I Read the Internet So You Don’t Have To, Volume One

A Star Wars Stormtrooper snowflake, made by my SIL Jen.

A month or so ago, in the process of passing along an article, I mentioned that I spend a lot of time reading various and sundry online articles, stories, blog posts, etc. (Quite possibly too much time.) I’ve decided to put all that effort to good use here on the blog, however, in the form of a new semi-regular series: I Read the Internet So You Don’t Have To. I’ll use this to share stories I’ve found interesting, along with a little blurb as to why. In the day job, we call this “content curation,” but here… Well, let’s just call it being helpful.

First up, an article I became aware of via the ultra-pompous New York Times book review podcast. Knowing that I am not the only one of my friends addicted to “Downton Abbey” (only the most recent), sharing this article, If You’re Mad for ‘Downton,’ Publishers Have Reading List, feels like a public service.

It’s been more than a week since I first read Not So Fast from Google’s Think Quarterly, but I keep coming back to it. There is something both inspiring and humbling about the notion that, at this early phase of the digital age – when we think we’re innovating at lighting speed – we’re essentially doing the equivalent of using the first printing presses to make illuminated manuscripts more quickly. It’s stuff like this that reminds me why I love my work – both the history and technology angles.

Not surprisingly, my browser also often finds its way to hockey stuff. (Boatloads of it, if I am being honest.) A week or so ago, the Backhand Shelf blog had two of the funniest “non-hockey” hockey posts I’ve read in a long time. If you like hockey and guys and/or hockey and beer, both are good fun.

Technically, I did not come across the amazing Star Wars snowflakes – such as the one illustrating this post – online, but my sister-in-law Jen did, which is close enough. I think.

And finally, the meme of the moment is “Shit [People] Say” videos. Shit Girls Say, for example, or Shit People in DC Say, or approximately eleventy billion others. There’s also the counterpoint: Shit Nobody Says.

I have, however, actually said one of these things. Anyone care to guess which one? And no, wiseass, not the one about Nickelback.