Kickoff For May 25, 2020
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.
To try to help get your mind off of the wackiness and sheer weight of life in the time of COVID-19, I’ve got nine new articles for you. Enjoy.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
History
The American Concordes that never flew, wherein we hear the tale of political turmoil, environmental protests and spiralling costs scuppered plans in the U.S. to develop supersonic passenger airliners.
Stone tools reveal epic trek of nomadic Neanderthals, wherein we learn that the well-known human sub species were not only more intelligent than we’ve been taught, but they actually ranged and roamed far outside of what’s now western Europe.
The Man Who Picked Victorian London’s Unpickable Lock, wherein we discover how making seemingly impregnable locks became a big industry in 18th and 19th century England, and about the American who turned that industry on its head by demonstrating that those locks could be breached.
The Dark Side of Technology
How a Good Scam Can Bypass Our Defences, wherein Bruce Grierson discovers, through experience, internet scammers can trick anyone in the right circumstances and why that happens.
The Rise and Fall of a Bitcoin Mining Scheme That Was “Too Big to Fail”, wherein we learn about the rise and inevitable fall of BitClub Network, which exploited cryptocurrency fever to allegedly bilk investors out of millions.
I Sabotaged My Boss With Ransomware From the Dark Web, wherein Drake Bennett takes us down the rabbit hole of online ransomware dealers, and shows us how easy it is for people to acquire and use it (often ineptly).
Productivity
How to escape the tyranny of the clock, wherein Lakshmi Sandhana discusses whether we can actually give up time (or, at least, obsessively watching clocks), and the good and bad of that.
The Art of Doing Nothing, wherein we learn that downtime isn’t a bad thing and can, in fact, help boost our productivity in the longer run.
Why procrastination is about managing emotions, not time, wherein we learn that people who procrastinate don’t have problems with task and/or schedule management, but instead the root of their problem just might be that the task we’re putting off is making us feel bad.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.