* “How Theoretical computer scientist Manuel Blum became a legendary academic advisor and guided generations of graduate students into fruitful careers.” About talent, among other things, and how to maximize other people’s talents.

* Argument that “The world’s 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars.” Ebikes are great, and they’re now cheap and good too. I have one. Mine is from Rad Power, but there are more good choices now than bad. Plus, “Electric vehicle battery prices are falling faster than expected.”

* How Steven Ells, Chipotle’s Founder, Is Moving Beyond Burritos (wsj, $). The new restaurant is called Kernel and it looks good to me (lgtm). It probably won’t come to Phoenix.

* “Hamas envisioned deeper attacks, aiming to provoke an Israeli war.” Surprising venue for this, too. Notice: “one dead fighter had a notebook with hand-scrawled Quranic verses and orders that read, simply, ‘Kill as many people and take as many hostages as possible.” From 2014: “Top Secret Hamas Command Bunker in Gaza Revealed: And why reporters won’t talk about it.”

* “The Laptop That Won’t Die: My $200, 12-year-old Thinkpad has outlasted two high-end Macbooks.” It seems to me that Framework laptops are rapidly usurping the role Thinkpads used to have. If I weren’t using MacOS I’d get one.

* Americans’ Confidence in Higher Education Down Sharply. I wonder why. Could it be the absurd prices, the absurd prices for low-value degrees, the political indoctrination, or maybe something else? Have institutions of higher education and their members showcased great courage and commitment to their putative principles since Oct. 7?

* “Crossing the Taiwan Strait with the U.S. Navy.”

* “How math built the modern world.”

* “We No Longer Need a Big Carrier’s Wireless Plan. Discount Ones Are the Way.” I’ve been making this mistake.

* In pursuit of decent coffee. A noble pursuit. A few months ago I bought an Aeropress and that’s the league leader in coffee gadgets in my household right now.