bookmark_borderThings I read

A return of an old post format, here are a few articles I read over the past month, in no particular order.

An anniversary for great justice: Remembering “All Your Base” 20 years later /// There’s a Better Way to Parent: Less Yelling, Less Praise /// Revenge Bedtime Procrastination’ Is Real, According to Psychologists /// How Masayoshi Matsumoto creates his magic balloon artworks /// The 50 Best Movie and TV Show Twists of All Time /// Looking Closely is Everything /// Mike’s Fancy DSLR Webcam Setup /// A Drone’s Eye View of a Bowling Alley /// Meet The F1 Fan Who Takes Incredible Photos Using Model Cars /// The Future Of Work Will Demand These 8 New Skills /// How the West Lost COVID /// This teen makes tiny bow ties for shelter dogs to help them look spiffy and get adopted /// Polystyrene waste is everywhere, and it’s not biodegradable. Scientists just found a way to break it down /// ‘Success Addicts’ Choose Being Special Over Being Happy /// Not All Men: Dismantling The Pyramid /// The Advantages of Political Buffoonery /// Here Are 89 Of The Best Nature Photos From The Tokyo International Foto Awards /// The 7 types of rest that every person needs /// Bystander Resources /// How to save yourself another pointless guilt trip /// A Counterintuitive Way to Cheer Up When You’re Down

bookmark_borderI can read

I stopped publishing my weekly Weekend Reading posts last year. As I said at the time:

3 years and 161 posts later and I think it’s time to admit that this is now more of a chore than I’d like. Sure it’s mostly automated, but over the past few months I’ve started searching out and filtering what I read knowing that it will appear in these posts, and that’s not why I started doing it. It isn’t supposed to be a chore, it’s just supposed to be an extension of what I already read, and it no longer is.

Since then I’ve read about the same number of articles but shared a wider variety, or at the very least I feel like I’ve shared a wider variety as I’ve not actually done any analysis on this other than the sense that reading and sharing articles the way I do now definitely doesn’t feel like a chore nor does it feel influenced by the fact that other people may judge me based on what I share (which is really what I was trying to say when I closed the weekly summary posts.

My life has changed a lot this since then, for the better I hastened to add, and naturally my world view and the things that matter to me most have evolved and my reading habits have mirrored that. As I’ve said, I’ve not stopped reading articles and I still subscribe to and enjoy a few daily newsletters, all of which have yielded some fascinating articles which I’ve shared (via Pocket and IFTTT so it’s still kinda automated) to my Twitter account.

When I set this up I would also have had the articles posted to my Facebook account but IFTTT doesn’t support creating posts to a personal Facebook account, but it does support creating posts on a Facebook Page. I didn’t have, nor had any desire to have, a Facebook Page because who needs yet another social media outlet to manage.

That was back then and like I say, life has changed so prompted by someone asking why I don’t cross post to Twitter AND Facebook, I give you – https://www.facebook.com/gordoncanread/ – so if you prefer to consume your social media over there, feel free to Like and follow my new page.

Or don’t.

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • What Was Inside the Glowing Briefcase in Pulp Fiction?
    Before I started making my own web pages, I spent a not-insignificant amount of my time on the Internet trawling the alt.fan.tarantino newsgroup for bits of knowledge about Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction, and Reservoir Dogs.
    Fascinating! (well not really, but still v.cool)

  • iPad Pro (2018) Impressions
    (to the tune of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer) You know ‘Ticci and Gruber, @panzer and Ritchie… Marco and Jason, Joe and Rosemary… But do you recall, the most famous YouTuber of all? MKB(in)HD, had a very shiny Pro… Um, so, yeah.
    My favourite kind of review is one written by ‘real people’. 
  • In Defence of Hate
    Hate can be valid and powerful, but far often it’s misused and misguided.

