26 Aug 24 Monday Briefing
Very demure, very mindful
News Roundup
Remember when trends used to be seasonal, i.e. no more than four a year? Well, the Internet seems to have upended that and we’re now at about one every two weeks, which is about right for the 5G times we live in. Goodbye Brat, welcome Demure.
The past week was a harbinger for the beginning of this week’s geopolitical retaliation, demure for now – Russia launches a massive missile attack, and Hezbollah and Israel trade shells. Pavel Durov gets nabbed in France for… we’re still waiting to hear what for exactly.
Poseidon has claimed his annual billionaire tribute, it would seem, and Sicily is not pleased. Thoughts and prayers, folks.
China claims to have already hit its 2030 clean energy goal, which I’m going to need a lot of independent verification for before I can believe it. David Fishman has some commentary and theory about this matter, which is more than I can offer at the moment. h/t my BetterHalf™
P. S. I’m not ignoring what’s coming out of Jackson Hole, but for the moment, anything substantive will need a lot more commentary and time to make it to a Monday Briefing.
Watch/Scroll
Black Myth: Wukong is here after a four-year wait and it is lighting shit up, despite censorship spats (overblown and lip service). What I found more interesting, all the commentaries of China’s potential soft power and the importance of private enterprise and individuals in advancing it aside, is the intersection of myth, history and gaming – eagle-eyed players pounced on the headless Lingji Bodhisattva, whose head now rests in the British Museum as a result of a donation by a very questionable HK tycoon. Will I capitulate and finally buy a Steam deck? Doubtful. Time is money, and whilst I am immensely gratified to see the legends I grew up with become cool to an international community, spending hours indulging in nostalgia is not something I can afford at the moment. Gameplay streams will have to do for now.
Read
A little levity to distract us from a madding world – top contenders for the funniest pet insurance claims and the British Post Office’s determination in its duty to delivering post, even if it is 121 years later.
The predictable backlash against DEI continues apace. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, which every activist and agitant should keep in mind. Call it the law of unintended but very expected consequences, if you wish.
Ponder
If we assume that caregiving has a very human and therefore economic cost, and that human caregivers should be paid commensurate to the value they provide, then the sad conclusion would be that our societies may have “more time than our money or health affords”. Duke-NUS values the informal caregiving in Singapore at SGD1.28billion per annum, which means the formal economy would be valued at about 10x. The retirement and pension models originating from the Bismarckian era are no longer fit for purpose, and most governments are just kicking the can down the road, hoping to expire before they have to deal with such yawing existential threats.