The promiscuous yearning machine
WhatsApp, you guys? Terrible joke, I know. I already regret it. I’m just bitter because one WhatsApp is apparently worth 64 Washington Posts, a dire and existentially invalidating number. Also, Facebook just got one move closer to winning the game of total data domination. C'est la vie. Here are your links:
1. WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum grew up without running water and hates ads because they straight-up didn't have them in Soviet Ukraine. Like a latter-day Alger hero, he’s now worth more than $6 billion. Thank you, WhatsApp, for steadfastly championing the American Dream.
2. Tumblr is a “promiscuous yearning machine,” a pit of “generalized fetishization” and the home of “a new type of digitized nostalgia-lite.” I cannot say enough good things about the turns of phrase in this essay on Tumblr aesthetics, which are pretty much as glorious/inventive as the Tumblrverse itself.
3. A Google search can change your life. Like, transform-you-from-a-student-to-a-porn-star-change your life. Endless H/Ts to my dear coworker-friend Bethonie Butler for discovering this gem.
Readin' those links. (Related: How stunning are these images?)
Postscripts: Baby selfies. Flying Cyrus. Painfully awkward "SFW porn." How Reddit saved one man’s life and how a new pot can save your coffee. Today, in bad ideas: texting while walking, turning to Wikipedia for medical advice. Twitter is more polarized than you thought. The next big band could come up through Shazam. Which commenter are you? Are figure skaters even human?
Until tomorrow,
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