Less Suck, More Awesome

I am a news junkie.  It's the first thing I open when i wake up (against doctor's orders), and often the last thing I read before bed.  Admittedly, given the nature of news these days, it's often a terrible idea.  I also do multiple followup check-ins during the day.  I binge on headlines using the Google News app on my phone which super helpfully auto-aggregates news from various sources.  I also frequent a handful of news sites like CNN and BBC, and then deep-dive into the longer-form articles from the WashPost, NYT, Atlantic, and Guardian. Sloppy journalism is a thing My biggest pet peeve in journalism, aside from outright lies, are the articles that appear sloppy.  There are several kinds of sloppy.  One I see all the time is an announcement of some new sensational research finding, e.g. eating more oranges is linked to higher homicide rates.  Wait, what?  What's the connection?  Is it a correlation or a causation , something media r...

Your order is being fulfilled.  Just kidding, your order has been cancelled. That was my first - and so far, the only - Instacart experience.  It was a beautiful December day, and I got wind of a great deal on a power tool at Lowe's.  (Can never have too many power tools, amiright?)  It was a one-day sale, act fast, don't have time to drive to a Lowe's store, and no delivery available type of situation.  Luckily, we live in the time of multiple delivery services, created to satisfy our boundless desire for instant satisfaction - with same-day or within-the-hour delivery.  Using one seemed like a good option, I thought, let's give it a go.  Even with delivery fees and tips, it still made sense. The honeymoon Within seconds, my registration was completed, and my order was in.  "Your order is confirmed" triggered the next dopamine release, and I felt a sense of accomplishment and congratulated myself on my own resourcefulness.  But the magic was...