The Procrastinator (Some) Times Sunday 12th October Edition

EDITORIAL

Dear procrastinators, this is a very procrastinated edition as this week it's been roller-coastery crazy, but here we are, ready to share this week's meaningful articles worth reading. In the News section we decided to focus in the glass-half full that should fill us all with happiness and pride: the 17-years old Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize. In my super humble opinion, at least 90% of the problems in this planet (if not all) can be solved by giving people access to education, and this is why this well-deserved Nobel prize is so important. The fuzz that is causing is an excellent way of encouraging everyone to support Malala's cause by making it our fight too. Well done Malala!

The rest of this edition goes like this: the Science section shares an article in Wired about how Antarctica has lost enough ice to cause a measurable shift in gravity. Design, Business & Innovation showcases (via It's Nice That) the amazing design made by Oslo-based Snøhetta for the new Norway’s Norges Bank notes that will make their way into circulation in 2017. In our Culture & Entertainment section, we have Hadley Freeman The Guardian's piece in which she makes an honest/tough critic of Lena Duhnam's new book: Not That Kind of Girl. In Dog We Trust, shares the sad story of Excalibur and explores if animal cruelty is now a mainstream concern. Finally, for Our Weekly Procrastination we went down to the BFI for the Power to the Pixel cross-media forum,  listened to great inspiring presentations and met cool interesting people. Today we're sharing some of the most interesting highlights from day 1, have a look!

Happy Sunday afternoon (!) and happy reading x



NEWS

Malala Yousafzai, photo via The Guardian.

"Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights campaigner, have jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize. At the age of just 17, Malala is the youngest ever recipient of the prize. The teenager was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for campaigning for girls' education. She now lives in Birmingham in the UK. Giving her reaction in a speech, Malala said she was "honoured" to receive the award, saying it made her feel 'more powerful and courageous' ". Watch her speech in BBC. E.T.P. 11' Also, the joint Nobel Peace Prize winner, pays tribute to Malala. Watch the video also in BBC. E.T.P. 1'

"Take that, Islamic extremists, anti-Muslim bigots, Pashtun-bashers and misogynists! Malala Yousufzai has become the youngest person to win any Nobel prize and, fittingly, did not appear before the media to respond for several hours because it was a school day, and the girl’s got priorities." Read full article in The Guardian. E.T.P. 3'

Finally you can see the interview of Malala in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart back in October 2013, in The Independent's i100. E.T.P. 17'

Estimated Time of Procrastination of the entire News section: 32'.

Procrastinator (some) Times Sunday 13th of October Edition

EDITORIAL

This week had been full with the Nobel Prize announcements and the public reactions to them; with more articles about the never ending US Government shutdown, and in a lighter note, with news and reviews from the BFI's London Film Festival. In The Procrastinator (some) Times our main news is the implementation of our brand new: Estimated Time of Procrastination (E.T.P.). We will try to include it in every article we recommend so you can be very German in your procrastination.

Happy Sunday and have a nice read!


NEWS

Photo via The Independent.

And this year’s Nobel Peace Prize goes to: The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), as The Independent points out: "a relative newcomer to the stable of bodies with a remit to enforce the will of the international community, had worked largely behind the scenes until nerve agent attacks in Syria put it center stage this summer". Some have said that this is a premature/aspirational prize, some have said that represents a return to the original disarmament spirit of the prize. The article continues emphasizing that Mr Thorbjoern Jagland, the committee chairman, when announcing the prize said: “We now have the opportunity to get rid of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction... That would be a great event in history if we could achieve that.” Also he added that the award was a reminder to the United States and Russia to eliminate their own sizable stockpiles “especially because they are demanding that others do the same,  like Syria”. Read full article in The Independent. E.T.P.: 2'02''.

Photo: Gary Cameron/Reuters via The Atlantic.

David Rohde in The Atlantic wrote about Paul Ryan's chance to reinvent himself -and save the nation. This is how his article starts: "This week, Representative Paul Ryan may have made himself a leading Republican presidential contender in 2016. By proposing an end to the budget impasse that did not include one word—Obamacare—the Wisconsin Republican may have outmaneuvered Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz". Read full article in The Atlantic. E.T.P: 2'43''.

SCIENCE

Image via The Independent.

In a galaxy far, far away... a water world capable of supporting life was found. The remnants of a lost water world of rocks and oceans have been discovered by astronomers – who said they had found the basic ingredients for a habitable planet beyond our Solar System. Astronomers believe the tiny blip on their telescope screens some 150 light years from Earth was once a rocky planet with huge amounts of water – the first time they have found rocks and water together in one place outside the Solar System. Read full article in The Independent. Estimated Time of Procrastination: 2'12''.

 Movie still from Bonnie and Clyde via Wired.

This is a brilliant mix between film and science; Nature published a quantitative analysis of the evolution of novelty in cinema through crowdsourced keywords, and they discovered that you were probably right that one time in that dinner party: movies are not as creative as they used to be. Now, thanks to them and the users of imdb.com you have the numbers to prove it. You can read a pre-digested article in Wired (E.T.P. 3') or read the hardcore in Nature.com (E.T.P. 9'45'').

Photo: Levitt, Karplus and Warshel via BBC.

Research that created computer simulations of complex chemical reactions has won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Martin Karplus of Harvard University and the University of Strasbourg, Michael Levitt of Stanford University and Arieh Warshel of the University of Southern California will share the prize. Using computer programs that marry the power of quantum physics with the low computing demands of classical physics, the three scientists made it possible to describe ultrafast chemical reactions. Read full article in Science News and/or BBC E.T.P.: 1'.

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

 Photo via The Guardian.

“Never underestimate the meanness in people's souls... Even when they're being kind... especially when they're being kind.” Alice Munro has been awarded the Nobel prize in literature. The writer known as "the Canadian Chekhov" is the 110th winner of the prize and the 13th woman to receive it. Read the news in The Guardian and a interview about "Dear Life" her newest collection of short stories that came out in November 2012, in The New Yorker. E. T. P.: 5'26''.

Image: Lidia Popova, illustrations for Toys by A Olsufieva, 1928. Photograph: Redstone Press via The Guardian.

This very interesting article in The Guardian starts like this: "At the trial of the three Pussy Riot performers in August 2012, one of the accused, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, made a closing statement in their defence. She spoke of Pussy Riot's admiration for those writers and artists who had suffered under Stalin's purges, and in particular for a group of avant garde poets and writers known as Oberiu. Two of the most prominent Oberiu members were Alexander Vvedensky and Daniil Kharms, both of whom were arrested, and died, during the Great Terror." Russia, along with some other countries,  seem to be bringing back into their policies that "sense of threat in the background", that is why we found this article so pertinent. Read it in The Guardian. E. T. P.: 4'35''. 

Lars Von Trier latest movie Nymphomaniac, that will be released in UK movie theaters the next 25th of December have a really orgasmic collection of character posters. Of course. Have a look here. E.T.P.: 23''.