Dyneema + more things

2 minutes estimated reading time

Dyneema

The Lifestyle Applications of Dyneema – Core77 – the interesting thing for me is how old Dyneema is and how long it has taken to adopt the product. Back when I first started work before college, I worked briefly for DSM – the maker of Dyneema. Dyneema and Dupont’s Kevlar both required exceptionally pure chemicals in their process. Kevlar reputedly had to scrap a third of the product made. Both were expensive and used in special functions:

  • Ships ropes
  • Motorcycle crash helmets and robust composite moulded products
  • Ballistic vests and bullet proof armour
  • Climbing ropes

Business

PR Agencies Need to Be More Diverse and Inclusive. Here’s How to Start. | HBR – starting points valid but nowhere near the whole formula. Angela has written an interesting article on diversity and inclusive agencies. But Angela misses so many other data points:

  • That PR degree courses are often 90+% female graduates
  • That the industry (like advertising) does really poorly at retaining older (40+ year old) staff.
  • In the UK PR agencies struggle to attract graduates from working class backgrounds as well as from minority communities

The article is behind a paywall. More related information here

Mark Zuckerberg in Washington DC on machine learning and hate speech. Bringing their security team up to 20,000 people to look at issues like this. Hate speech is hard to compute in comparison to (Islamic) terrorist materials. I am guessing that what constitutes hate speech changes country by country (and its interesting that Facebook is looking at this from a global perspective, rather than placating the US first). Secondly, the language that constitutes hate speech evolves to circumvent restrictions and incorporate memes a la Pepe the Frog.

Culture

North Korean defectors are learning English so they can survive in South Korea | The Outline – interesting English loan words in South Korean language

The Facebook Current | Stratechery – well worth a read

Luxury

Streetwear Reigns Supreme, Say Teens | News & Analysis, News Bites | BoF  – Streetwear’s rise came at Nike’s expense. The company remained the most popular apparel brand, but was picked by just 23 percent of teens, down from 31 percent a year ago.  “Both Vans and Adidas have this ‘open-source’ platform where they allow pop culture to help guide and influence how they are positioned with the consumer today,” said Erinn Murphy, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray

Marketing

Chinese International Students Are the New Brand Champions | Jing Daily – 31 percent of Chinese students in New York and Boston escort friends and family on shopping trips at least once every three months. Thirty-four percent purchased luxury goods to take back to China at a similar frequency

The clock is ticking for brands to ‘go native’ | The Drum – highlights issues with native ads such as ROI