Curated Commons // Edition 42
Thank you for subscribing and welcome to the the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything edition of Curated Commons. Let’s dive right in!
Age’s no bar
Bezos’ co-traveler on his space trip is whoa! An 82-year old who couldn’t go earlier to space through NASA because of her gender!
Ms. Funk, who goes by Wally, was one of 13 American women who went through a rigorous astronaut-training program in the 1960s to determine whether women were fit for space. Despite testing just as well as men at the time, none ever became astronauts: The program was privately funded and not recognized by NASA. More important, NASA was accepting only trained fighter-jet pilots — a job open only to men — as candidates to become astronauts at that time, according to History.com. It wasn’t until 1983, five years after the fighter-pilot requirement was lifted, that the United States sent its first woman, Sally Ride, into space.
Tech is magic. Really!
That’s an app called Brickit
More regulation might not be the answer always
Sobering read on the US Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA’s pesticide office granted 972 industry requests to waive toxicity tests between December 2011 and May 2018, 89 percent of all requests. When that number reached 1,000, the office had a party with cake to celebrate.
Is Cricket having its Moneyball moment?
Very interesting profile of CricViz and how it is bringing data analytics to Cricket, and in the process, transforming the game.
The economics of dollar stores
This is a really good read on why dollar stores remain the bright spot in the US retail industry.
For every $1 in sales, Dollar General and Dollar Tree earn an average gross profit of ~$0.30. That’s higher than rivals like Target ($0.28) and Walmart ($0.24).
Teenage artist who picked up painting as a hobby to exhibit at London’s Royal Academy of Arts
These teenagers are really making me question what I achieved in life during these extended lockdowns!
Never compete with a YouTuber
A science YouTuber designed a wind-powered car that a physicist said would defy the law of physics. And won a bet.
A world, but for Instagram
We’ve heard of Instagram-inspired restaurants and office spaces, but this is probably a first. An entire village in China with made-to-order setups for people to put up on their Instagram. There’s definitely a market.
Xiapu is a place at once frozen in time and utterly modern — an entire county whose economy has evolved to cater to the demands of the Instagram age. Hundreds of residents have taken their turn as models while more have worked as straw-burners, tour guides and entrance-fee collectors. Between 2008 and 2019, the number of tourists visiting the region, once known primarily for agriculture and fishing, increased 10-fold, according to official statistics.
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“Once it’s internet-famous, many things will be easier,” he said. “It can be used to livestream, to sell products. After all, this is the internet celebrity age.”
Why does it cost so much to build in America?
Some very interesting stats in this piece on the high costs of building infrastructure in America.
Is TikTok changing at the edges?
Interesting piece on how there are some corners of TikTok that seem to be adapting to a pre-influencer era.
Talking of TikTok, dear Indian Govt, pls bring back TikTok!
Our algorithmic future demands discussions on neuro rights in the present
Researchers are now talking of “neuro rights” - legal protections for things like the rights to personal identity, free will, mental privacy, equal access to mental augmentation, and protection from algorithmic bias. Fascinating food for thought. Ethics and philosophy are as important areas as any other when it comes to future tech.
How can we ensure that access to cognition-enhancing devices isn’t restricted to the very rich? Who owns the copyright to a recorded dream? What laws should exist to prevent one person from altering the memory of another through a neural implant? How do we maintain mental integrity separate from an implanted device? If someone can read our mind, how do we protect the read-out of our thoughts as our own?
India’s cyber-espionage industry
Reuters did an interesting expose last year of a Delhi-based firm that offered hackers-for-hire. Beyond the initial spate of interest from media firms, not many followed up. The original case is still rolling on in NYC and we might get to hear more in the coming days from there.
You ability to bullsh!t is…apparently a sign of intelligence
The entire management consulting industry probably nods in agreement here ;-)
Bias, when codified, takes even longer to be acknowledged and fixed
US-focused piece, but equally valid globally.
Communities that couldn't get mortgage loans in the 1940s are the same areas without fast home internet service today. There's no easy fix.
Influencer + Digital Swagger + email compromise attacks = Scammer par extraordinaire
Your weekend wild story is here! Hard to pick one part of the story, do read in full! Cybercrime is now a full-blown career option for many globally!
Bonus - the piece includes a brilliant phrase - “consumptive positivity”
Never one to tone down his influencing, Hushpuppi continued to push his brand of consumptive positivity through the pandemic. In April 2020 he posted a video of himself taking a bubble bath in his lanai hot tub, with the caption “My quarantine and your quarantine are not mates.” He followed that up by reposting an old photo of himself carrying Gucci bags onto a private jet. “Fellow inmates, Where’s the first place you flying after this is over and with who?” he asked.
Amazon - great for customers, terrible for pretty much everyone else
The more you read about Amazon and its cutthroat focus on efficiency, you are amazed! Challenging being a competitor, supplier or, as some stories show, an employee/contractor!
Amazon Demands One More Thing From Some Vendors: A Piece of Their Company. Certain suppliers are asked to give Amazon the right to buy shares at potentially lower-than-market rates as part of their contract
Should we test AI the way we test medicines? With Randomized controlled trials?
Are we testing algorithms enough before unleashing them on the world? In a world where they can potentially cause more damage than drugs in a much shorter period of time? One way to think about it in this article.
Maybe, just maybe, we want aliens to be true!
More interesting links:
How freezing changed the humble green pea - https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210701-the-hidden-history-of-the-peas-in-your-freezer
This will end well! “Netflix, Amazon Must Invest 20-25% of French Revenues in Local Content, France Government Decrees” - https://variety.com/2021/streaming/global/avms-france-netflix-new-rules-streamers-1235008364/
An oral history of ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ - https://www.theringer.com/movies/2021/6/30/22555687/terminator-2-judgement-day-t2-oral-history
The anatomy of a copyright troll - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-28/copyright-law-how-rock-photographer-larry-philpot-perfected-usage-lawsuits
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