Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see”.
Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:
- Resistance to last-resort antibiotic has now spread across globe – New Scientist. “Well, crap. Next to vaccination, the discovery of antibiotics is one of the greatest achievements of medicine. Before antibiotics, the world was ugly, messy, and lethal. People died in big, contagious, painful, awful ways. But, by not managing antibiotics properly (giving them out too easily, not finishing our prescriptions, and using them to make livestock bigger faster), we’ve used up the miracle. Time to wash our hands a lot, and be really, really careful not to cut yourself.” (Alistair for Hugh).
- I’m Doing Work – Sluggish. “I’m liking Sluggish a lot. ‘We keep using that word, productivity. Maybe it doesn’t mean what we think it means. Why is an obsession with productivity making people do bizarre and pointless things? I’m sold.” (Alistair for Mitch).
- Religious children are meaner than their secular counterparts, study finds – The Guardian. “Alistair challenged me to come up with more morality articles, so here is one to chew on. Study shows kids who are more religious are less altruistic than secular kids. If you are secular kind of guy, like me, this confirms all sorts of hunches and biases I have (namely, that more religious people are more judgemental, and not as nice as their religion suggests they ought to be). Here’s scientific ‘proof’ that my hunch is right!… Right? Well, wait… read my article for Mitch (below) before you make up your mind.” (Hugh for Alistair).
- Here’s Why That Study Claiming Religious Kids Are Less Altruistic Stinks. Updates – William M. Briggs. “A reminder that, usually, any article you read in the mainstream press that has the words ‘study finds’… you should probably just toss in the garbage. This post looks at the study mentioned in The Guardian article above, about kids, religion and altruism. And tears apart any faith you should have that this ‘study’ means anything at all. The press loves (because, so do we, so do I) controversial topics ‘proved’ by ‘studies’… no matter how thin the evidence, and how preliminary the study. The scientific method works incrementally: someone publishes a study, other scientists look at the study, and try to tear it apart – conclusions are either confirmed (slowly), or disproved (usually faster). But, of course, the mainstream press doesn’t work like that: ‘study shows’ is all they need to get rolling… And we lap it up.” (Hugh for Mitch).
- Why Mars Should Be Independent From Earth – BBC. “OK, so let’s say that we do actually colonize Mars (and, by the way, how crazy of a thought is that?). This is the stuff of science fiction, but we’re hearing so much about it, that it’s starting to feel like we may actually live to see human beings as a multi-planetary species (which, for the record, just blows my mind). So, let’s assume that yes, in fact, we have the science, willingness, capabilities and citizens who will move across time and space to get there. Now what? Are they citizens of Mars and/or Earth? Do they have dual citizenship? Two passports? Stop laughing. This article thinks that whoever decides to move to Mars should have to renounce their citizenship here on Earth.” (Mitch for Alistair).
- Malcolm Gladwell Hands Out Book Blurbs Like Santa Does Presents – The New York Times. “Apparently, famed business book author and creative non-fiction writer, Malcolm Gladwell, doesn’t mind blurbing a book. A blurb is that quote (sometimes on the front of the book, but mostly on the back cover) that enables a relatively unknown author to leverage someone who is more popular to endorse their work. Blurbs are a big part of the publishing business. Book publishers always want to know who will endorse a book. The bigger the name, the more celebrity that they have, the better. Some see blurbing a book as a great form of personal branding and marketing (I know that I do), others think that it can dilute everything (like this piece). I think blurbs are good (especially, if they’re authentic). I also see nothing wrong with Gladwell using this forum to get more people to see his name in more places. Apparently, other people don’t like this practice.” (Mitch for Hugh).
Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.
"I'm Doing Work" from Sluggish on Vimeo.