The internet-age term Milkshake Duck refers to something delightful that is quickly revealed to be awful. It’s from a Twitter joke: “The whole internet loves Milkshake Duck, a lovely duck that drinks milkshakes! *5 seconds later* We regret to inform you the duck is racist.”
It has, of course, become a verb: “One of the most bizarre storylines to come out of 2021 thus far has been the recursive milkshake ducking of the Reply All series on the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen.“
The latest milkshake duck to cross my path: non-fungible tokens. These are generated by a clever cryptographic system that allows you to create unique digital items that can be resold, like actual physical art. Digital artists now have a way to generate scarcity, which can help them actually get paid for their work. Lovely. Plus, it’s funny to buy the original of an infinitely reproducible GIF!
We regret to inform you that it uses so much electricity that limited edition GIFs are now a major source of carbon emissions globally.
Reader Input
A reader responds about shame:
But shame is a dangerous emotion; this very unpleasant emotion can easily be projected onto others. Twenty years ago, I would have said that Americans had the virtue of being ashamed of their racism. Trump freed lots of people of their shame—shame over their feelings of resentment, shame over being less successful than they thought they should have been, shame over their hateful feelings in general. He offered them targets on which to project the responsibility for their failures—the “libs,” immigrants, Blacks, feminists. He gave them a way to redefine shamelessness as masculinity, bravery, honesty. “He tells it like it is” was code for shameless speech. Shame is a useful social corrective, but it can backfire.”
Speaking of shamelessness, I managed to hold in an “I TOLD YOU SO” for all of fifteen seconds after reading that David Brooks had a second salary funded by Facebook and didn’t disclose it because the rules don’t apply to him. (Give him a break, his research assistant/wife is only 36, he needs two incomes to cover her student loans).
Speaking of shamelessness, everything about Madison Cawthorn.
Joy
Meet Tupelo the borzoi and her very long nose. I can’t get over how much I love/am alarmed by this dog and her nose. She is the embodiment of grace and elegance. She is very friendly. I want to pet her.
Kermit the Frog as David Byrne in concert.
A murmuration of starlings momentarily takes the shape of an enormous bird.
Secretly Ironic 