The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish Blend coffee, grab a seat on a beach towel, and get ready for our longer form weekend reads:
• The Lab-Leak Theory: Inside the Fight to Uncover COVID-19’s Origins Throughout 2020, the notion that the novel coronavirus leaked from a lab was off-limits. Those who dared to push for transparency say toxic politics and hidden agendas kept us in the dark. (Vanity Fair)
• The Pied Piper of SPACs Chamath Palihapitiya says that the investment tool lets ordinary people get rich off startups. It may be hype—but hype can be its own economic engine. (New Yorker)
• The Great Wings Rush – How the pandemic, delivery apps, and a new breed of restaurant caused a chicken wing explosion. (The Verge)
• How SoundScan Changed Everything We Knew About Popular Music Thirty years ago, Billboard changed the way it tabulated its charts, turning the industry on its head and making room for genres once considered afterthoughts to explode in the national consciousness. (The Ringer)
• The 30-year-old retirees A growing number of young professionals are expediting the path to financial independence by living frugally and following the “4% rule.” (The Hustle)
• What magic teaches us about misinformation “The things right in front of us are often the hardest to see,” declares Apollo Robbins, the world’s most famous theatrical pickpocket. “The things you look at every day, that you’re blinded to.” (Tim Harford)
• The World’s Best Hope to End the Pandemic Still Needs More Doses The nonprofit Covax, which distributes Covid vaccines to mostly poor countries, has been saying for a year no one is safe until everyone is. Rich countries may finally be getting the message. (Businessweek)
• How Philosophers Think if there’s anything I’ve learned about marketing, it’s that repetition is indistinguishable from truth. The more people are exposed to an idea, the more likely they are to believe it.(David Perell) see also How to stop overthinking Grappling with your thoughts will leave you even more entangled in worry. Use metacognitive strategies to break free. (Psyche)
• Did Paying a Ransom for a Stolen Magritte Painting Inadvertently Fund Terrorism? The theft of a deeply personal painting by the Belgian artist was a national tragedy. Now an investigation points to a tragedy greater still. (Vanity Fair)
• ‘This Should Be the Biggest Scandal in Sports’ The inside story of how rampant pitch-doctoring in MLB is pumping pitchers up and deflating offenses. (SI)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Harindra de Silva, of Wells Fargo Asset Management. He is a pioneer in low volatility and factor-based investing, and leads the Analytic Investors group, running quantitative strategies, and managing $20 billion in client assets.
The last 30 years were the hottest on record for the United States
Source: Science News
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