I’m starting this over. I had a whole newsletter ready to go out, but it was once again about the pandemic, and once again not overly cheerful. It would have been the third of this kind in a row, and I just couldn’t do that to you, or myself. Not, when there are so many other maddening things happening in the world right now, amirite? But fear not, I also have a bunch of fun pop culture pleasures for you (and you’ll probably get to read my Covid musings next time, because lockdown 2.0 is only just beginning, yay).
Kicking this one off with some of the worst news of last week: Poland’s top court has basically banned all abortions – with exceptions only for cases of rape, incest, or where the mother's health is at risk. The latest ruling now also makes abortions in cases of foetal defects illegal (which means that pregnant women will be forced to carry an unviable foetus to term and give birth to a baby that will die during or shortly after birth). It’s 2020 and men do not only still dictate women’s reproductive rights, but also actively choose to inflict mental and physical suffering upon women. It makes my blood boil.
Another example of what happens when the people making the decisions are not the people dealing with the consequences, is the case of the Strava App. Strava is basically the Instagram for runners and cyclists – a social network that lets you track your activities and compare them with those of other Strava users. I hardly ever use it and when I do, I have everything set on private because I believe my running route or pace are nobody’s business.
Personal preference aside, it’s a hugely popular app and I can see how it appeals to more ambitious athletes. Which is why its total disregard for data security is so shocking. You may remember the story about a fitness tracking app accidentally giving away the location of secret US army bases? Yeah, that was Strava.
Here’s a new issue: The app has a “Flyby” feature, which shows you which other Strava users crossed your path during your run or ride. You can then click on those people’s profiles and see their entire activity history – which doesn’t only give away where the person lives, but also shows routines like “running the 5k loop through the park every Tuesday before dawn”. To make matters worse, this is not only visible to other users, but to everyone on the world wide interweb who has the link to your activity.
Does that look like stalker’s paradise and potentially very dangerous to anyone else but me? Luckily, it does. A gentleman called Andrew Seward has brought this highly questionable data management to Strava’s attention on Twitter recently.
The original Tweet went viral and two weeks ago, Strava turned the Flyby feature off by default and users have to actively switch it on. The app now also sets every new activity to private by default, and users can decide whether they want to make it public.
Big win, matter closed? Nope, not really. Because in order to use one of Strava’s most popular features, the segment leaderboard, users are still forced to set their profile to “public” (segments are specific sections of a route, which you can “win” by being the fastest runner/cyclist etc., and you can also compare your previous efforts on those segments). You guessed it, as soon as your profile is set to public, all your activity is out there for the world to see and we can start this whole conversation over and WHAT THE HELL.
To be clear: I don’t want to make a case against people sharing to much private information about themselves online (that ship has sailed long ago and I was on it), I want to make a case against a lack of transparency and miserable communication by big tech companies. You simply cannot make a feature, which can easily be abused to harm vulnerable groups of the population, an OPT-OUT, jeez. And I’m going out on a limb here, but I’d presume that a diverse team of developers would have never shipped such a thing.
You know the worst part about this though? The hate that Andrew Seward has been getting from Strava users (men, duh), who are absolutely livid that he single-handedly spoiled their “favorite feature”. You know, if the shoe fits …
Lessons? Obviously, always check the privacy setting of any app you use. And if you must use a public Strava profile, at least set up a privacy zone around your home.
HAIR IS EVERYTHING
Remember one of Fleabag’s best monologues of season two, after her sister got the pencil haircut?
“Hair is everything. We wish it wasn’t so we could actually think about something else occasionally. But it is. It’s the difference between a good day and a bad day. We’re meant to think that it’s a symbol of power, that it’s a symbol of fertility. Some people are exploited for it and it pays your fucking bills. Hair is everything.”
Now, I’ve had haircuts that made me cry and I’m sure you have, too. In fact, I’m writing this very newsletter sporting a silvery-grey shade of blonde, because my hair dresser forgot the time when she bleached my hair on Thursday. It’s unfortunate, but who’s gonna see it anyway? Plus, it helps with my grey roots.
Anyway, I was reminded of the Fleabag scene when I read one of Sophia Benoit’s recent “Here’s The Thing” newsletters, titled: “How do I deal with a bad haircut?”. It’s gotta be one of the best agony aunt columns ever published, because it’s all the things: emphatic, hilarious, relatable and actually really, really helpful.
“If you find a moment or two to laugh about it—about how bad it is, how much you hate it, how funny it is that you’re caught up on your HAIR of all things—GREAT. Seize that. Enjoy the absurdity of how much we all care about our appearance.”
Read the whole thing, enjoy it, save it for your next bad haircut and by all means, do subscribe to that wonderful newsletter.
pop culture pleasures
Of course, I have read Ghosts by Dolly Alderton and I already told you how sad it made me on Instagram.
This conversation between Caroline O’Donoghue and Dolly in The Irish Examiner offers some explanation why the novel is so dark and cynical.
A stark contrast to Ghosts was the final season of Schitt’s Creek, which is some of the most soothing and joyful television ever produced. I ugly cried through the entire final episode, but also laughed out loud – and that takes some mad writing, acting and directing skills.
As soon as the final episode ended, I hit Youtube, watched bloopers and found this 73 Questions episode with Daniel Levy. Even if you haven’t seen the show (yet?!), this is worth watching because his apartment is just gorgeous.
In an attempt to lift my spirits after Ghosts, I read The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank, a collection of linked short stories about love and coming of age and into oneself. It’s funny and insightful, beautiful prose and definitely ahead of its time (most of it is set in the ‘90s).
This Ted Talk by Tim Urban about procrastination is wild. And by wild I mean it’s absolutely hilarious – with a plot twist.
I flagged her newsletter before, but this week Anna Myers outdid herself. She writes about leaving vs. staying and it’s hauntingly beautiful:
“A city is just a city. It can show you the way or break your spirit but it won't save you. It can reveal parts of yourself and crush the remaining ones, it can teach you lessons and hold your hand and speak your truth but it can never give it all meaning unless you speak it first.”
Christopher Solomon described how his small town community is preparing for a socially distanced winter: “We are laying by memories for winter, as the bear puts on fat, in hopes what we have will be enough for the long, dark times to come.”
Some podcast episodes I enjoyed recently: Roxane Gay and Nicole Byer discuss fatphobia in general, but also in the context of race and dating –– David Tennant chats to the magnificent Elisabeth Moss, who owns her success in a very refreshing way –– Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman invited Rebecca Traister on their Call your Girlfriend podcast to talk about women’s anger.
🇩🇪 Für die deutschen Podcast-Fans: Ich hab mich auf einer meiner letzten Autofahrten ein bisschen querbeet durch den Einhundert Podcast von Deutschlandfunk Nova gehört, und mag ihn wirklich sehr. Stark angelehnt an This American Life werden hier außergewöhnliche Lebensgeschichten erzählt. Die Geschichte von Cajetan, der mit 20 auf den Philippinen ein Kind zeugt und seinen Sohn erst 14 Jahre später zum ersten Mal trifft, war meine Einstiegsdroge.
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Until next time,
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