Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath?
nytimes.comIn another famous case, a 9-year-old boy named Jeffrey Bailey pushed a toddler into the deep end of a motel swimming pool in Florida. As the boy struggled and sank to the bottom, Bailey pulled up a chair to watch. Questioned by the police afterward, Bailey explained that he was curious to see someone drown.
Estimated reading time: 28 min
An Accidental Comedian of the People
nytimes.comAn overweight 6-foot-2-inch Valkyrie of a woman in a pink velour sweatsuit, Cindy plays up the worst stereotypes of Germany’s contemporary version of the welfare queen. She wakes up at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and begins drinking. Her dream man, Enrico, stands 4-foot-10, weighs 375 pounds and works as a bouncer.
Estimated reading time: 6 min
In ‘Obesity Paradox,’ Thinner May Mean Sicker
nytimes.comIn study after study, overweight and moderately obese patients with certain chronic diseases often live longer and fare better than normal-weight patients with the same ailments. The accumulation of evidence is inspiring some experts to re-examine long-held assumptions about the association between body fat and disease.
Estimated reading time: 5 min
Do We Have the Courage to Stop This?
nytimes.com“It is more difficult to adopt a pet than it is to buy a gun.”
Estimated reading time: 5 min
Apple Shake-Up Could Lead to Design Shift
nytimes.comYou can be sure that the next generation of iOS and OS X will have Jony’s industrial design aesthetic all over them,” said a designer who works at Apple but declined to be named as he is not allowed to speak publicly. “Clean edges, flat surfaces will likely replace the textures that are all over the place right now.
Estimated reading time: 3 min
The Elusive Big Idea
nytimes.comIf our ideas seem smaller nowadays, it’s not because we are dumber than our forebears but because we just don’t care as much about ideas as they did. In effect, we are living in an increasingly post-idea world — a world in which big, thought-provoking ideas that can’t instantly be monetized are of so little intrinsic value that fewer people are generating them and fewer outlets are disseminating them, the Internet notwithstanding. Bold ideas are almost passé.
Estimated reading time: 4 min
German Fascination With Degrees Claims Latest Victim: Education Minister
nytimes.comFor the plagiarism scalp hunters, the abundance of titles provides what in military circles is known as a target-rich environment, and digging up academic deception by politicians has become an unlikely political blood sport.
Estimated reading time: 4 min
Why We Love Beautiful Things
nytimes.comWe think of great design as art, not science, a mysterious gift from the gods, not something that results just from diligent and informed study. But if every designer understood more about the mathematics of attraction, the mechanics of affection, all design — from houses to cellphones to offices and cars — could both look good and be good for you.
Estimated reading time: 4 min
With Bill Murray, Just Take the Trip
nytimes.comWell, who hasn’t woken up thinking, “God, nothing good has come to me in a while,” right? When I feel like I’m stuck, I do something — not like I’m Mother Teresa or anything, but there’s someone that’s forgotten about in your life, all the time. Someone that could use an “Attaboy” or a “How you doin’ out there.” It’s that sort of scene, that remembering that we die alone. We’re born alone. We do need each other. It’s lonely to really effectively live your life, and anyone you can get help from or give help to, that’s part of your obligation.
Estimated reading time: 9 min
How to Die
nytimes.comAnd so the hospital unplugged his insulin and antibiotics, disconnected his intravenous nourishment and hydration, leaving only a drip to keep pain and nausea at bay. The earlier bustle of oxygen masks and thermometers and blood-pressure sleeves and pulse-taking ceased. Nurses wheeled him away from the wheezing, beeping machinery of intensive care to a quiet room to await his move to “the other side.”
Estimated reading time: 4 min
How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work
nytimes.com“The entire supply chain is in China now,” said another former high-ranking Apple executive. “You need a thousand rubber gaskets? That’s the factory next door. You need a million screws? That factory is a block away. You need that screw made a little bit different? It will take three hours.”
Estimated reading time: 20 min
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