It’s going fine, just fine: "Meta’s automated ad platform has been blowing through budgets and failing to deliver sales. Small businesses have seen their ad dollars get wiped out and wasted as a result, and some have said the bouts of overspending are driving them from Meta’s platforms." - The Verge
One crafty crafter says customers "were buying the yarn that was inspired by the tour. And then they were going and knitting a sweater … and then they were then wearing that to Eras tour concerts. The music informs the yarn which informs the project.” - North Country Public Radio
The extreme college workout facility is passé - now it’s cool, newly renovated and/or expanded museums that attract undergrads and their tuition-paying parents. - The New York Times
In Moses McKenzie's new book, the main character isn’t self-reflective at all. "It’s difficult to write in the first person and create empathy for a character like that.” Salinger’s famous coming-of-age novel helped him figure it all out. - The Guardian (UK)
“The pope greeted the inmates of the Giudecca prison individually in an inner courtyard. Some gave him flowers, and others pressed envelopes and notes in his hands." - The New York Times
Are some screens better than other screens? Possibly! "Research strongly supports the benefits of ‘co-viewing,’ or actively engaging with screens together with your child. This can be easier on a TV, where the screen is bigger.” - Slate
Billy Bragg has been putting in the hard work for literal decades. And "here he is in the seaside retirement resort, still fighting the good fight." - The Observer (UK)
The man who invented the deep state "wasn’t just a writer and soldier. He was an anti-communist intelligence operative who helped define U.S. psychological operations, or psyops, during World War II and the Cold War. His essential insight was that the most effective psychological warfare is storytelling.” - The Atlantic
In honor of yesterday’s Independent Bookstore Day (which, of course, we could all celebrate every day), here’s a visual analysis of some of the bookstores of New York. - The New York Times
One curator says, "If this project has taught me anything it is about the need to educate and to introduce learning around how to preserve and protect archival materials. … On a community level there needs to be more of an awareness about preservation and archiving our stories.” - The Guardian (UK)
"Court etiquette of the Sengoku era, as well as the gender politics of the time, mean a lot of things cannot be said explicitly. Even if you speak the same language as someone, you can never fully know them, and yet you all have to work together." - Vulture
How did Donald Glover (Atlanta) and Maya Erskine (PEN15) become the poster chlidren for middle-range, middle-of-the-road, no-stakes characters? Their work is just fine in Mr and Mrs Smith, but … well. "What we have now is a profusion of well-cast, sleekly produced competence.” - The New York Times
