Picks of the Week #2

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

Last week’s global news, Today’s US news: Have you heard about the missing Nigerian schoolgirls who were abducted by an Islamist militant group? Some girls have escaped and the rest are still being held. The Nigerian government is choosing to move forward slowly and diplomatically, which is obviously enraging a lot of Nigerians at the moment.

Minimum wage turned down for what? Rude, Republicans. I hear your fear of reducing the overall number of jobs, and respectfully disagree. Rude. Micha Kaufman of Forbes predicts that this “red and blue” division over the wage raise might soon be irrelevant as modern work is measured by output, not hours. Meanwhile, poor people are poor. So there’s that.

NUGGETS

This week’s installment of Developers Ruining my Homeland. Try not to choke on the shiny progress startup innovative optimism with no mention of how this may continue to bring wealthy people in and push the poor out. There’s a reason this section of Brooklyn is called DUMBO.

I love feminism and hate Frozen, but I really really hate BAD feminism like in this TL;DR Frozen critique (quickly scan, then back away slowly). Maybe let’s not overanalyze and then re-overanalyze a mega-billion enterprise that sells lots of pink plastic toys and has simply found another way to sell another pink plastic toy. And if you must go with Disney, there are better princesses to choose from.

I don’t know what rock I’ve been living under, but I discovered Nick Drake today. His sweet 70s jams and delicate guitar pluckings are making me sentimental for waterfalls, road trips, and my Grove City friends.

Interesting idea of the week: make environmental degrees free to boost eco-friendly business. I dig it.

LAUGHS

HALLELUJAH JOHN OLIVER HAS HIS OWN SHOW AND IT’S PERFECT. And if you haven’t been religiously listening to his podcast for the past four years like me, get started now.

This article is a riff on the silly ongoing conversation on modesty within Christian circles. What makes it the sad kind of funny is that it’s dangerously close to sounding like something you heard at a youth group retreat.

The Onion on minding your own freaking business.

An illustrated A through Z of Harry Potter. (Found via this fantabulous Pinterest fandom board, which is the answer to a prayer I didn’t even know was deep in my heart.)

BLOG OF THE WEEK

One of my closest friends in the entire world, Kate Krieger, blogs at Droplets of Blue. If you don’t have the special privilege of knowing her personally, this blog is a great way to meet her and listen to her conversations with God.

THE LAST WORD

This delectably miserable piece from Wired perfectly catalogues everything I find stupid with Silicon Valley and the startup world. My favorite quote from the whole article: “He had a PhD in AI from MIT. Just to contextualize what that means in Silicon Valley, an MIT AI PhD can generally walk alone into an investor meeting wearing a coconut-shell bra, perform a series of improvised birdcalls, and walk out with $1 million.” 

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