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
Are public companies now passé? (Knowledge@Wharton)
A banker explains just what is a derivative. (Planet Money)
A profile of Morningstar ($MORN) CEO Joe Mansueto. (Chicago Tribune)
Nobel Economics
“Money is not essential to a market.” (The Economist)
This year’s Nobel winners show how microeconomics can be useful in the real world. (CBS News)
A Nobel Prize in saving lives. (Bloomberg)
A Nobel Prize winner’s guide to love. (The Daily Beast)
Why the NFL should take a page from the recent Nobel prize winners in Economics. (Real Time Economics)
Sports
How FC Barcelona became the world’s favorite team. (SI via Longform)
A profile of horseshoe champion Brian Simmons who may be the toughest athlete in the world. (SB Nation via kottke)
A profile of Jeremy Lin. (GQ)
Society
Michael Porter is trying to make the US more competitive. (Fortune)
What would a 15-hour work week look like? (aeon via Modeled Behavior)
Can Tony Hsieh’s “The Downtown Project” transform Las Vegas? (NYTimes)
Nobody has time for a middle-aged crisis any more. (FT)
Technology
Why Moore’s Law still matters. (CNet)
Health care can only be transformed through technology and transparency. (Andy Grove)
A look inside Google’s ($GOOG) “secret data center.” (Wired)
On the state of Chicago’s tech scene. (New Geography)
Science
Where will the next pandemic come from? (PopSci via @longreads)
There is a planet outside our solar system that is surprisingly close. (Economist)
Profiles
A profile of Christopher Kimball and Cook’s Illustrated. (NYTimes)
RIP Stanford Ovshinky one of the 20th century’s “most inventive breed of scientists…” (NYTimes)
Entertainment
Cue cards are still the vehicle of choice for live skit comedy. (WSJ)
The economics of Downton Abbey. (Somewhat Logically)
Why movie titles matter. (WSJ)
Books
An excerpt from Mark Bowden’s The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden. (Vanity Fair)
An excerpt from Chrystia Freedland’s Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else. (Reuters)
An excerpt from John Del Vecchio and Tom Jacobs’ What’s Behind the Numbers? A Guide to Exposing Financial Chicanery and Avoiding Huge Losses in Your Portfolio. (World Beta)
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