Here are the extremely delayed readings of the weeks from November 28th to December 6th.

1. Up To Nothing by Rands In Response
   A great blog post about how essential it is to just, do nothing some days. I think this is one of the sorts of ideas that drive my blog here, because I do believe that discovery of unexpected and new things, seemingly unrelated to what you’re currently doing, can result in interesting changes and whatnot in your work. General curiosity and awareness of the world is a good thing, something that I don’t think we put a lot of stock into in our super-specialized world of today.

2. Creative Generalist Q&A: Jane Fulton Suri
   This interview with Ideo’s Chief Creative Officer, Jane Fulton Suri, is pretty interesting. Jane has some great ideas on thinking and observing. I’d also recommend, if you ever get the chance, to check out her book Thoughtless Acts.

3. Is The Paradox of Choice Not So Paradoxical At All? By Stephen Dubner
   I only link to this article in the Freakonomics blog because it seems like everyone has heard of the paradox of choice, and yet, it’s never quite seemed correct to me.

4. As Sewers Fill, Waste Poisons Waterways by Charles Duhigg
   Yeah, ok, being the nerd that I am, I totally read this article about the sewer system. Still, it was pretty interesting – or maybe just one of those “can’t look away from a car crash” type phenomenon.

5. Monitoring Live Brains Reveals Plasticity by Maggie Koerth-Baker
   Plasticity in the brain is one of those things that makes me hopeful about life. Imagine how depressing it would be if scientists had discovered the opposite – i.e., beyond a certain point, it was nearly impossible to change and alter our brain patterns? Score one for free will, folks.

6. What Geithner Got Right by David Brooks
   The economics of this article aside, what I find most interesting is this description of Geithner’s thinking process. If Brooks is correct, Geithner has some habits worth picking up. And I’m not arguing for the absence of passionate rage, but I do think the ability to temper that with clear thinking is important – the two are different tools appropriate to different situations.

7. Health Care Savings Could Start in the Cafeteria by Melanie Warner
   An interesting article about how health care costs could be improved simply by helping people to eat better. While I definitely think this is true, I think one of the things that the company they’re talking about (Full Yield) is doing that’s so crucial is this idea of reducing cooking time while maintaining healthy food. And distribution through corporations is a good idea, since it ensures a pretty consistent, predictable demand.

8. Tall Stories by Tom Stafford
   Improv and confabulation, inventing and creativity. Standard fare for me, really. But I do feel that real creativity, a good brainstorm or prototyping session, has a lot in common with improv – and a lot we could learn about slipping into that feeling of “soft focus” that I cherish so much.

9. GlaxoSmithKline Signs $540 Million Deal for Nicotine Vaccine by Erica Westly
   Another interesting tidbit: can we cure nicotine addiction with a vaccine? And the way they’ve done it (by not allowing the nicotine to reach receptors in the brain) seems clever (though one wonders what purpose those receptors might be filling, and what we’re doing by blocking any nicotine from ever getting to them).