A Staggering Superabundance Of Scintillating Stories

You know how it is when you have a neatly planned couple of weeks, with lots to do, everything neatly placed in a schedule, then something happens that drives a bus through the whole shebang — and Whomp! schedule in tatters projects awry, and life generally in a state of upside-downness. Well… this week… That.

The writing has been close to non-existent and the reading has been strangely random, but I have kept a stash of links and would like to share them with you.

Robot Vacs and Wooden Cars — what’s not to like?

I shall kick off with two writers who can always be relied on to entertain. When I see the words Idiot, Robot, Caffeine, and Shampoo in a headline sitting alongside author Christopher Robin, I know I’m in for a treat.

Likewise Will Hull. I’ve read enough of his work to know that the strange wooden vehicle heading his piece is sure to be one he made himself. The article is a creative response to a writing prompt, and the deceptively general title hides a woodworking tale that made me laugh.

Interesting Angles Or Clickbait With Attitude

Like many, I’m quite sure that I’m immune to clickbait even while the little voice at the back of my head murmurs: “No, you're not.” But although I click on some headlines whose articles have me rolling my eyes and clicking away again within a couple of sentences, I’ve unearthed a seam of clickbait-with-attitude that has proved both useful and entertaining.

At the clickbait headline end of the scale, the world champion in clickbait-with-attitude is undoubtedly Jan Sebastian. I mean look at this one:

How is that headline not plain old clickbait? I’ll tell you; it’s because she delivers, she makes it a fun read, and her articles always look so cool.

At the other end of the scale is the interesting angle that’s a bit What… where…? So for example…

Tripadvisor for bug hotels! What…? Where…? I need to read on to get to the nub of it because my brain is saying “Absurd” at the same time as “That’s a good idea.” As in the previous examples, Susan Alison is a writer whose work I’m familiar with, so I know that there’s going to be a neat angle, and a personal story tied up in here.

There is a sense of security in recognising a name and knowing that the output will be worth reading.

The slightly off-beam idea of listening upward hooks me in (my inner voice wonders if listening upward is akin to tasting sideways) but anyway, it’s written by Denise Darby so it’s going to be a good read.

Stepping Out Of The Comfort Zone

I could fill pages with links to my favourite authors, but I’ve read a crop of new names this week and I want to share them. So here are writers — new to me — who caught my eye over the past week or so.

It’s not only writers, it’s whole new publications I’ve come across. I’m sure it goes against received wisdom to use a headline that isn’t easily understood, but it was the fact I didn’t understand it that drew me to this one by The Accidental Monster in Monster Alley.

It’s a neat little article with a distinctive voice. I had another reason to be glad the headline grabbed me — I got a mention! It was a link rather than a tag, and apparently, that’s why it didn’t show up in my notifications. It was pure luck that I found this engaging monster family.

This next one is by Meg Coyle who reviews a TEDx talk by Dr Kristin Neff. If I had been perusing TED talks (which I sometimes do) I’m not sure that I would have stopped at Kristin Neff’s talk, but the article’s headline intrigued me.

I opened it wondering if it might be one of those lightweight pieces that barely scratches the surface — after all, what depth can you achieve in a few hundred words? — but it was a thoughtful summary with useful links for those who wanted to dig further.

This next one from Kathleen Murphy was always going to catch my attention. I retired just before the covid pandemic became a thing and have lived a happy but cliched life of being way too busy for someone who no longer has a 9–5. I’m always keen to see how other people handle it.

Never mind the headline, she has a great opening line: It’s been an easy 12 months since I pulled the ripcord on retirement. It develops from there into a great take on the topic.

I’m interested in meditation. I think it’s something the modern world doesn’t do enough. I’m sure it would help us to focus on what really matters. If I was in charge … … meditation and structured reflection would become mandatory skills for all politicians. Holding myself back here; there’s a many-thousand-word diversion opening up. Back to meditation:

I’m a big fan of Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles who writes short pieces on meditation. I recommend them. But it’s new (to me) writers I’m focussing on in this section and it was meditation that drew me to this one by Claudia Ciobanu:

It was that strangely specific 68% that drew me in. My background as a researcher makes me want to know where it came from, how it was measured, and what was used to define ‘focus’ in this case. In fact, I didn’t find the answers, but to be fair, had Claudia homed in on the stats it would have been a dry piece. She summarises a technique that made a difference to her and includes a link to the book where she found it. It’s a neat feel-good what-worked-for-me account.

Here’s a piece I chanced on by Alexander Semenyuk. There’s a poetic cadence to his writing style that works well in highlighting the problems of addiction to alcohol — I was taken by the metaphor of alcohol as the conniving mask.

This painting of word pictures reminded me of another of my ‘regulars’ (who I hope will not mind being thus categorised) pockett dessert whose style is very different but who also weaves magic with words.

Stepping Away From The Human Condition

I love technology. It fascinates me. It always has. So I leapt upon Pedro Gaspar’s The Three Amigos. It wasn’t the title on its own that caught me, it was the title with the opening few words: Artificial Intelligence can be a catalyst for… I wanted to know who these 3 amigos were in this context.

I read the article and got my answers. I liked the balance that Pedro struck — he contextualized his 3 amigos, gave us information and examples, and he touched on the ethical issues too. It’s a topic that could fill a library — indeed that does fill many libraries — and it’s good to see a useful overview. I also liked the quote he used from AI and Robotics expert, Prof Neil Jacobstein: “It’s not artificial intelligence I’m worried about, it’s human stupidity.”

Since I mentioned them above, here’s one from Vidya, whose articles are always packed with good advice, good cheer, or usually both:

And here’s one from pockett dessert to make you smile:

And Finally — Going For Gold

I started in the clickbait realm, so here’s one from the same stable to end on. Written by Maaja Wentz, it’s very short, it’s a response to a writing prompt from Nancy Blackman, MASF (someone else worth reading, by the way) and is a model of conciseness whilst pulling in an apt insight from historian, philosopher, and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari.

Read & Enjoy!

This has been a diverse collection, but the connections are always there to be found, and in writing about Money, Money, Money! I noted links to both technology and to TED talks, both of which were featured earlier. Harari was the first person to present a TED talk delivered by a digital avatar — how neat is that!

I’ve enjoyed these articles despite the chaotic week, and I’ve discovered some new writers along the way. I hope you enjoy them too.

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