Picks of the Week #1

I read a lot for my job. Tons of great stuff comes across my screen that doesn't really apply to what I do there, so I started sending the articles to myself so I wouldn't lose track of them. This blog series exists because worthwhile stories should be shared. I'll try my best to put these out weekly, and I can definitely promise to make it worth your while.

THINGS YOU CANNOT NOT CARE ABOUT

God help us all: if this rule gets passed, websites will be able to pay broadband providers to speed up their service, leaving behind, y'know, EVERYONE ELSE ON THE INTERNET. Freak out...NOW.

As of today, Obama's put new sanctions on Russia to punish them for being awful to Ukraine. USAToday says the sanctions won't be strong enough to affect real change, which the Washington Post echoes.

Here are my favorite piercingly shrill think tanks on the minimum wage debate: Think Progress leans left and Heritage Foundation leans right. Plug your ears if it gets too loud, or read someone closer to the middle, like American Enterprise Institute. 

Please don't forget about the Syrian refugees or the South Korean ferry victims. Just because the media gets quieter doesn't mean they go away.

NUGGETS

I really enjoy Wine & Marble, and this post on everyday sexism was just so fantastic.

Here's a recent "Room for Debate" on whether affirmative action, which was put in place to promote diversity in higher education, should be based on income, not race. I'm not sure what I think yet.

If you haven't already seen this, prepare yourself to get pulled down the rabbit hole: the WSJ extensively documented a walled city in a disputed area of Hong Kong...you have to see it to believe it. I dream of this project becoming a multimedia museum exhibit.

Someone has come up with an interesting idea for a 10-mile park loop that would protect Manhattan from another Sandy flooding catastrophe. I'm always suspicious of beautiful hipster parks as an urban planning panacea (High Line, anyone?), but a park that would save the city millions of dollars on an inevitable Sandy 2.0 recovery sounds okay to me.

Speaking of hipsters, here's what Forrest Gump would've been like if it had been directed by Wes Anderson. (The longer you watch it, the funnier it gets.)

This is a cute column from Calvin College's student newspaper on singleness at a Christian college. 

Having just recently moved out of my cubicle, it was amusing to read this article on the designer who invented the concept and how his utopian office dreams were crushed by corporate cheapness. Sorry, everyone.

BLOG OF THE WEEK

Um, you need to go check out Emily Perper on Diet Coker. Immediately. One post will convince you: she must read essays and fiction on feminism and humor as much as I read economic policy blogs, because she finds gems, and presents them brilliantly. Don't miss out.

THE LAST WORD

I recently discovered the Swan Children magazine. I'm horrified by the Quiverfull scandals, but enchanted by the various ways the second generation survivors of this cultish movement have been finding freedom, especially through the written word. I read two pieces of fiction on the magazine that have since been haunting me: a trip abroad wakes someone up to the hugeness of the world, and a woman is given an hour to explore the "lost and found" of her entire life. I enjoyed the first for its harsh honesty and the second for the spell it cast on me.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!