The Optimist

If there’s one theme this week, it’s innovation –  MacGyver-style “doing more with less” (lamps made from a bottle of water); amusing gimmickry (giant soft toys + cafe = win); and the biases that, depressingly, extend to funding innovation. Read on:

1. Venture capital investors prefer funding men over women, and handsome men over ugly ones.
2. Rich Americans (according to pollsters) prefer investing in stocks and real estate; poor Americans prefer gold. What does that say?
3. Cheap, simple bottle lights for illuminating buildings during the day.
4. On a lighter note, here is a look at windscreen stickers as the new family portraits.
5. A Dutch online fashion retailer gives customers 15 minutes to try on clothes, and if the clothes don’t fit, the customers can return them to the courier who dropped them off.
6. This Japanese cafe seats solo patrons with cute stuffed animals.
7. And speaking of cute stuffed animals, Hello Kitty promotions have an interesting history in Singapore.
8. How to brew tea inside a tank.

I’m reading Ian Morris’ War: What Is It Good For?, a big-picture world history with a rather startling thesis. However, as with Morris’ earlier book, the excellent Why The West Rules — For Now, the real highlight isn’t the thesis — it’s the romp through history and across continents. I think Why the West Rules is the better of the two books, but nonetheless, it’s fascinating to read the author’s take on the link between primate diets, social structures, and propensities for violence, or his counter-argument to the theory that the Ancient Greeks pioneered a unique, “Western” way of  war.  So far, I’d say this is a fair review — check it out if you’d like a more detailed take.

I have one more link for you this week: did you know that researchers identified THREE THOUSAND types of bacteria growing on banknotes? According to the cited article, “6% of English bank notes tested had levels of e.coli bacteria comparable to a toilet seat”!

From time to time I see old articles doing the rounds, and one of them is the remarkable story of the only woman to serve in the French Foreign Legion.

On a related note, consider this meal. Starter: Deer terrine. Main: Cassoulet with duck fat. Dessert: Camembert cheese, chocolate cake. The menu at a fine restaurant? No — the rations given to French soldiers.

In other news:

1. The CIA disseminated Doctor Zhivago as a weapon in the Cold War.
2. Car washers, horseback riding instructors, and more: the first jobs of Nobel Prize winners.
3. Restaurant reviews are affected by the weather!
4. And speaking of which, here is a bullish article on the future of solar power.
5. In robot news of the week, could this be the future of mining?
6. Turning to online media, “a lot of top journalists don’t look at traffic numbers“. And while advertising motivates bloggers to work hard, it also motivates them to chase hits.
7. And lastly, how many people does it take to colonise another star system?

I have just one link this week, but it’s a good one — about the geographic origin of notable Americans (as defined by Wikipedia). Enjoy!

Well, I’m updating this less frequently than I thought I would, but the bright side is that gives me time to cherry-pick the very best links! Today’s crop are all great:

1. Here is an excellent interview with Bill Gates, touching on Microsoft, philanthropy, and how to better the world. If I had to pick the single best out of the bunch, this would be it.
2. Who had richer parents — doctors, teachers, lawyers, or artists? The answer might surprise you.
3. Seafood might be yummy, but — while alive — did those creatures feel pain?
4. And speaking of yummy, it turns out computers can come up with appealing recipes.
5. Falling microwave sales offer an interesting window onto changing cultural and culinary preferences. (What’s eating the microwaves’ lunch? Toaster ovens.)

And we’re back! Some great stories have come through since my last update:

1. Japan’s ageing society is well known — this is how it copes. Great look at some of the individuals behind the numbers, from a retired headmaster (72) to a pair of doctors (66 and 71).
2. Researchers have compiled an “atlas” of genetic intermingling between peoples all over the Earth. Here is a short, sweet overview; here is a longer article. Here is the atlas itself.
3. “More mariners have been abandoned by their employers than taken hostage by Somali pirates.”
4. A fascinating portrait of “China’s worst diplomat”, a Qing-era official who managed to botch every job he held.
5. Two takes on the English language, with its gloriously syncretistic attitude to foreign words.
6. A slice of life: 24 hours at a British petrol station.
7. And finally, here is the retired airliner converted to a restaurant in Ghana.