From time to time I post links to interesting things I’ve seen on the Internet. Well, I’ve decided to make that a monthly thing, and this is the first one.
In the past, I posted them whenever I thought of it, but the plan now is to post them on the 21st of the month. Why? Because that’s my month day, of course.
The term comes from my friend Jason and his family, but, curiously, he’s never actually explained it on his blog—surely a future topic for him! Basically, it’s the day of the month that’s the same as your birthday. I just thought that if I was going to pick an arbitrary day, why not pick one that I might actually remember? Big ask, I know.
So, here are a few things I noticed after my last Internet Wading post:
When Director Harold Ramis died, there was one unusual reaction published by Salon: “Baby boomer humor’s big lie: Ghostbusters and Caddyshack really liberated Reagan and Wall Street”. Okay, then. So—I shouldn’t have laughed?
Maybe more more usefully, Huffington Post offered, “The 8 Life Lessons I Learned From '70s TV Shows”. It’s actually not quite as completely silly as it sounds.
Talking about pop culture makes me hungry. Luckily, the New Zealand Herald told me the “Pretzel burger coming to NZ”. No idea what came of it, but pretzels aren’t popular in New Zealand, so…
I also saw important food advice: “Here’s mathematical proof that you should always order a bigger pizza”. Now THAT is important to know!
“Why cats really purr” was certainly an interesting title. “It's not just their way of expressing pleasure. Purring has benefited cats over the course of their evolution.” And dogs get some equal time on this blog: “Humans and Dogs Use Same Brain Area to Get Others' Emotions.”
Speaking of communication, there’s “Some Everyday Words That Meant Really Different Things to Early American Colonists”. Language use in the USA has continued to change, of course. Check out, “122 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently”.
Charlie Jane Anders asks, “Does anybody read books the right way any more?”
Most of our communication is more personal. In one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen on the Internet, a father, Kevin Conboy, posted the text messages he shared with his son, Ian, on December 13, 2013—when Arapahoe High School was under lockdown because 18 year old Karl Pierson had started shooting in the school. The most poignant part for me was when the dad texts, “I am here and will be here. Until I have you.” If more dads were like him, this world would be a much, much better place.
Parisian mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet proposed a bold plan for abandoned stations on the Métro system. The center-right candidate, known as NKM to her supporters, said these “phantom” stations should be reclaimed for the city's residents: “Paris's Abandoned Métro Stations, Reimagined as Theaters and Pools”. Pretty awesome.
How to Determine If Your Religious Liberty Is Being Threatened in Just 10 Quick Questions.
Country music is slowly becoming more gay-friendly. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland gave an interview recently when she released her new solo album, That Girl. She talked about why she’s popular with gay fans and also said she doesn’t get flak for being a staunch straight ally of gay people. Meanwhile, like Nettles, Grammy Award winning country artist and songwriter Kacey Musgraves tries to “keep it real”. She doesn’t shy away from themes that are gay-positive. Times are changing. Slowly.
And that’s this month’s sampling of things I thought were interesting, but that never made it into a blog posts of their own. Now I can start collecting stuff for the next Month Day post.
2 comments:
Hey, maybe I should do something like this!
In the past, I've mentioned that I stole borrowed this idea from you. But until now I did it mostly when I needed content, because I'm bad at planning posts. Maybe setting a particular day is following another of you leads?
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