I am hungry, though... not just for enchiladas.
July 22 is, as it turns out, a most fortuitous date. Skeptical?? Behold: Today is the birthday of our once and future king. It’s the launch date of Blake Lively’s “lifestyle” “platform,” because we were all so anxious to ape the lifestyle of a washed-up TV actress. Finally -- finally! -- it’s National Hammock Day, and HuffPo has kindly suggested eight ways to celebrate. Surprise! They’re all hammocks! This is silly. Now the links:
1. The fasnicatng history of Autocorrect. It started in the ‘90s with a bunch of stupid pranks. Now it’s the only thing standing between you and yr drubk txts.
2. Why we shouldn’t outsource our “emotional labor” to machines. First off, its freaky. Second, its economically destructive. But most frighteningly, if robots watch our children or aging parents, we ourselves will grow less human: “It’s an abdication of a desire to remain human, to be connected to each other through care, and to take care of each other.”
3. Writing poems and writing code. TJ Jarrett is an acclaimed and widely published poet whose latest collection, “Zion,” will come out presently. That’s not her day job, though -- Jarrett actually works in IT, that most unpoetic of professional fields.
This seems like a metaphor, actually.
Pocketables: Rev up your Instapaper, kids. The New Yorker has temporarily unlocked its archives, and Longform has collected 25 must-reads here. (Allow me to direct you to the one on cats.)
Postscripts: The science of booze. The rituals of dog park people. The psychology of that terrible sex spreadsheet. This man survives on pizza and these hipsters live off kale. Snapechats. MoMos. What is a sandwich? Er, can someone plz explain Venmo to me? Today, in classes I couldn’t take in college: Game of Thrones and the “culture of selfies.” Let’s end with this, ahem, gem of a thing. (“I am hungry, though... not just for enchiladas.”)
Until tomorrow!
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