The weekend is a great time to catch up on some longer items that we passed up on during the week. Thanks for checking in.

Investing

A house is an undiversified bond investment.  (The Basis Point)

Avoid investment organizations that have a “culture of blame.”  (Research Affiliates)

A profile of the omnipresent Carl Icahn.  (Forbes)

Companies

An in-depth look at the Herbalife ($HLF) business model.  (The Verge)

How Samsung became a smartphone beast.  (Businessweek)

Why Intuit ($INTU) is fighting against free, online tax filing.  (ProPublica)

Economics

Is job polarization holding back the labor market?  (Liberty Street Economics)

Much of humanity’s needs are not available on the market.  (Noahpinion)

An excerpt from Neil Irwin’s The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire.  (WashingtonPost)

Psychology

In search of simplicity in a complex world. An excerpt from Siegel and Etzkorn’s Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity.  (WSJ)

Nick Tasler, “The evidence points to a simple solution. Better decisions come from surrounding ourselves with trusted people and asking for their opinions.”  (Psychology Today)

Is giving the secret to getting ahead?  (NYTimes)

Technology

Why weirdos outperform normals.  (Michael Lazerow)

Is the Internet making us poorer?  (Quartz)

When will Apple ($AAPL) get serious about security?  (The Verge)

Society

On the growing disability-industrial complex.  (Planet Money)

The economic scars of the Millenial generation.  (NYTimes)

Why our college attachments last, an excerpt from Eric Simon’s The Secret Lives of Sports Fans: The Science of Sports Obsession.  (WSJ)

Entertainment

Assessing the state of late night television.  (Grantland)

Is Matt Lauer holding the Today show back?  (New York)

Mixed media

From cow to (natural gas) tank.  (NYTimes)

Trivia night has become a big business.  (WSJ)

The passion of Lew Wallace the author of Ben Hur.  (Slate)

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