Extra, Extra
Climate Change for a Dollar: Forget politics and follow the money. Insurance companies know climate change is making more places inhabitable. They also know how profitable the causes for that reality can be. “Even as climate change is remaking the American map, prompting insurance companies to shed the risk posed by rising heat and water, those same companies have not stopped underwriting the oil-and-gas projects that are stoking that risk. Understanding risk may be at the core of insurers’ business, but right now the reward for investing in fossil-fuel companies still overrides any pressure to avoid supporting the industries that make climate change worse.” The Hypocrisy at the Heart of the Insurance Industry. I’m not sure it’s hypocrisy. On one hand, it’s about saving money. On the other hand it’s about making money.
+ When the Lights Go Down in the City: “A tour of downtown San Francisco today, its streets packed, its bars busy, can seem an odd me-or-your-lying-eyes experience. By many measures, San Francisco is the safest it has ever been. Violent crime is a third of what it was in 1985, and currently twenty per cent below the average of twenty-one major American cities. The city has a triple-A credit rating. Most of its residential neighborhoods are clean and green and bustling. With the exception of the Tenderloin, the neighborhood from which most dire imagery comes, a walk through San Francisco is a stroll around an affluent Pacific capital of small bookstores and night markets and weekend festivals—so much so that one can almost wonder where the idea of a city in decline emerged.” Nathan Heller in The New Yorker with a realistic assessment of San Francisco’s post pandemic challenges and a realistic challenge to the doom loop assessment made by those in other places that are less beautiful and less cool (both in terms of weather and attitude). What Happened to San Francisco, Really?
+ Burial Plot: Amazon will start testing drones that will drop prescriptions on your doorstep, literally. (It won’t be long before they’re dropping pills directly down your throat.)
+ Paulie: He is of course best known for his great portrayal of Paulie in the Rocky movies. But Burt Young had a lot of other memorable roles as well. Burt Young, Who Played Paulie in ‘Rocky’ Films, Dies at 83.
+ An Ace Up Both Sleeves: “Amid a season full of what they’ve referred to as adversity and distractions, the Aces joined the Houston Comets (1997-2000) and Los Angeles Sparks (2001-02) as the only franchises to win multiple championships in a row.” Aces edge Liberty to secure 2nd straight WNBA championship.
