Strap in, it’s a little depressing this time.
Why US cities are becoming more dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians
Mostly the answer is a good thing — more people are biking and walking. Unfortunately, that brings more people into danger, given that our cities are designed for cars, and not for people.
Pee, not chlorine, causes red eyes from swimming pools: CDC | CBC News
The article overstates it a little bit. It’s chloramines, caused by reaction of chlorine with proteins that causes red eyes, and the smell of the pool. But sweat would also be enough to create chloramines, it’s not all pee.
Instagram account of University of Pennsylvania runner showed only part of story
This is a really good article about how perfectionism is implicated in depression and suicide. Also touches on social media, and how it can cover up depression while also making it worse for some people.
All of the reasons why the internet is bad—a breakup letter — Quartz
A personal, but also very generic and relatable, account of falling in and out of love with the Internet.
The Communal Mind: The Internet and Me
Similar theme, very good writing; more focused on the Extremely Online, and especially on Twitter, rather than on the changes in Internet culture over time.
On Smarm
A necessary antidote to the cult of forced civility. Smarm is the form of civility without its substance. A defense of snark.
The Hard Lessons of Dianne Feinstein’s Encounter with the Young Green New Deal Activists | The New Yorker
Dianne Feinstein treats a group of children who have come to beg her to let them grow up in a non-apocalyptic world as if they were some flesh golem made from pieces of lobbyists and Russian spambots. Strike that; she’d be friendlier to the lobbyists.
The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America - The Verge
This was a horror to read. You need to be in a resilient mental space before you read it, but you need to make time to read it when you’re in that space. I don’t think I’ve read any story that sums up the times we’re living in as well as this one. The workplace surveillance and abuse; the desperation, quiet and otherwise; the progressive face that corporate HR puts on while it basically tortures people for the sake of appearances and a goal they can never possibly fulfill.
How Google, Microsoft, and Big Tech Are Automating the Climate Crisis
tldr; providing IT and cloud services to coal and oil companies enables them to extract fossil fuels more efficiently, effectively moving carbon from the ground to the atmosphere faster. This effect massively overshadows any kind of investments that Big Tech is making in clean energy or efficiency.
Digital Life: What happened to voice mail?
Oh God, never leave me voicemail. I need to set all of my voicemail messaegs to remind callers to send a text or email instead.
Prisons Are a Biblical Abomination | Church Life Journal
An amazing Catholic argument for prison abolition.
ETS Isn’t TLS and You Shouldn’t Use It | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Companies that insist on surveilling their employees want to make encryption weaker for everyone. Pervasive monitoring is an attack.
About Face – Popula
A powerful piece of sequential art about fascist aesthetics in modern America.
That’s all for this edition.