šŖ Weekly bite - First edition - W32
Hereās a roundup of 5 stories that caught my attention last week...
Hi,
Iāve taken up a personal project to create a newsletter to write and retain more of the daily article curation I get from Refind. Besides learning for myself, the intention of this newsletter is to regularly share articles that I find interesting with whom it may concern. Topics may vary from economics, climate, personal growth, technology,ā¦
I hope you enjoy reading my brief ābitesā. I can already admit I very much liked creating this newsletter.
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Happy reading.
Regards,
Steven
5 min to chew through this newsletter.
1ļøā£ Big techās big week raises fears of āBlade Runner futureā of mega-company rule
While the coronavirus shook the worldās economy Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft all reported record-breaking quarterly sales and profits. In the last three months alone the USās five largest tech companies made combined profits of over $68bn. This week the combined fortune of the richest seven billionaires, all big tech titans, passed $1tn for the first time.
Critics worry if the trend continues we will enter a āBlade Runner futureā where our entire lives are controlled by a handful of the super-rich, super-powerful corporations directed by a generation of plutocrats with wealth unseen in human history.
This is not just bad for the economy, itās bad for consumers, for communities, for competition as they can buy out ā a favourite Facebook tactic ā or copy new entrants.
And alongside all that cash comes political power and the means to fight any official or government that challenges them.
There are clear signals that governments around the world are waking up to that threat. Europe in particular has challenged big techās dominance and its globe-spanning ability to avoid paying taxes. Also, the US is no longer as tech-friendly ā at least in public ā as it once was.
āOver the next 10 years, the battles between incumbents and software-powered insurgents will be epic.ā
Source: The Guardian
4Ā minĀ readĀ Ā·Ā Aug 1stĀ Ā·Ā Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft all reported record-breaking profits but recent Biden administration moves suggest US techās easy ride is over
2ļø Major climate changes inevitable and irreversible
Within the next two decades, temperatures are likely to rise by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, breaching the ambition of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and bringing widespread devastation and extreme weather. Only rapid and drastic reductions in greenhouse gases in this decade can prevent such climate breakdown.
Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.
Governments from 197 countries will meet this November in Glasgow for vital UN climate talks, called Cop26. Each nation is asked to come to Cop26 with fresh plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that will limit global heating to no more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the ambition of the Paris climate agreement.
This is not the first generation of world leaders to be warned by scientists about the gravity of the climate crisis, but theyāre the last that can afford to ignore them.
Even if the world manages to limit warming to 1.5C, some long-term impacts of warming already in train are likely to be inevitable and irreversible. These include sea level rises, the melting of Arctic ice, and the warming and acidification of the oceans.
Source: The Guardian
4Ā minĀ readĀ Ā·Ā Aug 9thĀ Ā·Ā Report warns temperatures likely to rise by more than 1.5C bringing widespread extreme weather
3ļø No, it doesnāt need to be a Zoom
Video calls are a nice way to keep in touch with each other but the "video" part shouldn't be overused as it adds additional stress to participants.
Academic research has pinpointed four reasons why weāre growing sick of video calls. For one thing, weāre engaged in an unnaturally large amount of eye contact. Weāre also stressed out by being confronted with our own face for hours on end. The need to appear centred (and focused) in the frame at all times means weāre not moving about as much. And finally, the difficulty in picking up on non-verbal communication ā such as eye rolls, faint nods or gaze drifting off-screen to something more interesting ā on video calls means our brains are working harder to parse what the other side is feeling and trying to say.
So I would say, turn the camera on for the first part of every meeting, but disable it after the introduction to allow everyone to focus on the content of the meeting, and not on the other participants, or their own behaviour (in front of the camera).
Source: Wired
Jun 18thĀ Ā·Ā 2Ā minĀ readĀ Ā·Ā Weāre wasting hours of our lives on inefficient video calls. Here's how to decide when you should jump on a Zoom ā and when not to
4ļø To Remember The Moment, Try Taking Fewer Photos
Taking photos is not the perfect memory-retention tool you think it is.
By taking a lot of photos you're offloading the responsibility of remembering moments. It's like remembering a phone number, you're less likely to remember it if you have written it down on a piece of paper.
But of course, you should not completely stop taking photos. Don't snap random photos, but take deliberate ones and focus on the visual details of what you're capturing.
My Advice: live the moment, and enjoy as much of it through your own eyes, and not the screen of your phone or camera.
For that reason, Iām using a device that has no screen (point and shoot) for filming so I experience the moments through my own eyes, and not through a screen.
Source: NPR
5Ā minĀ readĀ Ā·Ā Aug 5thĀ Ā·Ā Research shows that snapping too many pictures may harm your ability to retain memories. But selfie addicts, don't despair! There are techniques to make photography enhance memory, not undermine it.
5ļø The strange 19th-Century sport that was cooler than football
Pedestrianism first started as it meant to go on ā with a chase and a bet, but grew into a large spectacle.
It was 21 September 1879, and 13 (mostly) moustachioed athletes in tight leggings and tiny shorts had gathered under the towering arches of the original Madison Square Garden in New York ā along with 10,000 raucous spectators.
The whole affair was a serious business. There were corporate sponsorships ā one athlete present at the match, though not competing, was the spokesperson for a brand of salt. There were snacks, including roasted chestnuts and pickled eggs ā and cups of beer, dispensed by communal taps. There was a full military band, lending the arena a certain nationalistic ambience. Extravagant bets were made. The crowd was littered with flags, reporters and waving handkerchiefs.
The rules were simple ā essentially, contestants were required to walk in circles for six days in a row, until they had completed laps equivalent to at least 450 miles (724km). They could run, amble, stagger or crawl, but they must not leave the oval-shaped sawdust track until the race was over. Instead, they ate, drank and napped (and presumably, performed other bodily functions) in little tents at the side, some of which were elaborately furnished.
However, the event didnāt last long. By March 1881, interest had fallen off a cliff.
Pedestrianism did not disappear altogether, of course. Eventually, the sport evolved into something more palatable to the public, and less likely to kill the contestants: racewalking.
Source: BBC future
~12Ā minĀ readĀ Ā·Ā Jul 28thĀ Ā·Ā Pedestrianism was a sport of epic rivalries, eyewatering salaries, feverish nationalism, eccentric personalities and six-day, 450-mile walks.
š§ Brain game
Can you guess in which continent you can find most of the fastest-growing cities?
See for yourself at Visualcapitalist.
š” Final note
I found these articles via Refind, a site/app which provides a daily curation (5-10) of topics I'm interested in to help me grow my knowledge and to stay aware of what's going on.
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