Via Allen Varney: Why English is so weirdly different from other languages
Also via Allen: the heartbreaking truth behind Snape’s first words to Harry Potter
The New Yorker has a great longread about one of the most visible faces of the Westboro Baptist Church and how she ended up leaving it. The reason? Twitter.
Fascinating look at privacy and security concerns arising from a new piece of technology: a talking Barbie doll.
It’s Star Wars Week at the AVClub – all the Star Wars linky you could want.
The Spinoff has a fascinating long report on what went on behind the scenes at “Scout”, the entertainment/gossip news hub for NZ media conglomerate Mediaworks. It’s a slow-motion trainwreck of epic proportions. Indicative anecdote: unpaid intern writes listicle about influential Kiwi youth and puts Lorde at the top; politically-connected head of Scout forces her to replace Lorde with the widely disdained son of the Prime Minister.
And finally, via Pearce – an oral history of when Mr Snuffleupagus was revealed to the grown-ups of Sesame Street. Quite lovely.
That Scout story splits me between glee at what looks like a deserved comeuppance and dismay for most of the people who worked there.
The Sesame Street link is the best, I didn’t realise that Snuffleupagus had been revealed that long ago! I will be watching that over the weekend.
Pearce: yeah, I get that.
Andy: well worth the watch! I’d never seen the actual episode before. I did skip through most of the extended Phil Donahue cameo…