Saturdays we catch up with the non-finance related items that we didn’t get to earlier in the week. You can check out last week’s edition. Have a great weekend!
Quote of the Day
"Humans are combative and emotionally inconsistent. ChatGPT and Claude, by contrast, have been trained to produce language that is pleasing by design, endlessly receptive to whatever half-formed thought a user puts in front of them."
(Daniel Parris)
Autos
- Tesla ($TSLA) had a good Q2. (arstechnica.com)
- On the (potential) return of the small pickup. (wsj.com)
- It's not just Buc-ee's. Gas stations are getting bigger. (cnbc.com)
- On the relationship between speed and fuel consumption. (wired.com)
- Wayve wants to compete with Tesla and Waymo in AV technology. (wsj.com)
- Safety standards around AVs need updating. (axios.com)
Energy
- More Americans are installing home batteries. (arstechnica.com)
- Canada’s Deep Sky became the first North American company to deliver verified carbon removal credits from direct air capture technology. (bnnbloomberg.ca)
Environment
- Fewer weather balloons means less accurate forecasts. (gizmodo.com)
- The U.S. is increasingly at-risk of another Dust Bowl. (bloomberg.com)
Animals
- Why is MAHA so focused on beef in lieu of other proteins? (theatlantic.com)
- Where shark attacks happen along the East Coast. (wsj.com)
Travel
- Tourists have overrun Madrid. (ft.com)
- The credit card lounge wars have spread beyond the airport. (cnbc.com)
- Potential FAA rules make supersonic more likely. (semafor.com)
- Why airplanes are kept cold. (popsci.com)
Data centers
- Why data center operators are focused on Scotland. (bbc.com)
- Data centers seem to have a heat island effect. (theguardian.com)
Technology
- How companies are cutting back on token usage. (tomtunguz.com)
- Can the Brick keep you from doomscrolling? (wsj.com)
- How password managers work. (obliviousinvestor.com)
Behavior
- Why a chatbot isn't a substitute for a therapist. (wsj.com)
- A Q&A with a Ian Bogost author of “The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life.” (techcrunch.com)
- Five insights from Luke Burgis's new book, "The One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion." (nextbigideaclub.com)
GLP-1s
- Medicare now covers GLP-1s. (reuters.com)
- On the effect of GLP-1 use for women in employment and cohabitation. (papers.ssrn.com)
Health
- The US death rate hit its lowest level on record last year due in large part to falling overdose deaths. (semafor.com)
- HPV vaccines work. Why isn't their use more widespread? (bloomberg.com)
- The writing is on the wall for peptides at the FDA. (arstechnica.com)
- Telehealth is exploding, not necessarily in a good way. (wired.com)
- Philip Morris ($PM) can now advertise Zyn as less harmful than cigarettes. (semafor.com)
The sun
- Five insights from Rowan Jacobsen's "In Defense of Sunlight: The Surprising Science of Sun Exposure." (nextbigideaclub.com)
- Please don't use a tanning bed. (axios.com)
Drink
- Alcohol is unique due to its ubiquity in society. (theconversation.com)
- How the alcohol industry wields political power largely behind the scenes. (statnews.com)
- Why brewers are producing smaller bottles and cans. (wsj.com)
Food
- Extreme weather is making potato growing more challenging. (wsj.com)
- Egg producers admit to fixing prices. (nypost.com)
- On the value of using 100% of the fish. (ft.com)
- Coffee was available in pre-revolution America. (npr.org)
- This pot of broth is 52 years old. (wsj.com)
Music
- Tidal is demonetizing AI-generated music. (engadget.com)
- The best albums of 2026 (so far) including 'You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love’ by Olivia Rodrigo. (variety.com)
- Some of the best albums of 2026 (so far) including Noah Kahan's 'The Great Divide.' (npr.org)
Sports
- Flavor Flav is an outspoken advocate for women's sports. (forbes.com)
- Requiring EKGs for high school athletes will cause more problems that it solves. (statnews.com)
- Why 1976 was a pivotal year for professional sports. (neilpaine.substack.com)
Children
- Graduation creep is exhausting for parents. (slate.com)
- This is an inevitable consequence to banning transgender athletes. (theconversation.com)
- Children eventually pass judgment on the job their parents did. (davidnroberts.com)
Earlier on Abnormal Returns
- What you missed in our Friday linkfest. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Don't miss a thing! Sign up for our daily e-mail newsletter. (abnormalreturns.com)
- Are you a financial advisor? Sign up for our exclusive Talking Wealth newsletter. (talkingwealthpod.com)