Recommended Reading

I've, for quite a bit of my life, described myself as an information vampire. Whenever news apps like Flipboard and Apple News, as well as the Google Search app, have asked for my opinion on keywords and/or topics I'd like to see more of, I'd found myself tapping on many of them. I'd wanted to know about a lot of them (especially with countries/states that I don't hear about often, as I'd talked about somewhat before), even though there were limits to what I could read, or that the app would allow me to read in the case of Apple News.

There's only so much information I can take in because of biological need to sleep, limitations of my mind, and lack of desire to read certain stories (usually reality TV- or sports-related). Still, sometimes because something is "trending", it may still appear on my dashboard, which is a little annoying.

I'm generally not inclined to read sports just about as much as I tend to not watch certain videos. I don't want to outright say, or put into their minds, that I don't want to see those types of recommendations, but I don't really care to see them either.

That rationale sounds rather familiar ("I'm not racist, but I don't date Black/Asian/Latin@/White/whatever else people."). I guess this mindset comes in all kinds of forms, except some people just block people rather than have to possibly deal ("all the time") with having to reject someone because they don't fit your definition of "ideal".

We're hurtful creatures, humans.

Flyover News

Sometimes I've wondered why I have a fascination with news from relatively strange places (i.e. places to where people generally pay little attention). The answer dawned on me pretty quickly: I like novel things and the fact the news media in general repeats things ad infinitum instead of trying to get to the nitty gritty of more things, I seek out these other places' stories.

Some of these places have some odd stories they seem to esteem and put in repeat play themselves. Just this week, Monday through early Thursday Utah couldn't really talk about more than the $125,000 Joseph Smith/Brigham Young statue theft. Montana, like the rest of the nation, focused quite a bit on Greg Gionforte's (admitted, though in not so many words, but about which he'd apologized) manhandling a reporter.

I don't like repeating myself, but I have told my co-workers fairly repeatedly I love stories. So, I'd created a smart magazine just for the "flyover states". I don't mean it pejoratively, but it's at least a blanket term.

So, bring me stories, Flipboard. Bring me stories.

Gay Magic

Ex-college swimmer discovered there’s a magic in being gay

From LGBT progress, a Flipboard magazine by LGBTprogress

Luke Marshall is at peace as he reflects on his journey.If you're really young, don't let anyone tell you that you don't understand your…

Read it on Flipboard

Read it on outsports.com

So, being homosexual was never easy. I'd come out to two sets of people important to me by notes, followed by a family meeting, followed by a wandering mind that betrayed itself during attendance.

I sometimes wish I could say I was normative. I'm soft-spoken, sensitive, and not into the traditionally male-gendered likes of playing/watching sports or being intensely active outdoors (aside from going for long walks, which wouldn't be intense, really).

I'd had to really read this a few times to get what he'd meant in saying "magic", but I suppose so.