Your social world is basically structured like an onion, and the broad ability for changes and shifts isn’t really there

Felix Reed-Tsochas of Oxford University (video of him speaking embedded above) and five other academics have a new paper out which uses longer-term observational research on how we develop, and shift, our social circles over time. There’s a good write-up in The… Continue Reading

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If you like beer, get yourself to Guangzhou, China

Americans lose their shit over cheap beer prices. If you ever meet someone from western New York state, they will — not a question of if, a question of when — tell you about Genny Cream Ale and how it’s something like… Continue Reading

Goodnight, BCS: remembering perhaps the biggest debacle of them all (2001 with Miami, Colorado, Nebraska, Texas et al)

The BCS said goodbye last night with a doozy of a game — 24 points were scored in the final 5:15 — and actually, with a doozy of a BCS season overall (MSU-Stanford was great, UCF over Baylor was interesting… Continue Reading

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One of the greatest challenges of our time? How to motivate employees aside from simple compensation models

There’s a profile of Mark Zuckerberg in The Wall Street Journal that’s getting some attention for a couple of different reasons: first off, Zuckerberg doesn’t do profiles very often, so the base idea is rare. Second off, it’s a wide-ranging portrait of… Continue Reading

The Rapid Packing Container could change all our lives for the better

Henry Wang and Chris Curro of Cooper Union went and did the damn thing: they created a better, more effective cardboard box. This isn’t something that people often think of, but we use cardboard boxes for (a) basically every Amazon purchase… Continue Reading

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The age of Mia Love is now upon us all

You may have heard that seven-term Utah Democrat Jim Matheson isn’t seeking an eighth term, because, as the National Republican Congressional Committee will tell you: “It’s telling that Matheson, who didn’t even vote for ObamaCare’s original passage, knows he can’t run and… Continue Reading

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In which I actively consider quitting Facebook and the pros and cons therein (alternate title: the downfall of Americana)

I’ve been thinking about quitting Facebook a lot recently. In the last 2-3 weeks, it’s become almost more of a when, not if scenario. I still have some hesitations, which I’ll attempt to outline below, but I figured this was something worth discussing… Continue Reading

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On 60 Minutes and the cleantech / Vinod Khosla story

The above piece aired on 60 Minutes last night. It was part of an overall interesting show that profiled volcanoes, clean tech, and Kim Dotcom (who has 60 lush acres in New Zealand and thinks of himself as James Bond for some… Continue Reading