Good Reads

[Laurel]

Recently, [1] I grabbed dinner with a friend of mine from when I worked in the financial services industry. To me, that seems like a lifetime ago but it is actually equivalent to only a couple of–amazing!–years. His name is Kevin and we mostly talked about books we like and why we like them as we shared dinner at an overhyped restaurant in the LES, called “Mission Chinese.” [2]

In this friend-session we also talked about the act of underlining in books, an act in which I engage in fiendishly and sometimes manically, as well as how the things we underline are topically representative of ourselves. The things that speak to us at a set moment in time usually encapsulate how we view the world at that point in our lives. [3]

Following dinner we walked around and it was pleasant. The weather was at the precise intersection of where one is warm enough to be horny and cold enough to crave cuddling. The last person I have been horny and cuddly with recently received an email including my question: ‘Do you happen to have my copy of Bright Lights, Big City?’ The inquiry remains unanswered, but it is highly likely I might have previously clarified I never want any answers–and certainly no questions–from that recipient. I am glad I gave this book, because whatever, there are always 50 copies of it at all the used bookstores I go to and it is almost as easily replaceable as the good Bret Easton Ellis ones. However, I don’t actually plan on replacing it anytime soon; I did enjoy reading it when I did but I am not feeling a void since realizing it has been gone.
[...]
Ever since, I have added a new layer of rules for my casual sex partners, especially when I end up in their space: I ask them for a book prior to exiting. I might phrase it more diplomatically, saying “I just want to read something on my train-ride back,” or “I just finished my last book and I have been looking for the next one.” Via this simple action I can estimate a lot more on a broad scale of very personal information and variation of taste than what I could possibly collect through hours of post-coital, emotional interrogation.

Here is a list of all the books I have received this way, as well as a brief statement on how I used them to formulate my judgmental opinion of the giver:

I. SKIPPY DIES by Paul Murray

http://htmlgiant.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Cover_of_Skippy_Dies_Novel_by_Paul_Murray-200x300.jpeg

At the time seemed very good, but there might have been too much foreplay for too little juice.​

- read the full article SEVEN BOOKS I HAVE ACQUIRED THROUGH CASUAL SEX (from HTML Giant)​

 

[Laurel]

Seplling is hard. Exspecially when it comes to names.

Briany

http://s3-ak.buzzfeed.com/static/enhanced/webdr01/2013/2/22/11/enhanced-buzz-16521-1361551162-0.jpg

(click article link below to see if your guess is right)


Shat

http://s3-ak.buzzfeed.com/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/2/22/11/enhanced-buzz-11271-1361551356-4.jpg

(click article link below to see if your guess is right)


Anus

http://s3-ak.buzzfeed.com/static/enhanced/webdr01/2013/2/22/11/enhanced-buzz-13800-1361550053-16.jpg

(click article link below to see if your guess is right)​

- read the full article Can You Guess What Starbucks Was Trying To Spell? (from BuzzFeed)​

 

[lovetoread]

Hey now! I finally got people convinced that they can be nice to me without sacrificing cool points. Don't mess it up please!

You made me snort.

I still wanna know after all these years what bonuses I have gotten by kissing up to the boss.

 

[gravyrug]

You made me snort.

I still wanna know after all these years what bonuses I have gotten by kissing up to the boss.

I wouldn't mind seeing you kissing this particular boss. Hell, I wouldn't mind doing it myself.

 

[Laurel]

You made me snort.

I still wanna know after all these years what bonuses I have gotten by kissing up to the boss.

Yeah - I mean it's weird, right? Alls I do is move spam around and approve stories. I'm not the boss of anyone. Not even my cat. I couldn't fire or give raises if I wanted to.

I wouldn't mind seeing you kissing this particular boss. Hell, I wouldn't mind doing it myself.

 

[Laurel]

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/8/15/1376588619240/Flat-White-Coffee--008.jpg

Drinking more than four cups of coffee a day can raise the risk of dying from a host of diseases, scientists claim.

Researchers in the US found that death rates from all causes rose by more than half in people aged under 55 who drank more than 28 cups a week.

The apparently harmful effects of heavy coffee consumption were not seen in older people, according to a study published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

The team led by Steven Blair at the University of South Carolina warned that younger people in particular might want to avoid drinking large amounts of coffee.​

- read the full article Heavy coffee consumption increases death rates in under-55s, study suggests (from The Guardian)​

 

[Laurel]

http://www.theawl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/bezosinthetrap.jpg

Do you know what kind of heat twenty-five billion dollars puts out? Large concentrations of money have always been surrounded by thick walls. Most people think the walls are there to protect the money from us. The secret is that the walls are there to protect us from the money.

