Annus Mirabilis

[johnburns2050]

Why do we work so hard?

WHY DO WE WORK SO HARD? Ryan Avent reckons that our jobs have become prisons from which we don’t want to escape

[johnburns2050]

I’ve Had a Cyberstalker Since I Was 12 — Backchannel

After 14 years I finally reported him. In the eyes of the law, my biggest mistake was not fearing him more.

This is so fucked up. Women just shouldn’t have to put up with this shit anymore. I really appreciate internet values of free speech and anonymity, but online harassment needs to stop.

[johnburns2050]

How To Lose Weight In 4 Easy Steps!

Losing weight and getting fit has never been easier! Shed those unwanted pounds with these simple tricks your gym doesn't want you to know about. You won't b...

I enjoyed this video.

[johnburns2050]

(This contrast is disorienting enough that I think it’s made reporters a little… crazy? It certainly seems to have made some of us more amenable to the idea that Trump’s success signals the imminent rise of a new fascism, rather than the sudden release of energy from a hideous (and fascistic!) but inherently limited ideological pocket that has existed for a long time. If I’m wrong, please do clip and send this passage to my future jail cell. Don’t forget to circle this sentence with a caption that says YOU’RE IN JAIL — TOTAL LOSER.)

http://www.theawl.com/2015/12/access-denied

[johnburns2050]

[johnburns2050]

“Where Are Ü Now” and electronic dance music helped Justin Bieber sing for grown-ups. A story of how music is made today.

[johnburns2050]

How an Unlikely Hollywood Juggernaut Came to Rule Netflix

Jay and Mark Duplass are brothers. That movie you like? They made it. Or were in it. Or financed it.

[johnburns2050]

Does too much porn numb sexual pleasure? – Maria Konnikova – Aeon

Critics say that porn degrades women, dulls sexual pleasure, and ruins authentic relationships – are they right?

[johnburns2050]

Aliens in the valley: The complete and chaotic history of Reddit

Reddit's CEO shocked the tech industry by resigning. Yet it's just the latest dysfunctional episode that has nearly undermined Reddit's success.

[johnburns2050]

Shady XLII: Eminem in 2014

Eminem at 42: the hateful rap of an aging man.

[johnburns2050]

What’s So Bad About Gluten?

Millions of people have sworn off wheat, but there’s little science to support them. Michael Specter investigates.

[newyorker]

Copywrong

Why have copyright issues grown and grown? In this week’s issue, Louis Menand asks what the intellectual-property battles really mean:

“Before the Internet, the social cost of this obstacle was minimal. … But today, when everything can be made available to the entire world at minimal expense, it seems absurd to hold enormous amounts of content hostage to the threat of legal action from the odd descendant.”

Illustration by Thomas Burden

[johnburns2050]

Yep.

[johnburns2050]

What “Gone Girl” Is Really About

David Fincher’s postmodern thriller exposes the irrational side of our fear of coupledom.

[johnburns2050]

The Scablands: A scarred landscape as strange as fiction

One man, 40 years of naysayers, and enough floodwater for half of Lake Michigan

[johnburns2050]

The Internet's Original Sin

It's not too late to ditch the ad-based business model and build a better web.

This is a topic that is frequently on my mind.

[newyorker]

Colleges aren’t monasteries. They can’t give their students spiritual sustenance; they can’t provide an escape from modernity. And they shouldn’t be faulted, or punished, for that.

Joshua Rothman on why the “crisis in higher education” is really the crisis of modernity: http://nyr.kr/1qSgRAe (via newyorker)

Great article. Felt like it was written for me.

[johnburns2050]

The Social Laboratory

Singapore is testing whether mass surveillance and big data can not only protect national security, but actually engineer a more harmonious society.

Interesting contrast to Western attitudes about surveillance and the social contract.