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Museum Seeks Teen Photos, NASA Publishes Space Ethics and the Truth About Air Pollution | Non-Obvious Insights #218

Non-Obvious Insights #218 - This week's most underappreciated stories curated for you. |
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Dear Newsletterest,

It's been a busy week with my last night's inaugural edition of my new Non-Obvious Virtual Summit which focused on the Future of Learning (watch the replay here). And a double header on Thursday with a SXSW Session virtual keynote (watch the replay here), followed by another episode of my new Non-Obvious Insights Show spotlighting the stories from this email. There are some good ones from the pizza shop owner who made money by ordering underpriced pizzas from his own restaurant through Doordash and the surprising truth about air pollution. Plus NASA issues rules for space ethics, and an addictive new website where you can use AI to invent words that don't exist. Enjoy the stories, and just hit reply to let me know what you think of them!
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A Museum Wants Your Embarrassing Teenage Photos (Really) 

If one of your home lockdown activities has involved digging through old photo albums or making a futile attempt to organize your digital photos - you might be able to claim your place in history by submitting one to the United Kingdom's Museum of Youth Culture. They have issued a call for submissions for their project to memorialize the teenage years of youth since the 1920s. I'm pretty sure I have a picture of me in some jams around here somewhere. 


 

Will "Cyborg Universities" Monopolize Higher Education? 

There was a story this past week in Intelligencer featuring an interview with marketing professor Scott Galloway that anyone in education (or with kids in college or going to college in the next few years) should definitely read. In the wide-ranging piece, Galloway shares some worrying thoughts about the future of higher education and the domino effect of what happens with many privileged students take a voluntary "corona gap" year and Universities continue the struggle to justify their spiraling cost. 
 

The Truth About Air Pollution  

With people staying home from work and global commutes reduced to a fraction of what they once were, I assumed that air pollution would be vastly improved by now. Unfortunately, that may not be the case, as this eye-opening story from NPR about the reality of air pollution points out. Daily traffic only really account for a small part of overall pollution whereas trucks and factories provide the lion's share - and much of that pollution has not disappeared. On the contrary, some of it has actually increased ... which means air pollution hasn't really gone down as much as you might think. 

  
 

Artificial Intelligence Invents Words ... and They Are Brilliant

My new favorite website might be ThisWordDoesNotExist.com. It's a machine learning algorithm that spits out a new word along with a fake definition every time you press the button. After my extended play session with the site, it gave me "lunty" (relating to a great time) and "unplumspect" (lacking or having no apparent significance). They are ironically perfect fake words to describe a beautiful site that offers a great time while also lacking any apparent significance. Or perhaps I'm having a profound theoretical conversation with a piece of AI designed to be accidentally clever. It's honestly hard to tell. 


 

Pizza Shop Hacks Doordash. They Probably Deserve It. 

Have you ever wondered how the stereotypical Silicon Valley business model of taking huge investment while simultaneously racking up huge financial losses can be sustainable? You are not alone. According to one report, Doordash lost $450 million dollars off $900 million in revenue. How is this possible? Perhaps by charging $16 for a pizza that actually costs $24 as this article exposes. While Doordash suggests this was just part of a learning exercise, this article is an entertaining example of just how crazy modern capitalism can be. 
 

NASA Publishes Guidelines For Humans In Space. 

It's not exactly the prime directive, but NASA's latest attempt at setting some guidelines for the unexplored expanse of space is a timely initiative considering how many private companies are rushing to get there. The guidelines focus on important basics like ensuring interoperability and reminding everyone that those in space have a responsibility to come to the emergency aid of others there. The Artemis Accords, as they are called, are worth a read. 


 

Millennials May Bring Back Products That Were Dead

Among the surprising effects of the pandemic lockdowns is that they may be leading to a resurgence in product categories or experiences that were rapidly dying. Processed cheese was avoided because it was't healthy, but now people are buying more because it lasts longer and helps them avoid more trips to the grocery store. Golf, widely considered a game for mainly older people, is seeing a resurgence because it's one of the few sports that is easier to play while remaining socially distanced. The bottom line: what wasn't popular might become popular now.  


 
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Every week I go through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Your attention is important to me and I always do my best to share only "non-obvious" ideas with you to help you be more interesting. 

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Museum Seeks  Teen Photos, NASA Publishes Space Ethics and the Truth About Air Pollution | Non-Obvious Insights #218

Thursday, May 21, 2020

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