We often set aside articles that are longer, deserve a re-read, are broader in scope…or just for fun - for weekend reading. Below are some from this week - pour yourself a hot cup of coffee & enjoy...

• Mortgage Amounts Relative To Housing Values Are Lowest Since Elvis. (Housing Notes)

• AI Boom Reshapes Power Landscape as Data Centers Drive Historic Demand Growth: “The energy narrative in 2024 shifted from focusing on the urgency of the energy transition to the urgency of energy security,” (Power)

• Apple C0-Founder Steve Wozniak on fighting internet scams. (CBS News)

• The Crazy Comes for Clean Energy (Paul Krugman)

• How Gavin Newsom trolled his way to the top of social media: Inside the MAGA-parodying strategy that has rocketed the California governor to algorithmic dominance - while annoying leading Republicans. (Politico)

• Russia is quietly churning out fake content posing as US news: A pro-Russian propaganda group is taking advantage of high-profile news events to spread disinformation (Politico)

• Brain Food: Alzheimer’s breakthroughs of mice and men, the stranger-than-fiction phenomenon of comb jelly intelligence, RIP Dobby, and three recommendations. (The Garden of the Forking Paths)

• The West is bored to death: Our nihilistic politics are a product of the crushing ennui and spiritual vacancy of modern life. (New Statesman)

• The heir’s property: one man’s journey to reclaim family land in the American South: An in-depth look at the issue of land passed down through generations, told through the lens of one man’s struggle to retain land purchased a century ago by his great-grandfather, who was born into slavery during the Confederacy. (USA Today)

• How Pickleball Explains American Culture: In 2019, pickleball was half as popular as badminton. Last year, it was more popular than baseball. (Derek Thompson)

• Niall Ferguson: Our Own Gilded Age (TFP)

• Falling in Love on the Back of a Motorcycle. My whole life, I’ve wanted to feel what it’s like to fly. This is the closest I’ve come. (TFP)

• The defense against slop and brainrot: What I am doing to prevent myself from stagnating and rotting. (Substack)

What are you reading or listening to?