The ghosts in our machines
 THE BIG STORY
What happens when your phone doesn't realize your mother is dead
We spend our days filling our phones and social media with memories. A dozen photos taken to try to capture one moment. A 5-minute video to capture a laugh. And in all that documentation, we preserve people and times and relationships in bits and bytes, to be remixed and served back to us at the whim of algorithms that don't understand the complexities of human lives.
Editor Karolina Waclawiak lost her mother — and her phone and social media accounts continue to fail to realize that, serving up painful memories she would only choose to revive sparingly. So she asks: What do we do with these prompts from a ghost life and otherwise painful memories we are besieged by?
I don't have the answer. But I took comfort in this meditative piece, as we all struggle to find a balance between remembering and forgetting in this no-place of the pandemic. STAYING ON TOP OF THIS
The founder of the megachurch Hillsong has been charged with covering up child sexual abuse
Police in New South Wales, Australia, served 67-year-old Brian Houston Thursday with a charge of concealing a serious indictable offense, and he is expected to appear in court in October. Their investigation into the matter began in 2019 after reports that Houston had concealed information relating to his father Frank Houston's alleged sexual abuse against children, police said.
Brian Houston and his wife, Bobbie, founded Hillsong in 1983 in Sydney. The church has expanded to 30 countries with 10 churches in the US, boasting it reaches 150,000 people each week in its services. Those have included star-studded attendees, like Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and Kourtney Kardashian. SNAPSHOTS
Lil Nas X opened up about his "terrifying" experience of coming out and the pressure of being gay and black in the rap industry.
Ashley Tisdale has come to the defense of fellow former Disney star Selena Gomez after TV drama The Good Fight made reference to the singer's 2017 kidney transplant.
WATER WAY TO WIN  Artistic swimmers in motion are a powerful form of athletic poetry. And when you freeze them in time, something else emerges. Check out our gallery for some of the fiercest photos from this year's Olympics. Fred Lee / Getty Images #FREEBRITNEY
Britney Spears' dad tried to stop her from going to Hawaii for a vacation, her attorney said
Attorney Mathew Rosengart, in new court papers, argued that even though Spears' father changed his mind, the objection emphasized why removing him from her conservatorship is an urgent matter. Rosengart asked that a Sept. 29 hearing on the 39-year-old pop star's request to suspend her father, Jamie Spears, as conservator of her estate be moved up.
"In short, although a two-month wait for a hearing on the Petition may not seem significant in the context of 13 years, Ms. Spears should not be forced to continue feel traumatized, lose sleep, and suffer further," Rosengart wrote in the filing. "Every day matters." WEEKEND LONGREADS
A long read, some long reads, and long looks
Fans loved Amanda Kloots' vulnerability. Then her memoir came out. When Kloots first publicized her story of loving and then losing her husband, Nick Cordero, to COVID, she successfully universalized it: Her supporters could easily imagine being in her shoes. She was relatable, a hardworking mom and wife who just wanted her husband to get better, editor Shannon Keating writes. But then her memoir came out, and highlighted how different the pandemic has been for the wealthy and well-connected. Now readers were seeing behind the curtain. Had Kloots revealed too much?
9 new paperbacks you won't be able to put down. Because they're covered in glue. Or because they're good? Probably the latter. Tomi Obaro has compiled a list of nine titles, from literary fiction to YA, coming out in paperback this month, so you're sure to discover something enticing.
Wishing you a smooth ride to the weekend, Brandon 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Brandon Hardin and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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