21 rules of entertaining from Dinner: A Love Story.
Some handy math: On average, assume your guests will have 2 drinks per hour (10 guests x 2 drinks x 2 hours = 40 drinks). There are approximately 5 wine glasses per bottle. A 1-liter bottle of liquor contains enough for 32 mixed drinks. One liter of mixer will make 8 drinks.
Love + Radio's acclaimed episode, "The Living Room". A story that will deeply resonate with close-quartered New Yorkers, this is a story of new neighbors across the way who never shut their curtains and the false sense of intimacy that ensued.
The Atlantic on effective altruism.
The simplest way to explain effective altruism and its discontents is to begin with three pillars of the movement: (1) You can make a truly enormous difference in the world if you live in a rich country; (2) you can "do good better" by thinking scientifically rather than sentimentally; and (3) you can do good even better by trying to find the greatest need for the next marginal dollar.
Racked's incredible look at how American Girl has become a lifestyle brand by staying deeply empathetic to their 9-year-old customer.
"I've been down in Williamsburg this week and had an idea. What do you think of it? A series of books about nine-year-old girls growing up at different times in American history. There would be six books for each and the stories would reflect the important moments of girlhood, and how it changed and how it stayed the same over the years. There would be a doll for each character with historically accurate clothes and accessories so girls could play out the stories," wrote founder Pleasant Rowland in 1985.
Mindy Kaling's guide to killer confidence self-published in Glamour.
A general assumption about confidence is that women, particularly young women, will have very little of it, and girls will have zero of it. Just the attitude alone makes me sad: "We have to help our girls and teach them to be confident." Well, guess what, young girls. You aren't damsels in distress. You aren't hostages to the words of your peers. You aren't the victims that even your well-meaning teachers and advocates think you are.
Radiolab's eye-opening podcasts episodes about big-game hunting and cyber-terrorism. The podcast hosts do an incredible job portraying both sides of complex issues that played across news headlines in 2015.
A long time ago, Emma Coats tweeted the Pixar story rules. They're still relevant.
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
Elon Musk's master plan for Tesla.
MIT x Henry Jenkins' white paper on creating content audiences want to adopt and adapt.
Ben Thompson's argument that Buzzfeed in the most important news organization in the world.
Questlove's series on how hip-hop redefined cool and failed black America.
Jon Gertner's history of innovation at Bell Labs.
Noel Gallagher's hilarious perspective on the music industry today.
Derek Thompson's investigation of effective altruism as a donation philosophy.
Doug Stephens on the transition of retail from distribution point to product experience.