Saturdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at how home delivery is reshaping our world.
Quote of the Day
"People sometimes ask me, if all the world is narrative and meme, then how can we tell what’s real?"
(Demonitized)
Corporate behavior
- How McKinsey and Company helped helped ICE find “detention savings opportunities.” (propublica.org)
- The Houston Astros cheating scandal has a McKinsey flavor to it. (newrepublic.com)
- Who is responsible when a hoverboard sold by Amazon ($AMZN) burns down your house? (wsj.com)
Longreads
- Nation-states don't act like people. (the-tls.co.uk)
- Reinventing an old coal town isn't easy. Just ask Buchanan County, VA. (nytimes.com)
- 52 things learned in 2019 including "Baijiu is the world’s most popular spirit." (medium.com)
- Ross Ufberg, "Prefab has long been the unattainable unicorn of architecture, the ideal marriage of high design, efficient building, environmental consciousness, and affordability." (marker.medium.com)
- If HSV-2 isn't much of a health threat, then why is it so feared? (slate.com)
- The inside story of the traffic jam at the top of Mt. Everest this summer. (gq.com)
- What is the overwhelming appeal of 'true crime'? (forge.medium.com)