore with New York. Reviews suggest that traversing 10,400 miles (16,700 km) and 12 time zones in 19 hours is not all that bad.
    19 hours on a plane. Double ugh. I’ll take the short trip every time thanks (whaddya mean, what about the planet?)
  • How Men Can Become Better Allies to Women
    Women’s conferences and employee resource groups (ERGs) are increasingly inviting men to attend. By creating events aimed at men, they hope to include men in discussions around gender equity in the workplace, and make organizational diversity efforts more successful.
    More talk is much needed. Presuming the men are listening.
  • Hong Kong-Zhuhai bridge: World’s longest sea bridge in pictures
    The 55km bridge and tunnel linking Hong Kong to mainland China via Macau has opened, years late.
    A bridge that is a tunnel that is a bridge, with man-made islands. Wow. Disaster movie waiting to happen?
  • Joachim Ronneberg: Norwegian who thwarted Nazi nuclear plan dies
    Joachim Ronneberg, the Norwegian resistance fighter who sabotaged Nazi Germany’s nuclear weapons ambitions during World War Two, has died aged 99. In 1943, he led a top-secret raid on a heavily-guarded plant in Norway’s southern region of Telemark.
    Proper legendary hero.
  • 100 Websites That Shaped The Internet As We Know It
    The World Wide Web is officially old enough for us judge what it’s produced. That’s right, it’s time for the world to start building a canon of the most significant websites of all time, and the Gizmodo staff has opinions. What does a spot on this list mean? It certainly doesn’t mean best.
    Wow. I remember all of these. Christ, I’m old.
  • Thousands Of Swedes Are Inserting Microchips Under Their Skin
    Technology continues to get closer and closer to our bodies, from the phones in our pockets to the smartwatches on our wrists. Now, for some people, it’s getting under their skin. In Sweden, a country rich with technological advancement, thousands have had microchips inserted into their hands.
    Geek G says yes. Privacy G says no.
  • Superfoods Are a Marketing Ploy
    Regardless of who issues them, guidelines for health promotion and disease prevention universally recommend diets that are largely plant-based, meaning those that include plenty of fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, and nuts.
    Once again, everything in moderation seems to be the key. Ignore the hype.
  • #MeToo Brought Down 201 Powerful Men. Nearly Half of Their Replacements Are Women.
    They had often gotten away with it for years, and for those they harassed, it seemed as if the perpetrators would never pay any consequences. Then came the report that detailed Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assaults and harassment, and his fall from Hollywood’s heights.
    Progress. Sort of. More needed!
  • Nasa photographs rectangular iceberg
    Nasa has released a striking photo of a rectangular iceberg floating in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica. The US space agency said the object’s sharp angles and flat surface suggested it had recently broken away from an ice shelf.
    Dear nature, stop showing off!
  • Doctors in Montreal will start prescribing visits to the art museum
    Laughter may be the best medicine but culture works wonders for health as well. That’s the thinking driving a new initiative in Montreal, Canada, where doctors will be able to prescribe free art museum visits to patients with a range of ailments, from depression to diabetes to chronic illnesses.
    Come to Scotland! Our museums are free all the time!!
  • On Likeability
    My daughter comes home from school at least once a week and announces to me that no one likes her. She has done something that is too weird, or bold, or has said a thing with which others disagree. She has had to sit alone during lunch or play alone during recess.
    It’s a strange trait but one I recognise. Am I likeable? Are you?
  • Counting Steps
    Her words caught me from behind. She’d been there for a while—maybe three or four miles—tailing me at distance that violated every tenet of basic running etiquette. As my pace had slackened, hers had remained annoyingly constant, a light pitter-pat on the San Diego boardwalk.
    You never know what other people are going through. Don’t presume.
  • The Embarrassing Private Languages of Couples
    Welcome to It’s Complicated, stories on the sometimes frustrating, sometimes confusing, always engrossing subject of modern relationships.
    Why embarassing? Embrace the silly people, EMBRACE THE SILLY!
  • Why you should give money directly and unconditionally to homeless people
    Who are you to judge what they do with that cash?
    Long been my opinion. A good articulation of why you should stop thinking beyond the act of helping another human being.
  • In Japan, the Kit Kat Isn’t Just a Chocolate. It’s an Obsession.
    The seven-story Don Quijote megastore in the Shibuya district of Tokyo is open 24 hours a day, but it’s hard to say when it’s rush hour, because there’s always a rush.
    Been lucky enough to try a few of these, wasabi Kit-Kat was surprisingly tasty!
  • Should a self-driving car kill the baby or the grandma? Depends on where you’re from
    In 2014 researchers at the MIT Media Lab designed an experiment called Moral Machine. The idea was to create a game-like platform that would crowdsource people’s decisions on how self-driving cars should prioritize lives in different variations of the “trolley problem”.
    As played out in an episode of The Good Place. Who would you choose to die?