the arms race for your attention

https://locusmag.com/2018/01/cory-doctorow-persuasion-adaptation-and-the-arms-race-for-your-attention/

Good piece on advertising and persuasion techniques.

going against the grain

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/what-its-like-be-allergic-corn/580594/

Corn allergies are relatively rare, and ones as severe as Robinson’s are rarer still. (Many people unable to eat whole corn can still tolerate more processed corn derivatives.) But to live with a corn allergy is to understand very intimately how corn is everywhere. Most of the 14.6 billion bushels of corn grown in the U.S. are not destined to be eaten on the cob. Rather, as @SwiftOnSecurity observed in a viral corn thread, the plant is a raw source of useful starches that are ubiquitous in the supply chain.

crystal sculptor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeMGRMwarKI&feature=youtu.be

artist jack storm makes beautiful crystal and dichroic glass sculptures using "cold" techniques (grinding, polishing, glue, no heating of the glass at all)