The Sampler: 3.26.16

I absolutely love falling down the rabbit hole of the internet. Seriously. I have about a dozen tabs up at a time, I'm midway through 4 articles, and I can't help but get attracted to one weird quirk of information and need to scout out the rest of the story.

Is that a mythical world of adventure floating in my coffee cup? 

I have some favorite haunts that reliably provide sparks of interest (The Atlantic, Slate, Cracked, the Daily Beast, Mother Jones, Brain Child) and offer peeks into topics that I've never considered.

One of the big things I have to restrain myself from doing is over-aggressively sharing articles or snippets with the general world. 

Which makes The Sampler perfect. Because hey, you're here of your own volition, which means offering you links is totally not pushy or rude!  No pressure to give them a shot, but honestly is there anything better than getting the scoop on something completely outside your wheelhouse over a cup of creamy hot coffee on a weekend morning?

I'm a no responsibilities kind of girl, and having the house to myself on a Saturday to ponder and peruse is an absolute godsend. Time for a little insight into what I've got on the brain. 

So, in no particular order:

Your High School Transcript Could Haunt You Forever: 

As someone who always tended to favor areas of proven success and natural aptitude this one gave me a good scare! With the rise of amazing resources like Khan Academy or easy apps like Memrise, we can use the most current neurological and educational research to track our learning and improve our ability to retain information. I think we often forget the impact of this tracking if our records end up in another's hand. This is a wonderful look at the role that Big Data is playing in our public schools and the risk of having a true educational analysis haunting your every move.

The Two Income Trap

Why does it seem like we've doubled the wage earners in the modern American family (welcome to the work force, ladies!) but somehow find ourselves less financially stable than ever before? A great article that explores the trap of the dual income life style. As someone who feels really, really inclined to resist the Golden Cage/Golden Handcuffs trap (in which our standard of living slowly increases around us just to remain "base level") this is an article that really grabbed my eye. It's not hard to go with the current, transitioning slowly but neatly up the ladder, then suddenly look around and realize that your standard of living now has you trapped in that high paying job just to maintenance your lifestyle. A great reminder about the risks of being asset-rich and cash-poor, and investing so heavily into our standard, cookie cutter, All American life. 

Sweden Brings Rabbit Show Jumping to the Masses

As the Boy in my life is allergic to essentially anything, pets are kind of a no go zone, which means that they now carry the lure of the forbidden. Hence my current fascination with bunnies, but more importantly with people (mostly Swedes) who take their bunnies on the competitive Show Jumping Circuit and offer beautiful quotes like this: 

“I have gone to the north, I have gone to the south, I have gone to the islands, sometimes you get your rabbit out and it doesn’t feel like jumping. You just have to think, ‘oh bummer,’ put it back in the cage and go home.” 

Seriously, folks, every quote in this article is painfully delightful. Just read it.