1. The Girl Who Would Live Forever
A long and detailed article about cryonics and the currently popular topic of freezing the hopelessly ill and dying to bring them back to life when medicine is finally able to fix them, or at the very least, upload their minds to the cloud. To make the piece a bit more lively, it tells the story of a two-year-old girl who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and her parents' decision to freeze her head (the cheapest option, since the whole body turns out to be a bit pricey).
A well-known Iranian blogger (who did six years in the slammer for his scribblings) reflects on how the internet is becoming increasingly closed and centralized. The information you publish is at the mercy of cloud platforms, and will vanish in an instant at the slightest breeze of censorship or a technical glitch. Linking to a post is hard, you often need an account just to read it, and what you do read is determined by mysterious algorithms driven by the influential marketers of mega-brands.
Some networks, like Twitter, treat hyperlinks a little better. Others, insecure social services, are far more paranoid. Instagram — owned by Facebook — doesn’t allow its audiences to leave whatsoever. You can put up a web address alongside your photos, but it won’t go anywhere. Lots of people start their daily online routine in these cul de sacs of social media, and their journeys end there. Many don’t even realize that they’re using the Internet’s infrastructure when they like an Instagram photograph or leave a comment on a friend’s Facebook video. It’s just an app.
I used to want all my friends to keep blogs, so I could always be in the loop about what's going on in their lives. This came true on Facebook, but not in the most pleasant way: peppered with ads, memes, fleeting in its existence and not exactly what I had in mind.
3. Frida Kahlo: the triumph of pain
About the famous artist.
She was eighteen when the first tram was launched in Mexico City. And, of course, she was oh so curious. Together with a childhood friend, the girl jumped onto the tram's running board, but realized she had forgotten her umbrella. She had to return to the university. The next tram the friends took collided with a truck. The impact was so powerful that Frida was literally impaled on the iron rod of the pantograph. That's how the paramedics found her: a terrifying "spear" protruding from her stomach, her dress having slipped off her shoulders during the crash, she was covered in blood and gold paint that one of the passengers had been carrying. It seemed to be the end.
But not the end! I can relate to Frida, having found myself in a similar situation, maybe not as tragic, but no picnic either.
4. HOW IT ALL WORKS: Rock Star
On alcohol, drugs, groupies, and wives
There are exactly as many alcoholics and drug addicts among rock musicians as there are among subway train drivers or people in any other profession — no more and no less. Our profession has no direct correlation with alcohol, drugs, and sex. I suppose for most guys at the start of their creative journey, their dreams are largely tied to the desire of being the center of attention for the opposite sex. Even I, while on stage, still can't shake the thought that there are girls in the audience and it's so cool. But it seems to me that the sooner a musician turns off the sexual aspect, the more successful he becomes.
An enlightening read about how a musician lives.
5. Cooking with vegetable oils releases toxic cancer-causing chemicals, say experts
Frying in vegetable oils causes the release of toxic substances. It's better to cook with coconut oil, olive oil, or butter. It's vividly clear on the graph. Especially relevant: the longer you fry and stew, the higher the level of cancer-causing aldehydes.
Stay tuned!