Thursdays are all about longform links on Abnormal Returns. Wherever possible, free links for premium sites are used. You can check out last week’s linkfest including a look at the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
Quote of the Day
"Technology is a vector; it transmits whatever ills and ideologies a parent imagines might lure a child beyond reach. Like the ongoing debate over kids and gender, the teens-and-phones discourse taps into a dread that your kid might stumble onto new ideas, very likely online, and be irreversibly transformed."
(Molly Fischer)
Books
- An excerpt from "It’s Only Drowning: A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Search for Common Ground" by David Litt. (lithub.com)
- An excerpt from Stephen Starring Grant’s new book, “Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home.” (wsj.com)
- Chris Arnade talks with Gary He, author of "McAtlas: A Global Guide to the Golden Arches." (walkingtheworld.substack.com)
Environment
- It's way to too easy for a lone figure to halt an energy infrastructure project. (nytimes.com)
- Climate change is putting pressure on the olive business. (pulitzercenter.org)
- On the environmental risks of living near a landfill. (bloomberg.com)
Health
- Alex Kesin, "The real tragedy is not that Hims ($HIMS) exists, but that it works so perfectly." (alexkesin.com)
- With the BBB, the ranks of the uninsured are set to swell. (kffhealthnews.org)
- How USAID cuts are playing out in Sudan. (washingtonpost.com)
Housing
- NIMBYs have come for the Sun Belt. (theatlantic.com)
- Why are houses in the Western U.S. more expensive? (construction-physics.com)
- Why a 'cabin in the woods' is an aspiration for so many. (dwell.com)
Work
- Newsletter subscriptions work for a small minority of writers. What the means for Substack and the information ecosystem. (wired.com)
- Dollar stores don't have a great reputation on how they treat workers. (oxfordamerican.org)
- On the death of the middle-class musician. (thewalrus.ca)
Global
- How Europe is bulking up its defense along the border with Russia. (ig.ft.com)
- Comparing life in Europe and the U.S. (thefp.com)
- How Kyoto turned into a tourist trap. (nymag.com)
Longreads
- Why private equity is showing up in more life insurance balance sheets. (on.ft.com)
- The world is at risk of a big solar storm. (noemamag.com)
- How AI and decreasing fertility could play out for society. (noahpinion.blog)
- How to remove your personal data from the Internet. (nytimes.com)
- How a Sea-Doo can serve as a cure for male loneliness. (brobible.com)
- Differentiation isn't easy, but it is essential. (notboring.co)
