Ariana Grande Says “thank u, next” to Her Fourth #1 Album

Ariana Grande’s fifth album “thank u, next” (her second in less than six months) debuted this week at #1 on the Billboard 200 (last August, “sweetener” also debuted at #1). Not only did she have two records debut at the top of the charts in half a year, but “thank u, next” also had the highest performing week for a pop album… or any album by a woman… on streaming services, ever.

Netflix Saves Your Bandersnatch Choices

Are you proud of the decisions you made watching Bandersnatch? Under GDPR request laws, you can request your data from Netflix… even though they didn’t tell you they were recording it or ask your permission to do so.

Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Want to Pay People Who Are “Unwilling to Work?”

In leaked documents released last week, it seems that part of the freshman congresswoman’s Green New Deal aims to provide income even to those people who aren’t disabled, not unable to work, but unwilling to work. As can be expected, conservative media outlets latched onto this phrasing. Her team initially claimed that these documents were doctored, while later stating that they were merely drafts. Advocates for universal basic income (UBI) state this is exactly what they need. In light of this “editing error,” many Democratic lawmakers have distanced themselves from the idea.

NASA Bids Farewell to Opportunity

NASA’s scrappy little Mars rover, given an initial lifespan of only 90 days, was finally declared dead by the agency. NASA launched the rover in June 2003, and it landed on the Red Planet 15 years ago last month. Although the last message received from Opportunity came in June 2018 as a dust storm swept the planet, it was not officially declared “dead” until this week, after hundreds of attempts to contact it had failed. Its final message sent back to Earth: “My battery is low and it’s getting dark.” Earth’s last message to Oppy? Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You.” #ThanksOppy

Bumble CEO Knows She Has A Lot of Responsibility To Women

Whitney Wolfe Herd is creating safe, empowering spaces for women with her suite of Bumble dating/friending/networking apps. “Men and women can be each other’s greatest support system or each other’s greatest enemy… this is about unifying the genders, all genders.” These three apps have over 50 million users, “more than certain countries,” said Herd, which have the ability to affect change in a way that government cannot. She also revealed they are “actively pursuing certain initiatives in the government… right now.”