There are too many malls, writes Jeff Jordan. Many will have to be demolished:

• The rise of online retail means that fewer people are purchasing things in malls.
• This is reflected in the fact that malls have high vacancy rates and sluggish rents. The recession might have started this trend, but the continued strength of online commerce is ensuring it continues.
• The next slew of exciting retail stores have all gotten their starts online, rather than through malls.
• In an interesting twist many stores that started off as an internet presence are also starting brick and mortar stores. But often with a twist. One clothing retailer has a store where people can try on their products – but have to buy them online.

Read more about the decline of the mall, and some hard numbers behind the trend over here.

Source: The Atlantic

Via: Marginal Revolution

Jesse Meixsell believes that video games have become easier over the years. Highlights of his argument include:

• In the past a game’s ‘tutorial’ came on the printed manual sold along with the game. Then they came as optional side-quests. Nowadays they’re baked into the opening levels of the game.
• The increasing use of scripted events in games means that there are fewer opportunities to create our own strategies.
• Overall things are easier. Features that used to require cheat codes are now available for all. You rarely have to worry about aiming your gun, running out of ammo, or even running out of health.
• Publishers might be making things so easy so that they appeal to a wider audience.

Read more about the length of games, whether or not this trend should upset us, and more about the overall difficulty of the games presented to us today, over here.

Source: Venture Beat

Cheerleaders are an ubiquitous part of American sport. But their history would likely surprise most Americans writes Lisa Wade:

• Cheerleading started off as an activity pursued exclusively by men. American Presidents Eisenhower, Roosevelt, and Reagan were all cheerleaders.
• However after men went to fight World War One, women started to take up the activity.
• When the war ended, colleges tried to prevent women from staying on as cheerleaders – some even banned them because it was too masculine a sport.
• However, after World War Two, women had come to dominate the activity.
• The ideal cheerleader was “no longer a strong athlete with leadership skills” rather they were cute and effeminate, causing men to bow out of the activity.
• In the modern day gender norms have evolved a little so that cheer-leading once again requires extraordinary amounts of athleticism and skill. But it continues to be something practiced exclusively by women.

Read more about the surprising history of cheerleaders over here.

Source: The Society Pages

David DiSalvo wrote about the plight of turtles trying to cross roads:

• In an experiment with a rubber turtle, one researcher found that a surprising number of motorists would specifically swerve their vehicle to run over the turtle.
• Anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority of people who engage in this practice are male.
• The need to run over small defenceless animals with thousand pound motor vehicles is likely why some species of turtles are endangered.

Read more about the experiment, its findings, and what experts have to say about it, over here.

Source: Forbes

Centives has stayed away from the economics of the fiscal cliff – that’s the serious side of economics that we leave to more distinguished individuals. But Zachary Karabell’s article about why falling off the cliff wouldn’t be the end of the world caught our eye:

• While falling off the cliff is projected to create a recession in the first half of 2013; GDP is expected to rebound and grow by 2% in the second half.
• This short term pain will mean that over the longer term America’s debt and deficit issues will be mitigated to some extent.
• Additional legislation would also likely be introduced after America rolls off the cliff, to prevent the worst parts of the cliff from affecting the American populace.

Read more about the future of America, how the cliff plays into it, and an attempt to put the cliff in a greater global context over here.

Source: The Atlantic

John Timmer reported on a study done of the life expectancy of rock-stars:

• In general, richer people have longer life expectancies than the general population; and rock-stars are quite rich.
• However the data shows that being a rock-star completely negates the benefits of being rich, and in fact, lowers your life expectancy when compared to the general population.
• European rock-stars have a longer life expectancy than American ones, but European rock-stars still have a lower average life-expectancy than the general European population for the first few decades of their life.
• However, after 35 years of fame, European rock-stars had the same life expectancy as average Europeans.
• In general difficult childhood circumstances led to a greater likelihood of rock-stars dying of substance abuse or other risky behaviour.
• This suggests that being a rock-star isn’t what leads famous musicians to engage in excessive drinking, drug abuse, or suicide. Rather it’s traumatic childhoods that causes it.

Read more about the limitations of the study, other findings from it, and the pool or rock-stars that were used over here.

Source: ArsTechnica

How often can paper be recycled? The always excellent Brian Palmer had the answer:

• In theory paper can survive dozens of rounds of the recycling process.
• However each time paper is recycled the fibres that make it up are cut – quite often into pieces that are too small to use. This means that more realistically paper can be recycled up to about five times.
• Each time it is recycled, paper loses some of its quality. Therefore it goes from being writing paper to facial tissues, milk cartons, and, finally, cereal boxes.
• Most of the recycled paper is sent to China which doesn’t have enough forestland to feed its demand for paper.
• In fact, waste-paper might be America’s biggest export to China.

Read more about where your paper might end up, how paper is recycled, and why the United States should be thankful for China over here.

Source: Slate

Dorothy Pomerantz took a look at which stars bring in the most box-office revenue for every dollar they are paid. Highlights of the article include:

• Natalie Portman is at the top of the list. For every dollar she is paid, her movies return $42.70.
• Eddie Murphy, on the other hand, is the most overpaid star. For every dollar he earns, his films only make $2.30.
• Portman’s success is, in part, due to Black Swan, which had a very small budget, but did incredibly well at the Box Office.
• Kristen Stewart has the distinction of being both among the highest paid actors in Hollywood and one of the best investments.
• In fact, all of the main stars of the Twilight series make it onto the list of most profitable actors.
• Daniel Radcliffe, the star of Harry Potter, also makes the list although he is expected to drop off it as the franchise has come to an end.

Find the entire list, and read the methodology of the study over here.

Source: Forbes