I am Jeff Bezos's robot butler. I cannot harm Jeff Bezos, or through inaction allow Jeff Bezos to come to harm. Mr. Bezos is kind of a traditionalist. But I'm sitting in the money room, deep in the lowest levels of the Flying Dragon Lair, and wondering what exactly constitutes harm.

Is it good for anyone's soul to possess twenty-five billion dollars? Is Mr. Bezos being harmed right now, by the glowing heap of semi-molten money in front of me?

A susurration hisses through the cooling pipes that run throughout the money and provide the Flying Dragon Lair with heat and hot water. Mr. Bezos must be running his bath.​

- read the full article I May Not Harm Jeff Bezos (from The Awl)​

 

[Laurel]

Like a lot of things in Alaska, the annual Mount Marathon Race in Seward is famously brutal, even dangerous. Which is precisely why Michael LeMaitre ran it--the last day he was seen alive.

http://www.runnersworld.com/sites/default/files/LastManUp500_0.jpg

Walsh is the lead midcourse timekeeper for the Mount Marathon Race, the second-oldest mountain footrace in the world and, after the Iditarod sled-dog race, the most famous race in the 49th State.

Contrary to its name, the Mount Marathon Race isn’t a legend for how far it stretches through the vastness of Alaska, but rather for how much unpleasantness it crams into so small a package. Starting in downtown Seward, racers run a half-mile to the foot of Mount Marathon, then scrabble about 2,900 vertical feet straight up cliffs and mud and shale before finally staggering to Race Point. There, Walsh and others note their time and bib number, hand them water, and send them hurtling back downhill in what more resembles free-fall than running—over snowfields and rock fields and waterfalls and crags—until they reach the finish line back on the streets of Seward.

All of this occurs in 3.1 to 3.5 miles, depending on your route, and on trails so close to town that spectators waiting at the finish line can follow nearly every tortured step high on the mountain. By yardstick the contest is briefer than a postwork jog around Central Park. By every other count—sheer adrenaline, lung-bleeding exhaustion, potential for disaster per mile—there may be no other run like it in the world. Blood flows freely. Bones break frequently—arms, shoulders, cheekbones, legs. Sometimes, worse happens. The race has been run 85 times, and it is wildly popular. As an isolated people who long ago learned to make their own fun, Alaskans will tell you without much hyperbole that Mount Marathon is their Olympics.​

- read the full article The Last Man Up (from Runner's World)​

 

[lovetoread]

I don't understand how they didn't find a body at least.

 

[Laurel]

I don't understand how they didn't find a body at least.

I guess Alaska's a rough place.

A year later and still no body.

http://binaryapi.ap.org/e4302c504537463d9398cfdb049e7ad1/460x.jpg

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A rookie's disappearance during a popular extreme race on Alaska's rugged Mount Marathon has led to significant new rules in the event.

Runners in the July Fourth race must make it halfway up the mountain in an hour or they will have to turn around, losing a chance to summit the 3,022-foot peak in Seward, about 110 miles south of Anchorage.

The 900 participants registered for this year's race also must sign a statement saying they've already completed the treacherously steep race course, which is marked by loose rocks on hard bedrock, shale slopes and stretches that get muddy and slippery when wet. The Anchorage-based Alaska Mountain Runners nonprofit will hold two training runs on Mount Marathon June 22 and June 29.

The changes were prompted by the disappearance last year of 65-year-old Michael LeMaitre, who was lagging behind in his first time tackling the mountain.

It's a big switch from previous years of the race, which is in its 86th running. Until now, race stragglers finished when they did.

"You didn't get turned around," said Cindy Clock with the Seward Chamber of Commerce, the organization that hosts the race. "But this will definitely — if someone like Mr. LeMaitre, who was very, very slow — this would solve that whole issue."​

- read the full article Runner's disappearance prompts changes in AK race (from Associated Press)​

 

[Laurel]

http://media.phoenixnewtimes.com/dog-beat-dog-to-pull-off-the-biggest-pit-bull-fighting-bust-in-u-s-history-investigators-and-their-dogs-went-undercover.5280809.40.jpg

http://media.phoenixnewtimes.com/dog-beat-dog-to-pull-off-the-biggest-pit-bull-fighting-bust-in-u-s-history-investigators-and-their-dogs-went-undercover.5280808.40.jpg

The grainy footage shows two snarling pit bulls in a dimly lit barn, staring each other down through a haze of cigarette smoke. Walled in by a makeshift ring of three-foot-high plywood boards, the collarless dogs twitch and wag their tails, expending nervous energy like prizefighters shadowboxing in the ring in the moments before the opening bell.

