Link List #91: The pros and cons of weed connoisseurship, surfing in Hawaii with John Florence, and how to lengthen your life using your smartphone - Friends of Friends / Freunde von Freunden (FvF)

Link List #91: The pros and cons of weed connoisseurship, surfing in Hawaii with John Florence, and how to lengthen your life using your smartphone

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In this week’s link list, we try a spot of self improvement and learn about how more states opting to legalize marijuana has led to the rise of the “weed sommelier.” We wonder what it means for journalism when a tech giant curates the news, enjoy a listicle charting the biggest influences on Generation Y, and, finally, we watch a beautifully produced surf video with a killer soundtrack.

Links

    • 1 According to Coach Tony, the publisher of Better Humans, we’ve all been using our iPhones as “life-shortening distraction device[s].” Yikes. Not to worry, though, because he’s put together a set of very detailed instructions on how to configure your smartphone so that it works for you, and not the other way around. The suggestions are deceptively simple—put your phone on “do not disturb” and organize your apps alphabetically. This unusually methodical article that runs through every conceivable aspect of modern day phone usage.
    • 2 Blue Dream, Bubba Kush, Calm Bliss… if you live in a state (or a whole country) where pot has been legalized recently, you might have noticed that buying and smoking weed is getting, well, a bit bougie. Writing for The Walrus, Jen Gerson tracks the growing culture of weed connoisseurship, and questions whether the buzz around certain, supposably superior, strands is based on fact or hype.
    • 3 Meet Lauren Kern, Editor in Chief at Apple News and the woman who holds, arguably, the most important position in English-language media today. While Facebook uses algorithms to decide which stories to promote on its site (a method that’s susceptible to “fake news”), Apple have gone the opposite way, hiring journalists and creating a “newsroom” in their headquarters to decide which five stories should be highlighted by their news app–a program used by roughly 90 million people. Read more at the New York Times.
    • 4 Whether they’re portrayed as avocado-obsessed snowflakes or Second Amendment-burning anarchists, “millennials” are the group on everyone’s minds right now, and Rolling Stone Magazine has compiled a comprehensive list of “the people, the music, the cultural touchstones, [and] the movements” that have shaped this generation. From Napster and Neopets (remember them?) to the neverending allure of Mariah Carey and the Spice Girls, this list will be achingly familiar to anyone who reached young adulthood in the 21st Century.
    • 5 If you’re simply in the mood to watch some beautifully made moving image this weekend, look no further than this surfing short, featuring John John Florence, which has been making the rounds in the FvF office this week. Shot on location in Western Australia and Hawaii, it combines incredible visuals with a rousing sermon-inspired dance track by Steve Angello.

Hopefully you enjoyed the reads from this week’s Link List, but if you’ve still got an internet itch to scratch, you can find more here.

Also, be sure to check out FvF Mixtapes for some tracks selected by our friends and favorite artists, and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date with FvF stories.

Text: FvF team
Photography: Rich Stapleton

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