Newsroom — Alexander Freeling

Weak Ties and Strong Ties

June 29, 2021
by Alexander Freeling.  It was a theory of social networking before social networks. In 1973, Mark Granovetter published an essay on “The Strength of Weak Ties.” Rejected four years earlier by one ...
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Rabbit Holes

June 15, 2021
by Alexander Freeling.  The curse of the algorithm is also its genius: the goal is to make you watch one more video, but whether you click or not, it uses that fact to become even more persuasive n...
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Other People's Gear

June 01, 2021
by Alexander Freeling.  Borrowed branding has a strange appeal. The most egregious example might be Franklin & Marshall: not the small liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but the I...
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Rules of the Hat

May 04, 2021
by Alexander Freeling.  This year I broke a rule I didn’t know I’d made: no hats at home. It wasn’t intentional, I realized, but over the years hats, like shorts, had become things to wear only in ...
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Imported Goods

April 13, 2021
by Alexander Freeling.  There’s trouble afoot in British cheesemaking. Simon Spurrell, a purveyor of small-batch Cheshire and Stilton cheeses, has been voicing his frustration that any order from a...
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On Being Colorful

March 30, 2021
by Alexander Freeling.  Only some colors are colorful. To be full of color implies intensity and saturation. This is why colorful also means to be bright, lively, and expressive. It can also be eup...
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DIY

March 02, 2021
by Alexander Freeling.   Unless you’re a professional, practical work comes in two forms: the kind that needs doing and the kind it’s fun to attempt. How big each of these categories are, and what ...
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