A Death at Tough Mudder – Outside
“The drowning of Avishek Sengupta at an obstacle challenge last April was ruled an accident, but his family and friends believe that the sport’s most prominent company did a terrible job of monitoring safety at a water obstacle called Walk the Plank. Elliott D. Woods looks at the life of a remarkable amateur athlete and explains why his tragic end may lead to a multimillion-dollar legal fight.”
How 23andMe Broke the Rules – The New Yorker
“Then the company had not only failed to coöperate with the agency but had completely ignored it for six months. After listing everything that they’d talked about, and all of the ways in which the company had rebuffed its entreaties, the F.D.A. ordered 23andMe to stop selling its ninety-nine-dollar DNA tests, which the agency says constitute medical advice and therefore require F.D.A. approval.”
There Are 5 Types of Boredom – Mental Floss
“We’ve all experienced boredom. Maybe it was the never-ending PowerPoint about professionalism that made you profoundly bored. Or maybe the conversation at family dinner left you with a dull, blah feeling. That’s the thing about boredom: There’s more than just one type. Researchers have discovered that there are actually five different kinds—and most people tend to experience just one type of boredom throughout their lives.”
Britain’s Ministry of Nudges – The New York Times
“A 24-year-old psychologist working for the British government, Mr. Gyani was supposed to come up with new ways to help people find work. He was intrigued by an obscure 1994 study that tracked a group of unemployed engineers in Texas. One group of engineers, who wrote about how it felt to lose their jobs, were twice as likely to find work as the ones who didn’t. Mr. Gyani took the study to a job center in Essex, northeast of London, where he was assigned for several months. Sure, it seemed crazy, but would it hurt to give it a shot? Hayley Carney, one of the center’s managers, was willing to try.”
Want an Unconquerable Mind? Try Stoic Philosophy – Forbes
“Members of a brainy movement across the pond are reviving ancient stoic thought and coupling it with modern psychology to strengthen mental resilience. Their ideas hold fascinating promise for business and government leaders tackling global problems in a turbulent, post-recession slump.”
A Brief History of NHL Coaches Behaving Badly – Grantland
“So Mike Tomlin might get fined for briefly stepping onto the field? Big deal. In the NHL, coaches charge onto the ice to try to pummel the official timekeeper.”
I Tried to See Where My T-Shirt Was Made, and the Factory Sent Thugs After Me – Mother Jones
“In the garment industry the world over, it is common for workers to be locked into exploitative conditions until they fulfill contracts. But in India, the dowry tradition—which persists even though it’s officially illegal—makes teenage girls especially vulnerable to these schemes.”
—
Photo courtesy of Anne Adrian.
