Interesting Links for 19-07-2019

[andrewducker]

How to do a PhD with ADHD (or other attention issues)

(tags:ADHD phd advice ViaDrCross )

In a same sex relationship? KLM will approach you and let you know someone has complained about you holding hands on board.

(tags:LGBT airplanes wtf )

Time to rethink autism and communication

(tags:autism communication psychology )

First blood: Parliament blocks Boris Johnson's plan to sideline it

(tags:uk europe hope politics )

Vast sand scheme to protect Norfolk coast

(tags:UK ocean sand viaDanielDWilliam )

Why People Are Giving Out Their Instagram Handle (Rather Then Their Phone Number)

(tags:contacts socialnetworking )

The absolutely perfect answer to the question "What three writers, dead or alive, would you invite to dinner?"

(tags:writing celebrity death food )

FaceApp: How accurate are the predictions?

(tags:faces ai celebrity age )

The Machine Stops (early science fiction by EM Forster in 1909)

(tags:short_story scifi )

Saturn's hexagon

(tags:saturn space )

Comments

[coth]

The Machine Stops was in a collection of short stories we read for GCSE 'O' level. Well worth reading.

[rmc28]

... if I still used Instagram I could kind of see the point.

[cmcmck]

'The Machine Stops' was something I read in my late teens.

It's remarkably prescient.

[nancylebov]

It's not just that it was prescient, it's that the use of a communications network for chatter was completely plausible but forgotten for decades-- possibly until it happened in the real world.

[cmcmck]

And what happens when it stops in the real world, I wonder?

I'm old enough to remember how we coped before all this stuff, but........

[nancylebov]

A lot of people will be fighting very hard to keep the net going. They may succeed.

[gingicat]

“The Machine Stops” is a favorite of mine for SO many reasons.

[chickenfeet]

UoT Opera's student composer collective did an opera version of The Machine Stops to a libretto by Michael patrick Albano in 2016. https://operaramblings.blog/2016/01/25/the-machine-stops/

[andrewducker]

Very cool, thank you!

Opinions about Instagram solicited:

[agoodwinsmith]

For people who like Instagram, please tell me what features make it a plus for you.

(Context: the last new-to-me social media thing I joined was Twitter - and I fell off because it was just one too many things to keep track of. And it mostly seemed to be me whispering into the void while being deafened by prolific perpetual posters. Instagram just seemed to be another chance to be ignored and ad-slathered.)

Re: Opinions about Instagram solicited:

[andrewducker]

I think it's fine if you've got a bunch of other friends you want to share photos with. Not much point to it otherwise.

I use it because it's easy to share from there to Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

[nancylebov]

I liked the answer to the three authors question a lot, and I was surprised at how many people hated it.

[andrewducker]

I did see a little pushback. Did you see lots?

[nancylebov]

It seemed like well over half, mostly about hating the author. Maybe I should take another look.

[nancylebov]

I did the whole thing. This was like poppy seeds in front of a vampire.

47 anti, 44 pro, 70 not obvious (some of these may have been cultural references I didn't get)