Food for Thought:

• Ok, a bit of a downer to start things off, but 3 interesting pieces on violence this week: one on school shootings, one on torture in the name of avoiding terrorism, and one on online abuse at Twitter.  Interesting to think about when and why violent acts are committed.
  • NewYorker – Thresholds of Violence.  Malcolm Gladwell on How school shootings catch on.
  • Medium – Out of the Darkness.  How two psychologists teamed up with the CIA to devise a torture program to experiment on human beings.
  • Medium – Why Twitter’s Dying (And What You Can Learn From It).  The problem with Twitter is abuse.
• WSJ – When Instagram Culture Ruins a Vacation.  Writer Dan Crane on the downside of finding an idyllic beach in Mallorca: The selfie-stick-equipped hordes were already there.
• MP – How do Trends Happen? Is there a conspiracy to make your trousers uncool every three years? The Future Laboratory explains.
• NYTimes – Terry Gross and the Art of Opening Up.  The “Fresh Air” host’s 40-year, 13,000-interview master class in conversation.
• WSJ – A Path Out of the Middle East Collapse.  With Russia in Syria, a geopolitical structure that lasted four decades is in shambles. The U.S. needs a new strategy and priorities writes Henry Kissinger.
• QZ – A top recruiter on what anyone can see after 30 seconds with your resume – Credit CW
• WSJ – Beached in Brazil, a Young Penguin Finds His Human Soul Mate.  Jinjing, native to chilly Patagonia, keeps returning to a widower on a warm Brazil beach.
• CA – A Parent’s survival tale – Credit AW –  What happens when you combine a dad taking care of the kids for the day, a potty training toddler and a city playground?  Hilarity ensues.

Business/Economics/Investing:

• WSJ – Tech Startups Feel an IPO Chill.  Sky-high valuations are starting to backfire on some Silicon Valley companies that are trying to raise more money or go public; Dropbox stalls.
• BusinessWeek – QE Didn’t Quite Cut It, So Now What?  “We have very good estimates of how quantitative easing affected interest rates,” says Amir Sufi, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. “We don’t know how to translate that into how it affected the real economy.”
• NYTimes – Should You Be Allowed to Invest in a Lawsuit?  In recent years, investors have started buying shares in other people’s
  litigation proceedings. Are they warping the legal system in the process?
• WSJ – Why Miners Keep Expanding, as Prices Collapse.  Weaker currencies help many firms cut costs, fueling new projects and adding to a global glut.
• AiCIO – The Stanford Endowment Experiment.  What went wrong at the world’s most innovative university.
• WSJ – Companies to Workers: Start Saving More—Or We’ll Do It for You.  Firms are boosting the automatic retirement-savings rate—and finding little pushback from employees.

Life/Culture/Science:

• NYTimes – Cash Drops and Keystrokes: The Dark Reality of Sports Betting and Daily Fantasy Games
• FastCo – Hot Sauce, USA.  What the condiment aisle says about American consumers.
• WSJ – How the Cubs Emerged From the Stone Age.  Chicago has worked hard at modernizing every facet of its operation—from the scoreboard to its data gathering—and the club is now benefitting.
• WSJ – A Sensible Guide to Buying Hot Fashion Trends
• GP – No One Loves Watches More than Adam Craniotes – Credit DH
• Economist – A Jungle No More.  One woman’s quest to improve how beef cattle are processed has changed an industry.