The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of coffee, grab a seat by the fire, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• How Big is YouTube? Pew reports that 93% of teens use YouTube – the closest service in terms of usage is Tiktok with 63% and Snapchat with 60%. (Ethan Zuckerman)
• Biden’s economy vs. Trump’s, in 12 charts: Both presidents tout their contributions on the U.S. economy ahead of the 2024 election. But how do their claims stack up? (Washington Post)
• The Most Secretive Longevity Lab Finally Opens Its Doors: Retro Biosciences, a startup with $180 million from Sam Altman, has a simple and audacious goal: Add 10 good years to your life. And until now, we haven’t had a glimpse of its best ideas. (Businessweek) but see What if the Most Powerful Way to Live Longer Is Just Exercise? People are chasing longevity with ice baths and supplements. But the benefits of exercise have years of science behind them. (Wall Street Journal)
• The 11 Big Trades of 2023: From Market Busts to Career-Making Wins From the AI craze to China’s struggles and Bitcoin’s epic comeback, here’s how major market trends this year created winners and losers.(Bloomberg)
• How Corporate America Killed a Lifestyle That Threatened Its Dominance: Arnold Mitchell discovered something about consumer behavior that put huge organizations at risk—so it had to vanish. (The Honest Broker)
• The World’s Fastest Road Cars—and the People Who Drive Them: “Hypercars” can approach or even exceed 300 m.p.h. Often costing millions of dollars, they’re ostentatious trophies—and sublime engines of innovation.. (New Yorker) see also The 2023 Mille Miglia, The Most Beautiful Race In The World: Five days in Italy driving. On main sponsor Chopard’s racing team we pushed ourselves, and our cars, to the limit to understand what makes the Mille Miglia so special. (Hodinkee)
• What was it like when the cosmic dark ages ended? For 550 million years, neutral atoms blocked the light made in stars from traveling freely through the Universe. Here’s how it then changed. (Big Think)
• The fraught debate over whether the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump, explained: The Maine secretary of state ruled that Trump should be taken off the ballot. Would this save democracy from a dangerous threat — or imperil it further? (Vox)
• How Camille Pissarro Went from Mediocrity to Magnificence: He began as more of a tutor than a talent. But in his final decade he lent a keen eye-in-the-sky view to the Paris streets, rendering miracles of kinetic characterization. (New Yorker)
• Barbra Streisand Talks Style: “I looked different, I dressed different,” the multi-hyphenate star said in her first interview on fashion. (New York Times)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this weekend with Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson, which manages $1.5 trillion dollar in client assets. She has worked at FT since 1988, and held leadership roles in investment management, distribution, technology, operations, and high-net-worth clients. Franklin Templeton oversees more than 9000 employees and 1300 investment professionals. Johnson is on the list of most powerful women (Barron’s, Forbes, American Banker, and more). She has been CEO February 2020.
Apple trades near record highs, with a market value no other company has ever attained. Now it has to justify the gains
Source: Barron’s
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Light posting over the next few weeks as I am still on vacation/book leave — back January 15!
