Book notes: Forget the mania to clean up. Tim Harford in Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives says messy can be creative. (Bloomberg)
Quote of the Day
"(W)e humans are strange and often our own worst enemies, especially when it comes to trying to increase our exercise or reduce our weight."
(Gretchen Reynolds)
Environment
- What cities are doing to reduce the effect of global warming induced heat waves. (newyorker.com)
- "The launch of the world’s first large-scale tidal energy farm in Scotland has been hailed as a significant moment for the renewable energy sector." (theguardian.com)
- This device can create drinking water from the air. (businessinsider.com)
Gasoline
- The ethanol mandate outlived its usefulness. (nytimes.com)
- Don't waste money on premium gas. (nytimes.com)
Autonomous vehicles
- Tesla ($TSLA) wants to innovate the dealership as much as the car (washingtonpost.com)
- Lyft's vision for the next ten years. (medium.com)
- The NHTSA wants to play an active role in the evolution of driverless cars. (washingtonpost.com)
- A 15-point federal checklist for self-driving cars. (nytimes.com)
- Self-driving cars will set off a change in cities. (bloomberg.com)
- Who's responsible when a human is behind the wheel of a car with autonomous features? (latimes.com)
- There is a proposal to make a stretch of Interstate 5 into an autonomous-only highway. (bloomberg.com)
Technology
- The paperless office is finally here. (wsj.com)
- What happens when your ad blocking company starts running ads? (nytimes.com)
- On the sad demise of the rotary knob. (ft.com)
The brain
- The difference between rationality and intelligence. (nytimes.com)
- How men experience depression. (wsj.com)
Offers
- You can now get Robert Cialdini's highly anticipated second book "Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade." (amazon.com)
- Try Audible.com and get two free audiobooks including the new memoir by Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run." (amazon.com)
- Amazon is pushing hard into voice powered-computing with the new Dot. (amazon.com)
Science
- Everything we know about human-Neanderthal sex. (vox.com)
- The incentives for bad science are growing. (theatlantic.com)
- Goldfish as invasive species. (nytimes.com)
Health
- The big tech companies are pushing into health-related decision support. (bloomberg.com)
- Men with anxiety are more vulnerable to cancer. (latimes.com)
- Gonorrhea is becoming increasingly dangerous. (washingtonpost.com)
Food
- Why supermarket bacon is packaged with that window. (bloomberg.com)
- Why grass-fed beef is on a roll. (wsj.com)
- Your smoothie is a dessert. (bonappetit.com)
Drink
- Why Bruges, Belgium built a two-mile beer pipeline. (nytimes.com)
- Belgians don't drink Stella Artois. (wsj.com)
- Pubs are in decline in the UK. (bloomberg.com)
- Are we underplaying the cancer risk of drinking alcohol? (wired.com)
Alexa
- Apple ($AAPL) wants Siri to take on Alexa. (arstechnica.com)
- Amazon ($AMZN) Alexa-powered devices like the new $49 Dot are clearly in the lead. (amazon.com)
Kids
Sports
- A profile of Theo Epstein as the Cubs' turnaround takes hold. (espn.com)
- Clemson is capitalizing on the football team's success. (washingtonpost.com)
- The NFL should let players smoke weed for pain. (rollingstone.com)
- When will a woman play in MLB? (nytimes.com)
Entertainment
- Ashton Kutcher knows how to make a sitcom. (theringer.com)
- Conan is still slugging it out in late night. (theringer.com)
- Netflix ($NFLX) wants half of its content to be original. (techcrunch.com)
- How to watch movies and books intelligently. (qz.com)
College
- Are there too many liberal arts majors? (theatlantic.com)
- Women in engineering: where diversity rules. (washingtonpost.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: the rise of pre-commerce. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Q&A with Eddy Elfenbein on the launch of the Advisorshares Focused Equity ETF ($CWS). (abnormalreturns.com)
- My contribution to the "Most Important Charts in the World" on yield-seeking. (businessinsider.com)