Kickoff For August 14, 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 Lows of the High Life, wherein Andre Dubus III contrasts his early life, furnished in poverty, with the life of some excess that he (briefly) lead after reaping a windfall from a best-selling novel.
How Einstein made the biggest blunder of his life, wherein we learn what led the physicist to incorporate a so-called cosmological constant into his theory of general relativity, and what happened afterwards.
Beamer, Dressman, Bodybag, wherein Alexander Wells explores how, in Germany, English and German have been melding into a strange, joyous melange, and how that’s subtly changing the way people speak both language.
The workers quitting digital nomadism, wherein we get some other perspectives on this phenomenon, and learn that some things just aren’t for everyone (or even a long-term option for everyone) and that’s OK.
She Measures the Heavens and Outlines the Earth, wherein we learn about a Sumerian high priestess named Enheduanna, who was also an early poet and ardent observer of the night sky.
Red Finance, wherein Lin Chun examines economic development in China, especially economic policy, over the span of several historical periods and how that influenced policy in the country today.
Is my phone listening to me? My story of the internet reading my mind., wherein Merritt Tierce ponders how the internet knows so much about us, and can predict many of our moves and wants, thanks to (in part) the little rectangles that we constantly carry with us.
The New Generation of Digital Hoarders Are Harming the Planet, wherein we learn how collecting and saving mass amounts of digital cruft, which we rarely if ever use, has a huge impact on the environment.
My Search for the Origins of Clothing, wherein Ian Gilligan explores how the ancestors of some of us might have made the vestments that helped them survive harsh environments, and how modern scientists are figuring that out.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.