Friday, December 11, 2015

Weekend Reading: The Where Did the Time Go Edition

I can't believe it is already time to write my links post today. My day went by fast. This is probably because I had a long, wonderful, and very productive lunch with Ginger of 5to9 Marketing, who is helping me out with my marketing strategy. This lunch also led to me having one of Panera Bread's yummy sugar cookies, so it was a good thing all around.

But here it is, almost the end of the day already. I just pushed send on the latest installment of Founding Chaos. I don't mention that newsletter too much here, but I want to mention it today because today's installment was all about the "nuts and bolts" of starting a business, which is something I've been asked about a lot. So, if you want to know about things like why I incorporated and what tools I use for things like accounting and payroll, today's newsletter is for you. Each edition of the Founding Chaos newsletter has three parts: a story, some promos, and some links. I keep the promos light and never make a hard sell, so if you're curious about the process of starting a business (or just want more links from me), consider subscribing.

Now, on to the links I have for you today:

The first link is for my Mom, who asked me if I knew what made chocolate chip cookies spread out too much. I didn't, but here is a summary of some science on cookie baking.

Justice Scalia said some really awful things in the arguments about that really ridiculous affirmative action case at UT-Austin. Tressie McMillan Cottom has a characteristically thoughtful response. And here is a response from an alumna from my own undergraduate institution. I have written before about how I struggled in my first quarter at the U of C. I was probably "mismatched" in that I didn't have anywhere near the preparation that my peers from elite prep schools did. But no one ever argues that people like me shouldn't go to elite schools. To the extent that qualified students of color struggle at elite schools, it is on the elite schools to fix the problem, particularly if they are public institutions taking taxpayer money. Telling the students to go elsewhere is a ridiculous answer. That a justice in our Supreme Court made that statement is depressing, to say the least.

Speaking of awful people: Trump isn't going away, so maybe it is time we all start thinking about why his appeal is persisting. Matt Yglesias has a really interesting analysis of how the GOP got themselves in this mess.

Speaking of avoidable messes: we continue to use too many antibiotics in agriculture, despite what the big companies are telling us.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on why he can't commit to writing with hope.

But I think humans need hope, so here's a happier article. It is about parenting two transgender kids. To me, this is a story about the power of unconditional love as a parent.

Still talking about parenting: this open letter from the mother of Scott Weiland's kids is heartbreaking. Parents cannot be perfect people. We will necessarily bring our faults and foibles into the parenting gig. But I like her point that we need to always be trying to do better: "progress, not perfection."

Speaking of heartbreaking, don't miss this story about the missing generation of autistic adults. It is heartbreaking, but also hopeful.

What dolphins "see" by echolocation. The images in this piece are amazing.

How Makerbase is trying design to minimize abuse. More tech companies need to think like this.

I'm sad to see the pharma industry's merger madness spreading: Dow and DuPont are planning to merge. It seems that a lot of our investment dollars are too busy chasing unicorns to invest in real research. This is short-sighted and sad.

That last link was sent to me by Bad Mom, Good Mom, who also has an interesting post of her own about the inefficiency of philanthropy.

And, because I have to end with something happy... I'm really looking forward to reading these stories. (I'm planning to make the time to do so this weekend.)

Also, I love this gif:




Happy weekend, everyone!

3 comments:

  1. I realize this is in large part because Baguette is so young, but I actually took a lot of comfort in the story about adults with autism. The situation is not at all good for today's adults, but since more and more recognition of needs seems to be developing, I have hope that by the time she is an adult, society will have more room for her, and more understanding of the supports she does and does not need.

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  2. Cloud,

    Thank you so much for linking to my stories! And I got my first issue of Founding Chaos from you today, so I am looking forward to reading that as well. The news in the world today is full of such suckdom, on so many levels, that I'm trying to look only at food blogs right now. . . Also, I do hope that the first of my stories in that link helps to brighten the mood! (the second is a bit darker, but I hope you still enjoy it =)

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  3. Scalia can (figuratively) die in a fire. My spouse has an underprepared white student from a not great school in a rural area this semester - which also describes him going to college! at Giant Midwestern State, by the way - and nobody suggested to either of them that they'd be more 'comfortable' at, say, a community college. (He did suggest that the student should do X, Y, and Z for extra help and to get up to speed, and reassured the student that they were on the right track and it was going to be okay.)

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