Chris A. Kramer (Marquette): Subversive Humor (“An indirect and imaginative route through subversive humor offers a means to raise consciousness about covert oppression and the mechanisms underlying it, reveal the errors of those with power who complacently sustain systematic oppression, and even open those people up to changing their minds”.) How, why and when did Putin decide to build a kleptocratic and authoritarian regime in Russia and what is its future? Maxine David on what Boris Nemtsov's assassination says about Putin's climate of fear (and more). The earth’s rarest metals, and why we need them: Chris Wright reviews Rare: The High-Stakes Race to Satisfy Our Need for the Scarcest Metals on Earth by Keith Veronese. Warren Buffett's annual messages to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway are always full of interesting observations about the business world. From skyhook to storyteller: Geoff Edgers on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the basketball icon, reinvented as culture vulture. Judd Legum on LeBron James Jr. and the professionalization of 4th grade sports. Your snitching gadgets: A new generation of always-listening devices is now collecting practically whatever they can, to increasingly creepy ends. Why are we blaming technology for our lack of focus? We complain that we’ve become addicted to glowing screens, but it’s less the screens themselves than what's behind them that’s the big draw. You will be a different person by the time you reach the end of this article.
