Kickoff For March 25, 2019
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.
Today’s a special day for me: this evening, I officially become a citizen of New Zealand. It’s been a while in coming, but the wait has been worth it.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
History
The people’s prince, wherein Catherine Zuckert argues that Niccolo Machiavelli’s reputation as a ruthless schemer might be the wrong impression of the man.
Pottery reveals America’s first social media networks, wherein we dip into the What’s new is old again files and learn that yet another ancient culture had its own social network and social media, one that was physical and not digital.
Did ancient cave artists share a global language?, wherein we’re exposed to the possibility that early cave painters may have shared a common (or at least similar) symbolic language.
Productivity
Creating some slack, wherein we learn that households (and individuals) can find the time and energy to do what they wnat, but that it’s not easy and requires discipline to create and maintain the necessary slack.
Connecting Your Work Tasks to Meaning, wherein Leo Babauta explains how to make what you do more joyful by suffusing it with meaning and relevance.
Should You Target the Minimum?, wherein we learn three different ways to get things done and discover their strengths and weaknesses.
Crime
The Expat English Teachers’ Murderous Triangle, wherein we learn how a Canadian English teacher in Taiwan got involved in the drug trade in Taipei, and the price he paid for that.
Isidore Zimmerman: The Man the System Couldn’t Break, wherein we hear the story of a man sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime he didn’t commit, and how his belief in his own innocence prevailed.
TAKEN: How police departments make millions by seizing property, wherein we learn how police in South Carolina are using asset forfeiture laws to summarily seize cash and property from people not accused of, nor guilty of, crimes. People who are, predominantly, black.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.