The Rumpled Anarchy of Bill Murray

A picture of genial abandon in rumpled khakis, football jersey and sneakers, Murray was urging Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman and Chevy Chase to drop their ”reserves of cool” on the dance floor and ”get down!” Murray’s warmth is disarming.

Published: Nov 20, 1988
Length: 16 minutes (4,080 words)

The End of Men

Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences

Source: The Atlantic
Published: Aug 1, 2010
Length: 33 minutes (8,493 words)

The Golden Boy and the Invisible Army

When the H1N1 swine flu virus boiled up out of Mexico last year, the CDC became the epicenter of a worldwide struggle to stop its deadly march. Twenty miles north, at a brick house in Johns Creek, the virus found a perfect host.

Published: Jun 1, 2010
Length: 19 minutes (4,777 words)

Why Didn’t Video Phones Take Off?

Excerpt from the novel “Infinite Jest.” “Videophone consumers seemed suddenly to realize that they’d been subject to an insidious but wholly marvelous delusion about conventional voice-only telephony. They’d never noticed it before, the delusion — it’s like it was so emotionally complex that it could be countenanced only in the context of its loss. Good old traditional audio-only phone conversations allowed you to presume that the person on the other end was paying com­plete attention to you while also permitting you not to have to pay anything even close to complete attention to her.”

Source: Ilxor
Published: Feb 1, 1996
Length: 11 minutes (2,864 words)

Bernie Madoff, Free at Last

In prison he doesn’t have to hide his lack of conscience. In fact, he’s a hero for it.

Published: Jun 6, 2010
Length: 19 minutes (4,954 words)

Attached to Technology and Paying a Price

Mr. Campbell continues to struggle with the effects of the deluge of data. Even after he unplugs, he craves the stimulation he gets from his electronic gadgets. He forgets things like dinner plans, and he has trouble focusing on his family.

Published: Jun 6, 2010
Length: 14 minutes (3,614 words)

iPad TV

Warming up.

Source: Lonely Sandwich
Published: Jun 3, 2010
Length: 12 minutes (3,176 words)

Why I Sold Zappos

Tony Hsieh built his online shoe retailer into an e-commerce powerhouse. But with credit tightening and investors eyeing the exits, Hsieh was forced to ask: Was selling Zappos really the only way to save it?

Author: Tony Hsieh
Source: Inc.
Published: Jun 1, 2010
Length: 9 minutes (2,271 words)

Steve Jobs: The Next Insanely Great Thing

Steve Jobs has been right twice. The first time we got Apple. The second time we got NeXT. The Macintosh ruled. NeXT tanked. Still, Jobs was right both times. Although NeXT failed to sell its elegant and infamously buggy black box, Jobs’s fundamental insight—that personal computers were destined to be connected to each other and live on networks—was just as accurate as his earlier prophecy that computers were destined to become personal appliances. Now Jobs is making a third guess about the future. His passion these days is for objects.

Author: Gary Wolf
Source: Wired
Published: Feb 1, 1996
Length: 24 minutes (6,169 words)

Behind Foursquare and Gowalla: The great check-in battle

Source: Wired
Published: Jun 1, 2010
Length: 17 minutes (4,319 words)