Our weekly recap highlighting the best feature stories from around the internet.
Aziz Ansari. Photo: Facebook
Aziz Ansari’s guide to dating by text: ‘We shud hang out sumtimez’ is a bad start – by Aziz Ansari, The Guardian
“A few years ago there was a woman in my life – let’s call her Tanya – and we had hooked up one night in LA. We’d both attended a birthday party, and when things were winding down, she offered to drop me off at home. We had been chatting and flirting a little the whole night, so I asked her to come in for a drink. Eventually we started making out, and it was pretty awesome. I remember drunkenly saying something really dumb when she was leaving, like, “Tanya, you’re a very charming lady ...” She said, “Aziz, you’re a pretty charming guy too.” The encounter seemed promising, as everyone in the room had agreed we were both charming people. I wanted to see Tanya again and was faced with a conundrum: how and when do I communicate next? Do I call? Do I text? Do I send a Facebook message? Do I send up a smoke signal? How does one do that? Will I set my rented house on fire?”
To understand Lydia Ko’s astounding ascension, look to New Zealand - by Bill Fields, ESPN
“When Ko grew a bit older, those valuable Sunday sessions gave way to formal training with someone else, mental performance coach David Niethe. Ko saw Niethe -- who has degrees in neurolinguistic programming and hypnotherapy and consults with athletes in various sports -- for an hour once a month for approximately seven years. "Lydia has been hypnotized many a time by me," says Niethe, 46, a large brick of a person who used to compete in strong-man competitions. In using hypnosis during her formative years as a golfer, Ko has that in common with Tiger Woods, who as a teenager was hypnotized by Dr. Jay Brunza, a friend of his late father, Earl, as one tool to better his play.”
Apple Won’t Win Music Streaming Just Because It’s Apple – by Julia Greenberg, Wired
“So, what’s really going on here? Apple wants to sell its hardware—and it wants to give hardware buyers another reason to choose Apple. Google, too, has gotten into music with Play Music and YouTube Music Key. Even Amazon has broken into the music business with Amazon Prime Music. For these giants, music isn’t a way to make money directly. Instead, it’s a reason for users to watch ads on YouTube, pay for Prime, or buy an iPhone—in other words, to support the core businesses of each of these companies.”
Why I Am a Feminist Pig – by Miss Piggy, Time
“And yes, it is true that I am a Porcine American. How can a … ahem, pig … be a feminist? After all, the p word has long been associated with the very antithesis of feminists “male chauvinist.” This, alas, is a vestige of latent “species-ism.” Sure, there are male chauvinist pigs, but there are also male chauvinist humans and, on very rare occasions and at their own peril, male chauvinist amphibians. Let us not besmirch an entire species because of the sins of a few.”
McKinney, Texas, and the Racial History of American Swimming Pools – by Yoni Appelbaum, The Atlantic
“The public pools of mid-century—with their sandy beaches, manicured lawns, and well-tended facilities—are vanishingly rare. Those sorts of amenities are now generally found behind closed gates, funded by club fees or homeowners’ dues, and not by tax dollars. And they are open to those who can afford to live in such subdivisions, but not to their neighbors just down the road. Whatever took place in McKinney on Friday, it occurred against this backdrop of the privatization of once-public facilities, giving residents the expectation of control over who sunbathes or doggie-paddles alongside them.”
Watching the Messy, Exhilarating Birth of Farrier and Hayes’ Newsworthy – by Duncan Greive, The Spinoff
“They’re thrilled by what they’ve done, but more so by what they have the license to do. For this channel, which has been so derided, and this newsroom, which has lost its lion, the birth ofNewsworthy means something. It’s not hard news, and it’s not changing lives. But it’s a small group of people, all the same age and with a shared goal, setting out to make something meaningful in the midst of this chaotic era. I leave them to drink wine, high five and debrief.”
Jurassic World goes back to the park, but the danger is missing – by A.A. Dowd, The A.V. Club
““No one’s impressed with dinosaurs anymore,” says harried middle manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) on what will quickly prove to be the most stressful, disastrous day of her life. Claire’s talking about Jurassic World, the fully functioning, dino-exhibiting amusement park she runs, and how the waning awe of attendees has forced the owners to cook up some bold (a.k.a. foolishly dangerous) new attractions. But she could also be talking, in a fourth-wall-breaching sort of way, about the very movie in which she’s unwittingly starring. Maybe dinosaurs aren’t enough to satiate audiences anymore.”
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