Five Things: Climate Policy, iShredders, Swifties, Chinese Real Estate, End of the Web
Here we go again. Grab your coffee, sit down and read these articles. It will make your Sunday so much better.
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.
Thanks. I appreciate that.
Last Monday we officially started the Asparagus Season. It’s a very German thing and every year in spring there’s a big debate about the current prices of asparagus and why it went up again (weather, cost of labor, etc.). Germans eat lots of white asparagus from April to mid-June, but not before and certainly not after. That’s why it is a season. And in our family the season starts with the first asparagus on my wife’s birthday. We always eat it the way she likes it, with butter and salt (not sauce hollandaise), and with potatoes and smoked ham. Also, we eat fresh strawberries for desert. We had asparagus again on Saturday and we will probably eat it once a week until the season is over. There is even a German word for the particular smell the urine has after eating asparagus: Spargelpipi. I live in a strange country.
On other news, the rightwing German political party that calls itself AfD (Alternative for Germany / Alternative für Deutschland) is turning into the Alternative for Dictators. Not only did the Russians finance leading politicians and have their troll army influence the public, but now a staff member of the leading candidate for the European elections was arrested for spying for the Chinese. So while these guys push their nazi agenda forward, they are also selling out our country’s interests at the same time. Still, too many people will vote for them. We have lost these people in the last 10 years who cannot find a common political ground with the rest of society anymore. This is a real danger to our western liberal societies.
Circling back to the beginning of this newsletter, something else happened. For the first time since forever I did’t screw up the presents for my wife. I got precisely what she wanted (except for the color of a t-shirt, but that’s a minor oversight), because my kids kept telling me what I should get. I still think my own ideas were better, but in the last twenty years or so they weren’t, so I guess I better listen to my kids more.
Anyhow, let’s get on with the Five Things for this Sunday!
Climate Policy Is Working
“The climate crisis can seem daunting and immune to small human actions, but the world has made and continues to make remarkable progress. That is because the strategy to tackle climate change that governments have developed in the last 30 years is working. It should be strengthened, not disparaged.” - still, I do think we’re not doing enough and we’re still clinging onto too many old habits.
What Really Happens When You Trade In an iPhone at the Apple Store
I didn’t know that Apple was shredding old iPhones, I thought they would all get refurbished and ultimately end up in some drawer somewhere. What an interesting way to keep the prices of the devices up.
Swiftie Rehab
Just imagine you are a Swiftie and you’re trying to quit and it doesn’t work and you relapse. The whole Taylor Swift phenomenon is so interesting.
The Folly of China’s Real-Estate Boom Was Easy to See, but No One Wanted to Stop It
Greed makes some people rich while others pay the price. It’s really fascinating how the financial institutions almost always get away with everything. And now China has 20 mio unfinished housing units. This is so bizarre.
It’s the End of the Web as We Know It
Apparently, AI will kill the web as we know it. I doubt that. But the authors make a good argument that everything is doomed. Yet I still don’t buy it. Publishing online has been broken from the start and reaching audiences in a way that allows writers and publishers make enough money to have a sustainable business has been tough. It will continue to be tough and it will need plenty of interesting pivots. But I don’t think AI will kill all this. It will kill of lots of irrelevant stuff that has cloaked the web for more than two decades now.
That’s it. Have a great Sunday! If you missed last Sunday’s edition of Five Things, have a look here:
— Nico
Argh - da endet der Beitrag mit „Online Publishing is broken from the start“ wg. Bezahlung, etc…. Und da will man den Bloomberg-Artikel lesen und - zack - soll man bezahlen…