Both dogs are males and have a tan coat and a white belly, which makes it difficult to tell them apart. They're about 10 months old — young for fighters. This is their first taste of combat.

Each dog has a handler who grips it by the scruff of the neck and positions it opposite its foe in the corner of the 16-by-16-foot ring. When they're released, the pit bulls collide with a dull thud. One dog lands on its back and the other pounces, grabbing hold with its jaws. The two animals spend the next several minutes growling and panting, locked in a ferocious struggle.

John Bacon, who owns the dog that's on top, bends at the waist and rests his hands on the knees of his baggy overalls, hovering close to the tangle of fur and flesh. He cajoles his pit bull to release its bite and improve its position. The dogs tumble over one another and Bacon jumps out of the way. "There you go!" he shouts. "That's where you want to be!"

The other dog is getting mauled. It emits a piercing squeal, followed by a whimper. Laughter ripples through the crowd. Joseph Addison, a spectator who wears his hair in a jumble of chin-length braids, suggests it's time to stop the match.

"This motherfucker through, man," he says to Bacon. "He's done."​

- read the full article Dog Beat Dog: To Pull Off the Biggest Pit Bull Fighting Bust in U.S. History, Investigators and Their Dogs Went Undercover (from Phoenix New Times)​

 

[trysail]

http://binaryapi.ap.org/e4302c504537463d9398cfdb049e7ad1/460x.jpg​

There's racing and, then, there's stupid (and not fun). When I see a mob of humans stumbling all over each other on a trail (or at the start of a race) I lose all interest.


Back in the day, after summiting, the b'hoys used to run back down the trail (with full packs, mind you). I never joined in; it seemed kinda dumb to me. Multiple decades later, my knees are still intact and functioning. In many cases, theirs aren't. I wonder why.

 

[Lorilei]

http://media.phoenixnewtimes.com/dog-beat-dog-to-pull-off-the-biggest-pit-bull-fighting-bust-in-u-s-history-investigators-and-their-dogs-went-undercover.5280809.40.jpg

http://media.phoenixnewtimes.com/dog-beat-dog-to-pull-off-the-biggest-pit-bull-fighting-bust-in-u-s-history-investigators-and-their-dogs-went-undercover.5280808.40.jpg

The grainy footage shows two snarling pit bulls in a dimly lit barn, staring each other down through a haze of cigarette smoke. Walled in by a makeshift ring of three-foot-high plywood boards, the collarless dogs twitch and wag their tails, expending nervous energy like prizefighters shadowboxing in the ring in the moments before the opening bell.

Both dogs are males and have a tan coat and a white belly, which makes it difficult to tell them apart. They're about 10 months old — young for fighters. This is their first taste of combat.

Each dog has a handler who grips it by the scruff of the neck and positions it opposite its foe in the corner of the 16-by-16-foot ring. When they're released, the pit bulls collide with a dull thud. One dog lands on its back and the other pounces, grabbing hold with its jaws. The two animals spend the next several minutes growling and panting, locked in a ferocious struggle.

John Bacon, who owns the dog that's on top, bends at the waist and rests his hands on the knees of his baggy overalls, hovering close to the tangle of fur and flesh. He cajoles his pit bull to release its bite and improve its position. The dogs tumble over one another and Bacon jumps out of the way. "There you go!" he shouts. "That's where you want to be!"

The other dog is getting mauled. It emits a piercing squeal, followed by a whimper. Laughter ripples through the crowd. Joseph Addison, a spectator who wears his hair in a jumble of chin-length braids, suggests it's time to stop the match.

"This motherfucker through, man," he says to Bacon. "He's done."​

- read the full article Dog Beat Dog: To Pull Off the Biggest Pit Bull Fighting Bust in U.S. History, Investigators and Their Dogs Went Undercover (from Phoenix New Times)​

That makes me sick to my stomach.

 

[Laurel]

There's racing and, then, there's stupid (and not fun). When I see a mob of humans stumbling all over each other on a trail (or at the start of a race) I lose all interest.

Seriously. It's like when they show the lines of climbers trying to make the summit of Mount Everest before time to turn back. It's like the opposite of fun/adventure.

That makes me sick to my stomach.

Me too. It's pretty amazing the lengths they went to to bust those dogfighting rings. I think this quote sums it up:

"They're sociopaths," says Tim Rickey, the former Humane Society of Missouri agent who took part in the probe. "That type of person that can live a fairly normal existence, portray themselves a lover of the breed and go to church — and then stand around and cheer at one of the most barbaric acts you'll ever see. They spend months with a dog and smile before a fight and talk about how good they are. And then they execute them in a second when they don't fight well."

