7 Stories to read this weekend

Given that it has been a week of crazy product launches and new operating systems (not to mention preparing for GigaOM RoadMap, which I am co-hosting with Katie Fehrenbacher on November 5) I am surprised I had any time to read. Here are seven stories I recommend for your reading pleasure this weekend. This week is a potpourri of topics including Frank Sinatra.

• From master plan to no plan: The slow death of public higher education: Dissent magazine looks at the unraveling of the California university system and what it means for the public higher education.
• Europe’s car making crisis: Europe is going through what the U.S. auto industry went through and the implications of this are going to be long-term. Interestingly European car makers who are doing well — BMW and Volkswagen for example are working on extending the life of internal combustion engine in new ways.
• Rio de Janeiro gets ready for the 2016 Olympics. And not everyone in Brazil is thrilled about it.
• Frank Sinatra has a cold: Gay Talese’s April 1966 piece is a classic and worth reading. It is how a celebrity profile should read. Great read for fans of Frankie Blue Eyes.
• Inside the deep web: A journey through the dark underbelly of the Internet is a fascinating read and one’s man’s journey through its horrors and occasional surprises. Listen to the accompanying podcast as well.
• Inside the Mansion – and mind – of Kim Dotcom: THe man behind MegaUpload gives Wired writer Charles Graeber unprecedented access and the result is a great read about one of the most controversial people on the Internet.
• The Alliance from hell: How the US and Pakistan became the dysfunctional nuclear family of international relations. (Bonus links: The hunt for Geronimo and The scariest little corner of the world.)