I am ordinarily not a fan of “technology is ruining us!” rants, though I found this one to be particularly well done. Though I don’t fully agree with its conclusions, it got me thinking about how I am using technology and what it might be costing me.

How software is screening job applications. In other words, automating acronym job requirements.

Daniel Yergin writes of America’s New Energy Reality. I have found the shift in the president’s approach to energy to be quite positive. Even when he stopped Keystone, he made a point of saying that he supports it in theory. I don’t know if it constitutes a new reality, but it definitely seems to constitute a new political reality: we can’t pretend that clean and renewable is going to get us there. In my hope of hopes, I’m hoping it becomes like the gun issue. I can’t think of any other issue where the center shifted so radically and quickly as it did there.

We’re working towards making Person of Interest a reality as we teach software to automatically detect suspicious behavior. Canada is planning to surveil more politely.

Bakadesuyo: Sometimes being smart is a disadvantage to decision-making.

Yay! Using a computer is not rotting my brain!

One of the downsides to television is that it makes awesome things like this look cumbersome and ineffective. Television heroes and villains can accomplish this and look good doing it!

Jordan Weissmann wonders if college students aren’t borrowing enough. This makes sense, for reasons discussed in the article and one that isn’t discussed: Had my college money run out, I wouldn’t have known where to look to even get alone and might have thought “Huh, no more money, no more college I guess.” Whereas if you know you’re going to have to borrow at the outset, you’re not going to run out of money.

Japanese designers created a livable house on 52 square meters of triangular space. If you want to find that kind of efficiency here, you have to look at trailer parks. More tiny houses.