  • American Women of the Far Right
    In the run-up to the violence last year around the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, a woman named Erika, who is active in the white supremacist group Identity Evropa, was busy posting on Discord, an app originally used by gamers but used at that time by some on the far right.
    Important to remember, that there are all genders involved in this. The men are the figureheads, but there are many other people supporting them.

  • Your City Has a Gender and It’s Male
    Why city designers are increasingly thinking about the female perspective. I have a secret to tell you about my city,” she says. “It has to do with what Eve Ensler calls the feminine cell.” It was the autumn of 2016.
    Rings true for Glasgow.

  • Thanks David Dimbleby. Now maybe Question Time can get with the times
    Imagine the joy of turning to David “Brexit will be a walk in the park” Davis, live on TV, and saying: “Some people might think you ARE the joke about Brexit.” Last night David Dimbleby showed why he has been able to choose his own abdication date.
    Not a show I watch because UGH.

  • Not Here to Dance
    This is the story of the greatest night of my entire life. This is about a moment from the Ballon d’Or ceremony that I will never forget, even if I lived 200 years. It has nothing to do with dancing.
    Yes to this. Sport is so very visible, and men are still such jackasses.
  • How I Quit Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon
    It was just before closing time at a Verizon store in Bushwick, New York last May when I burst through the door, sweaty and exasperated. I had just sprinted—okay I walked, but briskly—from another Verizon outlet a few blocks away in the hopes I’d make it before they closed shop for the night.
    tl:dr; it’s very very hard.

  • This is What Happens to Kids’ Brains When They Talk To Alexa
    While I bathe my 3-year-old daughter Marty each evening, we use Alexa to play music — usually a head-spinning rotation of her three favorite songs from Frozen.
    Pause for thought. We really don’t know the longer reaching implications for so much of the technology we use these days.
  • The technology that could end traffic jams
    We’ve all been there. Stuck at traffic lights that never seem to change to green. Sitting in queues of cars that stretch on for miles or delayed by a glut of slow traffic that suddenly disappears. Traffic jams are a blight on our modern, fast moving lives.
    A real bugbear, I know this technology exists, let’s use it!
  • Tibet Is Going Crazy for Hoops
    It was within such a village, Zorge Ritoma, that Dugya Bum, a sheep and yak herder from the Golden Stone Clan, took up the sport.
    Zen basketball, see also; Chicago Bulls of the late 80s.

  • The Endurance of A Christmas Carol
    On January 2, 1840, Dickens wrote to his printers, Bradbury and Evans, to thank them for their annual Christmas gift of a turkey. He chose his words with care:
    What’s this, what’s this! A christmas article!

  • Year in Pictures 2018
    It was a year of populist rebellions and political stare-downs. China’s ambitious expansions raised hackles and pollution levels. Trade patterns were upended, and long-standing bans were lifted. Women gained power, and refugees fled violence and starvation.
    A picture tells… etc etc

  • The Rise of Anxiety Baking
    Last winter, a recipe for salted chocolate-chunk shortbread cookies spread through my social circle like a carbohydrate epidemic. One of my friends kept seeing the cookies pop up on Instagram and, relenting to digital peer pressure, eventually made them.
    Makes sense. I do enjoy baking, although mostly the eating part at the end.

  • Real Christmas trees are the greener choice
    A fake Christmas tree has some obvious advantages over the real thing. There’s no sticky sap. No needles shedding everywhere.
    We always had a fake tree. Time to review that choice.

  • Prime and punishment
    Last August, Zac Plansky woke to find that the rifle scopes he was selling on Amazon had received 16 five-star reviews overnight. Usually, that would be a good thing, but the reviews were strange.
    Is Amazon too big to legislate?

