I had completely forgotten that I had written my contribution to Whats in my NOW right at the end of August. Autumn is now well and truly here in London with rainy nights and a carpet of fallen leaves of various hues; we don’t really get spectacular fall colours a la upstate New York or Vermont. London is actually quite dry compared to much of the UK which is why I can get away with an unlined Carhartt chore coat, rather than the more common blanket lined coat. You may have better luck finding the unlined version in US vintage clothing and thrift stores.
Influences
Prior to starting this blog, I have been an avid reader of Wired magazine and Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools. The underlying theme of ‘renaissance thinking’ and careful consumption decisions inspired me in this blog’s curation. So it seemed like a natural fit to contribute to Whats in my NOW, when the opportunity arose.
Choices
Writing the post (typos and all) for Whats in my NOW forced me to make some tough choices. My Mystery Ranch pack was a no brainer, it is constantly within eyesight of my desk, but to leave out recommending other items were more difficult. Saying ‘no’ became an active creative decision. Do I focus my digital recommendations purely on the basis of utility or do I mix in entertainment? For instance, I missed out the invaluable social bookmarking site Pinboard, so I could include the very underrated 1979 version of Salem’s Lot.
Writing here
I write an eclectic range of stuff, some of the focus comes from life experience and the rest from my job as a brand planner. A brand planner in an advertising agency synthesises business problems to something that creative teams can ideate around, it exists in ambiguity which I hope will keep me in a role that won’t be imminently replaced by machine learning technology of some sort. This also means that I am a constant student of my environment.
Keeping in touch
A good deal of my wider learning has come from using RSS. If you would like to follow this blog, its RSS can be found here and it would be an ideal opportunity to try out Newsblur.
(My contribution was originally on the email newsletter platform Revue, but owners Twitter closed it down on January 18, 2023, thankfully my post was saved on the Cool Tools blog instead. So I replaced the above link with something that works.)
Mid afternoon Sunday saw an incident outside and inside the Manchester Chinese consulate. The Manchester Chinese consulate caters for the second largest Chinese community in the UK. Manchester airport before COVID had direct flights to China and Hong Kong. Given the large British Chinese population in the area, it also has a community of Hong Kongers who desire democracy.
My understanding of what happened:
Chinese diplomats didn’t want a protest right outside the Manchester Chinese consulate
On the first day of the party congress at home in Beijing, some staff emerged from the consulate wearing anti-stab vests and riot police helmets to smash protestor banners and drive them away. Police were slow to intervene
Protesters defended themselves
The Manchester Chinese consulate staff retreated to their grounds including the Consul General who has been out walking.
A protestor was dragged through their gates and given a beating, he was eventually extracted by police belatedly reacting to the fight
The Consul General was seen pulling the hair of the protestor as well and later admitted it
johnlsl Extradition law Protest at Admiralty, Hong Kong 反送中大遊行(金鐘段)
Business
Pfizer Executive: in-Person Work Is ‘Critical’ to Workplace Culture – Nearly 2 years after the company helped to develop the Covid vaccine, Pfizer’s Angela Hwang said it’s time to get back to the office. Though many worked from home during the vaccine’s development, Pfizer’s culture was “banked” from years of in-person work, she said. Some companies have recently faced backlash for requiring in-person work. – Not so sure how well this will go for them.
We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns. We want respect, not lies. We want reform, not a Cultural Revolution. We want a vote, not a leader. We want to be citizens, not slaves
I know that the Elvis memorabilia dropped massively in price as his fans went into care homes or died off. Antiques and art go through cycles of ‘what’s in’ and out for that matter. Doug DeMuro asks a similar question about car collecting baby boomers. A lot of this is down to cultural relevance for collectors. DeMuro notes that ‘brass era’ cars from the 1910s onwards have already seen declines in price and demands.
