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#1 Cyber/Culture Wars: Venkatesh Rao, mayor of the internet, argues that we are in several cyber/information wars - of which Trump is more a symptom than a cause: "there is a war on, and except for the low level of actual killing, it is a real war, not an allegorical or metaphoric on." He outlines the players:
The combatants include professional cyberwarriors and seasoned amateur guerrillas pursuing very well-defined objectives with military precision and specialized tools. Then there is the small but highly skilled corps of shitposters whose skill at information warfare is matched only by their fundamental incomprehension of the real damage they’re unleashing for lulz. And finally, masses of clueless patsies being programmed like insect swarms by all sides
#2 Money: Money controls us. This study shows that your ranked income relative to your peers determines your happiness. The study also found that we are more likely to compare ourselves with people who have more than us rather than less? Maybe its time to dump your rich friends?
#3 Real Estate Rent-Seekers: Flat-fee real estate brokers started offering services in the Dutch housing market in 2005. The results? Lower fees, higher home sales values, faster sales - everyone wins. Except for those fixed-fee agents. Will tech and new business models eventually eliminate all rent-seeking? Seems a far way off, but an interesting question to consider...
#4 Walking: Walking is good for creativity, ideas, energy and a lot more. Check out some of the research in this New Yorker article.
#5 Parenting: A reflective piece on what it means to raise boys in today's world. I don't really have anything profound to say on this other than I think it touches on a challenging topic. How do we balance natural aggressiveness of boys with our battle against those concepts as adults?
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