Generation Stuck: Why Don't Young People Move, Anymore? - The Atlantic
This much is true: Americans are increasingly stuck and reluctant to move to cities where they might be better off. Twentysomethings have typically moved more than older families, but we’re moving far less than we used to,
Internet Access Is Not a Human Right
Technology is a means of enabling freedom, not an end in itself.
Source: The New York Times
The Betterness Manifesto - Umair Haque - Harvard Business Review
It’s up to each of us to build them. Want betterness? Betterness doesn’t begin with Ben Bernanke, Lloyd Blankfein, or Anderson Cooper. It begins with you. Creating a better 21st century means choosing to stop living in the 20th century. So what can you do? Here are eight ways to kick start betterness:
The Geography of the Year in Music
It’s time for the annual best-of lists, so I thought you might enjoy this urbanist take on the year’s best songs. It’s based on the recently released list of the year’s top singles from reviewers and critics at the music site Pitchfork. So yes, we’re starting with a subjective assessment, one that is heavily skewed toward English language acts in the indie, alternative, and hip-hop genres. It’s also admittedly one that’s on occasion been mocked as out of touch or overly snobby. Still, it’s as useful a barometer of what’s hot at the leading edges of popular music as any. And for our purposes, it turns out to be quite amenable to locational analysis, too.
Average Is Over. What's Your Extra? - Bill Taylor - Harvard Business Review
“In a hyper-connected world where so many talented non-Americans and smart machines that can do above-average work are now easily available to virtually every employer, what was ‘average’ work ten years ago is below average today, and will be further below average ten years from now,” Friedman and Mandelbaum write. “As a result, everyone needs to raise his or her game just to stay in place, let alone get ahead.” In an environment where “average is over,” they go on, everybody has to find their “extra” — their unique talent, skill, contribution, or commitment that separates them from the pack and lets them do something special.
A Dispute Over Who Owns a Twitter Account Goes to Court
A lawsuit filed this summer could answer the growing question of whether a company can claim ownership of an employee’s social media account.
Source: The New York Times
The Best City Time Lapse Videos of 2011
A good time-lapse video has a number of distinguishing characteristics: detailed photographs, imaginative angles, seamless editing, an appropriate score. A great time-lapse video — at least when the subject matter is a city — also gives viewers insight to the essence of a place: the frenzy of its traffic, perhaps, or the grace of its buildings or the jobs of its people. Those aren’t easy objectives to conquer in a matter of minutes, and probably with zero compensation, but these ten videos managed to do so in 2011. Here are ten of the best city-related time-lapse videos completed this past year, presented in no particular order.
http://www.good.is/post/mind-the-gap-year-global-citizen-year-turns-18-year-olds-into-future-leadersMind the Gap Year: Global Citizen Year Turns 18-Year-Olds into Future Leaders
Global Christianity - A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World' s Christian Population - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
A comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread – so far-flung, in fact, that no single continent or region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.
Companies Going Good
With those realizations, Brian founded United By Blue in May of 2010. This company would be different. It would not give money away, but instead associate the sale of each product with a concrete environmental action. Not only does the UBB business model enable us to be the catalyst for real conservation efforts, it also allows us to develop a fun, engaging, and community-focused brand. Our cleanups are the bedrock of our company, and allow us to engage with thousands of volunteers and inspire participation in the blue movement.
For every product sold, UBB removes one pound of trash from oceans and waterways through company organized and hosted cleanups. Using this business model we are on pace to collect 100,000 pounds of trash by the end of 2011, and 1 million pounds by the end of 2012.
M.I.T. Expands Its Free Online Courses
The new online learning platform will provide access to online laboratories, self-assessments and student-to-student discussions.
Source: The New York Times
What Cornell's New Tech Campus Means for New York's Roosevelt Island
Today the Bloomberg administration is expected to announce that Cornell University will be awarded the right to build a vast new tech-focused campus in New York City. Cornell beat out a number of competitors, domestic and international alike, for the honor — presumably securing the award with the announcement, last Friday, of a $350 million anonymous gift that will go toward the project (we’re looking at you, Andy Bernard). Its top competitor, Stanford,dropped out of the race the same day, citing an inability to reach an agreement with the city on the project (though the Wall Street Journal reports that the school “preferred to quit than lose”).
The Yellow Cow
1911; Oil on canvas, 140.5 x 189.2 cm; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Timothy Egan: Please Stop Sharing
High-level stupidity, there for the ages, courtesy of technology.
Source: The New York Times
