7 stories to read this weekend

Wow… the summer ended pretty quickly and reality of the technology news cycle caught up really fast with me. Apple rumors, Kindle Fires and new Lumias… and that was during the first short week of September. Regardless, here are some posts that you can savor as you laze around this weekend.

• How Wall Street got addicted to light-speed trading: We all have heard about the rise of algorithmic trading on Wall Street. Wired magazine takes a deeper look into this phenomenon.
• Poisoning the F-1 world: Will Buxton who works for Speed Channel as a Formula 1 pit reporter writes a stream-of-consciousness (aka not great writing but solid content) post about the influence of Red Bull and its desire to push younger drivers onto the grid is ruining F-1’s long-term appeal. His argument: Sebastian Vettel is an anomaly and as such pushing younger drivers is a mistake as many of them are simply not equipped to be winners. The lessons are applicable to a whole lot of other professions as well.
• The grubby world of comment spam: The Kernel magazine of the U.K. looks into the dirty world of comment spammers.
• Shattered Genius: Brett Forrest writes about Grigori Perelman, a Russian mathematician and a genius who vanished at the top of his game. Forrest tracks him down on the streets of St. Petersburg. Wow! I wish there was more. An eBook, a film, anything!
• 17 days in November: This is the story of baseball players brothers Gregory and Jason Halman and their descent into hell. One of the better sports stories I have read this summer.
• The gangster princess of Beverly Hills: The story of Lisette Lee as told by Rolling Stone is a perfect end-of-the-summer read.
• The retail organization of the future: Dennis Lee Yohn makes a repeat appearance and shares her thoughts on how technologies are influencing the retail experience and reshaping it.