This Week - Apr 10, 2015

It’s not that we need a man to be complete, it’s just that for some of us, we’ve been obsessive social ethnographers for so long, that falling in love feels like not only a wonderful gushy gorgeous thing, but also the completion of many years of research. Falling in love is the equivalent to discovering the Holy Grail for Indy Jones... not that it’s the centerpiece of your entire being, but damnit, the obsessive itch you’ve had for years is now scratched.

— Confessions of a Former Romantic Obsessive (Emily V. Gordon for XOJane)

The goal of substance treatment isn’t necessarily to demand abstinence as much as it is to help someone manage their life in a manner where substances are no longer interfering in a negative way.

— Can Weed Really Help Addicts Recover from Alcoholism and Hard Drug Use? (Sophie Saint Thomas for VICE)

All this has led to a new orthodoxy embraced by the upper-middle-brow, in the form of the Michelin Guide and the San Pellegrino list, and by the high-brow/hipster, in the form of the MAD symposium or Ferran Adria’s El Bulli Foundation: Restaurants, bars and coffee shops around the world have started to follow the same template, from preparation to plating, soundtrack to sous-vide, hand-soap to hanger steak. They have begun to look, taste, sound, and smell more and more the same.

— Why Are All ‘Good’ Restaurants Around the World Starting To Look the Same? (Tom Downey for Medium)

The siren call for many entrepreneurs isn’t money, it’s freedom. The freedom to chart your own path, the freedom to build what you want with the people you love. Taking money, building a board, and raising rounds takes away that freedom little by little. When you take venture money, you work for your investors, not yourself.

— Unicorns vs. Horses (Andrew Wilkinson for Medium)

Allow me to spare you the rest of the truths. But the short answer is simply that I could not find a good argument to tell Tamar we should wait any longer for us to grab our backpacks and hit the road — celebrate our last 25 years together by turning the page and enjoy a perfectly fine mid life crisis full of bliss and beauty, and leave the door open to serendipity for our next leadership opportunities, once our long list of travels and adventures is exhausted.

— ‘So When Is It Going to Be Time?’ Now, as Google CFO Pichette to Retire From Search Giant. (Kara Swisher for Re/Code)