I visited this mall yesterday and enjoyed it a lot more than a standard mall. Tons of stores and food options that I’d never seen before. In a way it reminded me of my trip to Hong Kong. I was wondering what the background was and then this article popped up today. Timely!

This study of hiring practices by top-tier law firms comes to unsurprising conclusions. But the methodology and specifics are interesting. For example, “even though all educational and work-related histories were the same, employers overwhelmingly favored the higher-class man. He had a callback rate more than four times of other applicants and received more invitations to interview than all other applicants in our study combined. But most strikingly, he did significantly better than the higher-class woman, whose resume was identical to his, other than the first name.”

Sort of a different take on a similar theme to Wallace’s commencement address. Green talks about conscious choices, including knowing the value and limitations of dreams. One of his key takeaways is that we should not be beholden to the dreams and desires of our past selves.

So there’s that.

First I wanted to write this off as another stupid and distorted postmortem think piece, then I found some passages I wanted to quote, then it just kept going, and getting more real. It’s like a meta analysis punctuated with equal parts snark and real talk. Maybe that means I don’t have to read anything else for a while?

Argues that his foreign policy platform is pretty settled, and predicts the challenges to international order that they entail.

I do not want to see bombings become a normal part of American life. But, much like homicides, robberies, and drunk driving, we cannot let individual incidents of violence terrify us or change how we go about our lives. Informed, engaged communities; committed, dedicated police and investigators; trust in the power of a democratic society to bring justice — this is how we remain resilient and free.

Pretty interesting. The amount of technology and human capital assembled for a temporary event is mind-boggling. Sounds like a fun challenge.

Michael Moore said the same about Romney, so while the arguments are real and concerning, they are more of a warning.

Short answer: no.

What happens when a father, alarmed by his 13-year-old daughter’s nightly workload, tries to do her homework for a week.

Blaming “mental illness” is a cop-out — and one that lets us avoid talking about race, guns, hatred and terrorism

Great discussion of the challenges of minimalism and the trade-offs involved.

Malcolm Gladwell’s look into how automotive safety recalls work, and don’t. But hidden inside is a look at how we examine and evaluate risk and where we place priorities. And the sometimes insurmountable gulf between what engineers see and what normal, emotional people see. And the consequences in safety for how we prioritize and deal with public safety issues. A good read.

Can we all take a moment to remember the phenomenon that was Jennicam? The 90s — such a wonderful, simple time.

An excellent distillation of one of the most important issues of the next decade.

Update (2015-03-29): This post sparked a few conversations with friends that have caused me to revise my opinion. I still believe that rising economic inequality, lack of opportunities, decreased social mobility, and poor measures of success focused on economic growth are all major problems for our society. I’m not convinced that technological progress is the major cause of this shift or that this technological age is fundamentally different from previous periods of “creative destruction.” That said, I do still worry about the types of new jobs that are currently being created, many of which in the “gig economy” offer very little economic security and no benefits.

Ignore the hyperbolic headline and drink in the facts and figures that refute the general negative feeling about the state and outlook for America in 2015.