The High Price of Materialism

Facebook pays 10-year-old Finnish genius $10,000 for exposing flaw in Instagram Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images) A hacker in Finland has become the youngest person to receive a reward from Facebook’s Bug Bounty program — but he’ll have to wait three years before he’s old enough to humblebrag about it on the social media platform. Ten-year-old Jani, whose last name isn’t being shared at the request of his parents, uncovered a way to delete any given comment on Instagram, the photo-sharing company that Facebook bought for $1 billion in 2012 — and which Jani, so to speak, pwned. The flaw Jani exposed gave him the power to erase anyone’s comments, even those posted by “Justin Bieber,” he told Iltalehti, the news outlet in Finland that first reported Jani’s exploits. Facebook compensated the young Finn — or, more accurately, his parents on Jani’s behalf — to the tune of $10,000. This reward puts Jani in the upper tier of hackers Facebook has paid for finding bugs. Morning Mix newsletter Stories that will be the talk of the morning.

Sightline Daily: The Good Life, Not the Goods Life The clever folks over at the Center for the New American Dream have created a cool video. Perfect background material for my project to buy no new stuff this year, it’s about the pitfalls of materialism—and some ways we can free ourselves from it. We’re bombarded daily—hourly—with messages that reinforce materialistic attitudes and behaviors, from reports on the importance of consumer spending and economic growth on the evening news, to advertising in media and just about everywhere we look. All these messages are pretty much telling us the same thing: that the only real pathway to happiness is through wealth and stuff. But this attitude is taking a toll—on people and the planet. As one video commenter aptly put it: “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.” It’s supposed to make us happy, right? Depression, anxiety, and substance abuse also tend to be higher among those who place a higher value on material wealth. P.S.

Cymatics: New Music Video for Nigel Stanford Merges Music and Science Experiments With a host of audio-based science experiments from sine waves blasting through streams of water, to visualizations of audio frequencies using sand, and sound waves traveling through flammable gas, this new video by Nigel Stanford has it all. Titled Cymatics, the music video was created for the first single from his new album, Solar Echoes. If you want to learn more about the science, there’s plenty of behind-the-scenes footage with explanation behind each experiment on his Vimeo channel. (via Vimeo Staff Picks) ‘We’re teaching university students lies’ – An interview with Dr Jordan Peterson | C2C Journal (Image: Iwanek) Interview with Dr. Jordan Peterson by Jason Tucker and Jason VandenBeukel Can you give us a brief background of your academic career and your interests? For the first two years of my undergraduate degree I studied Political Science and English Literature. My primary interest has always been the psychology of belief. Part of the reason I got embroiled in this [gender identity] controversy was because of what I know about how things went wrong in the Soviet Union. There have been lots of cases where free speech has come under attack, why did you choose this particular issue? This is very compelled speech. For me this became an issue because there is not a chance I’ll use radical, authoritarian language. I was also quite profoundly influenced by [Alexsandr] Solzhenitsyn’s book The Gulag Archipelago. You’ve painted a pretty bleak picture for the future. There are bleak things going on. I have no idea. There’s no doubt about that. It includes everything they say. They have. No.

11 of humanity's worst ever inventions Nuclear weapons, reality television and Donald Trump are things that we can probably all agree should never have set foot on planet Earth. But what about some of the more tragic human inventions? The good people over at Reddit decided to compile a list of some of humanity's less-than-stellar inventing moments. Here are some of the best/worst... 1. These are for adults. 2. Because bananas are exceedingly difficult to peel by hand, what with the iron skin and all. 3. Photo: Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images Unless you're fondly referring to the diamond on your finger, this has literally no point. 4. Why deprive people of the simple joy of stringy, melted cheese? 5. Gather all the fun to be had from a skipping rope. 6. No. 7. smh, lol, lmao, rofl… "shake my head," just shake it. 8. The cringe is strong in this one. 9. So...it's not a phone...and you can buy it? 10. As opposed to a regular fork? 11. Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for 20th Century Fox Burn them all. More: Are you creepy?

New Dream Community Action Kit It's one of the first things we learn as kids: How to share. But this practice usually fades as we become adults. Our houses become filled with our own “stuff.” Garages, attics, basements, and closets transform into cluttered warehouses. When we need something, whether it’s a chainsaw or a roasting rack, our first thought is to go out and buy it. The first guide in the New Dream Community Action Kit is all about sharing: everything from starting a tool library to organizing a solar cooperative, from holding a clothing swap to launching a time bank. With how-to tips, fun videos, and useful resources, the Guide to Sharing provides the inspiration and practical tools you need to get started on these projects in your community – right away! The guide is produced in collaboration with Shareable and explores four Action Ideas to help communities share more: Would your friends be interested in the Guide to Sharing? About the New Dream Community Action Kit > > > Like this guide?

