Greycourt: Fifteen on Friday #509

Happy Friday –

Welcome back to Fifteen on Friday after taking off our mid-October edition for some fall break related travel.

The world has changed markedly since our last edition with the atrocities in Israel and the beginnings of a new war. There are many within our orbit who have been directly affected, and we too mourn this tragic and senseless loss of life.

Many, many articles have been published over the last few weeks. Here are a couple that stood out to me as worthwhile.

WSJ – Elite Universities Face Donor Revolt Over Mideast Conflict
The Atlantic – Students for Pogroms in Israel
TheFreePress – The New Axis of Evil: Condoleezza Rice on War in Israel and a Changed World

Cheers,

David

Featured Articles:

NYTimes – Why Culture Has Come to a Standstill A Times critic argues that ours is the least innovative century for the arts in 500 years. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Rich Roll – Arnold Schwarzenegger – Be Useful One of the world’s most compelling public figures, today Arnold Schwarzenegger graces the show to share tales from his extraordinary life, how he reached the pinnacle of success in three different careers, and why his 4th act is leveraging his influence to forge a better world.
RogerMartin – Ways of Understanding I was always somewhat perplexed that even though Peter Drucker is arguably the most important management thinker of all time, his work is not taught by any tenure-stream business professor of which I am aware.
NYT – The Essential Skills for Being Human A deep, thoughtful reflection by David Brooks
WSJ – Parent Group Texts Spiral Out of Control. ‘I’ll Make a Spread Sheet!’ – If you know, you know.

Business / Markets:

Corporate Transparency Act – If you aren’t following this, pay attention. The CTA takes effect on 1/1/24 and dramatically increases the amount of reporting many companies will have to do. Here are a few pieces worth reading – The CTA: An Update, CTA – A Primer for ‘Small’ Businesses, and Unpacking CTA Disclosure with Private Trust Companies
Greycourt – Chinese Private Markets Likely to Suffer from Slowing Entrepreneurship In this White Paper, author Wendy Pan tracks the extraordinary rise and more recent constraints on entrepreneurialism in China and considers its implications for Chinese private markets – and for the vitality of the Chinese economy as a whole.
Oaktree – Further Thoughts on Sea Change This memo’s main message is that the current changes in markets aren’t just usual cyclical fluctuations; rather, taken together, they represent a sweeping alteration of the investment environment, calling for significant capital reallocation.
WSJ – It’s Getting Too Expensive to Have Fun Prices for concert tickets and amusement-park entries have ballooned
Insider – It’s not just you. LinkedIn has gotten really weird.

Others…

Guardian – ‘We are just getting started’: the plastic-eating bacteria that could change the world When a microbe was found munching on a plastic bottle in a rubbish dump, it promised a recycling revolution. Now scientists are attempting to turbocharge those powers in a bid to solve our waste crisis. But will it work?
Journal of Pediatrics – Decline in Independent Activity as A Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Well-being Our thesis is that a primary cause of the rise in mental dis-orders is a decline over decades in opportunities for children and teens to play, roam, and engage in other activities independent of direct oversight and control by adults.
WSJ – Southwest Has Been Preparing for Winter All Summer We went to summer deicing school to see how the airline plans to keep travelers moving through messy weather
Engadget – Coin flips don’t appear to have 50/50 odds after all A study suggests it’s 50.8% likely to land on the side that started facing up.
Hodinkee – Talking Watches w/ Ed Sheeran, hosted by John Mayer “Though he’s only recently been lionized as a major collector and watch enthusiast on social media, Ed Sheeran has been a passionate collector for over a decade. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know him over the years, both through our shared love of writing music and for collecting, and I’m so glad he agreed to sit down with me for an episode of Talking Watches.”