  • 12 Reasons To Ditch The Diet Mentality
    It’s the end of the year, which means resolution season is right around the corner.
    Yes to this! Although I may have gone a little too far into the ‘not giving a shit what I eat’ zone…

  • The Story of Dyngo, a War Dog Brought Home From Combat
    It was late—an indistinguishable, bleary-eyed hour. The lamps in the living room glowed against the black spring night. In front of me was a large dog, snapping his jaws so hard that his teeth gave a loud clack with each bark. His eyes were locked on me, desperate for the toy I was holding.
    What is it with stories about dogs… *sniff*

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • 12 Insider Secrets from Restaurant Kitchens (That You Can Use at Home)
    When it comes to top-notch restaurants, head chefs often rack up the attention and acclaim. But ask anyone who has worked behind the scenes in restaurants and they’ll tell you: The cooks are the ones who make the kitchen run.
    A couple I knew, a couple are new. Always learning!
  • The problem with ‘good men,’ according to comedian Hannah Gadsby
    Several celebrities were still milling around when Hannah Gadsby arrived at the microphone, so the Australian comedian — no stranger to letting her audiences wrestle with discomfort — waited a few awkward minutes for everyone to take their seats at the “Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainmen
    Always learning. Hannah has a wonderful way to frame these things. So obvious, so true. (so guilty of this still).
  • Exercise Wins: Fit Seniors Can Have Hearts That Look 30 Years Younger
    We know we need to exercise for our health, but a lifelong exercise habit may also help us feel younger and stay stronger well into our senior years.
    No YOU are making resolutions for 2019…
  • How to Poach an Egg and Leave a Marriage
    If I can poach an egg, maybe I won’t have to leave my marriage. The thought didn’t come to me fully formed. Whether it was an accident or not, the sudden and unbidden urge to poach an egg coincided with the realization I was thinking about divorce.
    Wonderful article. Great advice. Seriously, give it a read.
  • The Race to Understand Antarctica’s Most Terrifying Glacier
    Few places in Antarctica are more difficult to reach than Thwaites Glacier, a Florida-sized hunk of frozen water that meets the Amundsen Sea about 800 miles west of McMurdo.
    Always fascinated by exploration and science. Although this is getting scary. What if…
  • Bao, a Heartwarming Short Film from Pixar
    Bao, a short film by Domee Shi, was shown in front of The Incredibles 2 at theaters this past summer. In “Bao,” an aging Chinese mom suffering from empty nest syndrome gets another chance at motherhood when one of her dumplings springs to life as a lively, giggly dumpling boy.
    Ohhh Pixar. How you make me greet!
  • Marmite sprouts? Why retailers are pushing the boundaries with festive food
    Many readers will find the thought of Christmas tree-flavoured crisps revolting, but Iceland is betting its customers will feel the opposite this festive season.
    I, for one, welcome our Sprout flavoured crisps, but it is starting to get a bit silly, no? I like festive food that is traditional, don’t change it!
  • Showering Has a Dark, Violent History
    The 19th century was a time of great innovation in plumbing. Cities got the first modern sewers, with tunnels that snaked for miles underground. Houses got bathrooms, with ceramic toilets, tubs, and sinks that you would easily recognize today.
    I had a shower this morning. It was NOT like this.
  • Holland Tunnel’s holiday decorations are ‘OCD nightmare’
    ‘Tis the season for obsessing! A frustrated Manhattan driver is on a mission to rearrange the cluttered holiday sign above the Holland Tunnel — which is causing commuters’ OCD to flare up like crazy, he told The Post Tuesday.
    Ha! Oh dear.
  • “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
    Educate yourself on the origins on this song, why it might be a feminist anthem, and why we all maybe need to give history a free pass sometimes. Maybe?
  • Demon Underneath John DeLorean and the Invention of the Future
    Long before Elon Musk, a visionary automaker showed how ugly the American Dream could be. In Zachary DeLorean’s little house on Detroit’s Near East side they speak Rumanian. Zachary is from Bucharest. Zachary has a way with machines but his poor English holds him back.
    I look forward to the day these articles are written about women. (and yes that is a carefully considered comment).
  • Four Days Trapped at Sea With Crypto’s Nouveau Riche
    Draw me your map of utopia and I’ll tell you your tragic flaw.
    Wonderful writing as always. This entire bitcoin ‘thing’ is just a … well I don’t even know what the word is. clusteregofuck?
  • 14 Months, 120 Cities, $2 Billion: There’s Never Been a Company Like Bird. Is the World Ready?
    The first 10 Birds descended on Santa Monica, California, in early September 2017. Within days, this small migration became more like an invasion.
    Not spotted them in Glasgow, yet… this is disruption at a grand scale. Horrific? Inevitable?
  • Meet the Safecracker of Last Resort
    Charlie Santore sees Los Angeles from the inside, by breaking into safes whose owners can no longer unlock them. The house was gone, consumed by the November 2018 Woolsey Fire that left swaths of Los Angeles covered in ash and reduced whole neighborhoods to charcoaled ruins.
    Safe crackers and pick pockets. Both exist in that same odd space for me, wrong, but excitingly magic.
  • Virgin Galactic makes it to space
    Virgin Galactic, the space-tourism company backed by Richard Branson, sent two astronauts into space, the first people to make the trip from American soil since the last Space Shuttle flight in 2011.
    I’ll let you make your own Virgin in space jokes…

