Politics

Presidential Debate Last Night

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Somebody was asking earlier today if I had seen the presidential debate last night. The answer is no, I don’t have a television nor do I have the Internet. I thought I catch the highlights of the debate on the morning news, but surprisingly NPR barely mentioned the debate. I guess there wasn’t much newsworthy about the debate.

While I will vote in the Democratic Primary come April, I am not really excited about any of the candidates or races. Politics really doesn’t interest me much anymore, as honestly I think one is better to focus on their own life, rather then distant elected officials in Washington DC. I can’t stop climate change or end the national debt but I can save for retirement and a better tomorrow for myself – and eat healthier foods, spend a lot of time in the wilderness and walk a lot.

Electing one’s ideal candidate is likely to have a much less important then making responsibile choices in one’s own life, and ultimately choosing to live in a community that suits one values. Chances are you can’t change the world but you can change your own life.

Tower Road

How millennials became a generation of homebodies — Quartzy

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How millennials became a generation of homebodies — Quartzy

Nobody wants to leave their apartment anymore. That’s the prevailing sentiment on the internet, anyway. Mean Girls memes and Viola Davis gifs celebrate the joy of canceling plans. Essays offer neuroscience-backed explanations of the relief that comes with bailing on drinks, while listicles and trend pieces promote the homebody lifestyle. Advice columns enumerate tips for backing out of social plans without losing your friends. The weekly newsletter Girls Night In features “recommendations for a cozy night in” alone or with girlfriends, including books, recipes, gratitude exercises, and candles. And at last count, Etsy offered 11,490 introvert-branded items celebrating a life of blissful solitude, from enamel pins emblazoned with the motto “Anti-Social Butterfly” to t-shirts declaring, “It’s way too people-y outside.”

You know, I really like not having at Internet at home except for my smartphone. Walking down to the public library is healthy and it's a good way to meet people. Plus, with the smartphone, how much do you really need internet on your computer? I just go to the library every once and while to download videos to watch at home, upload large files and get the latest podcasts.

Human brain hard-wired for rural tranquillity | The Independent

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Human brain hard-wired for rural tranquillity | The Independent

Humans may be hard-wired to feel at peace in the countryside and confused in cities – even if they were born and raised in an urban area.

According to preliminary results of a study by scientists at Exeter University, an area of the brain associated with being in a calm, meditative state lit up when people were shown pictures of rural settings. But images of urban environments resulted in a significant delay in reaction, before a part of the brain involved in processing visual complexity swung into action as the viewer tried to work out what they were seeing.

 

The most hacked band password is ‘Blink-182’

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The most hacked band password is ‘Blink-182’

The world is awash in '90s nostalgia — and it's even showing up in our passwords.

A new study from the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has revealed the world's most easily hacked passwords, CNN reports. The top no-brainer passwords overall are impersonal number combinations, like 12345. But in the category of "bands," the most breached password is the name of the popular '90s pop-punk outfit, Blink-182.

What Virginia, Mississippi and Kentucky Can Tell Us About 2020 | FiveThirtyEight

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What Virginia, Mississippi and Kentucky Can Tell Us About 2020 | FiveThirtyEight

The 2019 elections are in the books, and now the country can finally start paying attention to 2020. In many ways, Tuesday’s elections were a dress rehearsal for those a year from now: The parties’ performance relative to partisanship can tell us which way the political winds might be blowing, and obvious trends from 2019 — like the widening urban-rural divide — provide clues as to where the battles of 2020 will be fought.

Ranked-choice voting adopted in New York City, along with other ballot measures

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Ranked-choice voting adopted in New York City, along with other ballot measures

New York City will move to a system of ranked-choice voting, shaking up the way its elections are run after voters approved a ballot question to make the change.

The city will be by far the biggest place in the U.S. to put the new way of voting to the test, tripling the number of people around the country who use it.

A ballot question proposing the shift for New York primaries and special elections was approved Tuesday by a margin of nearly 3-1.