Assorted Links Wednesday

How to stop procrastinating: A science-based system to conquer chronic procrastination.

Lumber prices fell to 2022 lowest level.  (That's not saying much.)

We're slowly trickling back to the office. Occupancy rates in the 10 major cities tracked by security firm Kastle are at 43%, their highest level since this whole mess began.

• San Jose (33%)
• Washington, D.C. (39%)
• Chicago (38%)
• New York (38%)
• Los Angeles (41%)
• Philadelphia (39%)
• Dallas (51%)
• Houston (56%)
• Austin (%63)

What's eating our money?  Food prices.

Tom Brady started a trend: Rising inflation and wages prompt older workers to put off, exit retirement.

More US imports now Gulf-boupnd as port congestion worsens on the East Coast: A growing number of importers and forwarders have swivelled from the east coast to the Gulf of Mexico. This has brought a rising tide of container imports to the port of Houston, which saw its TEU tally in January up 27%, year on year.

How homeownership changes you: It’s not just a financial commitment. It can alter people’s relationships to a community, a place, and even time.

The Biden Administration has released a Rural Playbook, and launched the Building A Better America Rural Infrastructure Tour to highlight impact of infrastructure Law on rural America.

Having fewer meetings could boost productivity:

Workforce drug test positivity climbs to highest level in two decades:

Why are workers leaving, and why are they returning?

Environmental protection versus economic growth:

Evolution of the alphabet:

Productivity & real incomes are still drifting further apart:

Who’s in your wallet: A visual essay about the famous figures who represent today’s currencies around the world.

Only 43% of the cells in your body are human. The rest of you is composed of the staggeringly diverse community of bacteria at work in your gut.

Woah. Inside the tow truck mafia: How organized crime took over Canada’s towing industry.

The top ten busiest airports:

1. Atlanta
2. Dallas
3. Denver
4. Chicago
5. Los Angeles
6. Charlotte
7. Orlando
8. Guangzhou, China
9. Chengdu, China
10. Las Vegas

US households face $5,200 inflation tax this year.

John Oliver discusses how much data brokers know about us, what they’re doing with our personal information, and one unusual way to change privacy laws.

Speaking of TV, Better Call Saul returns next week.  I would watch the heck out of a version of this about a dreamy-eyed volunteer community developer who becomes a full-on backroom-dealin', smokestack-chasin' economic developer.  (But I don't think that'd be great for our industry.)