Curated Commons // Edition 24
Thank you for subscribing and welcome to the Twenty Fourth edition of Curated Commons. Let’s dive right in.
In today’s edition of “The House Always Wins”
Billionaire hedge fund manager Jim Simons (and other insiders at his firm) added $2.6 Bn to his wealth in 2020. His clients lost billions.
Are you still tweeting for free?
I am. But I hope to change that soon. And retire pretty quick, based on this story. Or maybe not.
https://decrypt.co/57431/mark-cuban-and-others-are-buying-and-selling-tweets-on-ethereum
Climate change:
Climate, politics, our planet, where we are, where we are headed, and who is the ‘we’? Long read in NY Mag.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/climate-change-after-pandemic.html
Interesting read on how one of India’s wettest cities, Chennai, is facing a water crisis.
Related - The price of solar electricity has dropped 89% in 10 years. In 2009, building a new solar farm was 223% more expensive than building a new coal plant. Now, it’s flipped.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90583426/the-price-of-solar-electricity-has-dropped-89-in-10-years
On the topic - How can carbon pricing transform industry. How will it look when prices hit $100/Tonne? Excellent deep-dive from the FT. - https://www.ft.com/content/0412fb34-8691-4443-bc85-0103ee99cf70
When you quant the $hit out of what you wear:
Do you track which piece of clothing you wear when? And for how many times? This person did so. You don’t need to be a nerd to appreciate this. But if you are one, you’ll likely love it!
On the topic of clothes, the Atlantic has a very good article on the state of the fast-fashion industry.
Oral history of Guitar Hero
A few years ago, it was really hard to miss Guitar Hero. It was just everywhere. Vice has a very good history of the cultural phenomenon!
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wx8bey/the-oral-history-of-guitar-hero
The Musk BTC scam
Before you get ideas, referring to the scam businesses that operate under the Twitter replies of each tweet from Elon Musk. Interesting read why such businesses work!
Weaponizing automated takedown algorithms
Most social media platforms have automated takedown policies for copyrighted content. They just need a notice for doing so, doesn’t matter whether the person filing it has the copyright or not. In a way lawyers weaponized copyright takedowns. Now cops are apparently playing music when someone is filming them so they can trigger these bots on social media! End result - the content is automatically deleted double-quick, without the ‘hassles’ of standard takedown procedure! Worrisome!
In case you weren’t aware, Indian edtech firms rely on similar approaches for taking down any criticism, minor or major! And social platforms are willing participants in this scam!
Is your kid a “hacker”?
God bless lazy web developers!
The lost tourist
Lovely little read of a tourist who got off in Bangor, Maine, assuming it was San Francisco, and his subsequent 15 mins of fame. Back in 1977.
Company has misinformation, regulator has hashtag!
Amusing, if it weren’t tragic. Tesla continues with calling its driver-assist package as “Full Self Driving”. The regulator is apparently running awareness campaigns with a hashtag to beat this misinformation.
On Industry externalities and who pays for them
Fascinating little tidbit. The table saw industry is worth around $200-$400 Mn annually in the US. It causes damage of about $4 Bn!
https://www.machinepix.com/p/machinepix-weekly-30-dr-steve-gass
Influencers are unionizing
Jobs of the future are pretty well here already.
https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/sag-aftra-approves-new-influencer-agreement-72636/
Can you become a millionaire by streaming music on Spotify?
Interesting little thought experiment. But with a dash of reality at the end.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88aedv/how-to-become-a-millionaire-by-streaming-music-on-spotify
The music industry is bonkers, with unimaginably huge sums of money at the top and insultingly minuscule ones at the bottom. The chasm between those making millions in their sleep and those working themselves to the bone for next to nothing is just going to continue to get wider, and there is in all likelihood nothing that can be done about it.
What does “Trust” in the future mean?
See this video and wonder. This is coming soon to a browser!
There’s always a market
A British farm rents goats for £5 for a five-minute appearance on video calls. In the year since the farm started this service, they’ve apparently earned £50,000.
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/no-kidding-video-calls-goats-031920587.html
Kids and online trading
A 12-year-old with 43% gains is South Korea’s new retail trading icon!
About 70% of the 214,800 stock brokerage accounts for minors at Kiwoom Securities, South Korea's most retail-friendly brokerage, with a market share of more than a fifth, were set up in January 2020 or after, its data shows.
https://www.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN2A90YL
More good reads:
The pandemic is erasing entire categories of ‘friendship’ - https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/01/pandemic-goodbye-casual-friends/617839/
Who’s making the scam calls - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/magazine/scam-call-centers.html
Which is your favorite chess variant? Lovely thread.
Good, thoughtful read on how automation shouldn't turn out to mean we let robots become bosses. Unforgiving ones at that! Do read the headline and the name of the writer (she’s really good on this beat!) :-) - https://www.ft.com/content/087fce16-3924-4348-8390-235b435c53b2
Headline says it all - “How a member of a breakaway Mormon sect teamed up with a Lambo-driving, hard-partying tycoon to bilk the government for hundreds of millions of dollars.” - https://www.wired.com/story/lion-polygamist-and-biofuel-scam/
Good read on how American malls spent billions in turning them into theme parks. Now it is coming to bite them back. Some wow pics! - https://www.wsj.com/articles/malls-theme-park-attractions-covid-debt-11611267831
‘Em robot cars are getting programmed!
Stay safe, and happy reading! And if you liked the newsletter, please do share on your social networks. My DMs on Twitter are always open for any feedback.