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Whatever happened to waterbeds?

Welcome to Wednesday, my friends. We’ve reached the middle of an especially long week. I don’t usually celebrate Wednesdays, but this feels like something to celebrate for once. Let’s do that by looking at some money stories.

What’s the secret to working quickly and productively? [Harvard Business Review] — Fascinating interview with Philippe Starck, a French product designer. “I am sort of a modern monk. My wife and I have a collection of cabins in the middle of nowhere, and we stay out of everything. We don’t go to dinners. We don’t go to cocktails. We don’t go to movies. We don’t watch TV. I don’t use my energy on other people. I just work and read.”

What hundreds of American public libraries owe to Andrew Carnegie’s disdain for inherited wealth. [The Conversation] — “Carnegie argued that handing large fortunes to the next generation wasted money, as it was unlikely that descendants would match the exceptional abilities that had created the wealth into which they were born. He also surmised that dynasties harm heirs by robbing their lives of purpose and meaning.”

Whatever happened to waterbeds? [Mental Floss] — “For kids and adults alike, waterbeds used to be the coolest—until suddenly they weren’t. After a heyday in the late 1980s in which nearly one out of every four mattresses sold was a waterbed mattress, the industry dried up in the 1990s, leaving behind a sense of unfilled promise and thousands upon thousands of unsold vinyl shells.”

Lastly, here’s a clever 4-1/2 minute mash-up of fifty years of music (51 years, actually). The always-awesome DJ Earworm has selected one song from every year between 1970 and 2020, then smushed them together into this video. It’s fun!

And that’s all I have for you today. I’ll be back tomorrow with more of the best in personal finance. Until then, take care…