Build the Perfect Home Office, Men’s Health
This very quick read was published way back in 2014 and gives five great tips for improving your home office. I agree with – and follow – all of these but one. They recommend painting the home office red because that color helps you focus more on your work. I just couldn’t imagine my workspace being red (my entire home office is shades of gray and black). Also, they suggest not having a television in your home office. Though I have a small television mounted to one of the corners of my home office, I do not keep it on unless there is a major, historic event going on (incredibly rare these days).

Civic Engagement: Teaching Students to Be Partisan Activists, Minding the Campus
This is another old link, from 2013, where a professor of political science indicates his concern about the enthusiasm around civic engagement education. Before he passed away, Dr. Lawler was a professor at Berry College and, in addition to writing about political science, he would occasionally write about higher education (one of my favorite topics to study). Reading about his perspective on how earning credit for civic engagement should be avoided.

Higher ed faces pressure from students to cut tuition, Axios
Just a quick aside, these days I use Axios as my primary news source. They are a low-glitz, web-based platform that is designed to give you a story quickly and efficiently without embedding an opinion. In this story, they talk about how some colleges are cutting tuition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and others are actually raising their costs. I know some of the colleges here in New Jersey are upping their tuition… and I know that their students are angry about it.

Brian Fargo on a Pending Golden Age for RPGs, Tides of Numenera Dev Blog
Years ago, I used to scour sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo looking for new and exciting projects to support. I typically supported projects related to writing (new pencil styles, notebooks, pens, etc.) and those related to classic Japanese Role Playing Game (RPG) video games. With hindsight being 20/20, I now know that I got infinitely more use out of the writing projects (I write in a journal every day) versus the video game projects (I rarely play video games and have not played them regularly in 20+ years). With that out of the way, this link takes you to a very short developer blog entry where one of the folks behind the Tides of Numenera game suggest that we may have been entering a golden age for RPGs. This was posted 7 years ago and while I do not know if the video game industry entered a new golden age, I do know that video games seem to be as popular as ever.

Seven Surprising Truths About the World, Reason
Seven years ago, the folks at Reason put together a great little article about seven surprisingly good things going on in the world… at the time. Among the surprising “good news” stories: cancer rates were on the decline, average IQs were increasing, and local biodiversity was increasing. I wonder how those stories hold up 7 years later, especially with everything going on in the world today.

5 Reasons You Can’t Quit Sugar, Mark’s Daily Apple
And we can start this week with a link to an article posted just a few days ago! Mark’s Daily Apple is a great resource for those individuals looking to learn more about the paleo lifestyle, what it means to eat like a caveman, and what it means to be healthy for life. Some 9 years ago, I read and loved this website’s book called The Primal Blueprint. This article is an expansion of some of the great ideas that are in that book.

Why I Stopped Journaling, Art of Manliness
This is one of the articles where I might not completely align to the takeaway points. Last month, the author wrote a great entry talking about how they stopped journaling because they did not have any big decisions to make, they got better at managing their emotions, and they have friends now. For some, journaling helps in all of those aspects of someone’s life. For me, daily journaling is a stress reliever and a way to get my thoughts out of my head with a paper and pencil.

Why Ed Schools Are Useless, Minding the Campus
I have a doctorate from an education school where I loved the experience, and before I obtained that doctorate, I earned a post-master’s certificate from another educational school where I loved the experience. The argument in this article from 2013 says that education schools have “very little rigor and no incentives to excel academically” and they use some data to back that perspective. My instinct tells me that this is probably a case-by-case basis.

Joe Biden’s student-loan forgiveness…, Condemned to DEBT
Back in April, the very good Condemned to DEBT blog provided a brief analysis of Vice President Joe Biden’s student loan plan. If you are a student loan wonk like I am (I mean, I have been one of their bigger individual customers), then this is something that you want to read. However, based on what I read at this link, I was not that impressed with the plan. Admittedly, I’m usually not impressed with anyone’s plan for student loans.

