- Here be monsters | Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science
Another compelling s/f short story published in Nature.
- In Defense of Reading | bread crumbs and candy cottage
Why read? Because “[e]veryone can hold a gun, but not everyone can lead a revolution”.If you’re interested, you can read a compendium of posts which the same author has written on “The Importance of Reading”.
- New York Times Shifts its Framing of the Arrests at Occupy Wall Street | Sociological Images
“This is a great example of how important language is in framing events… . It’s also a great example of the power of certain individuals and institutions to shape how the rest of us understand reality”. - How to Know What to Look For | Penelope Trunk Blog
To summarise (and please correct me if I’m wrong): don’t look for what you think you want; look for what you need.
- How to Procrastinate and Still Get Things Done | The Chronicle of Higher Education
“…begin by establishing a hierarchy of the tasks you have to do, in order of importance from the most urgent to the least important. Even though the most-important tasks are on top, you have worthwhile tasks to perform lower on the list. Doing those tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher on the list”.— Hence, the awesomeness of listography.com. In any case, read the article with some degree of scepticism.
- Why really smart people have a tough time dating | Ali Binazir
What the title says.
- Smart Tip: Peel an Entire Head of Garlic in 10 Seconds | THe Kitchn
Think of all the time we could’ve saved if we had known this before!
- Marxists in Singapore? | Critical Asian Studies (Vol. 42, Issue 3)
Your excuse for an education is even more incomplete if you have not read this article.
- I’m Comic Sans, Asshole | McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
“You think I’m stupid. You think I’m immature. You think I’m a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I’m Comic Sans, and I’m the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg”.
- Her name was Jane | Nature
A short story by Joses Ho.
Elyot: (seriously) You mustn’t be serious, my dear one; it’s just what they want.
Amanda: Who’s they?
Elyot: All the futile moralists who try to make life unbearable. Laugh at them. Be flippant. Laugh at everything, all their sacred shibboleths. Flippancy brings out the acid in their damned sweetness and light.
Amanda: If I laugh at everything, I must laugh at us too.
Elyot: Certainly you must. We’re figures of fun all right.
— Noel Coward, Private Lives.
Also relevant:
…we have to…be able to laugh at ourselves – because if we can’t laugh at ourselves when you (sic) are standing on a pedestal (sic), somebody is going to knock you (sic) down.
— Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister’s National Day Rally Speech 2006.