Those who read own the world, and those who watch television lose it.
-Werner Herzog
Food for Thought:
- Medium – Training for Discontent. The Doublespeak of Parenting and the Double Blade of Ambition in Silicon Valley.
- HuffPo – Message to My Freshman Students. First, I am your professor, not your teacher. There is a difference. Up to now your instruction has been in the hands of teachers, and a teacher’s job is to make sure that you learn. However, things are very different for a university professor. It is no part of my job to make you learn. At university, learning is your job — and yours alone.
- NR – Object Lesson – Credit GR – Why we need physical books
- Economist – How to join the 1%. A book on the persistence of elites is an unexpected guide to getting a good job.
- WSJ – For Americans Who Served Time, Landing a Job Proves Tricky. – Credit DH – Thousands of sanctions dog former inmates, most of them employment-related; officials aim to get more ex-offenders back to work.
- VF – The Daring Genesis of J.J. Abrams’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There’s not too much riding on the new Star Wars movie—just the $4 billion investment Disney made when it bought George Lucas’s production company and the expectations of countless persnickety fans.
- VF – How PTSD Became a Problem Far Beyond the Battlefield. Though only 10 percent of American forces see combat, the U.S. military now has the highest rate of post-traumatic stress disorder in its history.
- Slate – A Former Informant Describes the Violent and Sartorially Complicated World of Biker Gangs
Business/Economics/Investing:
- NYMag – The Amazon Killer – Could it really be Wal-Mart?
- WSJ – At Chobani, Rocky Road From Startup Status. Chobani, which helped spawn the craze for Greek yogurt, is naming a new CEO in coming months.
- Business Week – The Manufactured Nostalgia Behind the Herschel Backpack. How two brothers created a huge heritage backpack company, dating all the way to 2009
- Business Week – Elon Musk’s Space Dream Almost Killed Tesla. SpaceX started with a plan to send mice to Mars. It got crazier from there.
Life/Culture/Art/Science:
- Esquire – Viv Will Replace Your Smartphone With Your Fridge and Then Take Over the World. The guys who made SIRI are on the verge of releasing Viv, a word that conjures life itself. Viv is a way of optimizing the Internet that could, among other things, undermine Google and make you far more intelligent and capable. As with all innovations that claim to be advances, however, there, um, might be problems..
- TC – The Best Player Since Jordan. For 17 years, we have been worshiping false idols — but it’s okay, Tim Duncan forgives us.
- Barron’s – Breguet Watches: A History of Innovation. How Swatch revived the spirit of the greatest watchmaker who ever lived.
- WSJ – How Aging Millennials Will Affect Technology Consumption. As the biggest generation in America begins to hit life milestones, it’s not all good news for tech industry.
- WSJ – With Jet, Honda Enters New Realm. Japanese car maker prepares to deliver ultrafast business jet with engines above wings.
- Atlantic – How Tequila Went From Mexican Farms to American Frats. A tale of culture and capitalism.