What We’re Reading
A few good articles the Collab team came across this week …
Crypto
Josh Brown on the surge:
The first opposing thought you must hold is that Bitcoin has already crashed by 80% on five separate occasions over the last few years. But each crash has brought in a cavalcade of media attention, which in turn has brought in new interest from the public and, as a result, fresh record highs in the ensuing recoveries. Do you really think the sixth major crash is going to be the one that does the trick? The seventh?
Business models
The state of digital media:
There have been numerous cases over the last six months to a year in which digital publishers have announced either major job cuts or in some cases literally fired their entire editorial teams in order to ‘pivot to video.’ The phrase has almost become a punchline since, as I’ve argued, there is basically no publisher in existence involved in any sort of news or political news coverage who says to themselves, my readers are demanding more of their news on video as opposed to text. Not a single one. The move to video is driven entirely by advertiser demand.
Agriculture
The new farmers:
For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Census of Agriculture. Sixty-nine percent of the surveyed young farmers had college degrees — significantly higher than the general population.
Competition
A wonderful story about learning:
Magnus can look at the pieces of a chessboard and immediately recall what match it was, who was playing, when and where it took place and why it was worth his attention. It’s difficult to appreciate how amazing this is without seeing it for yourself.
“I know how to play chess,” he said. “I don’t know much else.”
Car hacking
JJ has been renting cars full-time since 2012. His car at the time broke down, and after completing a few calculations, he realized renting cars and earning airline miles with each rental would make more financial sense than owning a car. He began visiting the Las Vegas McCarren Airport rental car center and quickly educated himself on the ins and outs of renting cars and finding the best prices. Since then, he’s completed 979 rentals.
Information
On 18 April 1930, the BBC’s news announcer had nothing to communicate. “There is no news,” was the script of the 20:45 news bulletin, before piano music was played for the rest of the 15-minute segment.
The wireless service then returned to broadcasting from the Queen’s Hall in Langham Place, London, where the Wagner opera Parsifal was being performed.
Have a nice weekend.