The Grey Swan Guild News Wrap — The Week That Was February 12, 2021
Volume #1, Edition #4
These are a series of stories and headlines we are tracking in the Grey Swan Guild’s Global League of Sensemakers Newsroom. Here are The Great, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of what we observed this week. And of course, a happy St. Valentines Day to those who choose to celebrate💕.
Esta vez desde la cocina de edición, traemos las noticias destacadas en inglés y español.
The Great 😇
- It’s more than a car. It’s a bank account too? Tesla buys $1.5 billion in bitcoin, and plans to accept it as payment for cars. Tesla’s move into bitcoin represents an investment of a significant percentage of its cash in the investment. The company had more than $19 billion in cash and cash equivalents on hand at the end of 2020, according to its most recent filing. With a market cap of over $800 billion, it has some room to manoeuvre the tight, volatile curves of the BTC market. The move raises questions around CEO Elon Musk’s recent behavior on Twitter, where he has been credited for increasing the prices of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and dogecoin by posting positive messages that have encouraged more people to buy the digital currencies. The markets respond with a drop in the price of Tesla stock and BTC still in the current stratosphere. Time will tell if a currency can be made of the speculative asset class. — CNBC
- There’s power in the people. How did a tiny, poor nation manage to suffer only one death from the coronavirus? How has Bhutan — a tiny, GDP poor nation best known for its guiding policy of Gross National Happiness, which balances economic development with environmental conservation and cultural values — managed such a feat?
This nation offers plenty of lessons, from the importance of fast-moving, attentive leadership, the assurance that people have enough provisions and financial means to follow public-health guidance and the shared understanding that individuals and communities must sacrifice to protect the well-being of all. Social coherence and trust in government make a difference in fighting a dangerous pandemic, and the result so far? 1 death attributed to COVID19. The world should watch and learn. — The Atlantic - This new wasp house takes the sting out of climate change. Architects are building hive-like houses named TECLA, which are 3D-printed, carbon-neutral, and made of clay. TECLA’s design is based on the hive of the potter wasp. The house goes by the acronym TECLA — short for “technology and clay” — which is appropriate given that this is what the structure is made of. It’s a collaboration between WASP, (which stands for World Advanced Savings Project), an Italian company that makes 3D printers, and Mario Cucinella Architects. According to the project’s creators, the house and its source materials are “adaptable to any climate and context.” WASP is even selling what it calls a Maker Economy Starter Kit; it consists of four 3D printers and a system for picking, mixing, and pumping local materials to print with. The company hopes its technology will be used to facilitate housing projects in remote areas. — Singularityhub
The Good 😀
- Marte: por qué 3 misiones de tres países diferentes buscan llegar al planeta rojo casi al mismo tiempo. La cercanía de fecha se debe a que las tres misiones aprovecharon una “ventana” que ocurre cada cierto tiempo en la que la distancia entre Marte y la Tierra es menor. Pero al igual que con cualquier misión a Marte, las tres naves espaciales enfrentan desafíos tremendos, incluidos los infames “siete minutos de terror”, el tiempo que tarda una nave espacial en bajar desde la parte superior de la atmósfera del planeta al suelo. — BBC
2. Apple and Facebook on Collision Course. Apple CEO Tim Cook went on the offensive against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. Cook’s speech seems to be a direct response to Facebook’s recent attack on Apple, in which the world’s largest social network took out full-page ads in several newspapers attacking Apple’s new privacy changes. Cook went at them in speeches and in video but chose not to name names. Cook said in his speech “A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe.” We are guessing everybody has seen the movie. — Inc Magazine
3. Credit where credit is due. Black creators, not Elon Musk, deserve credit for popularizing Clubhouse. The Next Big Thing! Clubhouse. Now at 6 million users up from 600,000 in December, it is experiencing hyper-growth of the most popular of social networks. Other signs of impending fame are being banned in China and generating rumours that Facebook is readying a competitor. We can just hear the Messenger team gasping as the video and recording code is torn out of Facetime. Meanwhile, closer inspection of the milestone of the new app shows that the people who put Clubhouse on that path were longtime users — many of them Black creators — who generated a steady drumbeat of viral moments and hype that set the stage for future growth. One of the biggest moments in the new celebrity-driven, audio-only social network was the Clubhouse production of The Lion King, which built buzz around the app from its well-attended public auditions way back in November to its back-to-back performances on Dec. 26. Like Musk’s conversation with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, the Lion King performances reached their maximum capacity of 5,000 viewers and sparked chatter on Twitter. Send us along any invites you might have in the comments below. — Quartz
