- Interesting TEDTalks-style video of the week: This Is What Happens When Kids Grow Up On Unlimited Access To Pornography.
- Build a Business, Not Just a Client List.
- Don’t Multitask: Your Brain Will Thank You. Chronic multitasking could be making you less productive.
- Internal Time: The Science of Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You’re So Tired. Debunking the social stigma around late risers: “This myth that early risers are good people and that late risers are lazy has its reasons and merits in rural societies but becomes questionable in a modern 24/7 society.”
- Abortion Doesn’t Have To Be A Big Deal. “There’s nothing really political about my friend’s story. It’s a story about a girl who made a mistake, and instead of letting it ruin her entire life, she did the responsible thing and dealt with her mistake. This was her decision. Just like it was her fetus, and like it was her choice to deal with it, in whatever way she chose. She could’ve become a young, single mother with a child to raise, and the stigma of being just another statistic. Or she could use her Ivy League degree to rock a job in the corporate world, achieve financial and professional success, and remain unburdened by a child she was just not ready for. So she chose the latter. Obviously.”
- Why do we get angriest at minor offenses?
- You Wouldn’t Believe How Fast Americans Are Losing Their Religion – “Sometime last year, the US quietly passed a milestone demographers had long been predicting: for the first time in its history, this country is no longer majority Protestant. Fewer than 50 percent of Americans now identify as Protestant Christians of any denomination… It seems likely that this is the same secularizing trend being observed in Europe, as people of advanced, peaceful democracies find religion increasingly irrelevant to their daily lives.”
- When Can I Use Work By Another Artist? and what exactly The ‘Fair Use’ Rule means.
- The Saudi Marathon Man – a look at the racial profiling following the bombings in Boston.
- There’s been a bit of an online kerfluffle over the poem Amanda Palmer wrote titled ‘a poem for dzhokhar‘ (that being the name of the kid in custody for the Boston bombings) – but before jumping to conclusions, you should maybe also read the story behind the poem.
- And, to end on a lighter note after all these serious links, finally your dog can get in on that sweet Star Wars cosplay action.
Things of Note:
I haven’t really chimed in via social media on all of the tragedy from last week. I didn’t see the point, to be honest. Tweeting that my thoughts are with those affected doesn’t really do anything, you know? It’s not useful, and I doubt people in Boston or West would get any comfort from a stranger’s 140-character platitude, especially as I’m sure they’re too busy dealing with the aftermath to browse the internet. I think such things make the tweeter feel better more than they do any actual good for the victims. And if that helps you deal with your own grief over events, that’s fine, do what you need to do. That’s just not how I work.
Also, I can’t help feeling that a lot of the outrage over the bombings in Boston has more to do with the fact that someone dared attack the U.S. than solely with the fact that innocent people were killed. Because, let’s be honest: innocent people die in bombings and gunfights almost every day around the world, and you don’t see this level of outrage from Americans for every one of those. To be clear, I’m not saying it wasn’t a tragedy or that anyone deserved anything or that I don’t feel sympathy for those affected. Things like this are always sad, and of course I wish they didn’t happen. And maybe it’s too soon to expect much perspective, especially for those directly affected. I’m removed from events, since I didn’t know anyone attending the marathon, so my grief that it happened doesn’t have a personal edge. But if you think that makes my thoughts here seem callous, let me pose a question: what is your reaction when you hear about a bombing in, say, Afghanistan? Or a car bomb at a French embassy? Or a massive gunfight in Nigeria? Because all 3 of those things also happened in the past week.
I think all senseless acts of violence are deserving of outrage and sadness, not just ones on American soil.
So, that’s what’s been swirling in my head this past week. I’m not looking to have people agree or disagree with me, I’m just putting my two cents out there. Make of it what you will.
