Monday Finds

Science and Superstitions

• NASA reports net gains in Antarctic ice sheet. They further state that Antartica is not responsible for rising global sea levels. Still, they warn that if the diminishing returns of the last two decades continue, the net gains will turn net loss in 20 to 30 years.
• Vaccines have no link to autism, another study confirms. Breaking mirrors will not bring you seven years of bad luck. Knocking on wood will not improve your odds of achievement. Hats are perfectly safe on beds, and it is acceptable to walk under a ladder.

Mother Russia

• Stalin’s daughter lived in America from 1967 until her death in 2011. Her friend and pen pal Nicholas Thompson (former editor of the New Yorker and current editor of Wired) reflects on her mother’s feminist attitudes, her father’s evil nature, and the duality of life in America vs. Russia.
• Russians today appear to be less receptive of state sponsored television turning instead to Youtube for their indoctrination. Alphabet (parent company of Google and Youtube), according to the article, has the trust of 75% of the population, while less than half trust state-sponsored television. Maybe we aren’t so different after all.
• Current American refugee and resident of Russia Edward Snowden slams Paul Manafort’s light sentence on Twitter. “#Manafort: 47 months for a lifelong carnival of criminality. Petraeus: 0 days for trading the country’s highest secrets for a more favorable biography. Manning: 35 YEARS for revealing evidence of actual war crimes to the press.”

Money and Power

• Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell declared himself untouchable in an interview yesterday. Powell came under scrutiny from the Trump administration after approving 4 federal interest rate increases in 2018. When asked directly if he thought Trump could fire him, he answered “no.”
• France plans on shaking down big tech companies that operate within its borders. A bill in France, known as GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple) will tax the companies based on their revenue as opposed to their profits.
• Apple has finished paying off $14.3 billion dollars in what was declared “unfair tax incentives” to Ireland. According to Reuters, Apple will keep over a billion dollars of that sum in an escrow account while they appeal the decision. As the world’s first trillion dollar company, at worst, the company will sustain a 1 % loss.
• Venezuela’s power outages have left 80% of the country still offline, while at one point on Saturday, only 2% of the population had power. The state has intermittently blocked social media platforms amidst unrest in its population. Yes, they have internet in Venezuela. Well, they had it anyways.