A lighter week this week! My second daughter was born a few weeks ago, so I have been in the throes of a new stage of parenting which limited my time for writing. I am trying to get back into it now, so thank you for your patience!

In other news, I have finished two books since I last wrote! First Wise Blood a novel by one of my favorite authors. I don’t like this one as much as I like The Violent Bear it Away but I still found it very interesting. I also read my wife’s new book Holy Ambition: Thriving as a Catholic Woman at Work and at Home . I highly recommend it (and not just because I am married to one of the authors). Show @tarynmdelong some appreciation!

Home Libraries Will Save Civilization

The author cites that article where college students can’t read which has some problems but I think the general thesis is one most folks won’t argue with: having books in your home is good. Link

Standing Desks Aren’t as Good For Y ou

Apparently standing desks might increase your risk of blood clots in your legs. Something that WalMart knew back in 2009 when I was a cashier; they required cashiers to take breaks and sit down every couple of hours for this reason (and also because labor laws). So I guess what I’m saying is “why is this news?” Link

Noisy children at mass

I’m a parent of young children and Catholic so this was a nice reminder of the fact that my kids are welcome at mass. We definitely sometimes get nasty looks despite the fact that my kids are generally pretty quiet, which can be discouraging. Link

Mushrooms and AI

The mushroom foraging community is getting concerned about AI generated images in search results. Essentially, images of fake mushrooms are being attributed to species that don’t match visually, and folks are concerned that people might eat mushrooms thinking they’re safe when in fact they aren’t. The article does admit that errors in search results are nothing new, but they are afraid that the proliferation of AI might exacerbate the problem. Link