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading


  • Meet Alexa: inside the mind of a digital native
    Alexa was choosing a dress for a party. It was taking a while. This always happens, she gets carried away with every little thing.
    Not THAT Alexa…
  • Social Media, Online Accountability, and the Meaning of an Apology
    Still so much to learn about how to ‘be’ online.
  • Bad sex award 2018: the contenders in quotes
    “Empty my tanks,” I’d begged breathlessly, as once more she began drawing me deep inside her pleasure cave. Her vaginal ratchet moved in concertina-like waves, slowly chugging my organ as a boa constrictor swallows its prey.
    So so SO very bad.
  • How to stop your brain’s addiction to bad news
    Turn on the news these days and you’d be forgiven for thinking the world is about to end. From politics to climate change to the economy, negative and bad news surrounds us everywhere we go. The problem isn’t just that there are terrible things happening around the world.
    Worth a thunk. I do some of this already without even realising, self-protection!
  • Patagonia Donates $10 Million Trump Tax Savings to Green Groups
    Outdoor clothing company Patagonia Inc. has committed the $10 million it saved from federal tax cuts championed by President Donald Trump to nonprofit groups who work on conservation and climate issues, according to a LinkedIn post by Chief Executive Officer Rose Marcario.
    Wonderful. The more I think about the things I buy, the more I care about the people who make them.
  • 14 Expert Ways To Tell If Clothes Are Well-Made Or Super Cheap
    As per above, care about your clothes.
  • Royal Mail delivers: Postman, can you take this to heaven?
    A 7-year-old Scottish boy who sent a birthday card to his father in heaven has received a heart-warming reply. The Royal Mail’s Sean Milligan wrote back, saying, “This was a difficult challenge avoiding stars and other galactic objects on route to heaven.
    Awwwww bless.
  • Michelle Obama On Lean In: ‘That Shit Doesn’t Work All the Time’ 
    In a December 1 appearance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to promote her new book, Becoming, Michelle Obama said what we’ve all been thinking about the concept of having it all: it’s a great big lie.
    This woman will not be denied. Can you imagine her as President?

