2023-06-22
Nigeria drinks more Guinness than Ireland and is the second leading market in the world, behind the UK.
via CNN
Somewhat related:
The Guinness Book of World Records was started by a Guinness executive in 1951 to settle a debate: what is the fastest game bird in Europe.
2023-06-22
We should be thinking much harder about ensuring children can make meaningful contributions, and we should be teaching them in ways that are sensitive to the context of the real world. We are not looking for a job but opportunities for mastery: learning and practice beyond the depth one would find along the common path, which demands no such thing.
That is from Simon Sarris's article in Palladium about how a schooling isn't enough for young people.
At this point, probably my most unconventional belief is that we should be giving teenagers more apprenticeship opportunities at companies. I feel weird saying this because it sounds like I want to return to a world where children worked in coal mines, which is very much not what I want. Instead, I think there is a type of learning that happens best hands on with real stakes and that by keeping children away from it we are doing them a disservice.
One of the things I notice with my children, who are very young (under 1 and 3), is that they are happiest when working on something that is outside their comfort zone, but within their capability, especially when it matters to the rest of the family. My three year old has had a toy cleaning set that she hardly ever played with but now uses daily to sweep up after dinner. I don't want to draw conclusions that are too sweeping from what I see observing my kids, but I do suspect there is something there.
2023-06-22
I found this to be astounding:
A study by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and Indian Council of Medical Research has found that over a quarter of India's population is either diabetic or in the pre-diabetic stage, with 101 million people living with diabetes and another 136 million in the pre-diabetes stage. The study also found that 35.5% of the population has hypertension, 28.6% is obese according to BMI measures, and 39.5% has abdominal obesity. The study is one of the largest ever attempted, with over 113,000 participants across 31 states and union territories in the country, and is highly representative of the Indian population. The findings can be used by states to develop health policies to target non-communicable diseases.
That is from News Minimalist, easily my favorite new media of 2023.
2023-06-13
Squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and watermelons are all from the same plant family: cucurbits.
Tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers are all from the same plant family: solanaceae.
via my friend Matthew
2023-06-12
I was today years old when I learned that "light years" is actually relative to time on Earth 🤯
— Steven Tey (@steventey) June 11, 2023
E.g. if you're traveling at 99.99% the speed of light to a star that's 4 light years away, it would take you just 3 weeks.
But to your loved ones on Earth, those 3 weeks = 4 years. pic.twitter.com/aMxNqdLswK
See also this article about time in Harper's Magazine. I feel like the more I learn about time the less I know.
Aside: I feel like there is an awesome pop culture book to be written about relativity and quantum mechanics that makes it accessible for people like me; or maybe it exists and I haven't found it yet?