The weekend is a great time to catch up on some of the reading you skipped during the week.  We hope you enjoy this set of long-form links.

Finance

Why Facebook would rather not go public.  (Felix Salmon contra SAI)

How public shareholders ruined Goldman Sachs ($GS).  (The Epicurean Dealmaker)

A look at the companies “revolutionizing financial markets.”  (CoRise via Mike Tarsala)

A persistent (and popular) myth of the financial crisis debunked.  (Bethany McLean)

Why you really can’t trust data coming out China or Chinese companies.  (Jordan S. Terry)

Should journalists who cover Wall Street also give paid speeches to Wall Street?  (CJR, Finance Addict, Felix Salmon)

Economics

In praise of the best economics website in the world.  (Money Game)

Macroeconomics is in disrepute because it claimed too much.  (Justin Fox)

Some big ideas from some noted economic thinkers summarized.  (Minyanville)

The (geographical) tension inherent in Canadian capitalism.  (Globe and Mail)

Technology

A profile of the star of major league baseball:  MLB.com.  (Fast Company via SplatF)

The NSA is building a huge facility in Utah to listen more closely to our communications.  (Wired)

Is silence going extinct?  (NYTimes)

Science

Roger Pielke, Jr., “More generally, while anyone can offer a prediction of the future, providing a prediction that improves upon a naïve expectation is far more difficult.”  (Freakonomics)

Is the Boeing 737 aging badly?  (Newsweek)

How to become the US memory champion.  (WSJ)

Profiles

Walter Issacson on the real leadership lessons of Steve Jobs.  (HBR)

Who was Casanova?  (Smithsonian via ALDaily)

A look at Noam Schreiber’s The Escape Artists: How Obama’s Team Fumbled the Recovery.  (New Yorker)

Mixed media

Cave living is underrated.  (LATimes via @modeledbehavior)

How a Reddit comment became a major Hollywood movie.  (Wired)

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