The weekend is a great time to catch up on some of the reading you skipped during the week.  So for all you “time shifters” out there, here is another set of long-form links.  As always, feel free tell us what you think.

Models are supposed to help clarify, however in finance they have historically been used to muddle the situation.  (The Psy-Fi Blog)

On the (big) difference between principal and agent transactions.  (The Epicurean Dealmaker)

A profile of activist hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.  (BW)

How angels investors are changing American business.  (Institutional Investor)

Quora is another example of traditional journalistic outfits getting disintermediated.  (Quora Review)

How great entrepreneurs think.  (Inc.)

The impact of the adoption of the printing press on economic growth.  (voxEU)

We have lived in the Internet age long enough for some to begin thinking about its ultimate impact.  (New Yorker via @longreads)

Computers are poised to pass the Turing Test.  What that tells us about humanity.  (The Atlantic)

Why cities should be building up, not out.  (The Atlantic also Boston Globe)

Francis Ford Coppola on risk-taking.  (99% via TRB)

How social media helped “save” Conan’s career.  (Fortune)

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