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midweek reads
Need a 10-minute break? Step into the Reading Room...
Want to take a few minutes out to catch up with some interesting reads? We promise you’ll be out in 10 minutes or so…
WE KNOW HOW it is. You need to take a few minutes to yourself, and you want something interesting to watch, read, or flick through.
That’s where the Reading Room comes in. Five varied reads that don’t take much more than 10 minutes each to enjoy.
Your toughest decision should be: which one do I pick first?
1. Why does toothpaste make some things taste disgusting?
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Greg Miller finds out why toothpaste and pine nuts can make some foods taste gross. We’ve always wanted to know this… [Wired - 8 mins]
Claire Micks doesn’t drink – and says that some people consider her ‘a bit of a weirdo’. [TheJournal.ie - 5 mins]
I feel like I need to go around with a sign around my neck that reads ‘I am not pregnant/trying/a raging alcoholic’. Not that it should matter if I was any one of the above. But it does irritate me that it is so unusual in this country not to drink so as to lead to the conclusion that you’re either with child or suffering from a disease.
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Instagram isn’t just an app that you can use to show off your dinner or boast about your great social life. It can also be a form of activism, as this slideshow and interview with photographer Ruddy Roye shows. [Time - 8 mins]
4. Watching her die on Facebook
In this moving article, Julie Buntin tells us she finds herself confronted with her best friend’s death whenever she goes on Facebook. [The Atlantic - 10 mins]
I know nothing about the way the Internet works. I still half-believe the Internet is simply air. So why isn’t it plausible that Lea’s messages appeared in response to how much I miss her, to my own guilt about her death.
This shocking recent video of a woman’s racist behaviour shocked Australia – but what does it say about racism in the country? Phil Mercer gives his two cents. [BBC - 3 mins]
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