Internet Wading: August 2018 edition

This month’s Internet Wading collection of links is mostly serious topics. It happens.

Let’s get the politics out of the way first, shall we? Okay, let’s! First, Catherine Price tells us “How to Break Up with Donald Trump”, which isn’t necessary for most people, of course, but it’s actually for people who oppose the current regime. Short version: Walk away from the screen.

Cheap, often silly, shots sully political debate, and David Shariatmadari took on one: “'Virtue-signalling' – the putdown that has passed its sell-by date”. Apparently it passed that date in 2016, when The Guardian published the piece, but it’s still true. And one of the most annoying of the slurs the rightwing loves so dearly. Yawn.

Meanwhile, a truly important Internet Rage, “'Elitist': angry book pirates hit back after author campaign sinks website”, which is about as dumb a reason for “outrage” as it sounds. I laughed at the Internet Outrager who fumed, “writers are the most pretentious pieces of shit I’ve ever seen. I’ll find another way to pirate your books assholes.” So, people expecting to be paid for their work makes them “pretentious pieces of shit” and "assholes", but refusing to pay someone for the work they’ve done does not. Okay, then.

Get away from the keyboard! Because “Good Things Happen in Book Stores”. Well, duh! But don’t stay too long or you may buy too much and have a new problem: “Tsundoku: The art of buying books and never reading them”. I actually heard about that quite some time ago. And, no, I do NOT have that problem, no siree!! [quietly hides piles of unread books…]

There are REAL problems in this world, of course, including one that people are ridiculed over constantly. But, it turns out that gluten intolerance is “Not just a fad: the surprising, gut-wrenching truth about gluten”. This was actually a fascinating new (to me) look at a problem that people in my life have been affected by.

Combining tech issues and culture, “Japan's Emperor Is Stepping Down Soon, Which Could Cause Major Headaches for Computer Calendars”. This isn’t a problem in the West, but it did remind me of the “Y2K bug” that wasn’t, but this apparently really is a problem.

History! “How One Woman Brought the 'Mother's Curse' to Canada” talks about the filles du roi in 17th Century French Canada, and so, one of humans’ best understood genetic mutations.

“Sulphur, Sicilians, and the Exodus to the USA” tells us about sulphur mining in Sicily, men who eventually migrated to the USA. I never knew that sulphur mining was done naked. Actually, I never knew anything about sulphur mining. Or that any mining was done naked. So, it was a new information gold—sorry, sulphur—mine.

Going back even farther, “Was There a Civilization On Earth Before Humans?” In this article on The Atlantic, Adam Frank takes “A look at the available evidence”. The article tells us about how speculation can help us understand the cycles of civilisation.

And, there has to be at least one non-serious thing: “5 Stupid Things You Won't Believe Have Been Around Forever”. This is actually more interesting than the click-baity title would suggest.

And finally, Roger Green wrote recently about old posts that keep getting read long after they’re published, and he said of the post: “It’s sort of like drunk tweeting, only in a longer form. And without the alcohol, but WITH sleep deprivation.” That could probably explain most blogging, to be honest. In that post, Roger also talks about how he keeps track of ideas for blog posts, something I talked about at the end of my July Internet Wading post. And, as it happens, this is my 31st post for August, so my goal for this month has now been met. Yay, me!

And that’s another month done. Happy Wading!