  • Neuroscience Says Listening to This Song Reduces Anxiety by Up to 65 Percent
    New neuroscience research helps us maintain a work-life balance, handle job stress, increase success and wellbeing, and experience more happiness.
    Hmmm bit of a fake headline (the song was MADE to be this way, and you won’t have heard of it!)
  • The 100 greatest innovations of 2018
    Artificial intelligence mastered a lot of tasks in 2018. There are algorithms that win human debates, book dinners, eliminate checkout lines, tend gardens, spot plumbing leaks, and call for help when we trip and fall. But the machines aren’t completely taking over just yet.
    What the… I did not know a lot of these.
  • Ada Hegerberg: first women’s Ballon d’Or marred as winner is asked to twerk
    Luka Modric ended a decade of dominance by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the Ballon d’Or but the Croatian’s win was overshadowed when the inaugural winner of the women’s award, Ada Hegerberg, was asked to twerk live on stage by the host DJ, Martin Solveig.
    MEN! FFS, just stop. And why did she have to dance at all?
  • ‘It’s a man’s problem’: Patrick Stewart and the men fighting to end domestic violence
    Patrick Stewart was five years old when his father returned from the second world war to wage his own war on his wife.
    Could not agree more. Domestice violence of any form needs to stop.
  • The Last Curious Man
    Chris Bourdain is searching for a word that he cannot quite find. We’re sitting together in a small café in Grand Central Terminal, drinking table wine and talking about his late older brother, Anthony.
    Now the hubbub about him has quietened a little, some more thoughtful articles are appearing.
  • Do People Who Get Knighted by the Queen Get Anything for It?
    Michael S. asks: Do people get anything when they’re knighted by the Queen?
    Unfortunately yes. But hey, feel free to spend my tax money on this bullshit why don’t ya!
  • Beneath the Surface of Bruce Springsteen
    The first time I meet Bruce Springsteen is backstage at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York, where he is in the homestretch of performing his one-man show, Springsteen on Broadway.
    Actual legend. Not a massive fan of his music but seems like a genuinely wonderful human.
  • Finally, the Self-Driving Car
    Across Arizona Avenue from Waymo’s self-driving-car showroom sits the Crowne Plaza San Marcos hotel, which is allegedly haunted. According to employees and guests, the ghost can move plates, knock phones off cradles, even—helpfully!—fold clothes.
    And so it begins.
  • 52 things I learned in 2018
    This year I edited another book, worked on fascinating projects at Fluxx, and learned learnings.
    Again with the learning of things I did not know. I love lists like this.
  • The story behind an incredible sky scene in New Hampshire
    Mother Nature must have liked it, because she put five rings on it! This was the surreal scene Saturday morning at Franconia Notch in New Hampshire.
    WOW.
  • Who decides what words mean
    Decades before the rise of social media, polarisation plagued discussions about language. By and large, it still does. Everyone who cares about the topic is officially required to take one of two stances.
    A hot topic if ever I heard one.
  • Big tech has your kid’s data — and you probably gave it to them
    Many parents today enjoy posting about their family on social media. But along with those adorable photos, they are sharing crucial data about their children that big tech companies are harvesting.
    One for the new and soon-to-be parents. Shouldn’t we be letting the kids make that decision when they are old enough?
  • Lunch with M.
    One afternoon last month, a woman in her early thirties, with shoulder-length blond hair and large brown eyes, arrived at Jean Georges, on the ground floor of the Trump International Hotel, in midtown Manhattan.
    I don’t think I’ve ever been to a Michelin starred restaurant. Sounds fun though.

