Welcome to the weekend,
Last week was busy with travel, hopping around Bavaria checking out several Christkindlesmarkts, Christ Child Markets, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the season. While the pandemic prevented them from opening the past two years, The Atlantic has photos from several around Europe celebrating their return.
The best of the internet this week:
Speaking of sounds from lively cities, I found this an amusing and freewheeling reflection on the sounds of neighbors. “Nothing makes you doubt the merits of a music education more than a neighbor who takes up the violin.”
One of the most pivotal economics papers in existence was written in 1945; in it, Hayek argues that because the world is constantly changing, we are in need of some system to share knowledge. At no point does any one person hold all the facts pertaining to any topic, no matter how small, therefore we need a system to communicate the facts we are missing. As a result, we use the price system to communicate changes in the economic world. Hayek argues that by following their own incentives, consumers help create and solidify that system. Interestingly, he acknowledges that the price system was not intentionally designed by humans, but is a system the world fell into using, calling into question the assumption that the compelling methods are results of human design.
Humans are the only land dwelling species which sing. When birds land on the ground, they stop singing, and whales and gibbons sing from the water or trees. This piece dives into some theories explaining why that is.
This is from 2019, but it’s a fascinating overview of what we’ve recently unearthed from Pompeii. Compliment with a closer look at those Pompeii mosaics, and what they tell us about Roman life.
A British shopkeeper lifts the curtain on the hilarious, mundane, and magical world of secondhand bookshops.
Currently reading: It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
Have a great weekend.
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash
