Can we choose the red pill instead?
Facebook just bought virtual reality start-up Oculus Rift, bringing us one step closer to some terrifying future where we all live in amniotic pods under the watchful eyes of Master Zuck. What will Facebook do with this technology, we ask? Can we choose the red pill instead? No one but our beloved leader knows, honestly, so let’s just keep on keeping on:
1. Thanks to the Internet, it’s never been easier to steal other people’s work. Call it “curating,” call it call it “inspiration,” call it what you will -- but the web has given rise to a new kind of serial plagiarist, and they’re hiding among us.
2. “One Human Heartbeat” is one of those oddly evocative projects that sticks with you, despite its simplicity. Jen Lowe is broadcasting her heartbeat on the Internet in slightly-less-than-real time. She quotes Annie Dillard on the theory behind the site: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives... Each day is the same, so you remember the series afterward as a blurred and powerful pattern.”
3. Apple is finally making its emoji more diverse. More importantly, the Post let me write this story with emoji. #winning.
Sometimes a muppet is just a muppet, y'all.
Postscripts: House of Thrones. Zombie cologne. Emojis on slippers and emojis in headlines. Four Loko is no longer a thing, but Miley Cyrus sociology is. Today, in really stupid names: mafia restaurants, branded Twitter handles, wealthy men who like to shop. When did group pictures become selfies? Why has Jeopardy survived so long? Can you pass this dystopian YA lit quiz? I sure can’t, but I’m into it.
Until tomorrow, @caitlindewey
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