Things from my Newsblur; 2024 Part II

It’s been a while since OM appeared in your inboxes, and so what better way to return than to catch-up on some of the things he’s been reading over the summer and early Fall.

AFC Wimbledon and the Pillars of a Perfect Football Club
OM is a fan and season ticket holder at AFC Wimbledon and will never tire of sharing their story.   OM was in London to see this victory over our rivals (not a derby!!!), and Daniel Storey captures the spirit of the day and what makes the club special.
(Daniel Storey, iNews)

Magic Pill – Johann Hari & the New “Miracle” Weight-Loss Drugs
Journalist Johann Hari takes a long look at Ozempic, and other GLP-1s, which have skyrocketed in popularity as a treatment for obesity.   Unlike most who’ve talked GLP-1s, Hari is on them and seen the benefits firsthand but also willing to take a critical look at how the drugs work and what it might mean for the future.   For those who prefer these things in podcast format, he’s spoken about it on Modern Wisdom and to Jay Shetty.
(via Tim Ferris blog.)

What Makes Katie Ledecky Great?
OM was having a drink recently with a friend and we were discussing investing, and the difference between mastery and greatness came up.  We concluded that greatness endures often through finding that balance between the contradictions of creativity and discipline and between focusing on process and outcome.  This article on Katie Ledecky – an unquestioned all-time swimming great – touches on those topics.
(Louisa Thomas)

Experts vs. Imitators
While we all want the best information, we are increasingly seeing people described as or claiming to be experts who are not.  Here’s a handy way to think about expertise and those who imitate it, including what to look out for and focus on.
(Farnam Street)

Inside the Biggest FBI Sting Operation in History
The wild tale of the Anom sting operation, where the FBI created/managed a secure messaging app, which became the go-to app for several global criminal groups.  The FBI worked in collaboration with law enforcement around the world, to help spread the app and track the messages before eventually making a string of arrests.
(Joseph Cox, Wired)

The Big Bad BREIT Post
The story of BREIT, the largest non-traded REIT in the world, is as old as finance - a liquidity mismatch between a product and the underlying asset, an array of misaligned incentives, and investors chasing performance with little regard for risk.  Thus, the tale of its issues when stresses hit the market in 2022 wasn’t new or particularly surprising.   What was is the lengths that the manager (and its agents/representatives) went to try to prevent the tale being told.  
(Phil Bak, BakStack)