The Bad 😬
- We will need more than gum drops and lollipops. German children suffer from psychological issues in the pandemic. A new survey of children in Germany suggests that the stress and deprivations of the coronavirus pandemic are taking a toll on their mental health, especially among those from underprivileged families. The study by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf found about one in three German children are suffering from pandemic-related anxiety, depression or are exhibiting psychosomatic symptoms like headaches or stomach aches. Researchers questioned more than 1,000 children between ages seven and 17 and more than 1,500 parents online from mid-December to mid-January. More than 80% of them had participated in a previous survey in June. — ABC27
- It ain't over until it is over. Why The Pandemic Will Not Be over Until 2024 . Even if lockdowns, social measures and vaccines significantly reduce the worst COVID-19 outcomes, the world’s poorer countries are not estimated to reach mass immunization until 2024, so while the tide may turn more quickly in the United States and other rich countries, the global pandemic could still be ongoing for years to come, especially if variants impede natural herd immunity. This is a disease that respects no borders, a global problem that needs global solutions — CNN
- Get with the program, collaboration is a team sport. 5 Ways Smart People Sabotage Their Success. Five things smart people tend to struggle with: 1/ Smart people sometimes devalue other skills, like relationship building, and over-concentrate on intellect as the path to success. 2/ Teamwork can be frustrating. 3/ Smart people often attach a lot of their self-esteem to being smart, which can decrease their resilience and lead to avoidance. 4/ They can get bored easily. 5/ And smart people sometimes see in-depth thinking and reflection as the solution to every problem. The solutions in the study are worth taking a look at. We particularly like the 30,000 ft view exercise and balancing the bad with the good to avoid boredom. — Harvard Business Review
The Ugly 😱
- The Weeknd dividió opiniones con el show de medio tiempo del Super Bowl. Lo que muchos critican a Abel Tesfaye (nombre real de The Weeknd) es que no contó con la colaboración de algún artista como suele suceder en este evento, recordando que el año pasado J Balvin y Bad Bunny fueron los acompañantes de Jennifer López y Shakira, por poner un ejemplo. — MSN
2. EE.UU.: Senado votó para proceder con el segundo impeachment a Donald Trump. Después de casi cuatro horas de debate en la misma cámara que fue invadida por los manifestantes pro-Trump el 6 de enero, los senadores, ahora sentados como jurados y con el juramento de impartir “justicia imparcial”, votaron 56 a 44 sobre la cuestión de si había una base constitucional para someter a juicio a un ex presidente destituido. Seis republicanos se unieron a todos los demócratas en una victoria anticipada de la acusación que socavó uno de los pilares centrales de la defensa de Trump. — Ismorbo
3. El ambicioso plan de China para poder “sembrar nubes” en la mitad de su territorio (y por qué preocupa a sus países vecinos)
China planea ampliar su programa de lluvia o nieve artificial para llegar a cubrir 5,5 millones de kilómetros cuadrados en 2025, casi el 60% de su territorio (casi tres veces México). La iniciativa generó preocupación en países vecinos como India, entre la incertidumbre sobre el impacto de esta tecnología y las tensiones regionales. — BBC
Viral Video of the Week:
Most honorable mention to the viral video ofthe week!
Terms of the Week Explained:
Some new dating zoom-slang summarized for Valentine’s Day includes:
- “Zumping”– Being dumped via Zoom.
- “Zombie-ing”– A form of ghosting.
- “Corona-zoned”– The act of keeping a relationship socially distanced, and not physical, due to worries over catching the virus.
- “Lockblocked”– Canceling or rescheduling dates due to lockdown rules and restrictions.
- “On-nomi”– A form of online socializing where couples drink together online.
- “FODA”– Which stands for “fear of dating again,” a form of anxiety for people who have been out of the dating game due to lockdowns.
- “Quarantine Bae” — A couple who is dating exclusively during the pandemic.
- “Quarantionship”– A relationship that started during lockdown and developed virtually.
- “Smugsolation”– A couple showing off their happy relationship on social media at a time when it’s difficult for so many to find love.
— Kiss951
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This Week’s Grey Swan News Wrap Editor: Agustín Borrazás
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