Let no one accuse the Atlantic of holiday cheer. The current edition, a double issue, published in late December, features a cover page burned away to the table of contents and “notes from the apocalypse” written in the remaining margin. Okay, then.

Do you ever wonder whether the reason that everything always seems awful is because that’s all we can talk about? Perhaps that’s what led David Brooks, in his first Atlantic piece of the year, to observe that his country’s media has a “bad-news bias” and the resulting “permanent cloud of negativity has a powerful effect on how Americans see their country” (“Despite Everything You Think You Know, America is on the Right Track”).

He makes a compelling case for looking up and not just on the bright side. Though, I have to admit that his caveat about periods of negativity being a historical feature and not a bug reminded me of a Robin Williams joke about early America: “Puritans, people so uptight the English kicked them out.” That’s the pot here, from this side of the border, knowingly calling the kettle, lest you assume judgement.

Kara Swisher’s interview with product visionary Tony Fadell on her eponymous podcast sets a high bar for the year ahead (“Peering into the Future with Tony Fadell”). Asked to speculate about Apple’s long-rumoured development of a car, Fadell suggested that if Apple were to enter the market they would be more interested in getting customers to think differently about transit rather than chasing existing expectations and trends. Can you think of a better distinction between disruption and innovation?

Speaking of product excellence, I was today years old (like the kids say) when I discovered that there is a website that will tell you whether the dog dies in a movie. I found myself asking the internet such a question while watching a recent movie set in Ireland. Suffice it to say, it’s a great film and I made it all the way to the end.