10 Weekend Reads – The Big Picture

• Covid changed how we spend: More YOLO splurging but less saving: Doom spending. Soft saving. YOLOing. Whatever you call it, it’s clear covid has changed the way Americans think about spending. (Washington Post)

• BMW Is a Surprise Winner in Electric Vehicles: Once considered a laggard, the German luxury carmaker is one of only a few established automakers that has been able to compete effectively against Tesla. (New York Times)

• Is It Even Possible to Become More Productive? I read all the books and tried all the hacks in a mad quest to optimize my time. (Esquire)

• Did One Guy Just Stop a Huge Cyberattack? A Microsoft engineer noticed something was off on a piece of software he worked on. He soon discovered someone was probably trying to gain access to computers all over the world. (New York Times) see also A Vigilante Hacker Took Down North Korea’s Internet. Now He’s Taking Off His Mask: As “P4x,” Alejandro Caceres single-handedly disrupted the internet of an entire country. Then he tried to show the US military how it can—and should—adopt his methods. (Wired)

• Wait, does America suddenly have a record number of bees? After almost two decades of relentless colony collapse coverage and years of grieving suspiciously clean windshields, we were stunned to run the numbers on the new Census of Agriculture (otherwise known as that wonderful time every five years where the government counts all the llamas): America’s honeybee population has rocketed to an all-time high. (Washington Post)

• Emission Impossible: One Couple’s Quest to Ditch Natural Gas: Two climate journalists decided to decarbonize their home. They thought getting their home off fossil fuels would be straightforward. Chaos ensued. (Grist)

• What was it like when oxygen killed almost all life on Earth? Known as the Great Oxygenation Event, Earth froze over as oxygen accumulated in our atmosphere, nearly driving all life extinct. (Big Think)

• I Don-bombed Sedona with a Trump cardboard cutout: Came home the other night, flicked on the kitchen lights and found Donald Trump standing there. Just about needed the defib. Not the actual Trump. A life-size, stand-up, full-color, cardboard Trump. Blue suit, double thumbs-up, grinning at me. Turns out pulling the Don bomb is a thing. Someone Don-bombed my buddy with it, so my buddy Don-bombed me with it. He said now I had to Don-bomb somebody else with it. (Washington Post)

• A Tour Through Solar Eclipses of the Past: Images from the recent (and not-so-recent) past of previous eclipses—annular, partial, and total—from around the world. Also pictured are some of the many observers sharing this fleeting experience, “witnessing the planetary version of a lightning strike,” together in stadiums, parks, and beaches. (The Atlantic)

• Why Billie Eilish Insists on Sustainability In Her Career: ‘It’s a Never-Ending F–king Fight’ The superstar and her mother, Maggie Baird, were stunned by the music industry’s lack of environmental action — so they’ve integrated their own into every element of the artist’s business.  (Billboard)’