bookmark_borderWeekend Reading

  • “Automated Customer Service”
    A short story.
    This day is coming, mark my words!
  • The Simple Joy of “No Phones Allowed”
    A few nights ago I saw Jack White in concert. It was a wonderful night, and a big part of that was due to a new rule he has imposed on all his tour dates: no phones.
    Kate Tempest asked the audience to do this a couple of years ago. Was utterly immersive. These days a few snaps and I’m done.
  • Three Ingredient Oreo Fudge Recipe
    Line the baking tray with aluminium foil, pressing it fi rmly into the corners and sides. Put the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl and pour in the condensed milk. Microwave on full power for 30 seconds.
    Traybake Tuesday is a new thing at work. Here’s what I ‘made’ this week.
  • The Internet Doesn’t Need Civility, It Needs Ethics
    We know this.
  • 16 Comforting Pasta Recipes You Can Make In Your Slow Cooker
    Everybody knows slow cookers are great for making soups and stews — but what if I told you you can make pasta in a slow cooker?Yep, with the right recipe, you can make delicious pasta completely in a slow cooker! We rounded up recipes that cook the pasta directly in the slow cooker, as well as one
    Pasta in a slow cooker? WHAT? (can you tell it’s winter now?)
  • RIP Ricky Jay, Master of the Sleight of Hand Card Trick
    Ricky Jay died yesterday, aged 72. He was a master magician with a deck of cards, an actor, writer, and historian. The definitive profile of Jay was written by Mark Singer in 1993 for The New Yorker. It begins like this…just try not to read the whole thing:
    I watched a documentary about him last year, amazing skill.
  • Field of dreams: heartbreak and heroics at the World Ploughing Championships
    Some compare it to snooker, others to figure skating. But for those who have given their lives to competitive ploughing, it’s more than a sport, it’s a way of life.
    Sport can be wonderful, in all its weird forms.
  • How To Stop Wasting Time On The Internet
    We all waste a lot of time on the internet these days. And due to mobile devices, we do it everywhere, not just at home.
    Stop reading, and go out and do something less boring instead!
  • Dimming the sun: The answer to global warming?
    Scientists are proposing an ingenious but as-yet-unproven way to tackle climate change: spraying sun-dimming chemicals into the Earth’s atmosphere.
    “It was who scorched the sky…”
  • 10 Magic Tricks That Prove Ricky Jay’s Genius
    For decades, Ricky Jay dazzled audiences with his card tricks, both up close and as far away as he could throw them (a world-record breaking distance, in fact). With his flowing mane and fast hands, the magician quickly became a fan-favorite both for his showmanship and his undeniable talent.
    Mind blowing.
  • Swiss hotels are hiring Instagram “sitters” to post photos for you
    A hotel chain in Switzerland is offering a new service: a “social media sitter” who will take photos of a guest’s Valley cation and post them on Instagram on their behalf. This is the world we are now all living in.
    OK. Enough already.
  • The Insect Apocalypse Is Here
    Sune Boye Riis was on a bike ride with his youngest son, enjoying the sun slanting over the fields and woodlands near their home north of Copenhagen, when it suddenly occurred to him that something about the experience was amiss. Specifically, something was missing. It was summer.
    Now that I think about it, this feels true (or is this article biasing me?)
  • How Restaurants Got So Loud
    Let me describe what I hear as I sit in a coffee shop writing this article. It’s late morning on a Saturday, between the breakfast and lunch rushes. People talk in hushed voices at tables. The staff make pithy jokes amongst themselves, enjoying the downtime.
    More soft furnishings, rug those walls!!
  • Researchers built a smart dress to show how often women are groped at clubs
    For a campaign on behalf of beverage company Schweppes, advertising agency Ogilvy created a touch-sensitive dress that tracked how often—and with what degree of intensity—women in Brazil were groped on an average night out.
    Surprised that Schweppes are behind this. Not surprised at the number. UGH.
  • Even in our digital world, the humble sticky note abides
    E-readers and tablets have us doing more of our reading on screens than ever before. The latter category, including devices such as the iPad Pro and Surface Pro, even offers pens for scribbling notes.
    So true. I still use them!
  • The Mistake I Made with My Grieving Friend
    A good friend of mine lost her dad some years back. I found her sitting alone on a bench outside our workplace, not moving, just staring at the horizon. She was absolutely distraught and I didn’t know what to say to her.
    Best advice I was ever given, you just need to be there, you don’t need to say anything.
  • Inside the Great Electromagnetic Resistance
    I walked past the stage and sat down at the bar, the neon lights illuminating my pink teddy, shadowed eyes, and crimson lips. I ordered my first drink of the night and took inventory of the club.
    I used to laugh at these types of people. These days I’m starting to wonder…