Friday Flames | 5.24.24
A weekly synopsis of what we figured out about Elvis, bilingual brain implants, potluck salads, digital decay, and the pocket patriarchy.
Two bits of news caught our attention this week, because they laid a nice template for how to respond to shameless, money-grubbing scumbags. The bigger story is how Scarlett Johansson said OpenAI asked her to voice their new AI assistant, and after she turned them down they went ahead and copied her voice anyway. (This is kind of surprising. Don’t people know that ScarJo doesn’t fuck around?)
The second is even more bizarre, because some “investment group,” with no legal “representation” or fixed “address” tried to use forged documents to bilk Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, Riley Keough, out of Graceland. A ballsy move that ranks up there with the guy who sold the Brooklyn Bridge over 4,000 times.
Brazen scams and corporate greed are as old as humanity, but doesn’t it seem like technology and resources are making the scammers more brazen and greedy than ever? And isn’t it satisfying when the potential victims fight back, as Johansson and Keough did, and the grifters scurry back into their sewer grates?
As you’ll read below about next week’s episode, this got us thinking.
Embers in the News
Here are some of the links that peeked through the noisy news cycle this week:
Boulevard of broken links Due to “digital decay,” Pew Research says 38% of all web pages that existed in 2013 are no longer accessible.
Free at last The Nigerian army has rescued 350 hostages, mostly women and children, who had been held by Boko Haram since as far back as 2009.
Say goodbye to Google Translate A new AI brain impant helps nonverbal people communicate in more than one language.
Senioritis meets arthritis The “Senior2Senior” program at a North Carolina high school connects students with pen pals aged 55 and up.
This week on the podcast
Shannon Reed, who turns 50 tomorrow, has reached a new level of renown with her memoir about loving books. She also has good news about teaching college kids, grieving her father, and shedding old writing constraints.
Currently reading
Magda is still basking in the glow of the calm, kind, and delightful What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama. She just started Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close by Hannah Carlson, which is exactly what it says it is and is very interesting so far.
After Wednesday’s episode, Doug revisited Michael Chabon’s marvelous use of language in his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. He is working up the courage to crack open Lincoln in the Bardo and, as Shannon suggests, understand 30% of it.
Currently watching
We may have to tweak this section for the summer, as Magda admits she’s way too excited about her return to reading to care much about what’s on the box. Doug, however, will watch the college baseball and lacrosse playoffs for as long as UVa is involved. He also immersed himself in a double-feature of Dune and Dune: Part Two on Max. (Fun fact! Magda and Doug worked with co-screenwriter Jon Spaihts in the 90s, before he tootled off to LA.)
Currently cooking
There are two adults and three teenagers at home this week, so Mike and Magda are making everything in quantity. Even the grilled tofu disappeared in minutes. For tonight’s potluck, they’re bringing Old Reliable, the salad from the toddler playgroup days: toss together a pint of halved cherry tomatoes, a can of chickpeas rinsed and drained, as much crumbled feta as looks good to you, olive oil, lemon juice, and dried oregano. Salt to taste, diced cucumber optional.
Doug made a big bowl of this delicious avocado peach salsa, which will improve when peach season arrives. Last night his book club agreed, so they decided to turn next month’s meeting into a salsa potluck. If the peaches aren’t ready for prime time, he’ll consider subbing in some mango or pineapple.
Next on the podcast
When you send your young adults into the world, you wonder how ready they are to defend against bad actors. Have they formed strong boundaries? Are they intimidated by obstacles? Will they call out bullshit—and know when to fight back?
Thanks for reading, and we can't build our dreams on suspicious minds.
Magda and Doug