A hand signal learned on Tik Tok saved this abducted girl's life
These are the best things I found on the internet this week!
What’s up online fam!
A sign of the apocalypse — this week I had someone ask me, earnestly, whether there was a chance Taylor Swift’s “short film” will get nominated for the Oscars. I hope your week is going better than mine.
Apologies last week on putting in a broken link for the nine cities that may be underwater by 2030 story. If you’re still interested, there is the correct link. And if that ever happens again (I’m sure it will), I will correct it in the online post ASAP so navigate to the website and click on the post and you should be good to go!
Until then, allow me to supercharge your media diet with the craziest, most thought-provoking and hardest-to-believe content the internet had to offer this week. Enjoy!
What’s the coolest story or thing you found on the internet this week? Reply to this email and shoot me a link. Would love to hear from you.
The only place is the aforementioned “short film,” directed by Taylor Swiftwhich for the record is actually just a music video for her 10-minute version of “All Too Well.” As of writing, the video had 32 million views in the three days since its release. Let’s not kid ourselves, Swift is a genius songwriter, and even if this project underscores everything I dislike about her as a public figure — megalomania, performed vulnerability, the whiff of tabloid fodder — I’d be lying to report anything other than this song being a banger.
Grant Wahl really might be the best sportswriter working on the planet right now (some qualifiers there, but still). Every few months he drops a story that gets me to care deeply about the world of soccer (futbol), including his latest about the biggest Cinderella sports story of the year. He travelled to Moldova to take a deep dive on FC Sheriff — an underdog Champions League that upset Real Madrid, and may or may not be a money laundering operation for gun smugglers. It’s a story less about the sport than the insane people and place that set the stage for this wild circumstance. Incredible read.
This totally bonkers police chase is seriously a real life version of the “Grand Theft Auto” video game.
One of the best longform stories I’ve ever read — the great 21st century treasure hunt — continues to spin off fresh news. Months after the legendary Fenn treasure was found, and confirmed by its creator before his own passing, another man out searching for the spot had to be airlifted by helicopter on the verge of death. The Fenn treasure is one of the truly unbelievable sagas of our time.
Hard to think of a nightmare more horrific than this — a clinic mix up caused two IVF mothers to give birth to each other’s babies. After carrying the wrong child for all of pregnancy and the first four months of life, both families feel heartbreak over giving the other child away, and robbed of the precious firsts of their own child’s life. Needless to say, lawsuits are forthcoming.
College athletic department social media accounts can be super formulaic, but sprinkled in there are some super creative and hilarious content, including this troll from South Carolina’s football team after a touchdown against Tennessee.
New technology really does sound like science fiction. Like how this new rocket company “uses kinetic energy as its primary method to get off the ground – with a vacuum-sealed centrifuge spinning the rocket at several times the speed of sound before releasing.” SpinLaunch just launched its first test flight this week, but if all goes well and they keep progressing, space flight is about to get a whole lot cheaper and easier.
For all those who think Tik Tok is only good for wasting your time and selling your data to the Chinese…you’re not wrong, but how about this story — an abducted girl was rescued after using a hand signal learned (and recognized!) from Tik Tok.
This three-quarter-court heave at the buzzer not only gave UC Riverside a crazy upset against Arizona State in basketball, it brought the athletic program full circle after coming very close to cancelling all of its varsity sports during the pandemic.
Thanks for reading and sharing! I’ll be back Friday to talk about one of my very favorite movies of the year, tick, tick…BOOM! and why there’s no chance Best Picture Belfast is going to bring home the Oscar.