Monday morning articles
The Once and Future Sneaker King Like Michael Jordan himself, the Air Jordan 1 was an instant hit. But the sneaker’s renewed reign 35 years later isn’t just about greatness. It’s about the stories that build the myth. (Ringer)
Would You Rather Outperform During Bull Markets or Bear Markets? It’s hard to believe how much brainpower, time, effort and money go into beating the market by hedge funds, mutual funds, separately-managed accounts and stock-pickers…and the vast majority of them fail at their stated goal. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
The Business of … Death: Why most American funeral parlors are family-owned and other fascinating insights—extreme embalming?!—from the burial economy. (Businessweek)
Long Bonds Are No Longer for Fools: Prospects have improved for 30-year Treasuries. (Morningstar)
People Are Investing in Bonds Again—Once They Figure Them Out: After years of low returns, bonds are paying real money again. But as investors are discovering, they aren’t exactly set-it-and-forget-it assets. (Wall Street Journal)
12 Important Lessons I Learned From “Just Keep Buying” Thew real purpose of investing: To live a life you wanna live. Money dominates our thoughts, but time is actually your most important asset. If you’ve already won the game, take your money off the table. (mr-stingy)
Want to Beat the Stock Market? Avoid the Cost of ‘Being Human’ Professional fund managers labor under handicaps that individual investors don’t face. Make sure you manage your portfolio differently than they do. (Wall Street Journal)
17 Pop Culture Moments That Define The Covid Era: If you were putting together a time capsule to let people in 100 years know what living through this pandemic felt like, sure, you might include hand sanitizer and a surgical mask. But you must also include the theme song from “The White Lotus” and a group chat about Taylor Swift and an episode of “Love Is Blind” and the unexpected online drawing lessons from a famous children’s book author. As that author, Mo Willems, says below of the pandemic: “Science will get us out of this, but art will get us through it.” (New York Times)
Nutrition Science’s Most Preposterous Result: Could Ice Cream Possibly Be Good for You? Studies show a mysterious health benefit to ice cream. Scientists don’t want to talk about it. (The Atlantic)
America’s decline in life expectancy speaks volumes about our problems: Years of widening economic inequality, compounded by the pandemic and political storm and stress, have given Americans the impression that the country is on the wrong track. Now there’s empirical data to show just how far the country has run off the rails: Life expectancies have been falling. (Los Angeles Times)
The astonishing radicalism of Florida’s new ban on abortion: Ron DeSantis, gearing up for a presidential bid, signed the 6-week ban late Thursday night. (Vox)
The Self-Proclaimed Genius of Lil Dicky: Is Dave Burd the greatest rapper alive? Unlikely. The comedic voice of his generation? Maybe. The star of one of TV’s most subversively hilarious hits? No doubt. A deep dive into the neurotically immodest mind behind FX’s ‘Dave.’ (Hollywood Reporter)