The weekend is a great time to catch up on some long-form links you missed during the week. We think this should also include our new book, Abnormal Returns: Winning Strategies from the Frontlines of the Investment Blogosphere. Enjoy.
Economics
On the conduct of monetary policy at the zero bound. (Money Game, ibid)
An excerpt from The Knockoff Economy by Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman. (Freakonomics)
America’s neglect of its infrastructure is putting lives at risk. (Newsweek)
Forecasting
The weatherman is not a moron: an excerpt from Nate Silver’s The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — but Some Don’t. (NYTimes)
An introduction to Bayesian statistics. (Portfolio Probe)
Media
How digital is changing the nature of film. (NYTimes)
Confessions of a magazine fact checker. (Oxford American via The Browser)
Books
An excerpt from Tim Richards’ The Zeitgeist Investor: Unlocking the Mind of the Market. (The Psy-Fi Blog)
An excerpt from Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character. (Slate)
Errol Morris has a new book The Wilderness of Error: The Trials of Jeffrey MacDonald. (The Awl)
Technology
How Google ($GOOG) builds its maps. (The Atlantic)
Why high tech companies are moving to the city. (WSJ)
Are we designing with compulsion in mind? (GigaOM)
Dynamic pricing is coming to more mundane, offline products. (WSJ)
Profiles
A former Anthrax guitarist is now a master watch maker. (Hodinkee via kottke)
A profile of the Wachowski siblings in preparation for the new movie Cloud Atlas. (New Yorker)
Researcb
Junk DNA turns out to be more important than previously thought. (Scientific American, Nature)
Why we laugh: on the group psychology of laughter. (Guardian via The Browser)
The Templeton Foundation is funding philosophers to ask “big questions.” (Chronicle)
Sports
Why professional team owners are getting wealthier. You are directly and/or indirectly funding their stadiums. (Bloomberg)
How instant replay has changed professional tennis. (The Atlantic via @pkedrosky)
Soccer has embraced big data. (Wired)
Cycling
Lance Armstrong’s former mechanic on his experience with the now disgraced cyclist. (Outside)
Tyler Hamilton tells all in his new book: The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups and Winning at All Costs. (Outside)
Food
An exhaustive look at Pepperidge Farm cookies. (Slate)
Food is the best way to learn about a city. (The Believer)
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