Check your hobby privilege

This is David, your hobbyist web crawler, and you're reading the Weekly Filet, the newsletter for curious minds who love it when something makes them go «Huh, I never thought of it this way!». I'm here to help you make sense of what’s happening, and imagine what could be. It's great to have you.

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1. The undertow

This is the kind of article that I assume most women will read and be like «Yes, and?». Which makes it a must-read for all the men out there who are probably much less aware of the hobby gender imbalance (while enjoying its benefits). The gist: «Some hobbies wait for life to make room for them, and others require life to move aside.» Now guess who is choosing what hobbies, and why?

The undertow

Women don’t avoid sovereign hobbies by accident; they get pulled back before they ever reach the water

AstridAstrid

2. The Sun Is Weirder Than You Think

This video taught me many things about the sun I didn't know that I didn't know. Fascinating stuff from Cleo Abram, as we've come to expect.

The Sun Is Weirder Than You Think

Bekijk je favoriete video’s, luister naar de muziek die je leuk vindt, upload originele content en deel alles met vrienden, familie en anderen op YouTube.

YouTubeCleo Abram

3. Why Life Is Better When You’re a Little Bad at Everything

Generalists, we’re told, are just people who never focused well enough to master anything (and as a generalist myself, I can tell you that this is also what we keep telling ourselves). This is an ode to not going all the way: «I like to throw myself passionately into a sport or activity until I reach about an 80 percent proficiency level. To go beyond that requires an obsession that doesn’t appeal to me. Once I reach 80-percent level, I like to go off and do something totally different.»

Being a Little Bad at My Sport Made Me the Happiest I’d Ever Been

We’re often taught that the key to success is to get really good at one thing. But I did that and couldn’t have been more miserable. As someone who once excelled at a niche sport, I’m now happiest when I dip my toes into anything that seems cool.

OutsideCorey Buhay

4. Arabic has four words for sadness. Philosophy explains why

What if «sad» is too small a word for what you’re feeling? Chereen Shurafa explores how Arabic’s many words for sadness – and ancient Arab philosophy’s view of emotional and spiritual life – can offer a richer way to understand mental health.

Arabic has four words for sadness. Philosophy explains why | Psyche Ideas

More subtly nuanced than standard diagnostic categories, Arabic lets speakers articulate a world of emotional experiences

PsycheChereen Shurafa

5. Is your bus really late, or does it just feel like it?

An exceptionally well-crafted story on a familiar feeling: Getting increasingly irritated when the bus isn't coming. One million bus arrivals later, the story is happy to tell you: Sometimes, it's all in your head.

Why your wait for a bus in Singapore feels so long even when it is on time

Is your bus actually late, or does it just feel late? We tracked over one million bus arrivals to find out.

The Straits TimesCHI VO and ESTHER LOI and SANDY NG and SHANNON TEOH and CHLOE JI

Dataguessr of the week

Update your knowledge of the world. One quiz at a time. This week:

What else?

Instant-gratification links that make you go wow! or aha! the moment you click.

• Fun! Destroy any website, start with mine.
• Every country's flag, but as a pie chart.
• These authors write books nobody is allowed to read (until 2114, that is)
• We keep forgetting how much progress we've made.
• Start with any city, drag it across the map to see what area has the same number of inhabitants.
• Finalists of the Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards.
• I'm old enough to remember how funny James Blunt used to be on Twitter. He has now taken his self-deprecating game to TikTok.
• Mesmerising: a map of all the lighthouses on the globe.

Books for curious minds

Some new ones as I read them, some older ones that continue to inform how I look at the world and myself.

I opened this book expecting a nostalgic stroll down memory lane. And while it did deliver on that – so many familiar anecdotes from wondrous internet days of my 20s and 30s – it's much more. It's a sharp analysis of where and why things went wrong that unexpectedly left me with a renewed hope for an internet that could be. Buy it here.

From the archive Explore

Fear Takes The Floor If you passed the mic/pen/keyboard to the fear inside of you, what would it say? adamwestbrook.co.uk · February 2022

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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading. I wish you a nice weekend and hope to see you again next Friday!

— David

Little useful apps from me, for you

🇸🇨 Flag Buddy, a learning game for kids. Outsmart, a strategy game, you against the machine. 🌍 You Don't Know Africa, a simple game that has already humbled millions of people. 💯 Choose Impact, an online tool to compare job opportunities. 🧭 Priority Compass, a tool for individuals, teams and organisations to focus your energy on what really matters. 🪄 How I Use AI, a collection of use cases, ready to use and adapt. And ⏱️ One Minute Challenge, a little meaningful distraction to refocus.