Weekly Filet #149: As Earth Shrinks, So Do You
I had already decided on this documentary to be this week's top story, when NASA released the first image of Earth, as seen from Mars. It's an overwhelming image, our planet being reduced to little more than a pixel. This is what the 16-minute-documentary «Overview» is about, named after the overview effect. It's the mind-changing effect astronauts described to have experienced upon seeing Earth from above. And make no mistake, they have gone no further than the moon – imagine how overwhelmed Curiosity Rover must be.
→ Overview (Aeon Magazine)
As the games in Sotchi begin, this is probably the best background report you can read. Julia Ioffe, Russian-born former Moscow correspondent for The New Yorker, on Putin's Russia, a country falling apart.
→ The Loneliness of Vladimir Putin (The New Republic)
In a very personal reaction to Philip Seymour Hoffman's death, actor Russell Brand writes about his own struggles with staying away from drugs. «Drugs and alcohol are not my problem, reality is my problem, drugs and alcohol are my solution.»
→ Russell Brand: my life without drugs (The Guardian)
Another treasure trove on Wikipedia. Learn it by heart and be the smartass who spoils every good pub chat.
→ List of common misconceptions (Wikipedia)
Stunning «living photographs» made of photo-sensitive micro-organisms.
→ Lia Giraud: Algae-Graphies (Strabic)