Welcome to week 28 of Internet of Literal Things. The weird, wacky, wonderful, and wild of the world wide web seems to be several-too-many “w’s” and a perfect place for me to start. I’m Sara Nason, a fellow person on the internet, who happens to have many hours on hand to read random articles that are tucked into multiple crevices in my phone.
With 13% battery left on my laptop and no will to plug it in to increase it’s capacity to write something to you, I sit on my bed this Sunday evening, with my puppy asleep on my pillow (her first time on the bed), to bring you links upon links (LUL if you will). You could call my typing abilities speedy; however, I still have yet to fix the spacebar issue on my keyboard… I know. So instead of typing speedily away, I have to backspace every few words to make sure you don’t see these obstreperous spaces that drive my Type-A personality bats (short for batsh*t crazy). I’m speed typing for another reason as well. In about six hours, I’m waking up to trek down to the South to participate in another family event. And since I truly don’t want to work at all while driving, I’m killing my computer’s battery, so it will be quite easy to say “I can’t get to that for ten more hours, my computer is dead, I’m hurdling down a back country highway at 80 mph, and getting to my final destination is my highest priority.”
So, strangers of the internet, here we go. speed typing for the Internet of Literal Things #28.
(While we’re at it, become a paying subscriber for $5 a month to support all of the links that bring this W-focused newsletter your way every Sunday.)
What I’m Reading
Articles
How TikTok censors communication China would rather you not hear (The Hustle)
New City of Women map assigns a significant female figure to all 424 subway stations (6sqft)
The problem with switching to electric cars (CityLab)
The “cancel culture” con (The New Republic)
How to register to vote in your state (PAPER)
The fascinating story of why US parks are full of squirrels (Gizmodo)
Four years in startups (The New Yorker)
Parking reform will save the city (CityLab)
The cat with a campus wrapped around his paw (The Atlantic)
Mattel launches new gender neutral dolls (NPR)
WeWork and Counterfeit Capitalism (BIG by Matt Stoller)
Apparently we've been doing logos wrong all this time (Creative Bloq)
Intuition vs. Data (Matthew Ström)
The mayors fighting for a progressive vision of the South (The New Republic)
If you run a small businesss, park in the back of the parking lot (Skyclerk)
Microplastics found in 93% of bottled water tested in global study (CBC)
Why you can’t shop your way to sustainability (DORÉ)
How conference curators select speakers (99U)
Working from home, five miles from the office (Harvest)
We asked 3 companies to recycle Canadian plastic and secretly tracked it. Only 1 company recycled the material (CBC)
You’ll be miserable if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do (Austin Kleon)
Books
Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
The Overstory by Richard Powers
What I’m Visually Experiencing
Use less paper (The Guardian)
What I’m Listening To
Aileen Suzara: Preserving culture for the future (Creative Mornings)
🏆 A Photo of An #UglyDogs Related Thing On The Internet 🥇
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