Is GPS leading us astray? And the Hamilton Hubbub. Plus all the day's news.
“In Bedford, New York, in 2008, a rental car driver fixated on his GPS unit barely escaped being hit by a train. Other people have driven into lakes and oceans. Countless truckers attending to GPS while ignoring signage have smashed into overpasses or become wedged beneath them — in 2009, the New York State Department of Transportation blamed GPS as a factor in more than 80 percent of such incidents.” These are of course extreme examples, and I’m guessing you’ve never driven into an ocean (for me, the sand is always an indicator that I’ve probably taken a wrong turn). But some researchers think an over-reliance on GPS could be turning us into navigational idiots; and that we could be risking a lot by not properly exercising our brains by finding our way in the world. From David Dobbs in MoJo: Are GPS Apps Messing With Our Brains?
+ Speaking of tech that could be having a negative impact, in a NYT article that, ironically, went viral, Cal Newport makes the argument that you should quit social media. “Social media use is decidedly not rare or valuable. Any 16-year-old with a smartphone can invent a hashtag or repost a viral article. The idea that if you engage in enough of this low-value activity, it will somehow add up to something of high value in your career is the same dubious alchemy that forms the core of most snake oil and flimflam in business.” (That said, snake oil is selling pretty well these days…)
Editor, At Large
Over the weekend, social media (including the POTUS-elect) went nuts taking about Mike Pence’s trip to see Hamilton on Broadway. And that makes sense. It was a moment made for social media. But does that mean it should have been a top story on major news sites for more than twenty-four hours? This is part of a bigger issue. Journalists shouldn’t crowdsource editorial judgement. (Especially on weekends when most of us on Twitter are smashed on booze and Xanax.) Here’s my take on why a relatively unimportant story is actually pretty important. The Neon Lights are Bright on Broadway.
Wearing White Nationalism After Labor Day
They were almost entirely young men, many sporting the same haircut of short sides and back with a familiar flop on top. The agenda topics: “Trump and the New White Voter,” “America and the Jewish Consciousness,” “The Future of the Alt-Right.” WaPo on the white nationalists who are coming to Washington.
+ “I never thought we would get to this point, any point close to mainstream acceptance or political influence. The culture is moving more in my direction.” From the NYT: White Nationalists Celebrate ‘an Awakening.'”
+ Also from the NYT: “Mr. Spencer’s after-dinner speech began with a polemic against the ‘mainstream media,’ before he briefly paused. ‘Perhaps we should refer to them in the original German?’ he said. The audience immediately screamed back, ‘Lügenpresse,’ reviving a Nazi-era word that means ‘lying press.'” The Alt-Right Exults in Donald Trump’s Election With a Salute: ‘Heil Victory.’
On the Rocks
“At this point, the patient, his circulatory system filled with icy salt water, will have no blood, no pulse, and no brain activity. He will remain in this state of suspended animation for up to an hour, while surgeons locate the bullet holes or stab wounds and sew them up.” The New Yorker’s Nicola Twilley with an interesting look at how some ER doctors came to use hypothermia to save gunshot victims.
Unreality Bytes
“Mr. Tucker’s post was shared at least 16,000 times on Twitter and more than 350,000 times on Facebook. The problem is that Mr. Tucker got it wrong.” We know there is a lot of fake news. But how does a little rumor turn into a widespread belief? The NYT’s excellent Sapna Maheshwari examines one story to provide a case study: How Fake News Goes Viral.
+ “Six months ago, Wade and his business partner, Ben Goldman, were unemployed restaurant workers. Now they’re at the helm of a website that gained 300,000 Facebook followers in October alone and say they are making so much money that they feel uncomfortable talking about it because they don’t want people to start asking for loans.” It’s a good time to be in the fake news business.
+ The viral photo of the Obama’s hug “was a triumph for Twitter, a rare occasion when the little bird out-sang its big blue brother. At Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, it was an alarm bell ringing loudly in the middle of the night, a call to action.” Alex Kantrowitz on what happened next and how the 2016 election blew up in Facebook’s face.
+ Hundreds of you have already ordered the shirt that tells the world that you read real news. Wear your colors proudly and score the NextDraft shirt today.
Trump U Diploma-cy
The president-elect settled one of the big class action suits against Trump University by agreeing to pay out $25 million in damages. John Cassidy reflects on the enduring scandal of Trump U.
Flipping the Bird
“He was given a knife and gloves and told to stand at a station, where 47 dead and defeathered turkeys rushed past each minute. He was responsible for every second bird. Sometimes he cut out the hip joints; other times the breasts and livers. The pace was relentless: 1,410 birds an hour, more than 11,000 a shift.” Slate gives you a glimpse of what it’s like being a poultry worker in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. (Not to mention what it’s like to actually be the poultry…)
Who Are You?
“He appeared out of nowhere. He had no name, no memory, no past. He was the only person the FBI ever listed as missing even though they knew where he was. How could B.K. Doe remain anonymous in the modern age’s matrix of observation?” Matt Wolfe in the New Republic: The Last Unknown Man. (They should have just checked his browser cookies. The marketers know us all.)
Can’t Get No Satisfaction
After sporting events and elections, we tend to overanalyze the reasons that drove the outcome. Are we over-dramatizing the anger in the American electorate in 2016? Take a look back at a few decades of Gallup results. We’ve pretty much always been dissatisfied with the direction of the country.
Bottom of the News
Since we’re all wondering what we can and can’t believe, this seems like a good time ask: Do Polygraph Tests Actually Work? (I’m not sure how we can trust the answer…)
+ This is why the sound guy shouldn’t run in front of an NFL player’s tunnel. (This video makes the most sense if you imagine the sound guy as you and the Minnesota Vikings as 2016.)
+ SNL invites you to live in The Bubble.
+ Time collected some of the best and worst moments from the American Music Awards. Twenty-One Pilots won big, Lady Gaga was amazing, and Green Day got political.)
+ Cats caught on camera, mid-jump. (Because, Internet.)
