Favorite Rejects 2022-07-25

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

The market is “getting from Rome to Milan” not “getting from Rome to Milan on a train.” Europe should be pushing more cross-border consolidation of vertically integrated railroads, not separating infrastructure from ops and pushing open access.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

There’s a roughly parallel issue in the US where some people want to treat freight railroads as monopolies rather than recognizing the basic reality that they compete with trucks.

Visegrád 24 @visegrad24

BREAKING: Turns out the Polish-S. Korean weapons deal is much larger than thought. The spokesperson of the Polish Armaments Agency @krzysztof_atek confirmed today that Poland is buying: 1000 K2PL MBTs 672 K9 self-propelled howitzers Up to 1400 Borsuk IFVs 48 FA50 fighter jets

Darrell Owens @IDoTheThinking

3 theories: 1) Americans live in bigger houses and have more space for WFH. 2) Toxic Japanese work culture. 3) American offices are more centrally located and harder to access than Europe's.

Toby Muresianu 🇺🇦 @tobyhardtospell

Why are the office vacancy rates in the US now 2-3x what they are in Europe, Japan, etc? https://t.co/BdXSqcUt4e

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

Nationwide crime wave + SCOTUS-mandated universal open/concealed carry laws + Fox News telling everyone that the police have been defunded = Libertarian dystopia and loss of government's monopoly on the use of force

M.G. Siegler @mgsiegler

Did a baby write this? https://t.co/xUPHoZAEeR

BBC Future @BBC_Future

"Sleep training" is seen by some as the key to a good night's rest. Others argue that it's distressing for babies. What’s the science? https://t.co/yLm44lQFk3

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

U.S. isn't even close to the worst country in terms of falling housing affordability. Naturally Japan and South Korea are doing great.

Anne Paulson @KrampusSnail

The City of Los Altos has a truly terrible housing approval process. I wrote a letter, with the receipts:

Ethan Mollick @emollick

A reason that NASA continues to seem so impressive is that many missions consistently crush goals: Opportunity was a 90 day mission that lasted 16 years. Hubble was supposed to last 15 years & will do 45. Anyone know if this a policy of under-promising? Genuine over-performance?

Massimo @Rainmaker1973

How a book written in 1910 could teach you calculus better than several books of today [Calculus Made Easy, by Silvanus P. Thompson, 1910 - full text pdf: bit.ly/2pThkf1 or with the table of contents: calculusmadeeasy.org]

Eliot Brown @eliotwb

"The development also faces one challenge unique among construction worldwide: the curvature of the Earth." a story on the 75 mile-long, empire state building-high skyscraper in the desert that definitely is economically feasible

wsj.comInside Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Build a Skyscraper That Stretches for 75 MilesSaudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman demanded something as ambitious as Egypt’s pyramids. What urban planners came up with in response are plans for the world’s largest structure.

Scott Gottlieb, MD @ScottGottliebMD

If we have allowed monkeypox to become an endemic virus in the U.S. — which is becoming an increasingly possible outcome — it will be among the most unfortunate public health failures in recent times.