1. MATCH Beyond
“The magic is in the mix. The degree is relatively low cost—tuition and fees will be $5,000 per year, which can be covered by the Pell Grant. College for America’s degree is both competency-based, which allows students to work at their own pace—critical for students from low-income households who need to balance their studies with part-time jobs and other obligations—and tailored to the job market.”
2. You have $8 billion. What do you do?
“Its six full-time staffers have taken on the unenviable task of ranking every plausible way to make the world a much better place, and figuring out how much money to commit to the winners. It’s the biggest test yet of GiveWell’s heavily empirical approach to picking charities. If it works, it could change the face of philanthropy.”
3. The financial lives of 1990 NFL draft picks
“Webb owns Environmental Machines & Services, which operates and rebuilds the heavy machinery that cleans drinking water and the runoff produced by chemical and mining companies. Compared with the careers in coaching, broadcasting and sales that many former players pursue, it is an obscure occupation. But Webb was not a typical N.F.L. player. He had majored in industrial distribution, a mix of marketing and engineering, while at Texas A&M.”
4. Inequality in social outcomes
“What’s most shocking about these statistics is not how unhealthy they show Americans to be, compared with citizens of countries that spend much less on health care and have much less sophisticated medical technology. What is most perplexing is how stunningly fast the United States has lost ground.”
5. Non-attachment vs. detachment
“While many people suggest that detachment is the right approach to stress and anxiety, and others feel that it’s the path to enlightenment, it doesn’t work in my case. Now, I’m defining the phrase, so for some detachment might be an awesome way to deal with things, but for me it falls in the category of ‘indifference’ and ‘disengagement” which I apply to things I don’t care about, but doesn’t work for things I am engaged, interested, or involved in.”
“Will solar PV provide enough energy? Right now, you couldn’t power a city like New York fully on solar PV even if you covered every square inch of it with panels. The question is whether that will still be true in 30 or 50 years. What efficiencies and innovations might be unlocked when solar cells and energy storage become more efficient and ubiquitous?”