10 Weekend Reads

Billionaires know they are. Low-wage workers are very well aware that they aren’t. But vast swaths of America’s “regular rich” don’t feel that way, and it’s keeping everybody down.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-are-you-rich-best-cities-to-live-salary/
via Bloomberg.

Electric Boogie Woogie Wagon https://thebaffler.com/latest/electric-boogie-woogie-wagon-albert

17 astounding scientific mysteries that researchers can’t yet solve What is the universe made out of? How should we define death? Where did dogs come from? And more! https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/24094267/17-scientific-mysteries-unsolved-dark-matter-life

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of  coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:

• Insurance Rates Are Soaring for US Homeowners in Climate Danger Zones: Research shows the soaring costs hint at widespread, unpriced risk as the global climate warms, with states like California, Florida, and Louisiana hit hardest. https://www.wired.com/story/insurance-rates-soaring-us-homeowners-climate-danger-zones-florida-louisiana-california-hurricane-flood/

• Why Zillow is worried about America’s housing market shakeup. The company’s stock has dropped nearly 13% since Friday’s $418 million settlement between the National Association of Realtors and groups of home sellers which ended the standard 6% commission for Realtors. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/19/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html

• Reddit is going public. Will its unruly user base revolt? Reddit could become the next meme stock — or flop. https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2024/3/20/24105248/reddit-ipo-date-stock-rddt-price see also How the House quietly revived the TikTok ban before most of us noticed: An unusually fast process. A classified briefing. Phone lines clogged with teenagers ‘in near tears.’ The bill, meant to force the sale of TikTok, passed by a landslide. https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/15/24102472/house-tiktok-ban-bill-staffers-calls-congress

• What Must Nelson Peltz Do to Get Some Respect? The longtime corporate agitator feels misunderstood. Maybe his fight with Disney could change that. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/16/business/media/peltz-disney-proxy.html

• How Does Paris Stay Paris? By Pouring Billions Into Public Housing: One quarter of residents in the French capital live in government-owned housing, part of an aggressive plan to keep lower-income Parisians — and their businesses — in the city. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/17/realestate/paris-france-housing-costs.html

• Backyard Bird Diary: While watching hummingbirds buzz around me, I recalled a fantasy every child has: that I could win the trust of wild animals and they would willingly come to me. I imagined tiny avian helicopters dining on my palm. To lure them, I bought Lilliputian hummingbird feeders, four for $10. Hope came cheap enough, but I was also realistic. It might take months to gain a hummingbird’s interest in the feeder and for it to lose its fear of me. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/03/13/backyard-bird-diary/

• Large language models, explained with a minimum of math and jargon: Want to really understand how large language models work? Here’s a gentle primer. https://www.understandingai.org/p/large-language-models-explained-with  SEE ALSO Watch an A.I. Learn to Write by Reading Nothing but _____; The core of an A.I. program like ChatGPT is something called a large language model: an algorithm that mimics the form of written language. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/04/26/upshot/gpt-from-scratch.html

•Aboard the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Battling the Houthis in the Red Sea: Aboard the U.S. Aircraft Carrier Battling the Houthis in the Red Sea. Except, aboard the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is not a drill. For two months, the 5,000 sailors and pilots on board have carried out a near daily and nightly task: find and destroy weapons storage sites, missile systems, air defense systems, radars and missile launchers before the Houthi militia uses the weapons to find and destroy commercial ships in the Red Sea. https://www.nytimes.com/card/2024/03/18/world/houthis-red-sea-yemen-us

• Inside the Glorious Afterlife of Roger Federer: Nearly two years after he walked away from tennis, Roger Federer has found a different rhythm to life—and an exciting new set of challenges. Now, in his most wide-ranging interview since his retirement, Federer reflects on his old rivals, his new passions, and the fresh sense of urgency that drives him: “I feel minutes matter more now than before.” https://www.gq.com/story/roger-federer-gq-hype#intcid=_gq-verso-hp-trending_88dea524-03b5-4650-b5bd-a9983445862e_popular4-1

• The Princess Bride: An oral history: Is this a kissing book? https://ew.com/movies/2011/10/14/princess-bride-oral-history/  

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist at Schwab. She also sits on the Investment Policy Committee. helping to oversee the $8.5 trillion on the Schwab platform. She is has been named one of the “25 Most Powerful Women in Finance” by American Banker.