Why is America's upper middle class so unhappy? Too much work, and abject disbelief in a meritocracy. / Vox

This week's white paper to wonder about says billionaires are better-looking than average for their age. / National Bureau of Economic Research

Jessa Crispin: Most laptops provided to US students contain surveillance software, an overreach for students who can't afford personal devices. / The Guardian

There are many, many reasons for why the global supply chain is broken—and here they are. / Bloomberg

See also: Why the chip shortage could solve itself. / The Economist

Walgreens blames "organized retail crime" for its closure of five San Francisco stores. / SFGATE

The massive boom heard and felt by people in New England on Sunday may have been caused by a "bolide," or meteor. / The New Hampshire Union Leader

A melon-sized meteorite crashed through a woman's roof and landed on her pillow, where she'd been asleep just moments before. / CBC

Probably unrelated to all this: Radio waves of unknown origin have been detected coming from deep in the Milky Way. / The University of Sydney

Album sales for R. Kelly increased by 517% in the week following his recent conviction for sexual exploitation of a child. / Rolling Stone

A moving story of a man who befriended his brother's murderer. "For me and the life that I lived, it was unusual." / The Los Angeles Times

How local newsrooms, whose online archives surface all manner of crimes, are handling people's right to be forgotten. / Columbia Journalism Review

Visualizations of future sea level rise at tourist sites (like Santa Monica Pier) if we fail to meet emissions reduction targets. / Climate Central

As things currently stand, America's electric grid can't sustain a massive shift to electric vehicles. / The Washington Post

See also: Ted Cruz's theory that bitcoin mining could stabilize Texas's grid assumes a significant portion of miners aren't in it for the money. / Ars Technica

A new sub-genre of romance fiction emerges: the bitcoin bodice ripper. / Alison Fensterstock

What you learn by reading all 27,000 Marvel Comics issues: They tell one very large, very long story. / WIRED

"The desert does itself like an incalculable sum." Steven Connor pays tribute to sand. / Public Domain Review

Excerpts from a 15th-century guide to fighting and self-defense. / Flashbak

The nostalgia for fast-food restaurant sunrooms is strong. / MEL