Assorted Links Friday

What makes us love the pain of hot peppers? Eating spicy chilies has the effect of a self-induced chemical attack. The evolutionary puzzle is figuring out why we do it.

There’s one thing we can learn from the Villages’ success:

For anyone who keeps an eye on Census data, last week’s news that the fastest-growing metropolitan statistical area in the country is the Villages, the master-planned retirement community in Florida, was not surprising. In ten years, it grew from 93,000 people to nearly 130,000 residents, about 40 percent. Although all 20 of the largest cities in the U.S. grew over the past decade — some more than others — none of them are booming like the Villages, which covers 32 square miles, an area larger than Manhattan, and is still briskly expanding.

The 26 most beautiful towns in America: From coastal cities to southern gems.

What we talk about when we talk about gentrification: The worst problems are in the neighborhoods that aren’t gentrifying.

The biggest truth most leaders misunderstand about 'The Great Resignation': Want your employees to stick around? Flexibility is just the minimum.

Meet the travel agent who made more than $250k during the travel industry’s pandemic lull: When the pandemic docked cruise ships and all but emptied airports, one Miami-based travel agent found a way to boost his bookings and earn four times the national average of travel-agent commissions this past year.

Business is booming: “There has never been a better time to start a company.”

Plans for $400-billion new city in the American desert unveiled: Billionaire Marc Lore has outlined his vision for a 5-million-person "new city in America" and appointed a world-famous architect to design it. Now, he just needs somewhere to build it -- and $400 billion in funding.

US Supreme Court may legalize Texas tribal gaming, potentially influencing other states: The Biden administration is pushing the US Supreme Court to recognize the gaming rights of two Texas tribes — the Tigua and Alabama Coushatta. But according to Native American gaming experts, the case could have the knock-on effect of legitimizing Class II casinos for tribes not only in Texas, but other states like Maine, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

The geopolitical importance of American vaccines:

First, demographics. The healthier the population, the more economically productive a population, the less dependent upon foreign factors a country is. COVID has already resulted in the single-greatest reversal in the average American’s lifespan since the country’s last major health crisis: the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-1919.

Second, the world is in the midst of the greatest geopolitical transition of our lives, and arguably the largest one since the onset of the deepwater navigation era in the late 15th century. Globalization is in a state of collapse. Ten years from now, the countries that have proven able to secure their means of production, their manufacturing supply chains, their internal consumption, and their labor force from the vicissitudes of global disorder will be the ones who rule the future. America’s unvaccinated population is now the single biggest threat to each and every step of that process.

Mass vaccinations are how the United States retains its population and its position and its potential and its freedom for action - for decades to come.

Producer inflation accelerated in August: Wholesale prices rose record 8.3% from a year ago

Predicting politics & policy in the post-pandemic era: Failures’ Fallout.