Kickoff For January 9, 2023
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.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
The Real Magic of Rituals, wherein we learn how little practices that all of us have, which seem superstitious, might actually be an effective stress-management strategy.
One of Long COVID’s Worst Symptoms Is Also Its Most Misunderstood, wherein Ed Yong explores the long-term effects of the virus on the cognitive abilities of more than a few people who came down with COVID-19.
Among the Reality Entrepreneurs, wherein James Duesterberg takes us into (at least, to a certain point) the world of Urbit, an alternative to the internet that’s difficult to describe but whose followers embrace the idea of derealization.
Care Tactics, wherein Laura Mauldin examines the tech sector’s innovations, purported to help the disabled, and that sector’s disregard for the actual concerns of disabled people.
The economy and the paradox of technology, wherein Samuel Gregg discusses the dual-edged nature of shifting manufacturing, and a chunk of the economy, to something that’s more deeply rooted in technology.
Adam Smith’s Radical Tools, wherein Paul Crider argues that the ideas of the famed and reviled political economist are far more egalitarian and liberal (in the classical sense) than many of made those ideas out to be.
Free the Internet, wherein Sarah Leonard argues for taking the web back to something resembling its roots, a time when the online world wasn’t under the thumbs of various corporations and private interest.
Don’t Trash Your Old Phone—Give It a Second Life, wherein Kaitlyn Tiffany looks at ways to repurpose older technology instead of recycling it, even though the choices are limited and complicated.
The surprising history of how electric vehicles have played the long game and won, wherein we learn about the long road, paved with many failures, that EVs have taken over the last century and a bit, and what led them to finally become mainstream.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.