"Even though catalogs typically arrive unbidden, consumers find them less presumptuous and irritating than marketing emails." https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/why-restoration-hardware-sends-catalogs-the-size-of-a-toddler/605524/

“Julie is the new girl at somber, silent Manderley High.” Suggestions for new high school rom-com adaptations of literary classics. https://lithub.com/5-literary-classics-that-should-be-adapted-as-high-school-rom-coms-immediately/

Decades-old photography from the U-2 spy program now offers a time machine to see traces of the historical and ancient past. https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/satellite-imagery/

Astronauts wanted https://twitter.com/nadiamdrake/status/1227315419528253440

Harvard-developed tool for studying mass uprisings shows that nonviolent uprisings are more successful than violent ones https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-01/hu-imo012420.php

8 sci-fi and fantasy books to read (or re-read) before their adaptations hit the screen https://io9.gizmodo.com/8-sci-fi-and-fantasy-books-to-read-or-re-read-before-1841644210

How Emily Blunt’s Stutter Led Her to a Successful Acting Career https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/a30729273/emily-blunt-stutter-interview-2020/

We mapped how food gets from farms to your home https://theconversation.com/we-mapped-how-food-gets-from-farms-to-your-home-125475

When New York’s poor revolted against the city’s grave-robbing medical establishment. https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/the-anatomy-riot-of-1788

The battle to overthrow the Tampax empire
...There's always a string attached
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/11/tampon-wars-the-battle-to-overthrow-the-tampax-empire

One Woman and Thousands of Lego Bricks Are Building a Town Much-Needed Wheelchair Ramps.

"Working with her husband for two or three hours every day, Ebel uses tubs and tubs of Lego bricks to assemble the ramps, and to date the pair have created 12 sets of ramps that have been installed in stores and shops in and around the town."
https://gizmodo.com/one-woman-and-thousands-of-lego-bricks-are-building-a-t-1841813835

Billy Joel sits at the piano in a smoke-filled bar in 1973. It’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday and he’s just finished performing a new original song entitled “Piano Man” off his forthcoming album.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/billy-joel-plays-piano-man-for-the-first-time-at-the-bar-he-based-the-song-on

Could micro-credentials compete with traditional degrees? https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200212-could-micro-credentials-compete-with-traditional-degrees

A major US technology policy consulting firm says that Europe is planning an all-out attack against the US tech industry using the GDPR and other regulations. However, a detailed search of the regulations don’t show this, and the EU says it isn’t so.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/waynerash/2020/02/20/public-policy-consulting-firm-warns-of-all-out-strike-against-us-tech/#41bdb2215cc9

How, in this day and age, does a critical infrastructure facility leave cyberattacks off the emergency response plan? asks @lisavaas #cososec https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/02/20/ransomware-attack-forces-2-day-shutdown-of-natural-gas-pipeline/

A person is walking down the street and hears a bunch of people in a fenced-in yard shouting, "19! 19! 19! 19!"
Curious, he walks over and looks through a hole in the fence. Someone from the other side pokes him in the eye and they all start shouting "20! 20! 20!"
#jokes

McDonald’s and Starbucks are testing reusable cups. A trial led by the two firms involves stronger cups that can be digitally tracked. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-18/reusable-coffee-cups-being-tested-for-mcdonald-s-and-starbucks

Need a reason to smile? This'll do it.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/feb/20/love-and-free-food-mel-brooks-and-carl-reiner-share-the-secrets-of-their-70-year-friendship

"Having now gone through dozens of upgrades and improvements, the current Kindle is a far cry from the original model."
https://www.engadget.com/2020/02/01/original-amazon-kindle-user-reviews/