Articles of the week
The End of Retirement: Want to keep your house? Support your kids? Stay alive? Never stop working. (The Walrus)
In the Stock Market, Don’t Buy and Sell. Just Hold. There’s new evidence that market timing doesn’t work. Your odds of success are better if you just hang on and aim for average returns, our columnist says. (New York Times)
4 Charts That Explain the Stock Market: I view the stock market as a way to invest in innovation, profits, progress and people waking up in the morning looking to better their current situation. While I love the fact that this chart illustrates my long-term philosophy it’s a bit misleading. Yes, the stock market goes up over the long run but it can also get crushed in the short run. That can be difficult to see on a log chart with 200 years of data. The Great Depression, 1987 crash and Great Financial Crisis look like minor blips on this chart. And while every crash eventually turns into a blip on a long-term chart, they don’t feel like it in the moment. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
How to avoid losing money: My favourite insight from a new investing classic. (Behind the Balance Sheet)
Inside the Chaos at OpenAI Sam Altman’s weekend of shock and drama began a year ago, with the release of ChatGPT. (Atlantic)
The Unexpected Winner in the Craziest Week in AI: Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella made a huge bet on the world’s hottest AI company. After it nearly blew up on him, he now emerges with closer ties to its leader, Sam Altman. (WSJ)
Silicon Valley’s worldview is not just an ideology; it’s a personality disorder: Silicon Valley’s ideology is this: Libertarianism for me. Feudalism for thee. (Crooked Timber)
Elon Musk Can’t Help Himself: He wants to own a social network where he can spout antisemitism—even if that means owning a bad business. (Slate)
How Elon Musk Spent Three Years Falling Down a Red-Pilled Rabbit Hole: His tweet endorsing an antisemitic theory that sent advertisers fleeing comes after years of increasing interaction with extremist content. (Businessweek)
Congrats, Your House Made You Rich. Now Sell It. Lots of baby boomers are going to sell their homes in the years ahead. The trick is to beat the crowd. (Wall Street Journal)
Why does it cost so much to sell a house? From staging to commission expenses, here’s what to expect. (The Week)
Manhattan’s Trophy Apartments Are Gathering Dust: There just aren’t enough billionaires, and no one wants to live in Hudson Yards. (Curbed)
No, Really. Building More Housing Can Combat Rising Rents: To many people, new home construction is synonymous with gentrification. But a new analysis reinforces how more supply drives down housing costs. (CityLab)
It’s Not That Hard to Stop Birds From Crashing Into Windows: Chicago’s glass skyscrapers are a menace for birds. They don’t have to be. (The Atlantic)
The asbestos times: Asbestos was a miracle material, virtually impervious to fire. But as we fixed city fires in other ways, we came to learn about its horrific downsides. (Works in Progress)
Richest 1% account for more carbon emissions than poorest 66%, report says: ‘Polluter elite’ are plundering the planet to point of destruction, says Oxfam after comprehensive study of climate inequality. (The Guardian)
The world’s 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars: for short trips, an electric bike or moped might be better for you – and for the planet. That’s because these forms of transport – collectively known as electric micromobility – are cheaper to buy and run. But it’s more than that – they are actually displacing four times as much demand for oil as all the world’s electric cars at present, due to their staggering uptake in China and other nations where mopeds are a common form of transport. (The Conversation)
For the love of quirk: One man’s journey into the weird and wonderful side of car collecting: Tucked away in an immaculately kept converted launderette in the South of Brussels sits a wonderland of quirk, where Jean Werner’s collecting habits aren’t confined to your typical classic Ferraris or Lamborghinis… (Classic Driver)
The Ultra-Efficient Farm of the Future Is in the Sky: Take a tour of a rooftop laboratory where scientists show how growing crops under solar panels can produce both food and clean energy. (Wired)
Americans are confused, frustrated by new tipping culture, study finds: Americans are divided and confused over when to leave gratuities and how much to tip for all kinds of services, according to the Pew Research Center — and many don’t like recent trends such as added service fees and suggested tipping amounts. (Washington Post)
Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they’re on the brink of a mental-health crisis. (The Atlantic)
The long goodbye: Working through the queue. My relationship with Netflix, like any long-term relationship, has had its ups and downs. I dipped my toe in with a one-DVD-at-a-time plan, but I soon upgraded that to two. (The Smart Set)
How To Discover New Music: How to discover new music In a musical rut? Whatever your age or existing tastes, you can find surprise and enjoyment beyond the streaming algorithms. (Psyche)
How To Kill a Superhero: Hollywood embraces a desperate strategy—canceling franchise films before they’re released. (The Honest Broker)
Danny DeVito Has Never Heard the Term “Short King” A long conversation with the legend about returning to the stage, being in a grandpa chat with Bruce Springsteen, and working with Arnold Schwarzenegger again. (GQ)
