Disney Movies (In 5 Easy Steps)

One of my favorite science fiction authors, Kurt Vonnegut, once graphed the story of Cinderella in order to examine human happiness. He argued that the story followed a particular story arc, moving from misery to ecstasy, back to misery, and off to a happy ending. "People love that story," he told a New York audience, "And because of it, people think their lives are supposed to be like this...So people pretend there is drama where there is none." This ties in nicely to a recent XKCD comic, Connoisseur, which argued that "Our brains have just one scale, and we resize our experiences to fit." Randall (the comic writer)'s point, here, is once again that we invent drama when our lives otherwise lack it.

Vonnegut's "Cinderella" Arc

Abort, Return, Renew?

I'm all for technology. Really, I am. I run my own computer repair company. I take class notes on a laptop, not in a notebook. I check online dictionaries before using certain words. I organize my life on a digital calendar. I think cars should be driving themselves. I prefer self-checkout at CVS because I want to see how good the tech is.

But when I walk into my local library and check out my own books, without interacting with a librarian, something is wrong.

Treading on Thin Ice

For decades, the northeast corner of Alaska has been designated the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It means that area is protected from development and, most famously, oil drilling. But all that may be about to change. In March, Royal Dutch Shell won permits to begin exploring the viability of oil drilling just off the shores of ANWR, in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. If successful, oil companies are projected to flock to the Arctic in search of more oil. Things are getting heated among activists and icebergs alike.