My start of the new year morning reads:
• The List: 2021 What will be out and in for the upcoming year What a fantastic year! So many great developments, right? Carbon emissions were down! (Because we were all afraid to leave our homes.) Confederate statues were toppled! (Because they were up for way too long to begin with.) Voter turnout broke records! (Because democracy was in great peril.) Scientists developed the fastest-ever vaccine! (For a virus that continues to ravage the country.) (Washington Post)
• The Good News You Might Have Missed Last Year Yes, there were bright spots even in a pandemic year. (Bloomberg)
• The CARES superdole was a huge success With the relief bill squared away, the time is right to consider a question: Why didn’t the success of enhanced Unemployment Insurance ever enter the narrative as a success story? (Slow Boring)
• What’s the Last Night of 2020 Without the Crowds? A Very Weird New Year’s Eve In New York’s Times Square, a few dozen special invitees—‘everyday heroes’ who have helped the city through the coronavirus pandemic—and their guests will make up the crowd this year. But the show will go on; ‘I Will Survive.’ (Wall Street Journal)
• 100 Tips for a Better Life To find out about people’s opinions on a product, google <product> reddit. You’ll get real people discussing it vs SEO’d results, + 99 other suggestions. (Less Wrong)
• Shopping for Happiness Buy experiences, make them a treat, buy time, pay now, consume later, invest in others (Put A Number On It!)
• Longevity and the Pareto Principle It seems like every week there’s a new study detailing how we might optimize health and increase lifespan. (Prime Cuts Newsletter)
• Why We Can’t Stop Longing for the Good Old Days When were the good old days? Was it, by chance, the incredibly short period in human history when you happened to be young? Neurology and nostalgia help explain why people have always worried that the world is going downhill. (Wall Street Journal)
• Even If It’s ‘Bonkers,’ Poll Finds Many Believe QAnon And Other Conspiracy Theories A significant number of Americans believe misinformation about the origins of the coronavirus and the recent presidential election, as well as conspiracy theories like QAnon (NPR)
• A Caveman Would Never Do CrossFit. Why There’s Nothing Natural About Exercise A new book debunks popular myths, including ‘that your inner primal macho ripped hunter-gatherer ancestor is who you were meant to be’ (Wall Street Journal)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Dave Welling, CEO of Mercer Advisors. The Denver-based RIA has 450 employees and manages more than $21 billion.
Resolution science: if you want to make New Years resolutions that will actually make you happier
Source: @emollick
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