Image by Stanley Zimny, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.
Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:
1. Do you like TED Talks? How about procrastination? Here is an excellent story about one man's personal experience of procrastinating to prepare for a TED Talk on the topic of procrastination. It's humorous, educational, and a bit of a nail-biter. I think you will probably really enjoy it!
2. A piece published on WIRED dives into the nefarious business side of ad blocker companies. I find it incredibly ironic that the piece was published on WIRED, considering the site recently stopped displaying content for those of us who choose to run ad blockers in our web browsers. Not to say the publication is inherently on the wrong side of the battle, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time I load an article on the site and find that I am unable to read it unless I load it in another browser or whitelist the site. It's been, and will likely continue to be, very interesting to see how the publishing industry as a whole alters its business models to sustain profits without alienating its audiences.
3. Alan Watts was one of the most innovative philosophers, writers, and speakers in recent history. One could do no wrong by pursuing his work. He liked to ask thought-provoking questions, like what would you do if money was no object? How would you determine the meaning of your life if that was the case?
4. I found xkcd's infographic showing the "size of the U.S.'s pipelines if each fluid produced or consumed in the U.S. had to be carried by a single pipe" to be really interesting. Different substances, from tea to blood to toothpaste, are depicted with different sized pipes. It's more of a thought experiment than real-world example, but it's fascinating to check out!
5. It turns out that Ben Franklin wasn't always a great writer. He put in a lot of work during his formative years to hone his craft, and I found this account of the steps that he took to become a better writer to be both fascinating and helpful for a aspiring writer such as myself.
That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.