Friday, September 6, 2013

Best of the Week #111


This is my first best of the week in a while, and as you can imagine, due to traveling and starting school, I have been deplorably absent from the fun side of the interwebs for a while now. So first things first: you have my apologies if these links are way out of date, and/or if as you read through all you’re thinking is been there, seen that. Rest assured that I already know you are far cooler than me.

Second things second: many millions of high-fives to Chris, who kept up the Best of the Week tradition while I was away!!!

A quick life update: I just finished my first real week of school. What am I taking? Role of Force (Security Studies), International Negotiations, Social Networks in Organizations, and Quantitative Methods. Look at me, getting the skillz. Maybe it’ll be fun, maybe it’ll be torture. Only time will tell...

Now on to the links!

I love everything about this post: “19 Jokes Only Grammar Nerds Will Understand.” Especially the semicolon video at the end, and this:



About her diet, which is funny, but the best part comes when they talk about her child’s “Africa-themed” nursery. “Gwyneth's Sad, Simple Meal

  • Huh. What does that mean exactly? Well, William says, "I'll have toy elephants and rhinos around the room. We'll cover it in, you know, lots of bushes and things like that. [We'll] make him grow up as if he's in the bush." Huh. OK. Sure. Kids love animals and nature and all that stuff. I can dig it. And I know that William and Kate got engaged in Africa, and that he spent time there as a boy with Diana, so it has some meaning for him. But isn't there... Hm. How to say this. Isn't there something maybe a little tone-deaf about a British royal going to sleep every night in a room decorated with stuff that's reminiscent of a continent that is still struggling with the ravaging effects of colonialism, a lot of which was British? I don't know! I am probably being silly. But that seems a little off to me somehow.
This is hard and I am not good at it: “The Great Language Game
  • Amongst the thousands of languages spoken across the world, here are just seventy. How many can you distinguish between?
Here’s a thought-provoking conundrum for your Friday: why isn’t there frozen rhubarb in grocery stores? That’s it, I’m dropping out of grad school and starting a frozen rhubarb company STAT. That way we could eat things like this (Rhubarb Gingersnap Icebox Pie) all year round!



This very well sums up exactly why I am the way that I am: “Lessons Learned From Ski Racing.” Time management, sportsmanship, risk analysis, organization, etc.
  • Risk analysis is perhaps the thing most effectively ingrained in young ski racers, because every single part of skiing is pure risk assessment...In short, a ski racer makes countless analyses about how far he or she can push the limit without crashing. The freeskiing endeavors of racers also teach this skill; there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity when considering a 50-foot cliff, a 70-foot tabletop, or an avalanche-prone slope. Without the initial inspection and planning of a course or feature, you’re probably crashing. However, equally important are the adaptations during your run. If you ski your run exactly as planned without adapting to the conditions, you’re definitely crashing.
  • Nothing could be more applicable to life outside of ski racing; one prepares as best he or she can for a performance, a presentation, a test, or a job, all while knowing that it’s not going to go exactly to plan. On-the-fly adjustments, both conscious and subconscious, keep you on track. Adaptability to quickly changing scenarios is critical, and skiing is one hell of a way to learn how to deal with rapid variable change. 
Animals Talking in All Caps got my group through some loooong and rough project work sessions. Two particular favorites:


I WANT TO KISS YOU!
I WANT TO KISS YOU TOO!
HOW DO WE DO THAT?
I’M NOT SURE!
UGH! WHY ARE OUR FACES MADE OUT OF BANANAS?
BECAUSE WE WOULD LOOK RIDICULOUS WITH LIPS!
EXCELLENT POINT! YOU ARE VERY SMART!
THANK YOU! LET’S MASH BANANAS! (source)


YOU SEE THAT, DONALD? THAT’S A HERD OF ANTELOPE. WE’RE GOING TO EAT THEM. DO YOU KNOW WHY WE’RE GOING TO EAT THEM?
BECAUSE WE’RE HUNGRY?
NO, BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T GO TO COLLEGE. THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON’T GO TO COLLEGE. YOU DIE SCREAMING IN A FIELD. NOW LET’S EAT. AFTER THAT YOU’RE GOING TO FINISH YOUR HOMEWORK. (source)

This is interesting if you are me: “Analyzing Organized Crime Brief.”
  • This month, we look at how illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons has contributed to the protracted and increasingly violent conflict in Syria.  The article looks at where weapons have been coming from and how they got there.
  • A number of incidents in August highlighted the growing influence of criminal groups in the mineral industry, funding conflict and violence across the globe.  We highlight in particular, natural resource exploitation in the DRC, the role of the FARC in tungsten and coltain trafficking in Venezuela and Colombia, and corruption in the mining sector in Guinea.
  • Finally, we give a brief overview of the heated debate on Barclay’s decision to close its remittances service because of “Know your Customer” concerns in Somalia, and look at how effective this is as an anti-money laundering strategy.
“Shantaram” the movie may be back in production! Hooray!
  • Warner Bros is in talks with Joel Edgerton to star inShantaram, an adaptation of the Gregory David Roberts novel that is being produced by Inifinitum Nihil partnersJohnny Depp and Christi Dembrowski, and GK Films’ Graham King. Following a couple of stalled attempts to get this movie up and running after the studio paid $2 million for the rights in 2004, Depp himself jump started the process by personally courting Edgerton to play a role Depp once intended to play before the film was derailed by the Writer’s Strike.
And you all saw this right? “Dark chocolate chunk cheesecake baked oatmeal.” 100% my thing.


In conclusion, guess what happens this weekend? JESS IS GETTING MARRIED! Hooray!!!


Words cannot properly express how excited I am.