The Rising
Here in the Bay Area, I’ve watched (and benefited from) rising tech fortunes that have resulted in rising salaries and rising rents. And in recent years, I’ve seen shiny new Internet startups rise up around one of San Francisco’s most depressed and troubled neighborhoods; the Tenderloin. As a board member and a fortunate participant in the tech community, I’m happy to share the news that 826 Valencia (a writing-focused non-profit founded by Dave Eggers, and home of the famed Pirate Store) is opening up a center in the Tenderloin; because the kids there should benefit from the boom too. It’s time for us in the tech community to make sure that this rising tide lifts all boats. Especially pirate boats.
+ In California Sunday Magazine, photographer Pieter Hugo captures scenes from San Francisco’s most infamous neighborhood; “an anarchic community in the midst of a crazy boom.”
He Cameron Thru the Bedroom Window
The celebratory music at Number 10 was blaring at 11 yesterday as David Cameron and his Conservative Party swept to an unexpectedly lopsided victory in the UK’s General Election. Here’s the BBC with 20 things you may have missed from the election that left Labour reaching for an epidural. And WaPo’s guide to 4 ways the British elections have changed everything.
+ Quartz: In the UK, Nate Silver finally found an election he couldn’t predict. (I’m in no position to judge. My election model had Stannis Baratheon winning in a landslide.)
+ Bloomberg: Watch the U.K.’s Messiest Election in 25 Seconds.
Working for the Weekend Reads
ESPN’s Kate Fagan with Split Image, a look at depression and suicide in the age of social media. “On Instagram, Madison Holleran’s life looked ideal: Star athlete, bright student, beloved friend. But the photos hid the reality of someone struggling to go on.” (Life’s never as good as it looks on Facebook or as bad as it sounds on Twitter.)
+ “They reported what they’d feared from the start: 1,121 unbranded steer calves had been stolen, making it among the largest cattle thefts that anyone could remember.” FiveThirtyEight’s Eric Benson on the brisket bandits: Where’s the Beef?
+ “It was invented in 1899. It hasn’t been improved upon since.” Slate’s Sara Goldsmith on the perfection of the paperclip.
+ Craig Mod with Upon This Wrist, A Week With the New Thing: “Oh is that the thing? And I say, Yes it is the thing. And they ask, Has it changed your life? And I shrug. And they are so disappointed.”
Jungleland
“Welcome to ISIS Land.” What do you get when you remix some of the Islamic State’s most brutal imagery with counter messaging intended to parody and weaken the group? The U.S. State Department’s effort to out social media terrorist groups.
Straight Outta Compton
The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson on the year when NWA took over REM on the Billboard charts. “Why did rap’s emergence seem so sudden on the charts? And why did this all happen in 1991?
Come On Get Happy
“Within a matter of weeks or months, the virus reaches the brain, where it can cause agitation, confusion, and hydrophobia — a fear of water that results from an inability to swallow. (This, in turn, leads the saliva to become frothy, a hallmark of infection in mammals.) Rabies kills more than fifty thousand people each year; if left untreated, it has a mortality rate approaching a hundred per cent.” But let’s not focus on the negative. The New Yorker’s Patrick House on the brighter side of rabies.
I’m Your Baby Tonight
I’ll never forget the afternoon my wife’s doctor stormed into the delivery room (after about 10 hours of our deep breathing) and said, “OK, I have dinner party in Mill Valley at 6:30 and there’s no way I’m gonna be late.” While the statement may have been unique, its sentiment was not. Pacific Standard finds that doctors seem to schedule births so they can make it home for dinner. (Update: The doctor made it home in time for the party and my son is pitching in his little league game tomorrow.)
Air Supply
It’s a wildly over-covered and seemingly meaningless story. And we hate ourselves for following it. So there’s only one solution. Let’s go deeper. FiveThirtyEight dissects the deflategate report.
+ OK, now that you’re warmed up, let’s snap it up a bit: Stats show the New England Patriots became nearly fumble-proof after 2006 rule change proposed by Tom Brady. (He’s upsettingly handsome, disturbingly successful, and married to Gisele. And you’re gonna hate on Tom Brady because of the ball thing?)
Coo Coo Ca Choo
“It all started when actor Bing Russell, best known for his role in the television series Bonanza, and the father of Hollywood’s Kurt Russell, brought an independent baseball team to Portland, Oregon in 1973.” Six hundred million pouches later, the oral history of Big League Chew.
+ And after this edition’s headlines, you might need this advice: “Catchy tune caught in your head? Try chewing gum.”
Big Bottom of the News
Amazon’s upcoming delivery drones might use your phone to track you down to deliver your order where ever you happen to be. (Just don’t order an anvil.)
+ Wired: Why Do Cats Purr? (Hey, what can I say, if you gotta ask…)
+ And, much as we will all be doing in a few weeks, here’s Don Draper staring blankly.
+ There is only one week left to get your NextDraft Internet Superhero T-Shirt.
