Like most people, I'm a victim of a shrinking attention span. My internet-addled brain has a harder time focusing on longform material like books, long articles, and the anecdotes, opinions, and personal asides shared by others. But so far, my attention hasn't been divided when it comes to TV series. But maybe that's just a sign of my age. My teenaged kids rarely want to watch a family movie because of its length and always check the duration a series episode before committing to a communal viewing session. Should we be worried that the younger generation is unable or unwilling to focus even on something entertaining and fun? Or should I be worried that my kids see spending 28 minutes staring at a screen with me as a bit too much we time? There's no time to worry. If you do, you're likely to miss several episodes of a newish form of TV. The episodes are short (like, two minutes) but plentiful. MIT Tech Review: China’s next cultural export could be TikTok-style short soap operas. "It’s easy to compare apps like these to Quibi, a high-profile video service that infamously failed after less than a year in 2020. But these latest Chinese apps are different. They don’t aim for slick, expensive productions. Instead, they choose simple scripts, shoot an entire series in two weeks, market it heavily online, and move on to the next project if it doesn’t stick." 2Make America Immigrate Again"When a 22-year-old nursing student was found dead on a wooded trail at the University of Georgia in what’s believed to be the first homicide on campus in nearly 30 years, it set off waves of grief and fear that shook the university to its core. But when a 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela was charged on Friday with kidnapping and murdering the student, Laken Riley, it did something else: It transformed Athens and Clarke County, a community of about 130,000 people some 70 miles east of Atlanta, into the latest flashpoint in the political fight over American immigration policy." NYT (Gift Article): Arrest of Migrant in Georgia Killing Turns City Into Latest Battleground on Immigration. 3Ad Nauseam"It was a revelation—especially given the public outcry over Snowden’s leaks—that agencies could just buy some of the data they needed straight from commercial entities. One technology consultant who works on projects for the US government explained it this way to me: 'The advertising technology ecosystem is the largest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man. And it wasn’t built by the government.'" Byron Tau in Wired: How the Pentagon Learned to Use Targeted Ads to Find Its Targets—and Vladimir Putin. 4I Wear My Sunglasses At NightMama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun. Oh but mama that’s where the fun is. — Bruce Springsteen, Blinded by the Light. 5Extra, ExtraCommitment Issues: It looks like Israel and Hamas are closer to a ceasefire agreement. Unless you ask Israel or Hamas. Israel and Hamas distance themselves from Biden’s optimism on Gaza ceasefire deal. It makes political sense that Biden is in a hurry to get a deal done. The Middle East crisis has made its way to Michigan. On primary day, young Michigan voters are leading call to be 'uncommitted' to Biden. 6Bottom of the News"Just days earlier, after the last truckload of the 2016 harvest had been delivered, Underwood and Tran had sat together and mapped out the 2017 growing season, and what Tran would pay in advance for the tens of millions of pounds of peppers Underwood promised him. As usual, the agreement was verbal, sealed with a nod and a handshake, not contracts or lawyers. Then, on Nov. 10, at his vacation rental on Kauai, Underwood got a call with news that he could barely take in." What really caused the sriracha shortage? 2 friends and the epic breakup that left millions without their favorite hot sauce.
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