The 10 Best Top 100 Books Lists, Book Riot
There’s nothing newsworthy in this link – it is being included here purely for entertainment purposes! This link will take you to a list of the top 10, top 100 books of the year lists. Again, the top 10 lists of the top 100 books… for the year 2013. This is one of the outcomes from keeping so many links bookmarked for so long of a period of time – I wind up with 7 year old links to lists of lists! I’m probably entertaining myself far more writing this than you are reading it!

Resignation Letter, Bari Weiss
Well, this is a complete and total destruction of the New York Times and their editorial page. Ms. Weiss is the now-former opinion editor at the New York Times and in this scathing resignation letter she tears apart what many of us have grown to begrudgingly accept about the newspaper – that its opinion page is more than far-left, it’s off the left side of the charts. As someone who is an avid New York Times reader, I know that they have a broken editorial page that, as Ms. Weiss says, operated by an “enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.” Yuck. If you enjoy reading about the behind the scenes in today’s media scene, then you want to read this resignation letter.

To Ask or Not to Ask: Experiments in Charitable Giving, Freakonomics
As you may know at this point, one of my favorite topics in the volunteering world is the business of philanthropic giving. In this 2011 post from the Freakonomics blog, they offer some commentary on a then-recent study of philanthropic giving related to the Salvation Army bell-ringers at the front of stores during the holiday season. One of their big takeaways is that giving increases 75% when you just ask someone to donate. Shocking, right?

Students Say No to Healthful School Fare, The NY Times Well Blog
This is another blog post from later in 2011 where the NY Times’s Well Blog wrote about how students in the LA Unified School District were rejecting the new, healthier food options. You might remember that about 10 years ago in this country, there was a push to make school breakfasts and lunches healthier (great idea, in my view). Well, this blog entry tells you how that played out some 9 years ago: “Students have been throwing away meals and bringing their own junk food to school, forcing the district to bring back some of the foods it worked so hard to replace.”

Higher Education is Still a Very Good Investment-Becker, The Becker-Posner Blog
The Becker-Posner Blog was a great read for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the two authors were renowned intellectuals who put their minds to work in the judicial and economic spheres. When Gary Becker passed away in 2014, Richard Posner cited that the blog would also be ending. Luckily, this blog entry is from 2013 and gives the authors’ take on why going to college is still a good investment, even in the face of increasing tuition costs.

The Four Lessons I Learned By Taking a MOOC, AIR
Even though this link is some 7 years old already, it has particular relevance to me as I am planning on taking a MOOC this summer. I saw that one of the students I mentor (at a different school and in a different state) completed a MOOC earlier this summer and that got the ball rolling in my mind about whether or not I should take one of these. For those who are unfamiliar, a MOOC is a massive open online course where enrollment is usually free. These days, many institutions of higher education have MOOC offerings from their premier schools and you can purchase a low cost certificate after completing the course showing your efficacy in that subject matter. Again, I plan on taking a MOOC this summer so I will likely report back on my experience. Stay tuned!

The Paleo Diet Debunked?, Nerd Fitness
Nerd Fitness is one of the most entertaining websites when it comes to fitness tips and health information. The author writes from a nerdy world view (I love it!) and takes on big issues in the health and fitness field. In this entry, he writes about the popular Paleo diet (in short, eat like a caveman) and the common criticisms of that approach to consuming food. If you are looking for a really good defense of the Paleo diet and all of the reasons why it could potentially work for you, then this is the page to read. And I also recommend clicking around the website a little bit to learn about the Nerd Fitness approach to health (I use an old Nerd Fitness weightlifting program when I’m at the gym… during non-coronavirus times).

Solitude and Leadership, The American Scholar
This article was posted way back in March 2010, but the elements that it inspires about leadership are timeless. The core of the message, I think, is: “What we don’t have, in other words, are thinkers. People who can think for themselves. People who can formulate a new direction: for the country, for a corporation or a college, for the Army—a new way of doing things, a new way of looking at things. People, in other words, with vision.” I actually used those lines as the basis for a leadership presentation that I gave a few years ago – it is a great message.

