Five Things: Books, Biden, Buddies, Bagel, Breath
It's Sunday again. Read this now!
Hi and welcome back to Five Things! If you don’t remember why you subscribed or just somehow got here: my name is Nico Lumma, I read a lot online and I like to share the five most interesting articles with you, my esteemed readers. If you haven’t subscribed yet or if you finally decided to go paid, here’s a handy button to do just that.
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This week you can read about the book publishing industry, the Biden campaign, AI companions, bagels and freediving. I can somehow relate to the last article this week as I’m totally out of breath. It was an exhausting week with a huge digital marketing festival in Hamburg - 70000 people came to OMR to discuss the digital future. I love it when virtually everyone in my industry comes to town and is available for meetings or just quick chats. I didn’t find the time to meet Kim Kardashian, though. Maybe next time. Thursday was yet another one of those christian holidays that nobody cares about anymore and it seems that May is full of days where Jesus did something special, but we all like a few days off, don’t we? Thursday was Ascencion Day, which is commonly known as Father’s Day in Germany. For a long time it was common practice for men to leave their families behind for a day of excessive drinking, but it seems that in the Eastern part of Germany wearing old Wehrmacht uniforms has now lead to a different interpretation of this day. That’s also the part of Germany where people get intimated when they want to campaign for political parties. Saxony’s Member of the European Parliament, Matthias Ecke (Social Democrats) got beat up a week ago by a group of young men while he was hanging up posters. He spent some time in hospital after surgery to his face. Luckily, he’s back on the campaign trail again. We cannot let this happen to our liberal democracies!
It’s time for today’s Five Things, enjoy!
No one buys books
“We’re Not Selling Hysteria”: Inside the Cold Calculation and Unyielding Optimism of the Biden Brain Trust
This is great snapshot of what’s going on inside the Biden campaign right now. I’m hopeful that everything will turn out out just fine in November as Biden has been getting stronger in the polls for the last few weeks and I’m sure he’ll be in the lead at the end.
Meet My A.I. Friends
What a clever and fun experiment! Would you be interested in talking to so many different AI companions? How would you value their feedback? Brave new world, that’s for sure.
Are We Living Through a Bagel Renaissance?
I miss Noah’s Bagels in Berkeley. Almost thirty years ago, I went in there almost every morning to get some bagels and schmear. If you think there’s a renaissance in the USA, I can assure you that bagels are the next big thing in Germany as well. There is a New York Bagel Bar in my neighborhood and they opened at a few other locations as well. And recently Schmidt’s Bagel opened within walking distance. Just a few years ago it was virtually impossible to get any bagels in Hamburg and now they create bagels with totally weird combinations that are impossible to eat because of to much stuff on it. I’m a purist, just schmear, please.
A Freediver Finds Belonging Without Breath
Impressive. I can understand why she likes freediving, but I don’t think this is something I want to experience myself.
That’s it. Have a great Sunday! If you missed last Sunday’s edition of Five Things, have a look here:
— Nico