Things We Saw Today: Nerdwriter Helps Us Understand the Way “Dark Patterns” Keep Us at the Mercy of Companies

In the wake of everything we’ve learned about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, we are all suddenly taking another look at the power we have given apps and the presence they have occupied in our lives. Even as someone who was reluctant to do certain things, convenience ends up winning out. Instead of making a new email/log in for everything, just connecting through Facebook seems like the more practical choice, but we rarely take the time to think about how it leads to issues in the long term and what we have given Facebook access to through the app.

Video essayist Nerdwriter1 breaks down how sites like Amazon make it very easy for you to join up and be a part of their evil empire (hey love you guys), but resistance to them is futile.

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• Buzzfeed creates a March Madness-style in response to people disagreeing with their claim that Prince Eric (from TLM) was the hottest Disney guy (fake news). Now you get to decide who is the hottest lad in the Disney land. Right now it’s Li Shang vs Prince Phillip (Shang), Milo vs Tadashi (Tadashi), and Simba vs Robin Hood (Simba obviously). Have fun and may the odds be forever in your favor. Also, I’m writing in Max from A Goofy Movie. (via Buzzfeed)
• In another installment of “where the hell is this biopic” Broadly highlights the story of Bessie Stringfield who rode her motorcycle across the Jim Crow America by herself. According to the article “In 1930, she became the first Black woman to ride a motorcycle in every one of the connected 48 states—a solo cross-country ride she undertook eight times during her lifetime.” Historical #BlackGirlMagic. (via Broadly)
• A double-knockout punch with Broadly, they also recruited some actual poets to expertly drag the pathetic “satire” that Sean Penn decided to attach his name to. I mean nothing says “rational white man” than having your “satire” end with an anti-#MeToo poem. Jonathan Swift, he is not. (via Broadly)
• In a lesson in the importance of branding, Carnival Horizon, a cruise company, offered a free cruise to 15-year-old Darian Lipscomb and his family in exchange for his Snapchat handle: @CarnivalCruise. The net worth of the trip is about $5,000. Branding. (via CNBC)
• The best male actor in Outlander, Tobias Menzies will be playing Prince Phillip in the next season of Netflix’s The Crown. That is excellent casting in my opinion and I’m sure he will be an amazing match to Olivia Colman who will be taking on the role of Queen Bess II.  (via Vanity Fair)
• Netflix is teaming up with comic book writer Frank Miller to work on a series called Cursed based on a YA novel he co-wrote with Wheeler.  Cursed is “a re-imagining of Arthurian legend, told through the eyes of Nimue, a teenage heroine with a mysterious gift who is destined to become the powerful (and tragic) Lady of the Lake. After her mother’s death, she finds an unexpected partner in Arthur, a young mercenary, in a quest to find Merlin and deliver an ancient sword. Over the course of her journey, Nimue will become a symbol of courage and rebellion against the terrifying red paladins, and their complicit King Uther.” (via Comicbook)

Enjoy your #ThirstyThursdays. Turn up responsibly.

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