3. How hard is it to avoid having your pregnancy detected by data companies? Very, very hard. (Oh, and the algorithms begin to think you're a criminal.)

"First, Vertesi made sure there were absolutely no mentions of her pregnancy on social media, which is one of the biggest ways marketers collect information. She called and emailed family directly to tell them the good news, while also asking them not to put anything on Facebook. She even unfriended her uncle after he sent a congratulatory Facebook message. She also made sure to only use cash when buying anything related to her pregnancy, so no information could be shared through her credit cards or store-loyalty cards. For items she did want to buy online, Vertesi created an Amazon account linked to an email address on a personal server, had all packages delivered to a local locker and made sure only to use Amazon gift cards she bought with cash."

4. The hypothetical neuroanatomy of the humans in China Miéville's The City and The City.

"In China Miéville’s The City & The City, citizens of the grosstopically overlapping cities of Besźel and Ul Qoma are taught from birth to 'unsee' the architecture, people, events, and surroundings of the other city. Despite the terminology, unseeing is not just limited to the sense of vision, but to all other senses as well, and as such citizens must also 'unhear' and 'unsmell' stimuli from the other city... Specifically, I will cite evidence from the brain lesion literature that shows that damage to specific brain regions affects the ability to attend to, remember, or be aware of certain stimuli, as well as brain imaging studies on attentional 'blinks' and the role of ongoing brain activity in awareness, perception, and memory."

5. The plan to brighten the moon.

"Somewhere between tongue-in-cheek pranksterism and an elaborate design fiction proposal, the so-called FOREO Institute—connected to FOREO, the beauty products firm—has a plan for "transforming the surface of the moon." Just make that thing brighter! Think of the effect this might have on the cosmetics industry, what with all the weird new ways light will bounce off people's skin. But it's not about selling new lines of make-up; no, it's about saving the world billions of dollars in electric bills."

Today's 1957 American English Usage Tip:

begging the question. Founding a conclusion on a basis that needs to be proved as much as the conclusion itself: Fox hunting is not cruel since the fox enjoys the fun.

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The Brain Lesion Literature