Inventions that changed our world « Chestnut ESL/EFL WORKSHEET: Best Inventions of the past 100 years (SOURCE: eslflow.com) ONLINE ACTIVITY: Inventors: Thomas Edison Watch the video and do online activity (SOURCE: englishexercises.org) In pictures: The household gadgets of yesterday AUDIO TEXTS: Listen to stories about inventors (SOURCE: realworldesl.blogspot.com) VIDEO SOURCE:efllecturer.blogspot.fr View LESSON PLAN with videos, questions & exercses (SOURCE:efllecturer.blogspot.fr) Museum of Obsolete Objects (SOURCE: edutechintegration.blogspot.com) READ POST (SOURCE: edutechintegration.blogspot.com) VIEW VIDEOS (SOURCE: visualnews.com) READ ARTICLE: This Radio-Book Was The Future of Education (SOURCE: paleofuture.gizmodo.com) View resources, videos & links (SOURCE: thetravellingteachers.blogspot.it) Like this: Like Loading...

'Harlem Shake' FAA Investigation: Colorado College Students' Dance In Plane Triggers Federal Inquiry "Harlem Shake" videos are all fun and games -- until the Feds get involved. It seems a version of the popular dance video meme, filmed mid-February by enterprising Colorado College students aboard a Frontier Airlines flight headed for San Diego, has raised a few eyebrows over at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). ABC Denver affiliate KMGH confirmed the investigation with the FAA, which initially started the inquiry after viewing the video on YouTube. Frontier Airlines spokeswoman Kate O'Malley added to KMGH that "[a]ll safety measures were followed and the seat belt sign was off" at the time the video was filmed. “They are still looking into it, it’s still open,” FAA spokesman Tony Molinero said of the agency's probe, according to Colorado College student newspaper The Catalyst. “I don’t know where the [investigators] were told about it, but when they saw the video they just decided to look into it because it is better to be safe than sorry.” Also on HuffPost:

Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly comments on 'psychological stress' endured in space | Science A retired NASA astronaut has said the "psychological stress" that results from being in space for a year is as damaging as the radiation he was exposed to each day. Scott Kelly, who returned from the International Space Station in March, has also commented on the possible health issues he faces in the future as a result of the trip. He said: “During my time in orbit, I lost bone mass, my muscles atrophied, and my blood redistributed itself in my body, which strained my heart.” “Every day, I was exposed to 10 times the radiation of a person on Earth, which will increase my risk of a fatal cancer for the rest of my life,” he said, Geek Wire reported. The 52-year-old added: “Not to mention the psychological stress, which is harder to quantify and perhaps as damaging.” The comments come as part of an announcement that his memoir, “Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars” will be published in November 2017. The book is to be co-authored by Margaret Lazarus Dean. Loaded: 0% Progress: 0%

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Planet Whale What is whale watching? Whale watching is the practice of observing whales, dolphins and porpoises (otherwise known as cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is a truly inspiring recreational activity capable of supporting scientific research, conservation efforts, and educational experiences. Is it possible to get close to whales and dolphins without disturbing them? The short answer is yes, but only if you travel with a high quality, sustainable operator. Planet Whale intends to help you find such operators easily by implementing a rating system that will lead you to the most sustainable operators when you search for trips. Where can I see whales and dolphins? Many people think that whales and dolphins are only present off far-flung tropical islands or inaccessible polar seas. When should I go whale watching? How do I find the best whale watching trip for me? Can I organise my whale watching trip around my other holiday plans? Absolutely! How many trips should I take?

The optical illusion that shows you can't believe what you see | Science Paul Anthony Jones of Haggard Hawks has put together a video that explains a weird linguistic phenomenon known as the McGurk Effect. First Paul asks that the viewer watches him read out "four" words, after which his glamorous assistant Anthony writes down what he thinks Paul said. Anthony comes up with four different words, but Paul reveals that actually No.1 and No.4 were the same. If you close your eyes for the same video, you can hear that for yourself. Paul explains that the McGurk was discovered in the 1970s by the psychologist Harry McGurk, who found that if you play the audio of a different sound over video of a sound being produced, your brain “doesn’t know what to say”. This proves that although we think of speech as purely auditory – visual information is also a factor. So if your brain is receiving two conflicting streams of information, it doesn’t know what to do, and has to decide which is the “more reliable” of the two.

How the Clouds Got Their Names By Maria Popova “Clouds are thoughts without words,” the poet Mark Strand wrote in his breathtaking celebration of the skies. And yet clouds are in dynamic dialogue with our thoughts beyond the realm of the poetic — psychologists have demonstrated that cloudy days help us think more clearly. Since our words give shape to our thoughts, it wasn’t until a young amateur meteorologist named and classified the clouds in 1803 that we began to read the skies and glean meaning from their feathery motions. In this animated primer from TED-Ed, Richard Hamblyn, author of The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies (public library) — the same scintillating book that traced how Goethe shaped the destiny of clouds — tells the story of how the clouds got their names, forever changing our understanding of that most inescapable earthly companion, the weather.