Welcome to Bespoke Brunch Reads — a linkfest of the favorite things we read over the past week. The links are mostly market related, but there are some other interesting subjects covered as well. We hope you enjoy the food for thought as a supplement to the research we provide you during the week.
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Pandemic Payoffs
Golf sees huge upswing with women and young adults: ‘You can take your bag full of White Claws’ by Melody Hahm (Yahoo! Finance)
Left for dead by shifting demographics and no taste for the links among younger folks, golf is suddenly getting a massive boon from COVID, with low disease risk and spare capacity for folks to head out and hit some balls. [Link; auto-playing video]
Locked Down in the Ritz-Carlton: Winning the Quarantine Hotel Lottery by Chong Koh Ping (WSJ)
Folks arriving in Singapore must pass a mandatory 14 day quarantine, but the hotel they spend their time at is assigned by lottery. For some, that lottery is a big payoff. [Link; paywall]
Battery Power
Pandemic e-commerce surge spurs race for ‘Tesla-like’ electric delivery vans by Nick Carey (Reuters)
In addition to targeting zero-emissions, last mile logistics companies are also looking for capabilities like autonomous driving and analytics which are already a part of basic Tesla capabilities. [Link]
Why Tesla’s Battery Day Will Actually Live Up to the Hype by Steve LeVine (Medium)
In a couple of weeks, Tesla will host a live webcast “battery day” alongside the company’s shareholders meeting; reading the tea leaves, it’s possible that CEO Elon Musk will announce its battery technology efficiency has improved to cost-parity with gasoline cars. [Link]
Alternative Approaches
To Manage Wildfire, California Looks To What Tribes Have Known All Along by Lauren Sommer (NPR)
Historically, Indigenous people around North America actively used wildfires as a way to manage the biosphere; returning to managed burns could reduce the scale and intensity of fires which have wracked California in recent summers. [Link]
Call police for a woman who is changing clothes in an alley? A new program in Denver sends mental health professionals instead. by Elise Schmelzer (The Denver Post)
A pilot program in Denver that focuses on mental health and social service intervention instead of police presence has led to a successful series of de-escalations rather than arrests and confrontation. [Link]
A $12 Billion Trust Fund Is About to Crack Open for U.K. Teens by Edward Robinson (Bloomberg)
15 years ago the Blair government created a trust fund that included government contributions, market gains, and family contributions to accounts. The first generation of recipients is set to start receiving the money this year, providing a firmer financial footing for all UK young adults. [Link]
Doomed Enterprises
Those boats in Texas paraded at the wrong speed by Brendan Greeley (FTAV)
You might think a boat parade would be a pretty straightforward enterprise, but the physics can get very complicated and very dangerous in a hurry, as was the case in Texas this week. [Link; registration required]
A Gender-Reveal Celebration Is Blamed for a Wildfire. It Isn’t the First Time. by Christina Morales and Allyson Waller (NYT)
A “smoke-generating pyrotechnic device” designed to spew the gender of a baby ignited a fire that consumed thousands of acres near Los Angeles, one of a number of similar incidents in recent years as the trend of over-the-top gender reveals and extreme wildfire conditions have coalesced. [Link; soft paywall]
Social Media
WeChat and TikTok Taking China Censorship Global, Study Says by Jamie Tarabay (Bloomberg)
Chinese social media apps used in the US often censor content deemed sensitive by the Chinese government, one among many reasons that Chinese tech is decoupling from the rest of the world. [Link; soft paywall]
Trading
NYSE Exchanges to Prepare for Potential Move From New Jersey by Stacie Sherman (Bloomberg)
In response to New Jersey’s discussion of a financial transaction tax, NYSE is preparing to move its digital infrastructure across state lines to dodge the tax. [Link; soft paywall]
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Have a great weekend!
