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Bloomberg’s Baby Davos
June 22, 2015
 In January 2012, when he was still mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg announced that he would spend the year mastering the lucrative but laborious work of computer programming, and that his tutor would be an internet startup called Codecademy. Later, he invested in that ...

Daily Bafflements
June 22, 2015
• This weekend saw Narendra Modi lead the first International Yoga Day, with the controversial Indian prime minister playing up the benefits of yogic exercises to the realms of health, happiness, and national unity, as well as yoga’s role in fighting ...

Ritualized Denial
June 19, 2015
By now, some of the basic details are clear: on Wednesday night, nine people (six women, three men) were murdered in the basement sanctuary of “Mother” Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, during a bible study service. Victims include ...

Daily Bafflements
June 19, 2015
• Pundits warn that tech workers could soon become “as hated as bankers” for their industry’s current boom and the havoc their newfound profits are wreaking on cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Austin. For an in-depth look at the mess ...

No Big Chill for Us
June 18, 2015
“Only the young bring anything in—and they are not young very long,” said William Burroughs of American culture. This is obviously a warning, and not a dull truism, since Burroughs isn’t only referencing literal age, but also the co-opting of adolescent disdain for ...

Daily Bafflements
June 18, 2015
• Proving that a company can never be too big to pull off that hip, startup vibe, CVS opened a new “digital innovation lab” this week. According to one CVS exec, These not-at-all-terrifying projects will be carried out in a sleek new office in Boston’s ...

Made to Measure
June 17, 2015
In the latest season of Orange Is the New Black, an eligibility test sends the inmates of Litchfield Penitentiary into a multiple-choice frenzy. High-scorers will supposedly land better paying jobs—no one knows what kind, although the $1-per-hour wage is incentive enough—but ...

Daily Bafflements
June 17, 2015
• Over at Pacific Standard, Alana Massey pulls up the research that explains why men congratulate themselves for doing more childcare than they truly do. “[F]athers’ desires to be present for their children,” one study concludes, ...

Smile Like You Mean It
June 16, 2015
Such is the exuberant optimism of the staff at Pret A Manger that you’d assume they were treated well. But Pret A Manger’s employees aren’t overjoyed because of good workplace conditions, generous wages, or regular hours; instead it’s because management ...

Daily Bafflements
June 16, 2015
• Today in Billionaires: one architect has figured that when the zombie underclasses revolt, luxury apocalypse shelters will be a must. His five-star bunker is equipped to withstand nuclear blasts with “self-contained water, power, climate, ventilation, air ...

Daily Bafflements
June 15, 2015
• Yesterday, pundits commented that Jeb Bush’s new logo (“Jeb!”) downplays his dynastic Bushiness. Maybe so. But with this move, Jeb, whose name is an acronym of “John Ellis Bush,” is also divesting himself of his ...

Spoof Vs. Spy
June 12, 2015
Summer 2015’s first big blockbuster comedy, Spy, may traffic in elaborate onscreen subterfuge, but it’s little more than the latest variation on a baby-simple, well-worn Hollywood formula.The movie’s admittedly energetic and amusing aim is to lampoon and critique the ...