The Optimist

Some very interesting articles this week.

The highlight is this piece from Bloomberg about elderly Germans finding it more affordable to move to Polish nursing homes. It’s both poignant and thought-provoking; I recommend you give it a look.

Still in Germany, Bloomberg reports on the new uses being found for Cold War military bases. Ever wondered what you can do with a washing facility for self-propelled howitzers?

Two scientific – or ‘scientific’ – stories provide a lighter note. First, a Texas man was able to brew beer in his gut – not a bad trick! Second, here is a paper I have nominated for an Ig Nobel prize – it concerns the rate at which teaspoons disappear from break rooms. As an Ig Nobel should do, it amused me — but there’s a germ of usefulness as well. Teaspoons disappeared from communal rooms more rapidly than they disappeared from rooms associated with a particular group, which is not surprising but interesting nonetheless.

Last of all, this spectacular video (purportedly) gives us a literal bird’s-eye view — it was taken from a camera mounted on the back of an eagle!

1. The use and misuse of statistics – do left-handed people really die young?
2. Did you know that between 1730 and 1850, the average height of British soldiers actually fell? It seems the Industrial Revolution took a long time to improve living standards.
3. “What possesses a publisher to produce a new version of a classic?”
4. The ugliest creature in the world. It really is ugly!

1. Here is an interesting piece on the geopolitical implications of increased American energy production; worth the free registration.
2. Great podcast discussion of one of the most fascinating women in antiquity, Queen Zenobia of Palmyra.
3. Very good article on robots in the workplace. Perhaps the most interesting part is how people react to their mechanical colleagues — we prefer robots that seem more human by acknowledging people who walk into a room, holding eye contact for the appopriate time, and even making harmless mistakes!
4. Yet another piece on Google Glass, but it contains some interesting tidbits.

1. An interesting and thought-provoking piece on the automation of work, then and now. Well worth the free registration.
2. David Landes, economic historian, has died. I wrote about one of his (excellent) books here; and here is a great excerpt from another of his works.
3. Remote controlling the actions of another human being!
4. Doing business the old-fashioned way on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
5. Poetic justice? A British man is making money from cold callers by redirecting them to his own premium line.

Articles

Great crop of articles this week:

1. An evocative piece on the 72-year-old mailman who drives the US’ longest route.
2. What we can learn from a sarcophagus found along the Silk Road.
3. “Kevin Good thought there was an 80 percent chance he could successfully deliver his brother’s wedding rings with a tiny drone.”
4. 3D printing living tissue: the hope, the hype, the reality
5. Given the choice of saving their dog or a foreign tourist from a runaway bus, 40% of respondents to one survey would rather save the dog!
6. The boredom rooms where Japanese workers are sent in hopes they’ll quit.
7. Twitter, land of the bots.
8. Bunny cafes in Japan.

Articles

1. Chinese charity auctions to support dissidents’ families, a lengthy read and an extremely interesting one.
2. The shops of Heathrow Airport. Did you know that the clothes shops at the airport put the ties near the front, the better to appeal to rushed travellers?
3. Unconditional cash transfers to the poor.
4. Facebook and happiness, although I would note that correlation does not equal causation.
5. When algorithms exacerbated a discriminatory hiring process.
6. Tax return fraud, and those who fight it (free reg’n required).
7. Apps for animals.