Loaded on Slurpees
Good news, pals: A day has passed, and the Internet has found a scandal far more egregious than my AHEM polite clarification of the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter. This scandal comes courtesy our friends at the Verge, who slapped this headline on a story, and then tweeted it, and then defended said tweets. You guys!! Everyone knows that when the Internet turns against you, the best thing you can do is hide in the bathtub and wait for it to pass, like some kind of marauding tornado. (Will I get in trouble for comparing Twitter hate to tornadoes? If I do, I won't defend myself!) Anyway. To the links!
1. We're all suffering from anxiety -- surveillant anxiety. It's the constant fear, Kate Crawford writes, that "all the data we are shedding every day is too revealing of our intimate selves but may also misrepresent us" -- a puzzle! -- and it's the natural result of our ever-encroaching, big data-y world.
2. "God bless you." "You truly tried." Not everyone in the so-called manosphere is an unrepentant creep, and the ones who tried to talk sense into Elliot Rodger are now talking to The Guardian about their experiences in those forums. (Yeah, I know, yet annnnother manosphere article -- but this one is really good!) Said one user of PUAHate: "The site was a ticking time bomb."
3. How do you make digital memories feel more permanent? You print them out, obviously. An entire industry now exists to turn your Facebook messages, tweets and Instagrams into keepsake books and other collectibles, which I think we can all agree is cray. (Wouldn't mind getting these for the ol' birthday, though.)
(New followers: Friday is Dory Day, a day on which I share a GIF of my dog. It's not *quite* as good as otters but c'mon isn't she cute??)
Pocketables: The prolific author of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" specialized in mysterious teen thrillers ... until her teenage daughter was mysteriously killed. (8940 words/36 minutes)
Postscripts: Mankles. Mom wine. Modernity vertigo. Checking your email on the moon. A 1990s guide to "cyber dating" and a Google Maps' guide to Detroit's decay. This is the most ambiguous page on Wikipedia. This is the most-liked photo on Instagram. Have you ever been loaded on Slurpees? (I haven't. Ugh/grrr.)
Enjoy the weekend! Until Monday,
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