* “In Some US Cities, There Are Over Ten Times More Parking Spaces Than Households.” Should you be wondering why the rent is too damn high and the commuting times too damn long, this is part of the answer.

* “San Francisco’s zoning makes it illegal to build apartments in 73.5% of the city.” And that, friends, is another part of the reason the rent is too damn high.

* “‘Up or out’ institutional structures go sideways,” a piece similar to this previously linked piece that makes a similar observation.

* A story about leaving China, which is very different and more specific than “the usual,” while also offering some abstract lessons and ideas.

* “Linux touchpad like a Macbook: goal worth pursuing.” It is bad that Apple has had a far better touchpad experience for at least five years and arguably much longer.

* “Michel Houellebecq Imagined Sexual Dystopia. Now It’s Arrived.” I disagree with the absoluteness of the headline but the story is of interest.

* “#HeToo? A Fight for Men’s Rights, in California Courts.” A surprising venue for this story as well.

* “On Semicolons and the Rules of Writing.” I like and will continue to use semicolons, likely until I can no longer write.

* “What If Trump Has Been a Russian Asset Since 1987?” Still unlikely but much more likely than I would’ve thought two years ago—or even one year ago.

* “The Age of Acceleration: An Interview with Martin Amis.”

* People Are Bad at Being Productive in a Limited Time.

* I Was the Mob Until the Mob Came for Me.

* “A Global Heat Wave Has Set the Arctic Circle on Fire.”

* “In Hollywood, ‘Anything Goes’ Becomes ‘You’re Fired.’” Ill news for creativity and creative freedom.

* “California teacher pension debt swamps school budgets.” This is unsustainable, to use an overused word that is nonetheless applicable here.

* The childless, aging future.

* “A Theory of Trump Kompromat,” not just the usual.

* “Crossing the divide: Do men really have it easier? These transgender guys found the truth was more complex.” The short answer is “no.”

* “Academia Is the Alternative Career Path: Why pretend otherwise?” Seems totally obvious to me.

* Universities withstood MOOCs but risk being outwitted by OPMs [online programme managers]. Good.

* “Parking Has Eaten American Cities,” another take on the first link. You’ll know people are really serious about improving everyone’s economic and financial lives when they come for parking.

* “Book Breaking and Book Mending: Most academic books aren’t written to be read—they’re written to be ‘broken.’ That should change.” The subtext of this article is, “Don’t get a PhD in the humanities. Even if you do, and even if you ‘publish,’ what you publish will be of little value and will likely go unread.”