Weekly Review #150 - Erotic fanfiction, restful breaks, and stolen horses
I made it out to Shipwreck SF this week, which is a monthly erotic fanfiction contest centered around a different work each time. I'm pretty happy that SF invented this, and not NYC (although it is quite popular there as well!)
Stories are predictably explicit and hilarious, with many great similes like 'his legs spread as wide as the sky in summer'. The audience was strictly archetypical NPR intellectuals, which makes a lot of sense.
I've now completed the 'SF being nerdy onstage' trifecta, what with this, Speechless (improv powerpoint) and Mortified (improv band performing around your high school diary). All 3 are worth checking out, but I think Speechless has the most lasting entertainment value.
Tech
Your Vacation Mission? Find This Stolen Horse - The New York Times — www.nytimes.com
You can pay people to formulate a mystery adventure for you, complete with a hotel and service people who are part of the story. Love the idea behind this - next generation immersive theater doesn't need to be in a venue!
On Deck “Request for Projects” – Medium — medium.com
Former Product Hunt founder Erik Torenberg has some person Requests for Startups. Must be pretty sweet to be in a position to help a founder friend actually make it happen, via investment or connections.
Lifehacks
James Cameron works his crews hard. Here's a New Yorker profile just before Avatar came out talking about some of his quirks.
A Science-Backed Guide to Taking Truly Restful Breaks
Take breaks away from the computer! And move your body! That's pretty much it.
Is consciousness a tragic misstep in the evolution of mankind? - Quora — www.quora.com
"I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by natural law. We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, that accretion of sensory experience and feelings, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody’s nobody."
Quite a few varied responses form scientists and spiritual leaders in this thread!
Thieve - A curated list of the best products from AliExpress — thieve.co
Straightforward. Want cheap nifty things from China? This is your best bet.
Fun
What the fuck has Obama done so far? — whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com
Here's some things he's done. (from 2012, I believe)