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
"The best lesson of high school might be that everyone has a noise in their heads, everyone feels uncomfortable and everyone would appreciate a little kindness and respect."
(Seth Godin)
Chart of the Day
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the rapid drop in the cost of solar energy. (chart via Our World in Data)
Autos
- Tesla ($TSLA) is pushing the envelope on self-driving technology but the NHTSA is largely sidelined. (slate.com)
- Tampering with diesel engines is a bigger problem for emissions than previously thought. (nytimes.com)
- If you can turn it into an SUV, automakers will do it. (nytimes.com)
- Five tips on driving in the winter including what to do if an animal appears in the road. (wsj.com)
Energy
- U.S. coal producers keep filing for bankruptcy. (wsj.com)
- What a Biden presidency means for cleantech investing. (news.crunchbase.com)
- Renewable diesel has been around for years, but the big refiners are stepping up their efforts. (nytimes.com)
- Texas is now both a wind and solar energy powerhouse. (wsj.com)
- Denmark has become the first major oil-producing nation to effectively end state-approved oil and gas exploration in the North Sea with the aim of phasing out all extraction by 2050. (washingtonpost.com)
Environment
- This study shows which coastal cities are most at-risk of having their housing stock flooded. (bloomberg.com)
- Want to help the environment? Eat less red meat. (msn.com)
- Bacardi has helped develop a plastic bottle that biodegrades over 18 months, but it's not all good news. (bloomberg.com)
Travel
- The pandemic is going to permanently reduce business travel, the only question is how much? (wsj.com)
- What Singapore is doing to make cruises safer. (nytimes.com)
- Airlines can soon ban the menagerie of 'emotional support animals' on planes, except for trained service dogs. (buzzfeednews.com)
Nature
- Why Europe misses wolves. (theguardian.com)
- How the NOAA identified a new species of jelly fish on video. (bigthink.com)
- Researchers are learning more about how trees in a forest communicate with each other underground. (nytimes.com)
- The spiny water flea is devastating plankton growth in the Great Lakes. (nationalgeographic.com)
- Fences can affect wildlife even after they are taken down. (theconversation.com)
Archaeology
- Prehistoric rock art discovered in Colombia is being hailed as the "Sistine Chapel of the ancients". (lonelyplanet.com)
- Britain was once connected to Europe, but climate change submerged the land bridge. (smithsonianmag.com)
DeepMind
- Andrei Lupas, "This will change medicine. It will change research. It will change bioengineering. It will change everything." (nature.com)
- DeepMind seems to have solved the protein folding problem. (nytimes.com)
Behavior
- Substance abuse treatment has had to move online in pandemic. (nytimes.com)
- More evidence of the U-shaped happiness curve. (privpapers.ssrn.com)
- Which of your new habits will outlast the pandemic? (nytimes.com)
- How to help a friend through a tough time. (kottke.org)
- How are you doing? A checklist. (kottke.org)
Health
- Cancer doesn't take a break for pandemic. (nytimes.com)
- Pandemic has wreaked havoc on many people's diets. (nytimes.com)
- A study finds that stress hormones can reawaken dormant cancer cells. (statnews.com)
- Atmospheric conditions affect humans in different ways. Why don't weather apps reflect this? (ft.com)
Fake meat
- Singapore has approved the sale of lab-grown, cultured (chicken) meat. (theguardian.com)
- Fishless fish is coming to a plate near you. (outsideonline.com)
Food
- More restaurants are defying indoor dining bans. (axios.com)
- Why salad greens continue to make people sick. (arstechnica.com)
- How Shake Shack ($SHAK) is changing the design of its new restaurants. (cnbc.com)
- Slim Jims were designed to be a substitute for bar food like "pickled pig feet and pickled eggs." (nytimes.com)
Pandemic pups
- How new dogs have helped some people get through pandemic. (npr.org)
- New pandemic dog owners have saddled themselves with a decade (or more) of costs. (bloomberg.com)
The Godfather
- A new Francis Ford Coppola edit of the 'The Godfather 3' is coming. (variety.com)
- Why Francis Ford Coppola wanted to re-visit the third Godfather film. (nytimes.com)
- Paramount is going to produce a 10-part series, “The Offer” which will tell the story of the making of “The Godfather.” (variety.com)
Music
- The 100 best albums of 2020. (tedgioia.com)
- The 50 best albums of 2020. (pastemagazine.com)
- The 20 best albums of 2020. (nytimes.com)
Movies
- The best movies of 2020 including 'The Assistant.' (newyorker.com)
- The best movies of 2020 including 'First Cow.' (nytimes.com)
- The best movies you probably haven't seen already. (theirrelevantinvestor.com)
MLB
- MLB is culling it minor league affiliates in pandemic. (theathletic.com)
- How FanGraphs became a go-to site for MLB insiders. (theathletic.com)
Children
- Eight pandemic strategies that school districts have used to varying degrees of success. (politico.com)
- Remote education, as practiced in pandemic, is largely a failure. (washingtonpost.com)
- A pandemic forced couples with shared custody to be more flexible. (washingtonpost.com)
MBA
- The surge in applications to top MBA programs in upping the competition this year. (wsj.com)
- More women are enrolled at top MBA programs than ever before. (bloomberg.com)
- MBA programs are starting to highlight the importance of mental health. (ft.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: remaining safe. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: digital dollars. (abnormalreturns.com)
- December ESG links: Euro offerings. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Blogging is dead, long live blogging! (abnormalreturns.com)
- Are you a financial adviser looking for some out-of-the-box thinking? Then check out our weekly e-mail newsletter just for advisers. (newsletter.abnormalreturns.com)
