At this chaotic, painful, fear-inducing moment in time, in the midst of bitter partisanship and massive amounts of cognitive overload, I say: time for some mental diversions!
(image by Tara Winstead @ pexels.com)
When we struggle with focus and being able to absorb everything life is throwing at us, it’s a good idea to give ourselves something to momentarily distract us from all those challenging emotions. That’s the point of this week’s What We Can—giving you something to think about besides That Guy and his minions and their apparent intention to destroy all good things in the world.
So here, for your cognitive pleasure, are ten interesting stories!
Weirdly enough, it seems to be super challenging to name someone who is currently 28 years old. Could you do it, off the top of your head? Can you name a celebrity or famous person or musician or professional athlete who’s currently 28? This Defector article does a great job of exploring the (almost) total absence of 28-year-olds in today’s popular consciousness. Does anyone who’s 28 even exist? You tell me. Don’t cheat and use Google!
On BoingBoing, I read about this tiny artificial lake called Neitokainen that someone built in Finland as a (failed) tourist attraction. It’s shaped like Finland itself, but on a 1:10,000 scale. And that, of course, reminded me of the scale model of the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee. It’s built on Mud Island, is at a scale of 30 inches per mile of the river, and is a really cool sight to see if you’re hanging out in Memphis sometime.
This article on Vox is worth your time, I promise. A team of researchers has looked at common factors that have caused prior societal collapses throughout human history and points out some interesting parallels to our own era. They have suggestions for ways to nudge things in a positive direction before it all comes crashing down, too—are we able to learn from our mistakes before it’s too late? Read it and see what you think.
And a second article from Vox that’s also pretty fascinating, about adult friendships. Do you have someone you’d call your ‘best friend’? What makes them fall into that category, and is there any benefit to ranking your friends in that way? This article made me consider some factors to friendship I hadn’t thought about in a while, and I’m pretty sure you’d be interested in it as well. Whether I’m your best friend or (much more likely) not.
You may not know this (I didn’t) but bearded vultures, along with other large bird species, hoard all kinds of stuff in their nests. A group of scientists in Spain have published the results of a big study they did on ancient bearded vulture nests which were built on top of other nests, etc. They found human artifacts as old as a 675 year old shoe (not to mention 2,117 bones)!
Maybe you’re stressed at work, but are you THIS stressed at work? Here’s an article about a lady who reported a fake active shooter situation at her workplace in hopes that it would help her “trauma bond” with her co-workers. Needless to say, she got caught, and also needless to say, they like her even less now than they used to. So probably don’t go this route. Maybe try bringing in cider and doughnuts instead?
Kodak is selling its own film again, for the first time in more than a decade! If you’re as big a fan of photography as I am, this will definitely cheer you up. It’s awesome!
Do you think we live in a capitalist hellscape dystopia? Here’s another sign of that being a distinct possibility. Yes, Mr. Beast trapped a man inside a burning building in exchange for him trying to win $500,000. That’s something that actually happened. Perhaps worse, the guy only ended up with $350,000. You probably don’t need me to tell you this, but if Mr. Beast calls you and makes an offer, my recommendation is that you say ‘no’. It’s not going to be worth it.
I’m sure you’ve heard about Labubus, whether you’ve bought one or not. For the record, I have not. This article gives what I thought was a really interesting view into the Labubu rabbit hole and will give you all the info you need to know about this $46 billion trend. At the very least, not being into them gives you something to feel superior about, and isn’t everyone looking for just an ounce of superiority?
I was endlessly fascinated by this very long piece about whether luck actually exists or not. Yes, it’s a long read, but also yes, it may make you re-evaluate your pre-existing thoughts about luck within your own life. And I’m always looking for things that make me look at things through a new lens. Maybe you are too.
I hope that at least one or two of these ten links gives you something interesting to think about today! If you like this format, let me know. I read an awful lot of articles each week, and if folks want me to pass along some of the best ones, I’d love to provide that service to you.
Please keep doing your best to take care of yourself, even if “taking care of” means not doing anything that feels all that productive every minute of every day. Rest is just as valuable to the causes you care about as is constant resistance (in fact, if you agree with Tricia Hersey, which I do, rest IS resistance).
See you next week!