The weekend is a great time to catch up on some long-form links you missed during the week. We think this should also include our new book, Abnormal Returns: Winning Strategies from the Frontlines of the Investment Blogosphere. Enjoy.
Finance
Andrew Haldane on what fat tails should teach policymakers. (Bank of England)
The last days of MF Global. (Fortune)
Investing
Why forecasting earnings is a mug’s game. (The Psy-Fi Blog)
Creating an alternative to the traditional portfolio. (AAII)
Why Treasury rates could remain low indefinitely….price insensitive buyers. (Jason Zweig)
Economics
Beyond scarcity: the parable of water and the abundance of goods. (FT Alphaville, ibid)
The downside of the economic boom in North Dakota. (ProPublica)
Luck
Don’t eat fortune’s cookie. (Michael Lewis)
TED, “Just because your success depends in large part on luck, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your damnedest to chase it.” (The Epicurean Dealmaker)
Science
A profile of Burt Rutan and the future of private space travel. (Economist)
The horrible toll of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. (NYTimes)
Why mine asteroids, when the ocean’s floor awaits? (WSJ, ibid)
The case against the case against less salt in our diets. (NYTimes)
Psychology
Why wearing fakes makes us cheat more, an excerpt from Dan Ariely’s The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone –Especially Ourselves. (Scientific American)
Atul Gawande on risk taking, failure and the “mastery of rescue.” (New Yorker)
The neuroscience of choking. (Frontal Cortex)
Technology
The history of the Apple Newton, twenty years after its launch. (Harry McCracken)
App makers are more than happy to hook your kids into ‘in-app purchases.’ (WSJ)
Sports
Why so many former NFL players have a hard time transitioning to the real world. (ESPN)
Humans are by far and away the best long distance runners. (Slate also LifeHacker)
Television
No matter how you slice it the traditional TV business is in serious decline. (SAI contra SplatF)
Charlie Ergen CEO of Dish Network ($DISH) gets it. (WSJ)
Entertainment
An interview with Bill Murray. (Esquire)
Who knew? Paul Krugman is a hard core sci-fi fan. (Wired)
Global
John Dickie, author of Blood Brotherhoods, on the ever evolving Italian crime syndicates. (The Browser)
American-style food trucks have invaded Paris. (NYTimes)
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