Sites to see
INTRODUCING OUR MONTHLY SELECTION OF THE WEB’S MOST REVEALING, USEFUL OR ILLUMINATING NEW SITES.
[ WORDS OF WISDOM ] Actionable Books www.actionablebooks.com
If you’ve ever found yourself searching for guidance but lacking the time to plod through a self help or how-to book, Actionable Books is a site that aims to do the heavy-lifting [Er, reading? - Ed] for you. With a database of over a thousand books, Actionable provides a neat summary of what each book aims to achieve and then carries on to divulge the crux of each — labelled ‘The Golden Egg’ — alongside any further ‘Gems’ that the book may contain.
This format works well, as you can very quickly grasp the essence of a book’s lesson and, whether satisfied or dissatisfied, walk away without having invested much time. And if you’re still curious, you can carry on to the remaining gems of wisdom, or even buy the book outright (and the site’s creators are hoping you’ll use one of their affiliate links to do so).
Actionable Books also offers a series of podcasts featuring authors and experts waxing lyrical in their relevant fields, and at around 50 episodes so far, there’s plenty of listening and absorbing to do if you prefer audio over text. There’s also a blog which follows a similar format to the podcast, with guest authors and bloggers writing about their speciality.
[ FIND HAPPY ] Free to Be freetobe.crowdspot.com.au
An unfortunate and ugly part of a lot of women’s lives is that they have to deal with some kind of harassment as they go about their day-to-day. It’s unacceptable that this behaviour still occurs and though the social dynamic is slowly shifting, in the meantime, the Free to Be campaign is hoping to make the streets of Melbourne a slightly safer and friendlier place for females.
By encouraging the women of Melbourne to report any experiences of harassment, as well as when and where they occurred, the campaign is populating a crowd-sourced map, labelling ‘Happy Spots’ [Seriously? - Sub-Ed] and ‘Sad Spots’, with each sporting an optional description that may give further insight into why you would want to avoid or enjoy the area. There are also currently three featured stories from spokespersons of the campaign, each marked with a specific Spot on the map.
The concept is excellent — patterns have started to emerge as more spots are added, and certain streets and parks exhibit clear trends of safety or hostility. As you zoom the map out, the individual points merge into an aggregated colour, ranging from green to red with obvious implications. As it stands, there are an alarming amount of ‘Sad Spots’ and while these may reflect a bias towards reporting bad behaviour (rather than noticing safe areas), many women will undoubtedly find this a useful tool.
[ YAY, CONSUMERISM ] Every Second www.everysecond.io
Ever wanted a terrifying representation of how many burgers are sold, resources consumed and revenue made by McDonalds every second? How about video views on YouTube, status updates on Facebook or the money that Apple makes from extracting gold from used iPhones?
With Every Second, you’re confronted with a screen full of numbers, each of which constantly and quickly climbs higher, as the counter at the top of the page counts away the seconds. There are some enlightening figures, like the comparative popularity of certain videos (such as music, gaming and tech), but the vast majority of the numbers will probably just make you shrivel up inside at the sheer scale of consumption these giants are responsible for.
While most of the stats are global, the amount of food resources that McDonald’s chews through is only representative of the US and currently the site only covers the four aforementioned companies, with a promise of more to come. Which big business is going to get the Every Second treatment next?