1. China's military has an Achilles' heel: Low troop morale: 'One-child army' more inclined to add crewless aircraft and ballistic missiles.
2. The messy truth about carbon footprints: Personal lifestyle choices are important in the effort to stem climate change — but not for the reasons you might think. Lifestyle choices need to be seen as acts of strategic mass mobilization. And they should be considered as one part of a broader toolbox of tactics that also includes advocacy, organizing, and protest.
A recent report from Oxfam found that the wealthiest 10 percent of the global population — which includes the vast majority of people reading this post — were responsible for more than 50 percent of global emissions between 1990 and 2015.
3. If your CEO talks like Kant, think twice before investing: Quantitative research by Nomura shows that companies whose executives use the most complex language on earnings calls produce lower returns.
Since 2014, the 100 companies whose officers used the most complex language averaged a return of 9.45% per year. The companies in the simplest language decile returned 15.4% per year.
When people start to waffle like this in earnings calls, it should be no surprise that their subsequent share price performance is bad. The converse is true of clarity. Those who know exactly what they want to do are likely to be able to express it clearly, and then do it.
4. George Lucas' new LA museum moves ahead: The $1-billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is on track to premiere in 2023. The galleries will feature works from Lucas' personal collection of more than 100,000 pieces of fine and popular art and "Star Wars" ephemera.
5. Why is everyone talking to Ibai Llanos? A 26-year-old Spanish streamer counts Lionel Messi as an admirer and Gerard Piqué as a business partner. His interviews might be a glimpse into the future of sports media.
The NYT reports that Llanos has interviewed a succession of soccer's biggest names over the last couple of years, from Sergio Ramos to Paulo Dybala. He now counts some stars, like Sergio Agüero, as friends, and others, like Gerard Piqué, as business partners. Players who habitually distrust the news media have been happy to spend as much as a couple of hours talking to Llanos on Twitch.
That is turning him into a breakout star of the internet age in Spain and, at times, occasionally invoking the wrath of journalists from more traditional outlets who envy the access he enjoys and disdain his lack of training.
