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
"We make a major mistake when we think it’s worthwhile to put up with negative experiences that are difficult to grow accustomed to in order to have nice things."
(Shane Parrish)
Chart of the Day
New Teslas get poor new car quality ratings, but owners love them nevertheless. (chart via @ycharts)
Autos
- Despite the pandemic induced shock, the major automakers are pushing ahead with new EV models. (wsj.com)
- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is teaming with Waymo for self-driving cars. (ft.com)
- Fisker is going public via a SPAC, but where's the car? (axios.com)
- Why many AV startups are pivoting to trucking. (arstechnica.com)
- A coalition of 15 states, as well as Washington, DC, announced their intention to push the adoption of electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, including trucks. (modernfarmer.com)
- Texas is becoming a hotbed for the testing of AV fleets, including Aurora. (theverge.com)
Energy
- Cleaner indoor air to combat the coronavirus involves higher energy costs. (wsj.com)
- Why we still need to invest in carbon capture systems. (klementoninvesting.substack.com)
Environment
- As the planet warms, climate refugees are going to increase in number. (features.propublica.org)
- Earth's climate naturally changed over time due to these factors, but human-caused emissions are different. (quantamagazine.org)
- Amazon's ($AMZN) Climate Pledge Arena aims to be the world's first stadium to achieve a net Zero Carbon certification. (architecturaldigest.com)
- Noise pollution is great underplayed as an environmental harm. (wired.com)
- A new gold mine in Alaska could put salmon at-risk. (nytimes.com)
- Your greasy pizza box may actually be recyclable. (fastcompany.com)
Animals
- White storks are back in Britain after a long absence. (nationalgeographic.com)
- There is a good chance that polar bears are screwed as a species. (newscientist.com)
- Scientists are still calculating the impact the Australian wildfires had on various species. (wired.com)
- The world's giraffe populations are increasingly in danger. (theatlantic.com)
- Foxes have been cleaning up after humans for some 40,000 years. (newatlas.com)
Air travel
- What you need to know before getting on a plane these days. (nytimes.com)
- United ($UAL) is now requiring passengers wear masks in the airport as well. (bnnbloomberg.ca)
- There will only be two types of carriers that come out on the other side of the pandemic. (bloomberg.com)
- Auto-land systems are now sophisticated enough to land planes unaided. (wsj.com)
Science
- The first pictures of a solar system not unlike our own. (scientificamerican.com)
- The pandemic has highlighted the problem with the early publication of research. (nytimes.com)
- Weather forecasting is getting better farther out due to increased computing power. (scientificamerican.com)
- Science is a social construct, so when it fails it reflects the failure of its participants. (wired.com)
Technology
- Computing capacity is not keeping up with the growing needs of AI. (wired.com)
- The US wants to build an unhackable 'quantum internet.' (washingtonpost.com)
Behavior
- What we know about the biochemistry of sex, love and commitment. (nautil.us)
- Don't discount the toll a rude work e-mail can have. (scientificamerican.com)
- How social isolation affects the brain. (the-scientist.com)
- Can psilocybin help treat OCD? (newatlas.com)
Health
- Why you should avoid chemical-based sunscreens. (wsj.com)
- New research offers evidence to suggest age-related hearing loss is primarily caused by accumulated damage to inner ear sensory hair cells, and hair-regeneration technologies may offer new treatments. (newatlas.com)
- The history of human health was forever changed by the creation of vaccines. (ourworldindata.org)
- Why cancer treatment is so difficult: there are a lot of decisions to make. (theincidentaleconomist.com)
Groceries
- Grocery companies are struggling to maintain margins on deliveries. (ft.com)
- Aldi is not slowing the pace of store openings in the US. (cnn.com)
Food
- The pandemic has been a boon to agritourism. (modernfarmer.com)
- The 20 best Italian beef sandwiches in Chicagoland, ranked. (news.yahoo.com)
- There is a physical limit on how many hot dogs a person can eat in 10 minutes time. (scientificamerican.com)
Drink
- One third of Texas breweries could close for good this year. (austin.eater.com)
- Brewers are facing beer can shortages this summer. (insidehook.com)
- Inside the secondary market for rare bourbons. (whiskyadvocate.com)
- Is 'clean dive bar' an oxymoron? (wsj.com)
Dogs
- Why it may make sense to wait longer before neutering your dog. (sciencedaily.com)
- As dogs navigate, they appear to be using the Earth's magnetic fields. (bigthink.com)
Sports
- Will 2020 settle the DH debate for good? (theringer.com)
- How are NBA players going to deal with being in the bubble for the duration? (theringer.com)
Entertainment
- You can at this point you can write off the Fall TV schedule. (axios.com)
- The release of 'Tenet' will tell us a lot about the next steps for streaming. (theringer.com)
- Hulu has identified four types of streaming users. (hollywoodreporter.com)
- Streaming services have invested in content, but not in improving their UIs. (rollingstone.com)
College
- Colleges planning to re-open this Fall were not counting on a continued surge in infections. (npr.org)
- More and more universities are opting to go primarily online this Fall. (chronicle.com)
- Mitch Daniels, President of Purdue University, is betting big on bringing students back next month. (indianapolismonthly.com)
- Layoffs are coming to a college near you. (nytimes.com)
- The future of the college degree could be 'microcredentialing.' (reasonstobecheerful.world)
- A list of the colleges and universities most at-risk of not surviving the post-pandemic world. (profgalloway.com)
MBA
- More MBA programs are considering dropping the GMAT, permanently. (wsj.com)
- How the pandemic is affecting MBA curriculum. (ft.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: buying time. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: lightening the mood. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Some recent tweets on the financial freedom culled from the hellscape we call Twitter. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Finding better ways to care for your clients and yourself: why you should sign up for our new weekly adviser-focused e-mail. (abnormalreturns.com)
