It's been a long time since my last bits and bobs post. Here are some interesting things I've read recently...
- Here's a really interesting article looking at hysteria in the facebook age. While hysteria used to only affect small communities (usually focusing around fear of witches), facebook now allows hysteria to spread across a far wider geographical area.
- Check out this article comparing modern and classic film posters. I love the old illustrated posters.
- What do happy people do differently? Read here to find out.
- I loved this article about imaginary friends. As someone who had an overactive imagination as a child, it's interesting to read about other people's experiences of the fantastical and fanciful.
- Here are some amazing pictures of LEGO used to show urban density taken to horrific extremes. Makes the LEGO town my brother built when we were little looking kind of pathetic in comparison.
Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts
Saturday, 21 September 2013
Saturday, 4 May 2013
Bits and Bobs
Here are some interesting things I've read this week...
- The winners of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards have been announced. Check out the winners for the various categories here. I think my favourite is Ilya Pitalev's in the Professional Current Affairs category (photo 8) - I like the juxtaposition between the discordant gaggle of school girls and the soldier standing ramrod straight.
- An interesting article looking at our differing perceptions of acts of terrorism vs. shootings.
- Want to be reminded of how awesome people can be? Check out this map of people expressing thanks for random acts of kindness in London.
- Hate terrorism but love trees? Read about the people planting trees in the Sahel to fight terrorism.
- To keep up with online competition, shops are turning to ever more sophisticated methods of collecting information on our shopping habits. The whole thing feels awfully Orwellian. Then again, is it so bad for shops to gauge customer tastes and preferences if they can then provide more desirable products or a better shopping experience?
- Here’s a discussion of a longitudinal psychology study looking at the factors contributing to personal happiness and lifelong wellbeing. It is probably one of the most fascinating articles I have read in a really long time. Some of the conclusions seem self-evident e.g. strong social relationships, more than wealth or intelligence, correlate to personal wellbeing. Other conclusions are a bit more surprising e.g. physical activity in college years is a greater predictor of mental health than physical health in later life. The article ends, of course, with a discussion of whether happiness is something that can be judged scientifically or medically. Beautifully summed in this quote:
- The winners of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards have been announced. Check out the winners for the various categories here. I think my favourite is Ilya Pitalev's in the Professional Current Affairs category (photo 8) - I like the juxtaposition between the discordant gaggle of school girls and the soldier standing ramrod straight.
- An interesting article looking at our differing perceptions of acts of terrorism vs. shootings.
- Want to be reminded of how awesome people can be? Check out this map of people expressing thanks for random acts of kindness in London.
- Hate terrorism but love trees? Read about the people planting trees in the Sahel to fight terrorism.
- To keep up with online competition, shops are turning to ever more sophisticated methods of collecting information on our shopping habits. The whole thing feels awfully Orwellian. Then again, is it so bad for shops to gauge customer tastes and preferences if they can then provide more desirable products or a better shopping experience?
- Here’s a discussion of a longitudinal psychology study looking at the factors contributing to personal happiness and lifelong wellbeing. It is probably one of the most fascinating articles I have read in a really long time. Some of the conclusions seem self-evident e.g. strong social relationships, more than wealth or intelligence, correlate to personal wellbeing. Other conclusions are a bit more surprising e.g. physical activity in college years is a greater predictor of mental health than physical health in later life. The article ends, of course, with a discussion of whether happiness is something that can be judged scientifically or medically. Beautifully summed in this quote:
“Their lives were too human for science, too beautiful for numbers, too sad for diagnosis and too immortal for bound journals.”It’s a long article but definitely worth a read.
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