Saturdays are the day we catch up with all the non-finance related stuff we didn’t get to during the week. You can check out last week’s edition here.
Quote of the Day
"As a game, astrology and its predictions of fate and personality can be fun. However the subject has no basis in science. It is to science what the game “Monopoly” is to the real estate market."
(James Kaler)
Autos
- Why automakers want to be build 'eco-beasts' or glamorous electric pickup trucks. (nytimes.com)
- How Uber ($UBER), and others, plan finance a fleet of autonomous vehicles. (ftalphaville.ft.com)
Public transportation
- Public transit systems are struggling with staff shortages. (wsj.com)
- Why tickets to sporting events should come with free transit rides. (citylab.com)
Energy
- There are just 20 coal plants in the continental West whose owners haven’t committed to fully retiring them by specific dates. (latimes.com)
- Is LNG the solution to reduce shipping emissions? (wsj.com)
- How creating LNG on-site can help reduce natural gas flaring. (bloomberg.com)
- Scotland is on track to have 100% renewable energy. (gq.com)
Water
- The ocean is warming but also speeding up: "three-quarters of the world’s ocean waters have sped up their pace in recent decades." (washingtonpost.com)
- Arctic ice melt is changing ocean currents. (sciencedaily.com)
- Why 30-year mortgages may no longer make sense in Florida. (newyorker.com)
- Lake Michigan water levels are near all-time highs. (chicagotribune.com)
Environment
- The temperature in Antarctica hit a new record-high. (nasa.gov)
- David Carlin, "If the Pentagon is worried by climate change, shouldn’t we be worried too?" (hnn.us)
- Climate change will force countries to work together more, not less. (finance.yahoo.com)
- Wind turbine blades are currently not recyclable. (bbc.com)
Travel
- The FAA doesn't seem to really care about the comfort of fliers. (finance.yahoo.com)
- Can aviation ever be carbon-neutral? (ft.com)
Science
- Collaboration in nature is rampant. (kottke.org)
- Ancient seeds can be used to bring back extinct species. (newscientist.com)
Technology
- Why you need a 'notification detox.' (theguardian.com)
- Ranking the best password managers. (wired.com)
- Why you should use contactless payments. (nytimes.com)
Behavior
- Brett Steenbarger, "Performance anxiety occurs when we become so focused on the outcomes of our performance that we no longer stay in the natural flow of performing." (traderfeed.blogspot.com)
- Luxury goods don't make us happy, sometimes the opposite. (fastcompany.com)
- Three steps to help stop and reverse negative self-talk. (artofmanliness.com)
- What its like to experience a Sudden Temporary Upsurge of Grief. (nextavenue.org)
- To what degree are human emotions self-constructed? (thecut.com)
- Why we hold onto regrets and how to let them go. (markmanson.net)
- 50 cognitive biases visualized. (visualcapitalist.com)
Health
- Children have been hit particularly hard by influenza this year. (wsj.com)
- How loneliness and isolation can affect health. (nextavenue.org)
- Are there commonalities among suicide hot spots around the world? (slatestarcodex.com)
Medicine
- Understaffed pharmacies are putting patients at-risk. (nytimes.com)
- Demand for nurse practitioners is booming. (axios.com)
Restaurants
- Why fast food restaurants want a toehold in breakfast. (axios.com)
- Restaurants are uniquely affected by the high cost of employee health insurance. (npr.org)
- 5% of Ikea's sales come from food, especially meatballs. (wsj.com)
Food
- Calorie counts are not an exact science. (apnews.com)
- Is our obsession with poke causing overfishing? (longreads.com)
- Cows eat what you put in front of them. (modernfarmer.com)
- Which is why it possible to make better, healthier milk. (newatlas.com)
- What exactly goes into a 'French taco.' (montreal.eater.com)
- Old Bay's hot sauce isn't just hype. (washingtonpost.com)
Drink
- AB Inbev ($BUD) is stuck between high debt and weak sales. (finance.yahoo.com)
- Australian winemakers are having to deal with the issue of smoke. (wsj.com)
- Midwest farmers are planting more barley to keep up with demand from craft brewers. (modernfarmer.com)
- How to make the perfect Negroni. (artofmanliness.com)
Dogs
- Lessons learned from a rescue dog. (nytimes.com)
- Dogs are incredibly efficient at detecting 'citrus greening' which is devastating Florida orange groves. (modernfarmer.com)
- The downsides of even a well-run dog park. (nytimes.com)
Media
- Eddy Cue talks about Apple's ($AAPL) plans for Apple TV+. (gq-magazine.co.uk)
- What ViacomCBS ($VIAC) plans to do in streaming. (cnbc.com)
Sports
- The Nike ($NKE) Vaporfly shoe controversy has a lot of moving parts. (outsideonline.com)
- The running shoe technology wars are on. (apnews.com)
- How Andre Iguodala spent his 'gap year.' (fastcompany.com)
- How much of a typical game broadcast is actual action? (fivethirtyeight.com)
- What to expect from XFL 2.0. (nytimes.com)
College
- First generation college students are more at-risk of feeling imposter syndrome. (bigthink.com)
- Lower state support for public universities leads to higher foreign enrollment. (pubs.aeaweb.org)
- Should colleges and universities keep using SAT scores to help award merit-aid? (wsj.com)
- Why you should get an internship. (fastcompany.com)
MBA
- Why MBA programs are trying to get designated as STEM. (qz.com)
- Business schools are racing to add concentrations in science, technology, engineering and math to their M.B.A. programs. (wsj.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Longform links: purity awards. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: the business of counterfeiting. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Monthly ESG links: stewardship codes. (abnormalreturns.com)
Mixed media
- By Pew’s estimates, 12% of Americans are dating or married to someone they met on a dating app or website, up from 3% when Pew asked in 2013. (wired.com)
- The future of social media is smaller, more personal groups. (hbr.org)
- It's better to be lucky than good when it comes to collecting art. (msn.com)