Pro IRA memes + more things

2 minutes estimated reading time

Why Are Teens Sharing Pro IRA Memes on TikTok? | Slate – pro IRA memes aren’t that they seem. The pro IRA memes aren’t literal support for the armed struggle. But are comments on the politics of the day. The helpless of COVID, BLM and access to healthcare. Provos have become meme fodder to discuss other issues. This give you an idea of how fast the Good Friday agreement has faded into history

Taiwan unveils new-look passports to avoid ‘China confusion’ | South China Morning PostSouth China Morning Post it is all because of the confusion and discrimination created when our people travel abroad only to be identified as nationals of China,” he said. Wu said that since the coronavirus pandemic began in January, many Taiwanese people had faced discrimination at immigration checkpoints because they had been mistaken for mainland Chinese nationals. More Taiwan related topics here.

FBI investigates deaths of mining executives in UK corruption probe | Financial Times – this reads like the start of a good novel

Who are the four in ten Britons who say “advertising helps me choose what to buy”? | YouGov – tend to be younger, female and more idealistic

The Epic Battle for the Soul of Antitrust | Verfassungsblog – interesting read about US antitrust law

Unilever plans to remove oil-based ingredients from all cleaning products | Business | The Guardian – this is interesting, how will they get the non-oil chemicals to scale, and how much energy needs to be put in to make it happen? Is it just shuffling the carbon footprint to other parts of the supply chain?

Japan, pioneer of one-person economy | Apple Daily – Japan pioneered the singleton economy. Now China is catching up: Mainland singles break 200 million: a look into savoring singledom in Shanghai – their economic power explains how the Chinese government dialogue went from ‘leftover women’ to ‘little sisters’. Interesting analysis from Hong Kong’s Apple Daily

Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton shop display in Hong Kong

LV knock-offs in China implanted with chip to pass off as branded bags: reports – inevitable and impressive. It reminds me of when I first visited Hong Kong and bought a couple of pirate CDs. These weren’t ripped on CD burning equipment like in a PC, but in a proper CD pressing plant. The packaging was far superior to the original items and even had holograms that marked them as being genuine pirate copies of a high quality. I think that Louis Vuitton not being able to trust their staff is more worrying: A Louis Vuitton Employee Allegedly Sold Unreleased Bags to Counterfeiters So They Could Make Better Fakes 

Should Google’s Ad Market Be Regulated Like the Stock Market? | WIRED – author argues that it should as it runs the market and is the largest buyer and seller in the market