"Enjoying a book alfresco is one of summer’s simple, iconic joys, right up there with running through a sprinkler, spotting the evening’s first firefly or scraping a flat wooden spoon across a freezer-burned cup of Italian ice." - The New York Times
The 6th Street Viaduct, which has been reviled in its three weeks of life, gets a full design diary by Carolina Miranda. "The police presence is high. ... But the vibe is chill: Clutches of people are out for walks, taking selfies and shooting video." - Los Angeles Times
The e-waste workers of India, taking apart our discarded cellphones to make new machines: "No doubt we are at constant risk here, but what other option do we have?" - Slate
In the 1980s, "Barrett offered a new portrait of her father: droll, self-effacing, with an unspoken perfectionism that would doom him to bitterness in old age but that for four decades of maturity pushed him to dazzling artistic achievements, along with attentiveness to his family." - The New York Times
For decades after WWII, Oberammergau "resisted calls from prominent American and European intellectuals to tone down the play’s classic anti-Semitism. The Jewish people continued to be portrayed as a bloodthirsty mob" and much worse. Now, it's very, very different. - The Atlantic
Normal country; everything is fine: "Residents of Jamestown Township voted to defund the Patmos Library by a 25-point margin, after a local conservative group led a campaign against the inclusion of LGBTQ+ books." - Vice
"Five years almost to the day after it began, Hollywood’s evangelistic fervor for streaming has been extinguished this week by the Batgirl imbroglio." - Variety
If life in the 1930s was marked by a Great Depression, and the 2010s by a Great Recession, one might say our current decade is marked by a Great Regression. This return to childhood manifests in the things we consume, in how we spend our time, even in the ways our societies are governed. - Aeon
“Guests in love, please understand — most of the exhibits in our museum are objects ‘born’ many years ago and subject to completely different moral standards … We do not expose them to discomfort!” - Hyperallergic
The internet by design has sanded complex ideas down to trending hashtags, stripping subtlety from language and producing younger generations who confuse attention for personal growth. - The Atlantic
Since the explosion, architects and designers have dealt with the after-effects in different ways, with some choosing to leave Beirut and others moving within the city to areas that were less affected by the blast. - Dezeen
And by "people who should know better," we mean certain AI researchers themselves. "The problem is that people closest to the technology live with one foot in the future. They sometimes see what they believe will happen as much as they see what is happening now." - The New York Times
