Wednesday morning articles
Tesla’s Hurting From Elon Musk’s Twitter Meltdowns. The Question Is: How Much? Since Musk took over at Twitter, his spreading of conspiracy theories and his banning of journalists has eroded much of the goodwill toward him — and Tesla. (CNET)
I’m a corporate fraud investigator. You wouldn’t believe the hubris of the super-rich: While the fraudsters I’ve encountered are often cunning, sooner or later they get carried. (The Guardian)
The Weight-Loss-Drug Revolution Is a Miracle—And a Menace: How the new obesity pills could upend American society (The Atlantic)
China’s Global Mega-Projects Are Falling Apart: Many of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure projects are plagued with construction flaws, including a giant hydropower plant in Ecuador, adding more costs to a program criticized for leading countries deeper into debt (Wall Street Journal)
They Poured Their Savings Into Homes That Were Never Built: Across the country, instead of apartment towers, uninhabitable concrete structures rise up from idle, overgrown construction sites. Infuriated homebuyers in more than 100 cities rose up in a rare act of collective rebellion last year, vowing not to repay loans on unfinished properties. (New York Times)
Wind Turbines Taller Than the Statue of Liberty Are Falling Over: Breakdowns of towers and blades have bedeviled manufacturers in the US and Europe. (Businessweek)
Takeaways from Sundance’s secret Brett Kavanaugh documentary: Director Doug Liman announced his new documentary at the festival. Then new tips began pouring in. (Washington Post)
Six Types of Wealth: Being rich isn’t just a money thing: Which resources you consider valuable is just as important as the abundance of resources themselves. The key is optimizing for the right form of wealth. (Young Money)
Why VR/AR Gets Farther Away as It Comes Into Focus: As we observe the state of XR in 2023, it’s fair to say the technology has proved harder than many of the best-informed and most financially endowed companies expected. (Matthew Ball)
How Much Netflix Can the World Absorb? Bela Bajaria, who oversees the streaming giant’s hyper-aggressive approach to TV-making, says success is about “recognizing that people like having more.” (New Yorker)
“It’s Gotta Grow to Stay Alive”: Inside Noah Shachtman’s Raucous Reinvention of ‘Rolling Stone’ The scoop-hungry, Twitter-happy editor has turbocharged the magazine’s digital metabolism—“back in the game,” says Gus Wenner—and chafed some staff along the way, who wonder if the new Rolling Stone is becoming the old Daily Beast. (Vanity Fair)
‘The SNL of Sabermetrics’: How a group of message-board misfits changed baseball: More than 25 years ago, Huckabay was at the center of one of baseball’s great underdog tales: “Revenge of the Nerds” meets “Major League,” with a little National Lampoon mixed in. Analytical, irreverent and opinionated, Baseball Prospectus became, as one former employee said, the “Saturday Night Live” of sabermetrics, a launching pad for talented outsiders. (The Athletic)