What Came First?

> Return to the #95 Newsletter Which is older: the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur in Paris or the painting “The Yellow House” by Van Gogh? Test your knowledge of Arts and Culture with “What Came First”. It offers an amusing way to challenge yourself to compare seemingly unrelated facts that can help you put things in perspective and inspire you. “What Came First” is part of Google’s Arts & Culture Games collection….

Forebears

> Return to the #94 Newsletter Curious about your origins? Where does your name come from and what does it mean? Forebears is a genealogy portal, which includes a geographically indexed and cross-referenced directory of sources for family history research. Use the interactive map to discover how many people share your surname around the world. Surprise yourself with unexpected information about the origin of your ancestors.

Parable of the Polygons

> Return to the #93 Newsletter Parable of the polygons is a playable post on the shape of society, based on the work of Nobel Prize winning game theorist, Thomas Schelling. Using simple geometric shapes, the game shows how small individual biases can become large institutional biases. Created by Vi Hart and Nicky Case the interactive article focuses on a society of blue squares and yellow triangles which have slight personal…

Random Acts of Kindness

> Return to the #92 Newsletter How can we help to make the world a better place? The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation (RAK) is a small nonprofit that invests time, expertise and resources into its mission, “making kindness the norm.” It is rooted in the belief that all people can connect through kindness and that kindness can be taught. Find inspiring tools and materials on its webpage and experience the…