Lazy Linking, Seventeenth in an Occasional Series

What I've liked lately on the Internets:

* Would that we could read and hear from more "charming, levelheaded optimists" like David Brooks. Instead, we get talking heads and partisan screed. (Btw, if you're wondering whether I resonate with his "rational, unflappable DNA," consider that this line in the column got the most head-nods from me: “I think inside I’m as emotional as anybody; I just don’t emote it.”)

* Speaking of Brooks, here's a nice column on A.A. founder Bill Wilson. Money quotes: "In a culture that generally celebrates empowerment and self-esteem, A.A. begins with disempowerment. . . . In a culture that thinks of itself as individualistic, A.A. relies on fellowship. . . . In a world in which gurus try to carefully design and impose their ideas, Wilson surrendered control."

* Speaking of money quotes, I loved this one from a recent Wall Street article on gaffes in a 24/7/365 media cycle: "The old way of thinking was that speech evaporates, while the written word was lasting. . . . But what has emerged is a culture in which the written word can be revised [online], while on YouTube, speech lives on."

* OK, one more quote, courtesy of my friend David Oh: "Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I spend the first four sharpening the axe" (Abraham Lincoln).

* Kenneth Rogoff thinks the BP oil spill is a moment to push for a carbon tax. He's right that it makes sense but wrong that people will agree with him.

* Joe Posnanski explores what is and isn't cheating in sports.

* Penelope Trunk considers that Gen Y'ers consider themselves to be mini-celebs, and so communicating via social media versus private email makes complete sense, since privacy isn't assumed to be necessary but speed and breadth are.

* I'm beginning to think that the highest-leverage earthly good you can do in the world is to figure out a cheap and easy remedy to diarrhea.

* Ronald Bailey reminds us that sustainability can't just be about leaving fallow, but also about being efficient and productive.

* Even Harvard Business Review is reporting that suburbs are out and cities are in.

* Paging through this spreadsheet, which models the economic and environmental impact of every single car, bus, truck, taxi, train, subway, bicycle, and pedestrian moving around New York City makes me very happy.

* If Philly's soda tax wasn't enough to convince you to stop drinking Coke, this will.

* So wait, it was politicians heavily funded by the teacher's union who scuttled DC's successful school choice program? I'm shocked, shocked I say.