The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Colombia Tolima Los Brasiles Peaberry Organic coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• The Fiery Investor Restoring East Texas: Hedge fund wizard Kyle Bass made his name by predicting a housing collapse. Now he’s betting big on a growing market: nature. (Texas Monthly)
• Ukraine’s New Way of War: American weapons are important, but Ukrainian drones have changed everything. (The Atlantic) see also The terrifying new weapon changing the war in Ukraine: In an ever-evolving conflict, soldiers have had to rapidly adapt to new threats posed by changing technology. And the latest threat comes from fibre optic drones. A spool of tens of kilometres of cable is fitted to the bottom of a drone and the physical fibre optic cord is attached to the controller held by the pilot. (BBC)
• Life’s Ancient Bottleneck: Of the six chemical elements necessary for life, phosphorus is the rarest. It determines what grows and shrinks, who lives and dies. By disrupting the planet’s phosphate cycle, unchecked factory farming could have apocalyptic consequences. (Quillette)
• Is the U.S. in a “high-level equilibrium trap”? When countries start fearing the future, they stagnate. (Noahpinion)
• Building the Waffle House Index, then Getting a Cease and Desist from Waffle House: Bit of a sticky situation. (jack.bio) see also (You Tube Video)
• The Hobby Computer Culture: From 1975 through early 1977, the use of personal computers remained almost exclusively the province of hobbyists who loved to play with computers and found them inherently fascinating. (Creatures of Thought)
• Rare-Earths Plants Are Popping Up Outside China: U.S., Brazil are among countries building capacity to mine and refine metals for EVs and smartphones (Wall Street Journal) see also What the hell are rare earth elements? Commonly called “rare earths,” they encompass 17 elements on the periodic table that are found in underground ore deposits. They’re so useful that rare earths have been referred to as “21st-century gold. (The Hustle)
• Birthday Effect? You will die someday. Probably not today: Would you believe me if I told you that you’re actually more likely to die on your birthday than on other days of the year? (Pudding)
• The Quest to Prove the Existence of a New Type of Quantum Particle.‘Paraparticles’ Would Be a Third Kingdom of Quantum Particle A new proposal makes the case that paraparticles — a new category of quantum particle — could be created in exotic materials. (Quanta Magazine)
• Jan Todd May Be the Reason You’re Lifting Weights: Once known as “the world’s strongest woman,” Dr. Todd spent 50 years breaking records — and turning strength into a field of study. (New York Times)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Tom Barkin, Richmond Federal Reserve President & CEO and voting member of the the Federal Open Market Committee. He previously spent 30 years at McKinsey & Company , eventually becoming Chief Risk Officer and Chief Finaacial Officer.
New listing data is growing year over year, but now within a seasonal range that is normal.
(2023 & 2024, that wasn’t the case)
Source: Housing Wire
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