Weekend Reading #268

This is the two-hundred-and-sixty-eighth weekly edition of our newsletter, Weekend Reading, sent out on Saturday 18 May 2024

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What we're thinking.

This week we breached all time highs across US markets (Dow, S&P500 and the Nasdaq) and once again we learn the price action never lies! All the clever commentaries, all the over-intellectualisation, the fear etc didn’t matter. Of course, the market will selloff and eventually bad things will happen for asset prices, but we are not there just yet. Away from the indices this week’s entertainment arose in part from a second Gamestop spectacle where a Twitter handle named “Roaring Kitty”, who triggered the action last time around, was resurrected from dormancy. Just like last time, it triggered a monumental move in Gamestop and associated “meme stocks”. It didn’t last. As of writing, GME had fallen more than 60% from its intraday highs. And then of course the company raised capital. Welcome to crypto.

What we're doing.

We came to Cornwall this weekend as my wife was invited to give a workshop and presentation at Cornwall County Council and took the opportunity to stay at a site advertised as a “Shepherd’s hut” in a little village called Lanivet. Though not factually accurate in that the probability that a shepherd occupied this place at any point in time in the past is approximately zero, it’s nonetheless extremely pleasant especially given the weather at this time of the year. In simple terms, it’s an old carriage converted into a cabin, parked in a small forest behind the house of the owner, with an outdoor seating area in the forest under the generous shade of trees, and a hammock nearby, which makes for a very pleasant outdoor working environment with only one drawback: no outdoor electrical power supply, which means constantly having to recharge once the laptop runs out of battery every couple of hours. The weather is as close to perfect as it gets, and given the contrast to reports of heavy rain back in London, it’s perhaps part of the reason why Cornwall is such an appealing destination for domestic travel.
 
Lanivet is also close by another Cornish town we visited during the covid years – Lostwithiel. Unfinished business in Lostwithiel constitutes having a meal at a restaurant we walked past everyday from the train station, called Asquiths. Last time we were there, they were booked out every single evening, so our thinking was that this had to be good, notwithstanding the usual sales pitch of “local produce” etc. This time, we managed to get a booking for dinner, and it’s fair to say that the hypothesis was true – it was good. There isn’t any point describing the sea bream we had since it’s probably seasonal, but bottom line here is it’s worth a visit – including the train ride to Lostwithiel.
 
Another piece of unfinished business we had from our last trip to Cornwall was the Eden Project. Perhaps best known for the two iconic biodomes that look like something from the X-files (where they bred the bees with alien DNA in their stings), the Eden Project attempts with reasonable success to replicate a variety of biomes in a single location, including the tropical rainforests (humidity and temperature pretty much on point) of Southeast Asia and west Africa in one biodome, and the temperate Mediterranean in another, accompanied by cooler temperate climates outdoors. It’s not the same as travelling the world, but one definitely gets the idea. More interesting is the history of it – an extensive regeneration project, the Eden Project is effectively a mega garden planted in a disused quarry, a statement to what can be done if the effort is put in to make something as desolate as a disused quarry become a lush and vibrant garden landscape. EL

What we're watching.

Ashley Maddison was a website that connected married people looking for an affair. The numbers were staggering. The website had around 35 million users all over the world before it was hacked in 2015. A documentary which aired on Netflix this week is revealing and a reminder that the human brain cannot always subjugate the animal one. The website hit the jackpot when it was subject to a massive hack revealing all the users and payment details. I remember when the hack happened all those years ago but had no idea of the backstory. It’s 3 episodes and it’s really just a fascinating insight into human behaviour. And the business side is interesting too. Especially as today the business still exists and apparently there are now 75 million happy users!
 
In the week where the UN finally admitted (if you can call it an admission) that the Gaza fatality numbers were incorrect (shockingly), one could be forgiven for wondering where the media coverage of this was considering that this was the supposed basis for many claims about the heavy-handedness of the Israeli army. Non-existent is that answer. This highlighted once again how Israel has lost the propaganda war by a mile. Israel and Jewish organisations around the world have failed in this respect. This video, apart from being a very good summary of why exactly we have seen such extreme levels of antisemitism in the West (hint: it’s not spontaneous), tells exactly why the propaganda or narrative war has been so one sided. I don’t know who this guy is but he sums it all up to perfection. DC 

What we're reading.

A couple weeks back, I linked to a Time Magazine interview with Donald Trump. In the interview, the journalist was quite clearly not a fan of Trump and his article was presented with such a view attached. So when Time for some reason released a full, unedited transcript of the interview it presented a chance to see just how much the journalist had fiddled with the interview to present it as he wanted to. The transcript is long but if you read it, it certainly doesn’t present Trump as this deranged candidate who is a loose cannon. Its worth a read. It’s long but its worth it. In it Trump, although his usual “style” applies appears very logical and coherent, contrary to the view you would have got from the abbreviated interview presented originally. Not surprising but very interesting!
 
Matt Zeigler’s article for Epsilon Theory on Conan O’Brian’s Hot One’s appearance is brilliant. Before this I hadn’t even heard of Hot Ones, a Youtube series where an interviewer interviews celebrity guests while sequentially working through a series of incrementally hotter sauces on some chicken wings. It is a fantastic concept. People often have the best conversations when there is something semi-distracting them. Why do we always meet for a meal? Boardgames, golf, the list goes on. The Conan episode is an act of mastery. He dominates the interview like a Jedi master. This article from Matt is supreme as he shows how the story telling masterclass unfolded. But you should watch the episode before you read it. DC

What we're listening to.

I continue to work through episodes of the Halo audio book series on Spotify, and now am at “Halo: First Strike”, book 3 of the series.  Book 1 was the prequel to the original Halo game, and book 2 essentially gave readers (or listeners, in my case) a playthrough of the original game without the risk of getting stuck for hours in front of a screen. I haven’t played any of the subsequent Halo games, not least because of lack of an Xbox and general ineptitude with controller gamepads, so being able to listen through the storyline is the next best thing (if not even better than playing the game itself). The book continues to follow the exploits of Master Chief Spartan 117, following the destruction of Halo and the discovery of the Flood, and the initial clues about the relationship between the Forerunners, the Covenant and humans. It’d be interesting to follow the story and see how it all lines up with where the game franchise currently is – I took a peek at some gameplay videos and apparently they’re fighting Forerunners directly now in the latest edition, so joining the dots in the intervening chapters of the story is definitely of great interest. Ultimately, what makes a good gaming franchise is a good story, and alongside my favourites Diablo, Starcraft and (maybe) Warcraft, perhaps Halo would make a good addition to that list. EL