The Covid-19 Baby Bump: The Unexpected Increase in U.S. Fertility Rates in Response to the Pandemic | NBER – Childbearing in the U.S. among foreign-born mothers declined immediately after lockdowns began—nine months too soon to reflect the pandemic’s effects on conceptions. We also find that the COVID pandemic resulted in a small “baby bump” among U.S.-born mothers. The 2021 baby bump is the first major reversal in declining U.S. fertility rates since 2007 and was most pronounced for first births and women under age 25, which suggests the pandemic led some women to start their families earlier. Above age 25, the baby bump was also pronounced for women ages 30-34 and women with a college education, who were more likely to benefit from working from home. The data for California track the U.S. data closely and suggest that U.S. births remained elevated through the third quarter of 2022
Letter from Hong Kong Advocacy Groups: U.S. Financial Institutions’ Planned Hong Kong Summit Will Undermine U.S. Foreign Policy – executives will meet with sanctioned government officials including Chief Executive John Lee as they help Hong Kong convince the world that it’s business as usual in the city—that despite the authoritarian crackdown of the past three years, investors should return. This financial summit is more than just a conference: it represents a watershed moment in our fight to hold Hong Kong officials accountable and deter others across the world who might seek to snuff out democratic rights and commit human rights abuses. If the U.S. Government takes no action to prevent even its own banks from undermining U.S. policy with respect to Hong Kong, then it will send a message to the world that the U.S. does not intend to defend the principles it espouses. Investment will return to the city, and the Hong Kong government, the CCP, and other authoritarian regimes will learn that human rights abuses are easily forgotten by the West—especially when lots of money is involved
Global cities are fragile by nature. Here are some on their way down | Financial Times – China’s Communist party distrusts global cities. It’s crushing Hong Kong, and people are fleeing. When a marquee 800-flat project opened last month, zero apartments sold. Hong Kong, fifth on Kearney’s global-city ranking in 2019, is regressing into what some call “just another Chinese city”. Beijing and Shanghai, among Kearney’s top 10 last year, have also lost access to the world, supposedly because of quarantine restrictions. Last month, China averaged about 100 international flights a day, down 96 per cent since 2020, says Variflight. After this week’s party congress, these cities may become global again, or perhaps those days are over
Clarifying Responsible Cyber Power: Developing Views in the U.K. Regarding Non-intervention and Peacetime Cyber Operations – Lawfare – the U.K. government’s strategic communication about cyber has included prominent speeches by successive foreign secretaries and attorneys general, as well as by senior securocrats such as the GCHQ director. This division of effort in the public communication about U.K. strategy makes sense, incorporating senior political leaders with responsibility for foreign policy and the law as well as leading securocrats who, as career officials rather than politicians, speak with a different kind of authority and independence from partisan politics. Cumulatively, this helps to advance the U.K.’s emerging narrative about the responsible, democratic use of cyber power by nation-states. Fleming’s remarks also emphasized that the U.K.’s cyber operations were “ethical, proportionate and legal.” As a proponent of responsible state behavior in cyberspace, it is not surprising that the U.K. twice (in 2018 and 2022) has used a major speech by its attorney general to develop the legal aspects of the case for responsible cyber power
Former WSJ reporter says law firm used Indian hackers to sabotage his career – Solomon’s suit is the latest in a series of legal actions that follows Reuters’ reporting about hired hackers operating out of India. In June, Reuters reported on the activities of several hack-for-hire shops, including Delhi area-companies BellTroX and CyberRoot, that were involved in a decade-long series of espionage campaigns targeting thousands of people, including more than 1,000 lawyers at 108 different law firms. At the time, Reuters reported that people who had become hacking targets while involved in at least seven different lawsuits had each launched their own inquiries into the cyberespionage campaign. That number has since grown. Azima, Solomon’s former source, is among those who have gone to court over the alleged hacking. His lawyers, like Solomon’s, allege that Dechert worked with BellTroX, CyberRoot and a slew of private investigators to steal his emails and publish them to the web. BellTroX and CyberRoot are not parties to the suit and could not immediately be reached. Executives at both firms have previously denied wrongdoing. Solomon and Azima allege that Dechert undertook the hack-and-leak operation in the interest of its client, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi, ruler of the Middle Eastern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. Reuters has reported that lawyers for Ras Al Khaimah’s investment agency – RAKIA – used the emails to help win a fraud lawsuit filed against Azima in London in 2016
American technology boosts China’s hypersonic missile program – The Washington Post – “In this case the American technology is superior — we can’t do certain things without foreign technology,” said one Chinese scientist who works in a university lab that conducts testing for hypersonic vehicles. “There isn’t the same technical foundation.” Some of the U.S. firms whose products are reaching Chinese military research groups have been the beneficiaries of Defense Department grants to spur cutting-edge innovation, according to a federal program database, creating the specter of the Pentagon subsidizing Chinese military advances. “It’s very disturbing, because the bottom line is that technology that can be used for military hypersonics was funded by U.S. taxpayers, through the U.S. government, and ended up in China,” – war by other means….
Interesting take on how Singapore will evolve with a transition of power happening in Singapore away from the Lee family who have dominated the city state since independence.
Taiwan
Really good presentation on the international importance of Taiwan. Its not just about TSMC but also about the global supply lines that run through Taiwanese waters
I miss Tomorrows World as a show. It came from a few points that seem to have changed in UK society
Lord Reith’s original agenda for the BBC to entertain and educate. It made cutting edge research simple and highlighted its potential benefits
A futurism vision in the great and good of society at least, rather than the current viewpoint that we’re all doomed
Now as a society, we no longer know what innovation is. There is no ‘true north’.
Predicting the smart home of 2020
This Tomorrows World programme from 1989 predicts smart home type controls such as Philips Hue bulbs, wireless charging with ‘plug-in pads’, reducing energy consumption and big screen TVs. But there is as much as it gets wrong as well, LCD windows tend to be only use in the swankest offices or high security areas. Our home windows aren’t display screens. Unfortunately we don’t have aerogel as loft insulation due to the inability to make it cheaply via mass production.
One final point that was important was how they talked about consumers having a choice of how smart their home could be. Which showed a real consideration about technological impact that is at odds with smartphones vs. feature phones; or smart TVs vs. ‘dumb’ TVs.
