Celebrate: “15 years to flatten the curve” Day
It's annual celebrate "15 years to flatten the curve" day. Today we know that arrogant public health officials intentionally lied to the public. Not cool.
Public health: This year’s flu vaccine provided minimal protection
22% to 41% effective depending on age. Not very good.
Demographics
Everything is Untrue
Gen Z/Generational issues
Geopolitics
International/Global/Immigration
Media
Media: “I moved abroad” stories are biased to Europe
A pop meme in the media is "I moved abroad" stories, with about 80% detailing a move to Europe. Yet only about 20+/-% of Americans abroad live in Europe.
Media bias in business/startup reporting
A staple meme of business reporting are stories about entrepreneurs who risked it all and achieved success. The reality is most business startups fail.
Hardware: Apple NEO based on cell phone CPU
Smartphone CPUs now so powerful they run notebooks at high performance. And its repairable, unlike most recent tech.
Demographics
Education
Everything is Untrue
Gen Z/Generational issues
International/Global/Immigration
Immigration: The US exports humanities students and imports STEM students
Up to 45% of humanities students study abroad and develop global skills; hardly any STEM students do this as their course schedules do not allow study abroad.
Demographics: Portland State University has seen a -23% enrollment drop
The demographic collapse starts to get noticed ... Washington's WSU has seen a similar drop.
Economy: Baby boomers already selling their homes
Boomers are already selling their homes.
Demographics: Oregon City schools faced with declining enrollment
More school cutbacks due to the declining fertility rate - and over building of schools, in some districts.
Education: Who studies abroad?
Data shows that humanities students more likely to come from wealthier families, far more likely to do study abroad programs.
Misleading media: “Almost half of recent college grads underemployed”
Unemployment among recent college graduates is actually at a lower rate than the long term average.
Nutrition: Study finds 22% lower heart disease risk for vegetarians-Or maybe not
Study finds vegetarian/vegan eating reduces heart disease risk by 22%. But nearly all the benefit is from having lower body weight.
Business: How Amazon lost its way by over hiring
From quietly shutting off Prime member's fast shipping, to AI-code generation fiascos, Amazon has been laying off workers after a period of massive over hiring.
Demographics
Economy
Gen Z/Generational issues
Geopolitics
International/Global/Immigration
Policy/Government
Economy: The end of free trade
Globalization went wild from the 1980s to 2020s. Now we've gone full protectionism. Older workers pay the costs of this flip, at both ends.
Finance: What happened to microloans and microcredit?
In the 1990s and early 2000s, "microloans" and "microcredit" were the rage in spurring economic growth. But they did not work and left people in poverty.