1

Can we learn anything from the most popular titles (short-term and long-term) on Harvard Business Review?

In some ways, Harvard Business Review is the gold standard of business-school-associated journalism. One of their former editors went on to found Fast Company (another great business magazine) and is now running for Governor of New Mexico. HBR dutifully tracks — as most publications do —… Continue Reading

Gird your loins: Brooklyn is now officially “Manhattan Part II”

See that chart? Egad. (Via here.) In early 2009, the difference between similar apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn was $1,800 per month. Now it’s around $210 per month. Just a quick reminder of how urban areas develop / certain spots become… Continue Reading

New potential (logical?) use of social media: spotting disease/illness trends ahead of time

From here: “The big advantage of social media is you can get a lot more data, and you can get it more quickly and more economically,” said Henry Niman, a biomedical researcher and president of Pittsburgh-based Recombinomics Inc., which analyzes… Continue Reading

Alex Hribal stabbing case: if you believe the media coverage wasn’t that major, why? Is it because the weapon was a knife or because there were no immediate deaths?

If you go to Huffington Post this morning — a liberal publication, one might argue — the PA stabbing story from yesterday isn’t even above the digital fold. It is on CNN, although it’s not the top story — that’s the search… Continue Reading

Urban sprawl and politics: Republicans tend to live in sprawling metros, and Democrats tend to live in compact ones

Here’s a new report (PDF) from Smart Growth America on the portions of America with the largest (and smallest) amount of sprawl. I’ll break it down for you quickly. The three parts of America with the most sprawl are: 1. Hickory/Lenoir/Morganton (NC) 2.… Continue Reading

2

Here’s a good quote regarding the length of the work week in a knowledge-based economy

From here, regarding Sweden contemplating a six-hour workday: As we transition to an economy dominated by knowledge workers rather than assembly-line workers, where productivity is more difficult to both measure and optimize, we haven’t yet figured out the best formula for maximizing output—something that,… Continue Reading

Brief thought exercise: do you find/believe that more people get promoted based on innate talent, personality, or ability to handle politics?

Toss out what you know/think/believe about performance reviews and the ascension of some to the manager level. Think about this one logically. If you’re going to get promoted, that ostensibly means (a) new (and broader) responsibilities and (b) possibly managing others (or… Continue Reading

1

What’s the best city council in America? Austin, TX? Irvine, CA? Seattle, WA?

There are countless lists ranking the best Presidents ever, the best Governors currently, the best-run states in America, and tons of other political stuff. There’s a popular show about local/city government (Parks and Recreation), but broadly, we don’t speak about… Continue Reading