Meme machine

"It could always be worse" is one of those sayings, rather like "it is what it is," that usually only worsens whatever unpleasantness you find yourself mired in. But the next time Game of Thrones won't buffer, or your Wi-Fi's all f&%$ed up, remember that 2.1 million people still use AOL dial-up.

1. Inside the State Department's meme machine. The best way to fight ISIS' online propaganda is to make your own, obvi. And at the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, that's exactly what (they think, lol) they're doing.

2. Google's most ambitious project this year? It's proposed offices. They'll have no conventional roofs or walls or stairs, forsaking "thousands of years of thinking" for ... a human terrarium.

3. Goodbye to all that. A convincing case for quitting the Twitters, as if daily life weren't convincing enough.

Pretty sure corgis disprove that whole survival-of-the-fittest thing

Pocketable: On Instagram, Madison Holleran's life looked perfect. IRL, she was falling apart. (5193 words/21 minutes)

Postscripts: Otter irony. Wombat Twitter. Cat reality TV. How to look smart in emails and how to use Tinder to get food for free. Today, in things that kill the planet: bouquet-buying and binge-watching. Why you fell for Ex Machina's Eva. Why are cronuts still a thing? Last but not least, I leave you with the only Mother's Day read you need: This ode to Kris Jenner, matriarch-in-chief.

Enjoy the weekend! Until Monday,
@caitlindewey

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