Congestion pricing, cyberbullying and the end of Starbucks public bathrooms
Here's the best things I found on the internet this week!
What a week!
The inauguration, the LA fires, the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, the TikTok ban, NFL playoff games, the college football national championship, David Lynch’s death…conversations were dominated by big monocultural moments for the first time in what feels like a very long time.
But the point of this newsletter is not to chase conversation, it’s to create it. That’s why I call these my “conversation starters,” a roundup of the best, most interesting and most entertaining content on the internet in the past week. I’m hoping these are things you haven’t seen or even thought of before, and after you read, watch, enjoy (and share!), you can go out into your daily life and be the smartest and most interesting person in your friend group. Ambitious goal, so there’s no time to waste!
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!
This is the strangest and most unpredictable cyberbullying story I’ve ever come across — two high school exes are hounded for months by an anonymous texter who no one can identify. When the revelations start in this New York Mag features, they only get crazier and crazier. It’s our Long Read of the Week.
Unbelievable story passed along to me by reader Tyler O., who has now heard multiple reports of people (mostly older, less tech savvy types) who thought they were watching this weekend’s Bills-Ravens playoff showdown on the NFL Network. Problem is, the game was being broadcast on CBS, and NFL Network was showing a replay of the teams’ matchup from September (which the Ravens won handily).
According to this Wall Street Journal story, one in five job postings online are either fake or unfilled. These “ghost jobs” are adding to a frustrating and seemingly impossible to navigate job market. I’ve got a couple of friends dealing with this right now, and I feel for them.
There’s never been a more tragic (or more relatable) golf clip than this video of a PGA Tour player hitting it back and forth between bunkers EIGHT times. Like a car crash, you can’t look away.
Obviously this newsletter community loves movies. If one of your 2025 resolutions was to read more books, but you have no idea where to start, Lit Hub compiled a list of books to check out based on what 2024 movies you loved. Comps here for lovers of Conclave, Anora, The Brutalist, Wicked, Nickel Boys and more.
Returning big cities to pedestrians has been a long-running hobby horse of mine, so I’ve been keeping an eye on New York City’s congestion pricing experiment with interest — the plan became a political bargaining chip and faced several delays before going into effect Jan. 5. Early returns show the $10-20 charge for any cars/trucks crossing bridges into Manhattan is successfully reducing traffic and making public transportation commute times slower, and even though people are complaining, I think it will alter behavior positively long term.
Loved stumbling across this video explainer of a very simple question we’ve all faced at one point — is it better to walk or run in the rain when you’ve forgotten your umbrella?
Anyone who has every spent extended time in a walking city like New York or Boston knows how important Starbucks is, not for its coffee but for its public restrooms. Now Starbucks is ending its ‘open-door’ policy, cracking down on people hanging out in its stores and using its facilities without buying something. Because…capitalism.
Thanks for reading and sharing! It’s a slow week at the movies but on Friday we’ll be back talking Wolf Man and why this time of year there are so many horror and action movies.