 

[Laurel]

http://chronicle.com/img/photos/biz/5924-Zuk.jpg

The first thing you have to do to study 4,000-year-old DNA is take off your clothes.

I am standing with Oddný Ósk Sverrisdóttir in the airlock room next to the ancient-DNA laboratory at Uppsala University, in Sweden, preparing to see how she and her colleagues examine the bones of human beings and the animals they domesticated thousands of years ago. These scientists are looking for signs of changes in the genes that allow us to consume dairy products past the age of weaning, when all other mammals lose the ability to digest lactose, the sugar present in milk. After that time, dairy products can cause stomach upsets. But in some groups of humans, particularly those from Northern Europe and parts of Africa, lactase—the enzyme that breaks down lactose—lingers throughout life, allowing them to take advantage of a previously unusable food source. Sverrisdóttir and her Ph.D. supervisor, Anders Götherström, study how and when this development occurred, and how it is related to the domestication of cows for their meat and milk. They examine minute changes in genes obtained from radiocarbon-dated bones from archaeological sites around Europe.

The first step is to extract the DNA from the bones. But when examining genes from other humans, you must avoid contaminating the samples with your own genetic material. Sverrisdóttir, a tall, blond Icelandic woman who looks like my image of a Valkyrie, at least if Valkyries are given to cigarette breaks and bouts of cheerful profanity, has brought a clean set of clothes for me to put on under the disposable spacesuitlike outfit I need to wear in the lab. I have to remove everything except my underwear, including my jewelry. Götherström says it is the only time he ever takes off his wedding ring. I don the clean outfit, followed by the white papery suit, a face mask that includes a transparent plastic visor over my eyes, latex gloves, and a pair of slip-on rubber shoes from a pile kept in the neverland between the lab and the outside world. Anything else that goes into the lab—a flash drive for the computer, say—cannot go back in once it has gone out, to prevent secondary contamination of the facility. Finally, I put on a hairnet and tuck my hair underneath.​

- read the full article Misguided Nostalgia for Our Paleo Past (from The Chronicle Review)​

 

[Laurel]

http://static.nautil.us/936_90794e3b050f815354e3e29e977a88ab.jpg

It’s an odd quirk of the human mind that we tend to think we’re less likely to be affected a particular threat—be it the flu, a car accident, or a flood—than anyone else. Like the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average, this is a patent impossibility: Everyone can’t be less likely than the average person to catch a cold. But we persist in what psychologists call “unrealistic comparative optimism.” Even when we have actually encountered a threat, or been in close proximity to one, this warped sense of the probability field persists, as a report published last year shows (pdf).

In the study, researchers had a chance to test how people’s comparative optimism changed after a low-probability, high-impact event: a tornado that ripped across Iowa City in 2006, causing $12 million in property damage. And their results were faintly comical: Everyone they polled, from students to randomly selected Iowa City residents to people whose neighborhoods had been damaged, felt both soon after the tornado and a year later that they were less likely to be affected in the future than the average person. In fact, six months after the events, people in damaged neighborhoods were actually more optimistic that they would not be affected again than were those living in intact areas. After a year, their optimism returned to the usual level—but still, as always, holding that they were less likely to be affected than others.

Why do we think this way? Psychologists posit that such overly positive assessments are a way of building up our senses of self. We make these assessments not just when asked about our own vulnerability but also when asked how certain we are we’ve got a question right—when we say we’re “100% certain,” for instance, we’re usually 80% right—and when assessing how good we are at common tasks, compared to other people. Furthermore, though the researchers do not discuss this particular phenomenon, once you’ve survived something, your assessment of the danger you were in, or the painfulness of the process, goes down. If you got through a catastrophe once, our brains seem to assume, you could get through it again, even if in the moment you feared for your life.​

- read the full article Why Everyone Thinks They're Safer Than Average (from Nautilus)​

 

[Laurel]

A few techniques for dominating with your hands

We've all been victims of a terrible handshake. Maybe it's a death-grip where you feel like you're shaking hands with a lobster. Maybe it's a limp, lifeless shake, like you're suddenly wagging a fern. Either way, if you're meeting someone for the first time, a bad shake can leave a lasting, negative impression — especially in the world of business.

It's almost become a truism, but that's because it's true: A great handshake can go a long way in earning respect from new colleagues or impressing a potential employer. People judge and are judged based on body language and physical social interactions.

So how do you get the most out of your handshake? The Definitive Book of Body Language, by Barbara and Allan Pease, offers some tips.

Mainly, the Peases point out three handshake techniques that communicate dominance: the "upper-hand," the "double-hander," and the "left-side advantage."

