Brave, masochistic, or pathologically addicted to caffeine
Today is a day of ~apologies~. Facebook rolled back its controversial "real name policy," which was frankly only a matter of time. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson apologized for her many (many, many) screw-ups when she spontaneously resigned. In this laudable, responsibility-taking spirit, I'd also like to apologize to the people of Twitter who were outraged that I dare point out the lack of diversity among Ello's founders the other day. You're right, white men have a *really* tough time in this world, and it's totally inappropriate to call attention to their race. Now that I have eaten my humble pie -- mmm, pie -- let's go to the links!
1. Meet the company responsible for much of the Internet's annoyance. You may not have heard of Taboola, but you've definitely seen its work. The company populates all those god-awful "related links" boxes you see across the web: "Nine people you won't believe actually exist," "11 child celebrities who aged badly," "15 shady Internet ads that burned our eyes" -- you get the idea. Some have credited the company with inventing clickbait, but ...
2. The first clickbait appeared long before the click. As early as the late 1800s, the New York Times was running listicles with titles like "Some Facts About Torpedoes" or "Some Facts About Glass Eyes." (Did YOU know glass eyes are actually hollow? Me neither, TBH.)
3. This gentleman is taking each of his 1000 Facebook friends for coffee. He is either brave, masochistic, or pathologically addicted to caffeine. Or all three!
A cloud formation in Nebraska. Whoa.
Pocketable: An excerpt from our our terrifying, automated future. (3,831 words/15 minutes)
Postscripts: Anonymous gods. Outlaw Instagrammers. Slittens. A psychic takes on #Bendghazi and SVU takes on Jay-Z. Is code art? Are Instagrams? (These ones def. are, I think.) Apparently desserts > privacy ... and really, all the things.
Until tomorrow!
@caitlindewey
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