Five Things: Barbie, Internet, Gulf Stream, Drive-Through, Fashion Landfills
It's Sunday Morning. Enjoy these five things.
Welcome to the latest edition of Five Things! I’m Nico, I read a lot and I like to share the best articles I read this week with you.
80 years ago Operation Gomorroha started, which left my hometown Hamburg in ruins and killed 40000 people. And just last week a few bombs from WWII were found during construction work, which is something that still happens a few times a year. When you walk through the city, you can see lots of placards on buildings that say “destroyed July 28, 1943, rebuild 1946” or so - and you see one or two old buildings still standing in a street where the rest of the buildings were build after the war. The allies tried to break the German morale and tried to get the Nazis to end the war to protect their people. Turns out the Nazis couldn’t care less about the people.
So while we see lots of footage from 80 years ago on TV right now and lots of old people get interviewed about surviving the firestorm, we also see footage from Ukraine with villages and towns being totally destroyed. When will we ever learn?
On a much cheerier note: my club HSV started into the season on Friday and opened League 2 soccer season in a match against Schalke 04. This was one of the best soccer games I ever got to watch. So much fun. So many fingernails I lost. And at the end we won 5:3. But wow, what a game - show this to young girls and boys to get them excited about soccer.
War, Soccer, and the third item I briefly want to talk about is… Barbie! I went to watch the movie last week and took my two youngest daughters along. We all liked it a lot, even if we had different reasons for it. What a great movie and how wonderful it is that a big box office hit pushes the feminist agenda forward.
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Barbie can’t handle the truth
“The doll couple are forced to confront the fact that there isn’t just a brutal reality beyond Barbie Land, but that utopia is part of that brutal reality: without fantasies like Barbie Land, individuals would simply not be able to endure the real world.” - this is an interesting piece about truth and fantasy. (New Statesman)
How to build an Internet that doesn’t suck
“The transformation towards a better Internet is a collective responsibility. This responsibility lies not just with governments or corporations but with every individual who uses the Internet. We all have a role to play, whether advocating for greater algorithm transparency, promoting digital literacy, or supporting new business models prioritizing quality over quantity.” (Joan Westenberg)
Gulf Stream could collapse as early as 2025, study suggests
This doesn’t really sound good. And from what I know, this could be really catastrophic for our climate. It sounds to me like we should really act on this climate thing, but of course I don’t want rush people into something that they might regret later. I mean, just imagine that you change something and then all you get is an earth that remains liveable? (The Guardian)
Can AI Replace Humans? We Went to the Fast-Food Drive-Through to Find Out
I can’t wait for the day when I order something at a drive-through without repeating everything all the time. And I’m sure that the workers are happy that they don’t have to deal with stupid customers anymore. (WSJ)
What Really Happens to the Clothes You Donate
Let me put like this: we are a long way from cradle to cradle. This fashion industry still sucks and it is us who keep on buying stuff designed for the landfills. (GQ)
That’s it. Have an amazing Sunday!