The Sampler: 4.14.16

In the interest of increasing the odds that something strikes your fancy, I've decide to go by category and throw more articles in here. Really, I just couldn't cut myself down to a handful this week! Let me know what you think about the going-ons, or give me a recommendation of your own!

Fashion:

Loubiton Offering Nude Shoes for Everyone- Who What Wear

We're way overdue for "nude" shoes that actually cover the spectrum of human pigment! This may not seem like a big deal if you're thinking to yourself that the average woman can't afford them anyway, but remember that fashion trends trickle down. This is a big win for inclusivity as it increases the odds that "nude to you" shoes will be available at more places!


Health & Science:

New Fish Virus Shows Vulnerability- The Atlantic

Well this was flat out terrifying. My interest is pretty strongly in the human healthcare field, but this article makes an excellent point that we're getting dumber by the minute if we don't consider the huge impact that a disruption to our food supply would have on the world. A bit less Ebola panic and a bit more fish panic, perhaps?

The Quantified Baby- The Atlantic

When we last looked at parents' role in big data monitoring their child's academic success, we were clearly 15 years into the future on these babies. There may be a million apps available now to track and quantify every detail of baby's day (which we all know is just charting poop patterns and elusive naps) but there's a great question here about how much charting baby keeps us from actually interacting with him or her.

The Most Precious Blood on Earth- The Atlantic

An awesome look at what it means to have a rare blood type. As a O-neg "uncommon" blood type, I'm used to being stalked by the Red Cross. Sharing my blood type with only 42 other people in the world?  That's almost too strange to imagine!

Humans Being Humans:

PayPal Leaves North Carolina- City Lab

A huge win for anyone who despises discrimination as PayPal leads the way out of North Carolina. I love when corporations don't just pay lip service to providing an inclusive environment for their employees. We can only hope that states that are passing anti-LGBTQ legislation will see fast and unforgiving reprisals!

Enough With the True Canon- The Atlantic 

Canon is fun, really fun! Unless it's used by people who are the actual worst. A great look at the way that Canon gatekeeping takes place, especially in the Sci-Fi community, and often serves as a way to stifle innovation or make nontraditional fans feel unwelcome.

History:

We're going to keep pretending they all looked like this. 

New Evidence of Viking Colonization- IFL Science

Yay Vikings! We've got more proof emerging that the Vikings settled North America ages ago. A very solid explanation is given here for how the research team went about deciding which locations were worth the time and money to look at.