Millennials No Slackers When It Comes to Volunteering, Poll Finds, The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Unfortunately, this link will only take you to a brief review of a study that I cannot seem to find a good link to here in 2020. Of course, this review was first published in December 2014, so it is understandable that the study results that it links to are no longer available. The reason why I kept a copy of this link is because I like what the data shows; namely, that the Millennial generation – those born between 1981 and 1996 – are more likely to consider volunteering than other generations. I have seen this in my own work in the nonprofit sector over the last decade and a half, so I was glad to see that there is a study validating those experiences.

Wanted: Blue-Collar Workers, City Journal
This one comes to us from the Autumn 2011 issue of the City Journal. What is great about this one is that it signaled what many folks in higher education having been talking about for a few years now. That is, there needs to be more people going into the physical labor force than we are currently producing as a nation. From the article: “For decades, Americans have been told that the future lies in high-end services, such as law, and ‘creative’ professions, such as software-writing and systems design. This has led many pundits to think that the only real way to improve opportunities for the country’s middle class is to increase its access to higher education.” The article goes on to say that the mid-career salaries for some of these “high-end” careers is in the mid-$60,000s. Certainly not something on which to build the Great American Dream.

Why I Stopped Giving to Duke, James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
One of my favorite blogs to read from time to time is the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. They take a very proactive approach to redefining and breathing new life into higher education. In this article from December 2011, the writer talks about how he stopped donating to his alma mater because they moved in a more politically correct direction. Specifically, he writes about an English professor who commented that there is no such thing as free speech. That is… kind of… concerning. Especially when considering that colleges should be bastions of free speech.

Stealth savings: Sneaky ways to fatten your account, Get Rich Slowly
And for some financial reading for everyone, this time from back in January 2012 and updated this past October 2019. This article suggests aiming for a 20% savings rate and gives recommendations on how you might be able to achieve that rate. Some suggestions that they offer are to drop a hobby and save those funds, become symbolical (want to retire by a certain age? Then deposit that numerical value in the bank every week, month, or whatever), use a bank that does not have a branch in your neighborhood so it is a frustration to take money out of the account, and to use laddered CDs (a strategy that I use) from an online bank.

Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie, Men’s Journal
This one was interesting because it gives out advice like this: “maintaining cardiovascular fitness doesn’t really take much more than breathing uncomfortably hard for about 20 minutes, three times a week.” As a guy who has been told to do more cardio for all of my adult life, this is a welcome change to the standard message that many of us have received. This article shares five different “truths” about working out and if you are into working out, then I recommend giving it a read.

2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal, Time
If you like science fiction-style articles that make bold predictions about the future, then this one is for you. The article predicts that artificial intelligence will be able to emulate the activities of the human brain by 2045. And when that happens, there will naturally be a shift in the world where computers begin to work on their own upgrades at a rate that humans will not be able to catch up with easily.

12 People At The Gym We Love To Hate, AskMen
This is a very old article that must have been updated since it was first published because there are 24 different types of gym goers that are on this list. If you have read this blog for a while, then you may know that I used to write about different health and gym-related content many years ago including posts like this one – people that irritate you at the gym. I remember coming across one of the #18s on their list back when I was at Planet Fitness. This guy was doing the most bizarre movements at 5:30am and… it was just all wrong.

The Buckley Approach to Higher Ed Reform, James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
One of my favorite topics to read about is higher education, specifically the business of higher education. And part of that business is the business of academic freedom and intellectual diversity on campus. In this piece, William F. Buckley’s arguments are used to fight against, “what he saw as the misuse of the term academic freedom, which was then (as now) used as a battering ram against traditional values.” This is a perspective that you do not hear on any large platform in 2020, so I think it is worth the read on that basis alone. Heads up, this article is 9 years old!

