The best of what we read, watched and listened to this week

The best of what we read, watched and listened to this week

Image by Hands off my tags! Michael Gaida from Pixabay

We can’t say we’ve ever paid much attention to the concept of ‘Blue Monday’ beyond the New Order song but even though the ‘science’ behind next Monday being the most depressing day of the year is entirely bogus, it’s as good a time as any to remind ourselves of some tips to maintain good mental health.  [2 min read]

With a new digital currency being launched seemingly every week, central banks are now considering getting in on the act.  Needless to say, it’s not a straightforward decision whether to move ahead and the Bank of England and the Treasury will be consulting on the issue this year so nothing will launch for a few years yet.  [2 min read]

It does seem that there are smarter supermarkets on the horizon though, which deal with the irritant of queuing.  Hopefully, the technology works better than the scales [14 min read]

Pretty well anyone with children living at home looks forward, at least to some extent, to the day when they leave home and become independent adults.  Not least the anticipated cashflow benefit of reduced expenditure.  However, if this recent research is to be believed, the financial consequences sometimes turn out to be not more accumulation of savings but lower income from reducing paid work.  [1 min read]

Over the course of the pandemic, a lot of people acquired a new resident without being fully aware of the implications, as described by these new owners in the US.  [11 min read]

Apparently mixing cocktails manually is one of those activities in need of automation, so a manufacturer most famous for its power drills has decided that it has the device for the job.  As well as the contents of up to five bottles of your choice, it incorporates pods with various mixers to ensure consistency.  [3 min read]

If you’re concerned that filling up the hospitals with coronavirus patients might be reducing the opportunity for the orthopaedic trauma department staff to practice their skills, here is one way of keeping them busy if you have a long enough staircase and an adventurous enough child.  [0:25 video]

We’ve uploaded a new video to our YouTube channel:

Should we worry about the growth of indexing?  [3:44 video]

We hope you have a good weekend.

Charles and Rob