Friday morning news drop and videos of the week
Pure panic’: Lumber prices up a staggering 280% as builders scramble for supply The lumber shortage is getting worse. On Tuesday, the price per thousand board feet of lumber soared to an all-time high of $1,359, according to Random Lengths. Since the onset of the pandemic, the price of lumber has skyrocketed 280%. (Fortune)
Why Start-ups Fail: It’s not always the horse or the jockey. If you’re launching a business, the odds are against you: Two-thirds of start-ups never show a positive return. Research findings buck the conventional wisdom that the cause of start-up failure is either the founding team or the business idea. Six patterns that doomed ventures. Two were especially common: (Harvard Business Review)
Robinhood’s Big Gamble: In eliminating barriers to investing in the stock market, is the app democratizing finance or encouraging risky behavior? (New Yorker)
Why the Medallion Fund is the Greatest Money-Making Machine of All Time To put this performance in perspective, $1 invested in the Medallion Fund from 1988-2018 would have grown to over $20,000 (net of fees) while $1 invested in the S&P 500 would have only grown to $20 over the same time period. Even a $1 investment in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway would have only grown to $100 during this time. (Of Dollars And Data)
Unplugged: Electric Vehicles Can EVs Last On America’s Rugged Roads? Not only are our current automobiles inefficient, their Rube Goldbergian complexity surpasses any contraption that cartoonists could imagine. A hot lump of a V-8 might easily comprise 640 parts, each mounting its own frictional war against its neighbor. Further, the engine remains useless until connected to a starter, a fuel system, a cooling system, an exhaust system, and a transmission that might offer eight forward gears with a computerized mapping brain more complicated than Temecula chili. (American Consequences)
There’s an Exodus From the ‘Star Cities,’ and I Have Good News and Bad News When it comes to the fate of big cities in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are two sets of overlapping economic and political consequences, but they are not necessarily what you might expect. (New York Times)
The real reason behind the misinformation epidemic in online moms’ groups Facebook group “Natural Parenting Mommas”: The slow cascade in online groups from alternative health to COVID misinformation is not easy to fix, especially since its very proliferation serves to normalize the content. It won’t go away if social media platforms simply label posts as misinformation. The moderators I’ve interviewed have told me that even their efforts to delete misinformation haven’t worked; the deleted posts just pop up in the comments section on seemingly unrelated posts. (Mother Jones)
When MTV Debuted 40 Years Ago, Everyone Thought It Would Fail. Here’s Why It Didn’t Scorned by adults, adored by kids, and built on other people’s content, the music video network was TikTok and the iPhone rolled into one totally ’80s package. (Vanity Fair)
Having More Nightmares Lately? You’re Not Alone Swarms of bugs, inescapable crowds, and moments of maskless horror are the new normal. Will we ever sleep soundly again? (Walrus)
McDavid caps historic season with breathtaking performance on national stage If Connor McDavid hadn't scored a single goal this year, he'd still have the 2nd most points in the league. This is 99-level stuff. Something we have not seen since Mario Lemieux (Sportsnet)
Videos of the week
"Maps of Home" feat. John John Florence Maps of Home is a short film shot on location on the North Shore of Oahu, between January and March 2021. Surfers featured in order of appearance @John John Florence @Koa Rothman @Nathan Florence Jack Robinson, Ivan Florence @Eli Olson and @Jamie O'Brien .
"TY" - TY MORROW // ÉCLAT BMX One of the most progressive riders of a generation; Ty Morrow delivers another insane video
CULTCREW/ DAN FOLEY/ 2021 Starting Dan Foley, Filmed by Dan Foley, Directed by Dan Foley, Edited by Dan Foley, Yay a lot of Dan Foley!
Miami Heat - Kink BMX One week in Miami, Florida with the crew searching the Southern Florida streets and hitting spots new and old, fresh and classic. This is Miami Heat. Enjoy!
'WHOOPS' FT. HOBIE DOAN, BRETT SILVA, JULIAN ARTEAGA, TRENT LUTZKE & MORE | DIG BMX
Callan Stibbards & Jake Corless DEAD LEISURE “Conjure Thee”
Mos Definitely - DJ Brandt
Roman Pabich’s “Sponsor Me Tape” Homies Part We all know he can rip a park or pool, but this part solidifies Roman’s status as an absolute ATV ruler. The bloody shirt at the end says it all.
Sebo Walker's "9 Days" Part Sebo sets it off in Venice before taking his unparalleled board control to NYC. Any spot, any town, he’s got it covered.
Emerica Presents: Stay Gold (2010) The Emerica full length classic "Stay Gold" from 2010 was finally put online featuring Andrew Reynolds, Leo Romero, Brandon Westgate, Justin Figueroa, Jerry Hsu, Bryan Herman, Kevin Long, Braydon Szafranski, Collin Provost, Marquis Preston, Aaron Suski, and Jamie Tancowny