What is a Roth IRA?, Get Rich Slowly
This is another article that was published 9 years ago and it was published on one of my favorite personal finance websites – Get Rich Slowly. The methodology behind intentionally saving money and working to grow that savings over time (and, ultimately, becoming rich in the process) is what we ought to be teaching our students. In this article, you can learn about a Roth IRA and what it can do to help you improve your financial position.

Your Essential Guide to the Triduum, Busted Halo
You know Holy Thursday, which is when the priest washes the feet of parishioners. And I am sure you know about Good Friday, which is the day that Jesus Christ was crucified and killed on the cross. Then there is Holy Saturday, which is the day of the Easter Vigil leading into Easter Sunday. But did you know that Holy Thursday through Holy Saturday is known as the Easter Triduum? This link from the Busted Halo blog can help you better understand what the Easter Triduum means for the faith.

How to renew your spirit during Holy Week: Q&A with James Martin, Religious News Service
While I understand that this link series is being posted late in Holy Week, there is never a bad time to begin finding ways to reengage with your faith. Father James Martin, SJ is a well-known Catholic priest who specializes in evangelizing a contemporary population (that means everyday people like you and me). This link takes you to a very short interview transcript, but I think that you will be able to take pieces of it and consider how to apply the power of faith in your own life.

Lent/Easter Playlist, The Rabbit Room
Personally, I do not find myself listening to a lot of Christian inspirational music. To that extent, I enjoy listening to Owl City and other more mainstream artists who integrate positive religious themes into their songs. That does not mean that there are not some great Christian music artists out there and the list at this link can introduce you to some great music in this genre.

Bishop Barron on The Sacrament of Baptism, Word on Fire Blog
One of the great parts of the Easter season is the introduction of millions of new Catholic worldwide into the Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation (known as the “RCIA program” at most parishes). Many RCIA students go through the entire process on Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil. By this I mean they are baptized, have their first Holy Communion, and are Confirmed during the ceremony. There is a short video at this link where Bishop Robert Barron talks about Baptism.

What’s the Difference Between a Bunny, a Rabbit and a Hare?, Dictionary.com Blog
Why not have a little bit of fun this Easter? While most of us celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ this weekend, there are many non-religious who celebrate the season by parading around with the Easter Bunny. Speaking of bunnies, do you know the differences between a rabbit, a bunny, and a hare? If not, then you can find out the differences in this Dictionary.com blog post.

Hulk Hogan v. Gawker (Marc Randazza Legal Analysis), Danger & Play
One of the biggest stories in media right now is Hulk Hogan’s victory in court against Gawker Media. Gawker has several websites – none of which have a shred of journalistic integrity. These websites do all that they can to destroy and damage people just for the sake of clicks and pageviews. They epitomize everything that is wrong with what people think the media is today. Gawker should not be categorized as a media source – they are barely worth mentioning as a tabloid. This link will take you to a great, quick set of bullet points outlining how badly Hogan beat Gawker in court. In addition, there is a video of the author speaking with a free speech lawyer about the verdict.

Is Rice Healthy For Me? Does White vs Brown Rice Matter?, Nerd Fitness
While the end result of this very astute investigation is, “it depends,” I strongly encourage you to read this article if you are a rice eating person like me. For my part, I have always been one of those people who does not automatically default to the brown version of everything (e.g. selecting whole wheat over white versions of products). This article made me realize that given the frequency with which I eat rice, I really should be eating brown rice instead of white rice. There is a lot of great information in this piece and I think you will enjoy reading it.

When You Find Out a Coworker Makes More Money than You Do, Harvard Business Review
There are some realities that most people have to recognize, face, and accept. One of those realities is that if you work for someone else, then you are not the highest paid person in the company. Period. And while my short example accentuates the differences between bosses and employees, this article provides some strategies on how to approach a different situation. Namely, the situation that occurs when you find out that a coworker (someone who you might consider an equal or even a subordinate) is making more money that you at your company. I am a big believer in not worrying about what other people are making and, instead, focusing on achieving your own success. I am also a believer in working outside jobs and starting your own company (or companies, if you have the time and inclination) to augment your salary. Ideally, that outside work will eventually supersede your salary and allow you to break free from working for someone else.

