Air travel is a Coasian bargain at points.

Did it work? I can’t keep up with the latest features.

It's On You ‘A stirring call to action’ – TIM HARFORD ‘A masterclass’ – DARON ACEMOGLU 'An excellent book' – NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB Two decades ago, behavioral economics burst from academia to the halls of power,...

I recommend this book. I learned a lot and really enjoyed it, though how we switch from blaming individual behavior and decisions to system design for our major problems remains elusive.

The social sciences are increasingly ill-equipped to design system-level reforms - PubMed Our social policy landscape is characterized by incrementalism, while public calls for more radical reform get louder. But the social sciences cannot be relied upon to generate a steady stream of radi...

Another in my occasional series of posting papers that I think should be more widely cited. This paper only has four citations but argues an important perspective.

I think it’s partially a unique time for US downtowns, where the office market isn’t good and the residential market can’t pick up the slack, so cities are looking for any investment as are developers. But maybe this fits with two midwestern downtowns as outliers.

Delta has now suspended 6 routes and cancelled 2 in the past couple days due to high fuel prices and ostensibly more marginal demand.

🔌💡

Pros, Cons, and Complexities of Downtown Data Centers Should data centers contribute to the redevelopment puzzle, or will they make already-flagging downtowns even less desirable?

This is of interest (I don’t agree with some of it, but at least it lays out issues). tcbmag.com/pros-cons-an...

Downtown Minneapolis site targeted for major data center upgrade An expansion of an existing data center that's been unused for several years is on the docket for the Planning Commission's meeting Monday.

In some cases the middle of the city is where old buildings that are hard to adapt are, with excellent power and water connections. From a lively city perspective these are bad, from a logistical perspective they make sense. Here’s one in Minneapolis

Crashes Went Down 15% In Harlem Trash Container Zone, As Mamdani Hawks Citywide Rollout - Streetsblog New York City We crunched the numbers: Empire Bins don't just make streets cleaner, they also make them safer.

Crashes and serious injuries dropped 15 percent and 52 percent respectively in West Harlem after New York City swapped vehicle storage for curbside trash containers, according to data crunched by @davecolon.bsky.social nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/04/17/c...

Lies, Damned Lies and Economic Vibes The continuing mystery of feel-bad economics

A guess I'd add to the vibesession causes is that I think the US government is currently dismantling many of the foundations of the US economy (stability, rule of law, education, anti-corruption, international agreements and respect, etc.). So things are fine now but the table has no legs.

I think even the weakened demand (which I agree with for a few reasons) is notable, since this extends to October, skipping the whole summer when there is a soccer thing that some people are excited about and may involve travel between YYZ and NYC.

Air Canada suspends Toronto and Montreal flights to JFK over jet fuel cost crisis | CBC News Air Canada has temporarily suspended flights from Toronto and Montreal to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport as the war in Iran drives up fuel costs.

It's four flight daily total, but seems like sort of a biggish deal.

Tax all foreigners living abroad, in a way.

There was a particularly rough stretch of road on my former bike commute that had been “adopted” by a personal injury law firm, which always amused me.

I mean, that and Fresca go with everything. I’m not saying this is socially optimal.

NPR's Declaration Of Independence Tweets Anger Some Trump Supporters National Public Radio marked the Fourth of July by tweeting the entire Declaration of Independence, but it seems some Twitter users didn't recognize what they were reading.

It's sort of analogous to when NPR reads the Declaration of Independence and MAGA gets mad about it.

Arizona is laying the groundwork for flying cars. Here's what's next Arizonans could have initial flying car regulations ahead of a multimillion-dollar study expected later this year.

"Farnsworth has long expressed interest in developing other infrastructure to support the future of flying cars in Arizona. The Republican senator has also discussed creating "vertiports" in the Valley, which are areas that can be used as both parking spaces and a landing pad for flying vehicles."

California air taxi company to test autonomous flight technology in Arizona A California company developing air taxis for commercial service plans to test its autonomous flight technology in Arizona as part of a federal pilot program.

And Phoenix is part of the recently announced testing of advanced air mobility and eVTOLs. The state legislature is also pushing this.

Phoenix news helicopter collision - Wikipedia

Related, Phoenix has a history with aviation disasters that luckily didn't cause more death and injury. In 2007 two news helicopters crashed over Indian School Park (about a mile from the plane crash), killing all on board but somehow avoiding the dense area around.

Plane conducts 'forced landing' near 7th Street and Camelback Road in Phoenix A plane was forced to conduct a "forced landing" near 7th Street and Camelback Road in central Phoenix just before 2:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

The struggle to make Phoenix roads multimodal is different than many other places. (It's insane that a plane was landed on 7th Street, which is one of the busiest arterials in the region.)

The Pope is weak on nuclear weapons? Among other issues.

Regret to inform everyone that Peter Magyar beat the world’s smartest illiberal populist in large measure by working incredibly hard for 2 straight years, meaning the rest of us are just going to have to get off our asses and do shit rather than just complaining.

This is sufficiently convoluted that it makes perfect sense that a Bond villain would explain that this is their plan.

Seems like an enterprising wannabe Bond villain could do something at the moment.

Maybe that roundabout will finally get its freight train.

My view is letting the kids figure it these out on their own is important. Let them learn how to negotiate and figure out the rules on their own. Maybe they will come up with a game where everyone climbs up!

This thread is adding to evidence that HOA fees are becoming problematic. The WSJ had a piece about this last week, too. This isn't just condos, either, and most new housing in the US is built under a HOA. Gift link.

Spider-Man’s foe wanted to turn people into dinosaurs rather than cure cancer. These guys just don’t want to cure cancer, which they could take credit for!

If it's a bitter pill it seems they usually point out that part.