Disney's Futuristic Planned Community, the Biggest Parenting Taboo and How Humans Are Losing Our Sense of Smell | Non-Obvious Insights #308

Dear Newsletterest,

My ritual of finding stories to share with you was tougher than usual this week. Aside from my best and worst Super Bowl marketing recap, it was a slow week. For some reason, I found story after story that felt irrelevant and unworthy of your attention. Like Facebook renaming the "news feed" to the "feed" (who cares?) or a plane colliding with a tractor (random) or a panda face-planting into the snow (ok, that one deserves a link). Eventually, the stories did come though and I hope you enjoy them this week as always!

Disney Announces Plans To Build A Planned Community In The Desert

Disney is returning to its roots, announcing this week that they will be building a planned living community in the desert of California. Covered with an entertaining level of snark in Vulture, the story is being seen by some critics as a step toward a new sort of branded living lifestyle that might become commonplace in the future. What happens to small businesses, media independence and even choice itself when people live and work in a community that is controlled by a single brand? We may need to ask and answer these sorts of big questions sooner rather than later thanks to the Storyliving by Disney project.

Pew Study Shows Biggest Workplace Challenge May Be Collaboration

Entrepreneurs I know often describe themselves as "unemployable." Their reason usually comes down to independence. Once you become accustomed to being your own boss, it's hard to imagine taking orders from someone else. A new Pew study released this week also showed that people prefer working from home even when the option to go into the office is available. What was more interesting, though, was just how many of these same people report feeling less connected to co-workers as a result. This is going to get worse.

How will we create or be part of effective teams when we all increasingly work with people we don't really know, haven't bonded with and often haven't ever met in real life? In the early days of the pandemic, the focus was on productivity. Now it seems the challenge has evolved to one of teams, collaboration and how to feel connected to colleagues you never see in real life.

Why Unvaccinated Tennis Star Novak Djokovic Is Being Celebrated ...

Tennis star Novak Djokovic has refused to get vaccinated and will likely miss several Grand Slam tournaments, which he calls "a price I'm willing to pay." He recently told the BBC that he believed the freedom to choose what goes into his body was "more important than any title, or anything else." In the same interview, he also said that he is not against vaccines generally and does not want to be associated with the anti-vaccination movement.

It's easy to understand why not. He is not demanding to play or filing lawsuits. He generally wears a mask. He isn't leading demonstrations claiming vaccines are a hoax. As a result, some are celebrating him as a "model for covid policy." Others still call him a "disgrace." Regardless of whether you agree with his stance on vaccines, it is certainly refreshing to see someone who seems to understand and accept the consequences of his personal choices while remaining open to shifting his perspective and rethinking this choice in the future.

In a world filled with people who expect to enjoy every personal privilege no matter what personal choices they make which may endanger others and refuse to rethink any choice they make, perhaps Djokovic should be celebrated.

Fake Sites Designed To Catch Cheating Students Are Working

Every student knows it's much easier to cheat on tests when taking them virtually. Remote testing service Honorlock wants to change that reality with a diabolically effective solution: fake answer sites for common tests hosted on URLs such as examequip.com, buzzfolder.com, gradepack.com, quizlookup.com, and wikicram.com.

When a student visits one of these "honeypot sites" during an online test, the site automatically sends data back to the remote testing software platform that the student is attempting to cheat. The service is currently being used by more than 300 institutions. One problem with this system and other remote proctoring services is how they can compromise student privacy. The bigger issue is that surveillance shifts the focus from learning to patrolling.

Instead of finding new ways to catch students succumbing to the temptation of using online resources during a test, what if we found new ways to test knowledge in a more real life way where students were allowed to use online resources - but their challenge would be to learn what to ignore in their quest for the best answer. That's what the real world is like.

The Biggest Parenting Taboo: Having A Favorite Child

In one UK-based study, 70% of fathers and 74% of mothers admitted to having a favorite child. It's one of the biggest taboos of parenting and one of the least understood. As this article explores, sometimes the favorite of the family is the youngest child because parents have become more confident in their parenting abilities by the time their youngest comes along. Sometimes it's the oldest because they have been around longer. As I jokingly tell my boys, I love my older son three years longer ... the age gap between them. Still, the topic itself causes lots of guilt among parents - and confusion among the kids themselves. Four out of five say that they are not the favorite child ... a number that seems mathematically improbable. The real truth, as the article concludes, is that sometimes parents are likely to feel closer to one child and sometimes with another, but it doesn't mean you love them any less.

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ...

Every week I always curate more stories than I'm able to explore in detail. Instead of skipping those stories, I started to share them in this section so you can skim the headlines and click on any that spark your interest:

How are these stories curated?

Every week I spend hours going through hundreds of stories in order to curate this email. Want to discuss how I could bring my best thinking to your next event as a keynote speaker or facilitator? Watch my new 2022 speaking reel on YouTube >>

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https://mailchi.mp/nonobvious/308?e=f7921ac548

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Disney's Futuristic Planned Community, the Biggest Parenting Taboo and How Humans Are Losing Our Sense of Smell | Non-Obvious Insights #308

Disney Announces Plans To Build A Planned Community In The Desert

Pew Study Shows Biggest Workplace Challenge May Be Collaboration

Why Unvaccinated Tennis Star Novak Djokovic Is Being Celebrated ...

Fake Sites Designed To Catch Cheating Students Are Working

The Biggest Parenting Taboo: Having A Favorite Child

Even More Non-Obvious Stories ...

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