Coleco Pulls Out Of Faltering Chameleon Console (RetroVGS) Project, Retro Collect
I have always been fascinated at the moving and changing of the video game industry. Watching the ebbs and flows of video game companies, their gambles, and their successes has not only been a fun observation for me, but it also helped me make a few bucks off of those companies when I was more actively involved in the stock market. One of the most intriguing observations that I have about the industry today is the influence that retro gaming is having on the current market. There are a lot of people who are actively seeking a way to reject the big gaming companies and return to a time of cartridge-based gaming. To that end, RetroVGS started a crowd-funding campaign to start such a system. That campaign ultimately failed, but then legacy video game company Coleco came in to take up the mantle of the project… until they pulled out of the entire thing earlier this month.

The Beginner’s Guide to Meditation and Why You Need It, Live Limitless
This is not a short article by any means, but it is packed with information that you might find interesting if you are seeking more knowledge about meditation. Learning more about meditation is a non-priority goal that I have for myself. Specifically, I have been looking for a way to marry the peace that I encounter from my religious beliefs with a full body relaxation technique.

Obesity Changes How People View World: Study, Newsmax
According to the research presented in this article, if you are overweight, then you see the world differently. No, the research does not suggest that you only feel different about the way the world views you, but that you literally see objects as farther away. Interesting stuff.

City’s 1st CO-OP Coming to Asbury Fresh Summer Market, Asbury Park Sun
And in some local news – it looks like there will be a co-op option at the Asbury Park Summer Market this year. Several years ago I joined a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm that was about 15 minutes from my home. The promise of the CSA farm was that if you purchased a share (or, in my case, half a share), then you would be able to go to the farm and pick a certain amount of produce each week. That particular CSA farm worked well during the first year that I was a member, but the next two years were abysmal. Since then, I have been looking for a similar, local option.

The Collapse of Oil IS the Economic Boom, Reason
Another very interesting article about how the pending economic boom that everyone is waiting for is actually here. How is it here, you ask? Well, the precipitous drop in oil prices is something that impacts nearly every American adult. Further, while there have been some layoffs because of the price dropping, there are a lot more people who are experiencing more money in their accounts because they are not paying as much for gas as they were just a few months ago.

How To Make Your Own Rain Barrel Watering System, The Good Human
If I owned the type of home that had a big backyard that I could plant a substantial garden in, I would definitely be into putting something like a rain barrel watering system together. There is no question that I would have several of these barrels in my yard specifically for watering my plants and my garden (which would be packed with tomatoes and basil). Unfortunately, I do not think it is feasible to have something like this on my current backyard patio. Oh well!

Shrinking the White Male—and His Culture, Minding the Campus
As I often mention in these and other posts, young white men are being intellectually attacked on college campuses on a daily basis. This very short article is in that vein, but at a different level of the college campus. In this article, the author looks at language that many of you have seen in job postings about your potential employer embracing diversity and not holding any characteristic against you during the hiring process. The author then applies that language to the reality of the individuals that make up the department to which the job posting refers. The result is interesting, but what really stuck with me was the near-aside that ends the article. That is, that college students are new 60% women and 40% male. Where is the outrage about that inequality?

Your Chair Is Giving You Cancer, Men’s Health
Admittedly, I am one of those folks who dislikes these types of misleading headlines. No, your chair is not giving you cancer. Yes, sitting in one position and living a sedentary lifestyle can lead to increased risk factors related to catastrophic health concerns like cancer. There are some good, quick tips in this article to get up out of your chair and improve your overall health.

