1 . There is always a lot of talk about what is fair, and what is not.     1     Yet, some of the 99% seem to believe life has somehow treated them unfairly, and some of the 1% feel life hasn’t treated them fairly enough. My questions are these: What is fairness? Is life fair? Should life be fair?

We definitely have no choice about how we come into this world. We have little choice early in life. But as we grow older, choices exist around. I have long believed that while we have no control over the beginning of our life, the majority of us have the ability to influence the outcomes we attain. Fairness is a state of mind, and most often, an unhealthy state of mind. Our state in life cannot, or at least should not, be blamed on our parents, our teachers, or our society.     2    

I agree that challenges exist. I agree that many have an uphill battle due to the challenges they face.     3     Rules and orders don’t create fairness, but people’s desire and determination can work around most life challenges.

    4     A friend of mine came to this country from Africa in his late teens, barely spoke the language, drove a cab while working his way through college, and is now the president of a technology services firm.     5     They do, however, demonstrate blindness to the mindset of the fairness.

3 . On June 6th Columbia University announced that it will no longer cooperate with US News World Report’s undergraduate rankings. It is the first top institution to do so. Might its departure be the start of a mass departure?

Columbia’s decision follows a ranking scandal (丑闻) last year. In February 2022, one of Columbia’s own maths professors accused the college of having used “outdated and/or incorrect data” in several areas.

In the 1980s, potential students started to expand their college search beyond their local area, and it was hard to learn about universities and compare them. Hence, US News began ranking America’s top universities in 1983, and has released its findings annually since 1988.

Universities have put in significant effort to move up in the ratings. Richard Freeland, Northeastern University’s former president, capped class sizes to enhance student engagement and guarantee class quality. Consequently, it moved from 127th in 2003 to 44th this year.

The ranking system used to seem unstoppable. Universities have tried to get rid of it before, only to find that doing so can backfire badly. US News still ranks non-participating universities, using publicly available information, and the data often do not go in their favour. Columbia did not submit data for this year’s analysis, and its ranking fell from second in 2021-22 to 18th in 2022-23.

Recently the mood has begun to change, however, especially among graduate schools. In 2022, of the 15 highest-ranked law schools, only the University of Chicago submitted data.

In May US News announced changes to its ranking methodology. It is moving away from metrics (度量标准) that rely on reputation and towards student outcomes. One way or another, the rankings-and universities more broadly-are in a state of constant change.

6 . Most of us know what it’s like to get presents from friends. Whether it’s for a birthday or other celebration, it’s hard to beat the excitement of opening a carefully wrapped box to find something that’s both unexpected and suits you perfectly. Now, imagine if you could get the same feeling when you go shopping for yourself. That’s the feeling that mystery boxes hope to create.

Mystery boxes are not a new idea — they were a feature of department stores in Japan in the early 20th Century. They contain a range of different products, which are sold at a lower price than their combined value. The key thing is that customers don’t know what’s in the box before they buy. All kinds of mystery boxes are available: fashion boxes, food boxes, beauty boxes, even loot boxes, which are virtual items for video games.

The pleasant surprise is not the only attraction of mystery boxes. They also allow people to try things that they otherwise wouldn’t. Seasonal vegetable subscription boxes might lead people to learn to cook new meals. They can also potentially offer great savings — as the recommended retail (零售) price of the contents is often far higher than the purchase price. For retailers and suppliers the benefits are clear — it allows them to sell unwanted stock. British fashion mystery box entrepreneur Mario Maher highlight s how mystery boxes can help reduce the amount of waste in the fashion industry. People might discover product ranges that would otherwise be thrown away.

There is an obvious downside to mystery boxes — when you buy them, you don’t know what you’ll get! It may be that the goods inside are not to your taste, but there is also the potential for criminals to make use of the unpredictability of mystery boxes to send items that have a much lower value than the price of the box.

So, are mystery boxes a fun way of reducing waste and making shopping more exciting, or more an opportunity for disappointment, or worse — deception (欺骗)?

8 . First impressions can set a lasting tone, but there is often something doubtful. Psychologists have documented a phenomenon known as the liking gap, by which two people meeting for the first time routinely underestimate how much their counterparts (对应方) like them. A new study finds that the liking gap occurs in group settings too and hinders how well groups function.

In one experiment, the researchers divided 159 participants into groups of three and asked them to have a conversation. They then surveyed the participants individually about how much they liked each of their partners, how much they thought each partner liked them, and how much they thought their partners liked each other. On average, people liked their partners more than they believed their partners liked them, and thought themselves to be the least liked in the group.

In a subsequent experiment, the researchers asked similar questions of engineering students who had worked together in design competitions for varying lengths of time. Here, too, people tended to underestimate the degree to which they were liked, regardless of how long they had known their teammates — and their dim views of their own likability reduced their willingness to ask others for help, give honest feedback, and work together in the future.

A final experiment involving a broad sample of workers showed that the misperceptions (误解) were strongest among teammates and that they decreased team effectiveness and job satisfaction. It also found a possible explanation for the liking gap: People tend to focus on positive thoughts when reflecting on how much they like someone else (“I’m happy that she got a promotion”) but fall victim to more negative ones when considering how others view them (“I got a promotion, so she might be green with envy”).

Managers should think carefully not just about how teammates regard one another but about how team members think they themselves are regarded, the researchers say; correcting misperceptions could boost team satisfaction and performance. “If only people knew how positively their teammates actually felt about them, they might communicate better, feel more included on their teams, and be happier overall with their jobs,” they write.

10 . Culdesac, which describes itself as “the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US”, admitted its first 36 residents in Tempe, Arizona, US, earlier this year. In a country as car-dependent as the US, Culdesac is nothing short of visionary. The $170 million (about 1.24 billion yuan) neighborhood, with its white buildings and narrow walkways, is expected to hold around 1,000 people when the full 760 units are completed by 2025, according to The Guardian. Similar projects in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Houston, Texas, are also underway, said Bloomberg.

Although some densely populated coastal US cities like Boston and New York City are walkable and have adequate public transportation options like bus and light rail, the vast majority of Americans are entirely dependent on cars to get around. In the 2018 US Census, it was found that roughly 85 percent of Americans relied on a car to get to work.

This reliance on cars doesn’t come cheap, unfortunately. In a 2023 study, the American Automobile Association said that it costs an average of about 89,000 yuan per year to own and maintain a car in the US.

So, what is stopping Americans from deserting cars and embracing relatively cheaper alternatives like e-bikes? In a word, unsafe roads that prioritize cars over people. According to a 2018 report by the World Health Organization, the US traffic death rate is 12.4 deaths per 100,000. At the same time, pedestrians and cyclists in the US are often blamed for being hit by drivers rather than the other way around.

Still, there’s hope. By embracing a new car-free way of living, US projects like Culdesac can provide an alternative way of living that’s both healthier and more affordable and, in turn, influence others to live a better way as well. As Vanessa Fox, a 32-year-old resident of Culdesac, said, “For some, cars equal freedom, but for me, it’s a restriction. Freedom is being able to just simply walk out and access places.”