In this manic digital age it's vital to clear your mind constantly.
Today is a day for reflecting on the Internet havoc we have wrought. (There's not a whole lot of that going on, so take it while you can.) Over on Facebook, an executive is contemplating the media ecosystem he made ... and hating it! Meanwhile, at the Wall Street Journal, the guy who made the password is reflecting on his faulty invention ... and thinking it's great! This may all be an argument for less reflection in the future. Anyway. To the links!
1. Before there was Facebook, there was chess. In the 1850s, critics fretted that the "inferior," "cheerless," and "sedentary" game was melting brains and ruining childhoods. Hold your derision, writes Clive Thompson -- there's actually a smidge of sound reasoning there. The more things change, the more they stay the same ...!
2. When a Youtube parody becomes politics. Thousands of people were covering Pharrell's "Happy," even before the ill-fated six in Tehran. In fact, "georemixing" might be more than a silly Internet fad -- it's also a political declaration, a statement of identity. And speaking of identity...
3. This is how people use the Internet around the world. This slideshow is a stupid 113 slides long, but it is -- I exaggerate not -- absolutely fascinating.
Chipmunks in their natural habitat are ... oddly mesmerizing.
Pocketables: If you've somehow put off reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Case for Reparations" which went online last night to much acclaim and Twitter debate -- put it off no longer. (15,871 words/63 minutes)
Postscripts: Panda nannies. Hamster butts. Dog-walking drones. Snowden selfies. Is this article cool? Is this iPhone app hot? What the Pentagon eats and how "Catfish" works. 10 haikus based on Nancy Grace hashtags. 10 algorithms that rule the world. "In this manic digital age it's vital to clear your mind constantly." (The first time I typed that I wrote viral, which is actually kind of funny.)
Until tomorrow!
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