Afternoon Tea 11.9.21 - Wake Up Calls

The effects of Brexit continues to shock Brexiters, Germany attempts to decolonize their museums, Biden caves to the Saudis, a Staten Island politician and his second family won, bankers can learn from Shepards, and one of the most exploitative and anti-labor industries in America can’t understand why no one wants to work for them anymore. It’s Tuesday, November 9th 2021, and this is your Tea. Your vibe comes from Beatsmith & Live Mix Magician DJ ENFERNO, splicing Drake, Jay-Z, and a dozen other feels for your listening pleasure.

British travellers rage as Vodafone brings back data roaming charges in the EU (EuroNews) One day, we’ll get tired of Brexit assholes being shocked by the fact that they fucked around and are now finding out. But today is not that day.

When Will the West Truly Decolonize Its Museums? (Foreign Policy) Germany looks to be making an honest effort of it, which should be applauded. Especially compared to the British, who are sorted by James Acaster in this bit that never goes out of style:

Biden Caves to the Saudis (Eunomia) As people forget about “cancel culture,” all you have to do is ride it out. Then depending on your level of fame, months or years later, you’ll end up with incoming calls again. Sometimes if you’re important enough, they come from the president of the United States.

Where Did All of the Food & Beverage Workers Go? (Food Processing) The hubris and utter myopia in this article is stunning. The industry that refused to hire legal workers, much less allow for unionization, with the lowest pay, fewest benefits, accident prone work, and exploitative management structures, can’t understand why workers aren’t down to die on the killing room floor anymore.

Inspiring: This Staten Island Politician Revived His Career After a DUI Revealed His Secret Second Family (Slate) An absolute wild ride from beginning to end. Kind of like the ride that resulted in the DUI which surfaced his literal second family.

Right Clicker Mentality (Pluralistic) & What the Hell Is ‘Right-Clicker’ Mentality? (Motherboard) NFTs are the Wild West of crypto right now. Which, given crypto is the Wild West of finance, this stuff is too rich for our blood. But if you do dabble, make sure you have plans for if your picture links get stolen or the market vanishes.

Who Goes Crypto? (Mother Jones) & The 3 Levels of FOMO (Wealth of Common Sense) The flip side of NFTs is exceptionally well documented in this Mother Jones article. Given how locked out of traditional financial planning, retirement structures, and fiscal security millennials & Gen Z actually are, can anyone blame them for dabbling in something that could become 50-100x as valuable over night? FOMO is wild when you missed on Amazon/Apple, but that’s minor compared to ShibaCoin.

Our Self-Imposed Scarcity of Nice Places (Strong Towns) In which facets of “nice places” are disentangled from “places that are nice. It’s a point that we needed to read a few times to get, but definitely needs to be made.

What Pastoralists Know (Aeon) & Pacific Northwest's ‘forest gardens' were deliberately planted by Indigenous people (Science - April 2021) Those who stewarded flocks of cattle and sheep for thousands of years have quite a bit to teach bankers & volatility traders. The question posed: “What is the good of a house when you can do nothing to keep yourself and your livestock away from starvation?” remains unanswered by the free market economy. And the research proving that the forests of PNW were carefully created reinforces this.

Eliud Kipchoge: Inside the camp, and the mind, of the greatest marathon runner of all time (Irish Examiner) The king of marathons lives a life that’s almost expectedly Spartan. Rare treats, lots of coaching, time away from his family, and a total lack of alcohol or celebratory substances. If you want to be the king for almost two decades, sacrifices must be made.

Poem of the Tea: Om Unit took a bit of flack for this because of his sneaker choices, but it certainly resonates deeply with anyone who has started running or a second career.

The road is selfish and the road can be hard, the road can be long, the road can be farThe road will mean struggle, the road will leave scars, the road requires wisdom, the road requires truthThe road will never care about the fire in the booth…~Charlie Dark, Om Unit - Threads LP, track 15 'The Road'

Yours,