Business
Why Facebook’s Metaverse Is Dead on Arrival | New York magazine – In actuality, Facebook is basically spending $10 billion on a prayer that, in the short run, it might change the conversation. It gives them an opportunity to talk about the meta verse instead of insurrection and teen depression – or that Meta has moved from being a growth company to a value company…
Disclosure: work thing. The Feelings was put together by some of my colleagues at McCann for the Laura Hyde Foundation. The Feelings is a film put together to raise awareness of the serious difficulties that frontline workers face, and how this can affect them on an ongoing basis, particularly if they don’t seek support. Each of the characters represents some of the feelings that workers can be holding down in an effort to meet expectations of outward stoicism, appear professional or just hold it together. This can include feelings of ‘rising dread’, ‘red rage’, and ‘powerless’.
You can find out more about the mental health impact on our frontline workers here. World Mental Health day was Monday morning and as a business we’ve been looking at agency member health on an ongoing basis.
Malaysian independence
Tunku Abdul Rahman was a Malaysian statesman and lawyer who served as the first prime minister of Malaysia and the head of government of its predecessor states from 1955 to 1970. Tunku is a royal title which gives an idea of the respect that he is held. He was the first chief minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955 to 1957. He supervised the independence process that culminated on 31 August 1957. As Malaya’s first prime minister he dominated politics there for the next 13 years. In 1963, he successfully incorporated the Federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore into the state of Malaysia. However, tensions between the Malay and Chinese communities resulted in Singapore’s expulsion in 1965. His performance during race riots in Kuala Lumpur in 1969 led to his resignation the following year.
Discrimination
This opened the door a succession of economic policies that favoured Malays at the expense of ethnic Indians and Chinese Malaysians The New Economic Policy was put in place for 20 years. It was replaced by National Development Policy in 1990 and the National Vision Policy (NVP) in 2001. But all of this was to happen in the future. At the time of independence Tunku Abdul Rahman was a hero for all communities and his speeches unified rather than divided the different communities of the Malaya Federation. Cadburys put this advert together to celebrate Malaya independence and capture the memories of someone who saw Rahman speak.
The global landscape for artificial intelligence
INFER did an interesting talk that showcased which countries are punching above their weight in development around machine learning. You’d be surprised by many of the results.
Pui Yuet
Pui yuet nannies bring traditional techniques for well-heeled Hong Kong new mothers. It brings a mix of common sense, traditional Chinese medicine and folklore together to get mother and baby off to the best start.
Singaporean OnlyFans creatives
Our Grandfather Story have done some fantastic interviews with OnlyFans creatives who tell their stories. Its complicated, heart-breaking and empowering in turns.
I wasn’t aware of Honey Badger Cummins until a couple of days ago. Cummins was a former professional rugby union player who managed to parley his career into work on television and a professional social media following. Nick Honey Badger Cummins had played 15 times for his country, including the international rugby sevens competition and for top flight clubs in Australia and Japan.
Following his retirement as a professional sportsman, he had appeared in a number of reality television show and gained a following as a travel influencer on social media. His travel influencer status, personality profile in Australia and former rugby sevens career were obvious points of interest for the Hong Kong Tourist Board.
Propaganda
The problem for Honey Badger Cummins is that he’s at the centre of Hong Kong’s campaign to remake its international image. This is after its COVID-19 isolation, 2019 protests with brutal policing actions, the national security law mass imprisonment, crushed media | civil society sectors and the large amount of Hong Kongers who have gone into exile. It isn’t perceived as a ‘straight tourism’ brief, but instead part of a white-washing exercise.
https://youtu.be/rWhrrbUj9Ws
The comments on this video are universally negative in nature at the time of writing this post.
Restaurants and other venues portrayed in the videos have closed down and Cummins flouts what would be now current masking regulations and QRcode health app tracking. This is due to the footage having been shot at the beginning of 2020. Even that timing shows a lack of good judgement by Honey Badger Cummins. But Cummins isn’t the only party to blame.
Poor judgement by Always Human
The Australian creative agency Always Human; which created the videos being used, should be ashamed of themselves in terms of their ethical stance. The content was originally shot in January 2020, when the brutal police crackdown was still fresh in the minds of the general public around the world. Its not a good look for the other agency clients like Asics, GoPro, HP, Nike, Oakley, Under Armour and Volkswagen to be associated with the agency.
Virgin Atlantic pulls out of Hong Kong after 30 years | Telegraph – Virgin Atlantic is pulling out of Hong Kong, scrapping flights and shutting its offices as strict Covid restrictions batter the island’s status as a global financial hub. Ending three decades of flying to Hong Kong, Sir Richard Branson’s airline blamed the closure of Russian airspace as well as the declining profitability of the route. American Airlines and Virgin Australia have also backed away from Hong Kong. I could see other airlines from Europe backing away from Hong Kong due to the disadvantage that Russian airspace provides to them versus Cathay Pacific
Luxury Daily | “A small, concrete happiness”: Why luxury brands in China love cafés – Facing weakening consumer demand, luxury brands are building experiential cafés across China to pursue new consumer touch points and growth areas – it reminds me of the ‘Revlon effect’. During recessions consumers who can’t afford big luxuries like small luxuries like a lipstick or a chocolate bar
