PJH Studios

Author: Patrick

  • Self driving taxis and what we’ll lose

    Robo taxis are coming and we might lose some serendipitous human interaction.

    Then, the woman on the line for the bank told him that it wasn’t enough — he would have to come to the branch in person.

    “He said, ‘Well, I’m not going to be able to do that,’” Father McCarthy said in a video clip shared on social media, recounting the new pope’s growing frustration as the audience laughed. “I gave you all the security questions.”

    The bank employee apologized. The pope tried a different tack.

    “Would it matter to you if I told you I’m Pope Leo?” he asked, according to Father McCarthy.

    She hung up.

  • The Pope called customer service

    It reads like a joke, but even His Holiness can’t pacify customer service.

    Then, the woman on the line for the bank told him that it wasn’t enough — he would have to come to the branch in person.

    “He said, ‘Well, I’m not going to be able to do that,’” Father McCarthy said in a video clip shared on social media, recounting the new pope’s growing frustration as the audience laughed. “I gave you all the security questions.”

    The bank employee apologized. The pope tried a different tack.

    “Would it matter to you if I told you I’m Pope Leo?” he asked, according to Father McCarthy.

    She hung up.

  • Taken, an illustration on surveillance capitalism

    Taken is a micro website that shows the state of the modern web and how it functions as a tool for surveillance capitalism.

  • MONO – Gerbera

    MONO is an instrumental post rock band from Japan. Gerbera is the second track they’ve released from their upcoming album, and the song is one you’ll want to crank up loud.

  • Talkin’ ’bout my generation

    A concise 10 minute video that explains why a certain set of millennials are tired.

  • The Miyawaki Method of reforestation

    Planting a wide variety of local plants in a dense area, called the Miyawaki Method, can revitalize nature.

    Miyawaki forests — alternately described as micro, tiny, or pocket forests because of their small stature — have been spreading internationally for years. Katherine Pakradouni, a horticulturalist who has planted several in Los Angeles through her landscaping and restoration business, Seed to Landscape, says the movement “has altered the way people think about reforestation.” The method is still building steam in the U.S., where supporters admire it for quickly establishing young forests with myriad environmental benefits and the ability to reconnect people with nature.

  • Lines, Ranked

    McSweeney’s ranks all the Lines.

  • YouTube took over school

    For numerous reasons, YouTube became a permanent element in schools across the country. It’s easy, contains nearly any marginally educational topic, and accessible.

    American public schools are awash in YouTube. According to more than 45 families, school administrators, clinicians and educators across the country interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, schools’ overreliance on the Google-owned platform for educational content has created a gateway for students to get sucked into an infinite scroll of videos on school-issued devices.

    YouTube during snack time, dismissal and indoor recess. YouTube to teach drawing to first-graders. YouTube to read a book to class. YouTube under the covers at night, watching hamster videos on school-issued Chromebooks. A survey touted by YouTube executives shows that 94% of teachers have used YouTube in their roles.

  • Conversations are interesting

    It turns out, more conversations about things that we perceive to be boring are actually interesting.

    The small talk you try to avoid because you think it will be boring may actually be more enjoyable than you think, and good for you as well, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. 

    “We tend to assume that if a topic sounds dull, the conversation will be dull too,” said Elizabeth Trinh, MA, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan and lead author of the research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. “But that’s not what people actually experience.” 

    In nine experiments involving 1,800 participants, researchers found that people consistently underestimated how interesting and enjoyable conversations about boring topics would be.

  • Cold ice cola