"Vomiting" the Internet, for fun and profit

If you are under the age of 35, and even probably if you're not, you've surely had the experience of filling out a pre-appointment screening form at the doctor's office and feeling strongly as if you had to lie. That one question -- "how many alcoholic beverages do you drink in a week?" -- is more threatening than it initially appears. Answer one or two and you're obviously a liar; tell the truth and you're obviously an alcoholic. Fortunately, this new study should clear things up for all of us. And just in time for the holidays! Anyway ...

1. Checking in on the Internet's saddest thread. In October 2004, a guest logged into the forum moviecodec.com and wrote "i am lonely will anyone speak to me." In the 10 years since, that message has become legend, and thousands of people have responded to it. But even after a decade, we don't know for sure if the Web makes us more lonely or less.

2. How do you solve a problem like Backpage? Backpage -- a sort of sleazier Craigslist -- is infamous as a den of forced prostitution, human trafficking and other forms of abuse. But lately, police have found Backpage is a good place to catch criminals, too ... which obviously leaves a lot of questions re: what exactly they should do.

3. Meet the gentleman leading Europe's "digital counterrevolution." He's convinced that Google is on its way to building a dystopian "superstate," and he's pretty sure Americans will agree with him soon.

It takes ten people a whole month to make one of these damn hamster videos.

Pocketable: On the secret lives of passwords -- "passwords do more than protect data. They protect dreams." (5333 words/21 minutes)

Postscripts: Snow scenes. Saved by the book. Semi-nude brogrammers ... are a thing! How YouTube has changed the Hollywood dream and what pop music owes to the Japanese gaming scene. "Vomiting" the Internet, for fun and profit. We now spend more time on our phones than TVs. The art of cubicle living. The business of ugly sweaters. The subtle sexism of the craft beer industry.

Until tomorrow!
@caitlindewey

Do you like this newsletter? Please send it to a friend! If you don't like this newsletter, please send it to an enemy.