The "upper-hand" simply refers to the person on top whose palm is facing slightly down for the shake. According to Pease, using the upper-hand "communicates that you want to take control of the encounter." Here you can see Vladimir Putin going for the "upper-hand" with Obama:

http://media.theweek.com/img/generic/Handshake1.jpg

The same is true in reverse — a palm-up handshake (or the "lower-hand") communicates submissiveness, which "can be effective if you want to give the other person control or allow him to feel that he is in charge of the situation."​

- read the full article The most powerful handshake in the world (from The Week)​

 

[islandman]

Two things:

1) I have about 10 pages of 'Good Reads' to go through;

2) I have about 5 pages of 'Good Reads' material to post.


Woe is me.

 

[Laurel]

You should post a few Reads, then read a few Reads, then post a few Reads. Or, just post a few Reads.

 

[Laurel]

I LOL'ed so hard, O broke my LOLer.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/d057ba2b081bc32fca79e2afa106b9ba/tumblr_mrptxvsJsY1r9dsg1o1_500.png

Most people use their weekend to run errands or eat expensive eggs or catch up on DVR'ed reruns of Hardcore Pawn. Patton Oswalt spent Saturday reinventing the art of trolling people on Twitter.

Users who stumbled onto Oswalt's feed in medias res were left wondering why, for instance, the staunchly liberal comedian was supporting the separation of "whites" and "darks." Or why he felt "Hitler was absolutely right about the Jews." And how he suddenly arrived at the opinion that AIDS "is a gift from God."

Sure, the gag itself, once revealed, seems simple — but therein belies its instant legendary status.​

- read the full article Patton Oswalt Rewrote the Book on Trolling Twitter (from Gawker)​

 

[KRCummings]

I LOL'ed so hard, O broke my LOLer.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/d057ba2b081bc32fca79e2afa106b9ba/tumblr_mrptxvsJsY1r9dsg1o1_500.png

Most people use their weekend to run errands or eat expensive eggs or catch up on DVR'ed reruns of Hardcore Pawn. Patton Oswalt spent Saturday reinventing the art of trolling people on Twitter.

Users who stumbled onto Oswalt's feed in medias res were left wondering why, for instance, the staunchly liberal comedian was supporting the separation of "whites" and "darks." Or why he felt "Hitler was absolutely right about the Jews." And how he suddenly arrived at the opinion that AIDS "is a gift from God."

Sure, the gag itself, once revealed, seems simple — but therein belies its instant legendary status.​

- read the full article Patton Oswalt Rewrote the Book on Trolling Twitter (from Gawker)​

That's awesome. Clever.

 

[Laurel]

It's a pretty funny read from beginning to end.

But even more hilarious are the response tweets from the clueless.

 

[Laurel]

http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA3LzI2Lzg3L0RhdmlkSGlsZmlrLmRhZGYwLmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTk1MHg1MzQjCmUJanBn/39eee88b/723/David-Hilfiker-thumb.jpg

I ring the bell for Apartment #2. But before I have time to flatten the creases in my skirt, a gray-haired man wearing no shoes appears at the door and lets me inside.

Retired physician David Hilfiker, 68, has invited me to his Washington, D.C., home to discuss the blog he’s operated for the past 10 months.

David has Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia that causes memory deficits and difficulty performing everyday tasks. This cognitive disorder manifests variably across patients, and its symptoms can appear in people as young as 30 or as old as 90.

He was first diagnosed in September 2012, although he'd experienced symptoms of "mild cognitive impairment" five years beforehand. David Googled “natural course of Alzheimer’s” to prepare himself for the next few years of his life.

“It was about a 10-year period, and you spend a year or two fairly well,” he says. “There was a deep drop over a year or two, and then you spend four or five years dying.”

Paulette Michaud, director of Early Stage Services at the Alzheimer’s Association’s New York City Chapter, explains, “Everyone comes at this disease in a very different way” — both in terms of how it’s diagnosed and how people cope. To define a typical, “natural course” would be misleading, if not impossible.

David is certainly unusual among those who share his diagnosis. Shortly after discovering he had Alzheimer's and announcing his disease to close friends, family and acquaintances, he launched Watching the Lights Go Out on Blogger.

“I’m a bit of an exhibitionist,” David says, “so I like to talk about a lot of the things that are important to me and ... relate to my inner life in some way.” By that, he means his relationships with family and friends, which he believes have grown stronger since his diagnosis.​

- read the full article Approaching Darkness: One Man Blogs His Descent Into Alzheimer's (from Mashable)​

 

[islandman]

Nevermind.

I'll write it up properly and post it.

 

[Laurel]

Awesome. Can't wait for your reads!