Frugality Advice from Millionaires, Get Rich Slowly
Is there a better source to get information on money from than millionaires? Many of the tips in this article are those that you should already know: avoid debt, do not accumulate lots of stuff, put money away for later, etc. For those of you who are looking for financial independence, you might enjoy reading these tips from people who have achieved your dream.

My Primal Transformation: Discovering the Art of Fit, Mark’s Daily Apply
I really enjoy reading dramatic weight loss stories that have accompanying pictures to show the person’s actual weight loss. This is a story from back in 2011 that tells the story of Frank Sabia, Jr. and how he went from 255 pounds down to 167 pounds. Granted, losing 88 pounds is not what I would typically categorize as a dramatic weight loss (I usually reserve that categorization for 100+ pound weight loss stories). However, I think Sabia has a good story and one that is worth reading.

Outfitting a Manly Kitchen, Danger & Play
One of the most important things that all of us can do to be healthier human beings is eat better. In this short, but potent, men can learn about how to outfit their kitchens to improve their overall health. After re-reading this article, I went out and purchased a vegetable steamer on Amazon.

How to Whistle With Your Fingers, Art of Manliness
Even after reading this article, I still cannot whistle with my fingers. I can whistle loudly and just fine without using my fingers, so I am okay with not being able to use this technique. Maybe you will have better success that I did in trying to whistle with my fingers. Good luck!

The 38 Best Methods of Successful Exercisers, Zen Habits
Everyone on the internet seems to have an opinion on how best to lose weight and get into shape. Good for them and their opinions. This article is less about a single person’s opinion and more about what worked for other people. These are the type of weight loss posts that I like to scan through from time to time just to see what worked for people who have actually lost weight (there are a lot of hucksters out there on the internet).

How to fix Final Fantasy, Engadget
You did not think that we would go through one of these link series without some video game fun, right? Even though this article is more than four years old, I still think that there is a gem of relevance in what the author writes in this piece. And since I did not see a comments section on this article, my addition to the discussion on how to improve the Final Fantasy games is to… (wait for it)… make the games about fantasy again! Too many of the recent incarnations of this series have been focused on creating an ultra realistic approach to the classic fantasy role playing game. Stop it. Give us black mages, warriors, and a guy named Cid and we will be happy with Final Fantasy again!

The Pain of the Daily Commute, New York Times: Well Blog
In the “no big surprise” category, this 2011 entry on the awesome Well blog on the New York Times website notes a study from IBM talking about how commuting is actually painful. The pain that most commuters report is increased stress and anger levels. With the pending transit strike here in New Jersey, I thought now was a good time to bring out this link. If this transit strike actually takes place, then it is going to be a stressful time for New Jersey commuters until a resolution is reached.

How Widespread is Student Indoctrination?, National Association of Scholars
I am a critic of any unfair treatment of any student on any campus in the country. I do not care about the color, gender, age, background, etc. of the student – if they are being treated unfairly, then I want to see that unfair treatment stop. One of the biggest criticisms of higher education is that students are being indoctrinated, but is that really true? The author of this piece suggests that perhaps students are not being indoctrinated because, frankly, students just do not have an opinion on the “controversial” issue being discussed. This article is a quick, interesting take on student indoctrination on college campuses and I think you will enjoy reading it.

The Chilly World of Campus Males, Minding the Campus
We are in an interesting time in higher education. On the one hand you have the media, political extremists, and willfully uninformed campus-based employees promoting the false narrative that there are rapists preying on young college women. While every meaningful study absolutely destroys the false statistics being promoted by those with an agenda, there are other folks – like Dr. Warren Farrell, the author of this article – who are concerned about the anti-male environment that colleges have now created for young men. College men are taught that they are dangerous just because they are male – and that is about as inappropriate and unacceptable as it gets. We certainly would not accept that dictum if it was peddled about young women, gays and lesbians, students of certain ethnicities, etc. Why is such a reductive, biased perspective allowed to be propagated against young men who have done nothing wrong besides enroll in an institute of higher education?