“Discard the junk…you are far better off to read a much smaller amount of good material with care and thoughtfulness.”
– Barton Biggs

Food for Thought:

• The Atlantic – The Eternal Return of BuzzFeed.  What the online juggernaut can learn from Time, USA Today, and MTV.
• NYMag – Have You Eaten Your Last Avocado.  The California drought hits the avocado industry especially hard.
• JC – How to Stick With Good Habits Every Day by Using the “Paper Clip Strategy”
• WSJ – Teaching Shakespeare Straight Up.  No ‘Shakespeare and Imperialism’ or ‘Shakespeare and Gender.’ Students like the real thing just fine.
• The Atlantic – The Deconstruction of the K-12 Teacher.  When kids can get their lessons from the Internet, what’s left for classroom instructors to do?
• Boston Globe – What is it like to be poor at an Ivy League school?  High-achieving, low-income students, often the first in their families to attend college, struggle to feel they belong on elite campuses.
• The Atlantic – The Upwardly Mobile Barista.  Starbucks and Arizona State University are collaborating to help cafe workers get college degrees. Is this a model for helping more Americans reach the middle class?
• NYMag – FOGO Is the New FOMO

Business/Economics/Investing:

• Forbes – Twinkie’s Miracle Comeback: The Untold, Inside Story of a $2 Billion Feast
• MR – Abolish the National Raisin Reserve.  How does this World War II program still exist?
• 25IQ – A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Lou Simpson About Investing and Business
• McKinsey – Our gambling culture.  The craving for immediate gratification has spread well beyond Wall Street says Blackrock’s, Larry Fink.
• ZH – How The Second Tech Bubble Will Burst, In The Words Of Silicon Valley’s “Poster Child” And World’s Youngest Billionaire.  The circular flow of funds from VC to startups to Facebook and back.
• FT – Inside the Dyson dynasty.  His son Jake may have joined him but James Dyson is not slowing down: his plans include robotics and software, taking on giants such as Google.
• WSJ – Are You Hot or Not? For Investors, It’s Hard to Tell.  Being proved right when others turn out to be wrong can build your confidence. It also should shake it.

Life/Culture/Art/Science:

• Harpers – The Female Work Uniform.  An art director on why she leaves the creativity behind when it comes to her professional wardrobe.
• PS – How Gaziano & Girling started.  The story of how the UK-based bespoke shoe maker started.
• Medium – Running a Half Marathon in North Korea.  As one of just 630 foreigners allowed to participate in the 2015 Pyongyang Marathon, I enjoyed an experience I will never forget.
• FT – The future of flying.  Air travel is a modern paradox: hugely popular yet extremely damaging to the planet. Is there a solution?
• WSJ – To Fight the Drought, L.A. Needs a Rain Revolution.  Dry, thirsty Los Angeles is trying to capture more storm water, restore a river and learn from the past.
• WSJ – Moore’s Law Shows Its Age.  50-year-old axiom hits limits amid the many new steps needed to turn silicon wafers into the latest computer chips.