“Sure, it’s more polite and discreet to email while excreting than at dinner. Certainly, reading on the toilet, as Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Fenichel put it, is an ‘attempt to preserve the equilibrium of the ego; part of one’s bodily substance is being lost and so fresh matter must be absorbed through the eyes.’ And of course, humans have feared sitting alone with their thoughts long before smartphones came on the scene.” But things have gotten a little out of hand. Wired: On Pooping In The Dark—No Lights, No Phones, No Distractions. (I try to time my bowel movements to coincide with software updates and system restarts. It’s the modern version of being regular.)

+ Many are injured at the annual cheese-rolling contest in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, England. But when put to music, the event is oddly beautiful. (It’s also fun to imagine that the participants are actually Americans racing to get to their TVs when they heard Mueller was gonna speak…)

+ Photos: The Incredible Ice Formations of Lake Baikal.