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
"There have always been shortcuts to attention. But the only purpose of advertising of any kind is to cause action, and action only happens when there’s trust involved."
(Seth Godin)
Autos
- This Toyota ($TM) solid-state battery could be a game-changer. (asia.nikkei.com)
- A review of the Ford ($F) Mustang Mach-E. (theverge.com)
- Why do so many autonomous vehicles look like big toasters? (wired.com)
- The design elements that inform the Zoox prototype. (forbes.com)
Transport
- There's little evidence that public transportation is a vector for viral spread. (washingtonpost.com)
- "Europe’s largest truckmakers have pledged to stop selling vehicles that produce emissions by 2040..." (ft.com)
- Unmanned sea vehicles are like the drones of the sea. (ozy.com)
Energy
- Cheap (solar) energy changes so much in society and the economy. (noahpinion.substack.com)
- Battery prices have fallen 88% in the past decade. (arstechnica.com)
- Solar energy providers are having to deal with higher insurance costs. (ft.com)
Environment
- Disposable masks are ending up in all sorts of places including the ocean. (washingtonpost.com)
- Avoiding plastics in the first place is better than trying to recycle them. (fastcompany.com)
Animals
- Climate change is pushing bird species farther North. (wired.com)
- Why whales keep getting killed in this shipping channel. (hakaimagazine.com)
Travel
- Europe's national parks are overrun with visitors. (nytimes.com)
- Pandemic has exacerbated the problem of not enough urban public bathrooms. (axios.com)
Air travel
- There's no forseeable way to make long-haul flights carbon-neutral. (theatlantic.com)
- Even with vaccines, Covid testing is going to be a part of international travel. (axios.com)
- Pre-flight Covid testing is, at best, an imperfect solution. (wsj.com)
Technology
- How Russian hackers infiltrated US government servers undetected. (technologyreview.com)
- Why do Americans pay twice as much for broadband than Europe? (theverge.com)
- Why AI is uniquely power hungry. (theconversation.com)
- What comes after smartphones? (ben-evans.com)
- How to turn off Amazon Sidewalk on your Alexa-enabled devices. (usatoday.com)
Health
- Why can't you just walk into a store and buy hearing aids? (nytimes.com)
- How global causes of death had been changing prior to pandemic. (npr.org)
- On the link between autism and hyper-systematizing. (wsj.com)
- On the benefits of playing soothing music during surgery for the patient. (nytimes.com)
- If true, this is great news. (bigthink.com)
Behavior
- Ten benefits of being lazy including "Lazy time encourages diffuse thinking." (nesslabs.com)
- People overestimate the 'cost' of making a phone call. (scientificamerican.com)
- How 'Ted Lasso' harness positive energy. (vanityfair.com)
- Do people care how a gift is wrapped? (wsj.com)
- Why 'anonymous' donations are rarely anonymous. (nautil.us)
Food
- Chain restaurants have been forced to deal with different restrictions across state lines. (nytimes.com)
- Why does Oreo keep releasing new flavors? (nytimes.com)
- Chicago deep dish pizza is all about marketing. (ozy.com)
Drink
- People are trading up on booze and wine in pandemic. (nytimes.com)
- In praise of low alcohol (2%) beers. (insidehook.com)
Streaming
- Why WarnerMedia's 2021 release strategy is so controversial. (hollywoodreporter.com)
- The video streaming wars are going to come to a head in 2021. (wired.com)
- Can movie theaters hang on until people feel comfortable going to back? (morningconsult.com)
- How Reelgood is hoping to change how you stream TV. (protocol.com)
Best of 2020: movies
- The top 10 consensus movies of 2020 including 'First Cow.' (digg.com)
- The best movies of 2020 including 'Another Round.' (esquire.com)
- The 25 best documentaries of 2020 including 'Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds.' (pastemagazine.com)
- The best movies of 2020 including 'Palm Springs.' (theringer.com)
- The best sci-fi movies of 2020 including 'Tenet.' (pastemagazine.com)
Best of 2020: TV shows
- The ten best TV shows of 2020 including 'Mrs. America.' (hollywoodreporter.com)
- The best TV shows of 2020 including 'Normal People.' (theatlantic.com)
- The top 10 TV shows of 2020 including 'Better Call Saul.' (theringer.com)
- The ten best TV shows of 2020 including 'How to With John Wilson.' (hollywoodreporter.com)
Best of 2020: albums
- The best albums of 2020 including 'After Hours' by The Weeknd. (variety.com)
- The best albums of 2020 including 'Bonny Light Horseman' by Bonny Light Horseman. (theatlantic.com)
College
- Covid is going to affect college students path to a degree - the only question to what extent? (marketwatch.com)
- Four lessons on paying for college including not all loans are created equal. (humbledollar.com)
Books
- In praise of reading books on the Kindle. (susanorlean.medium.com)
- The best audiobooks of 2020 including Barack Obama's "Promised Land." (slate.com)
- The best audiobooks of 2020 including Sigrid Nunez's "What Are You Going Through." (pastemagazine.com)
- The best book covers of 2020. (nytimes.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- Coronavirus links: learning from our mistakes. (abnormalreturns.com)
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Podcast links: ESG index construction.. (abnormalreturns.com)
- The problem with unbundled content in the age of subscription fatigue. (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)
