Afternoon Tea 4.24.24 - Terracotta Parthenon

With April showers intermittent, May flowers seem to have arrived in force. Dust over water, Columbia making an ass of itself, chatbots failing to be therapists, and lots of history lessons that we’re ignoring and doomed to repeat.

Athens skies turn an orange hue with dust clouds from North Africa (AP) Dust cloud driven apocalyptica is going to get a lot more common in the coming years, unless I’ve missed my guess. It’s gonna drive superstition, racism, and a ton of conspiracy theories from people who are allergic to facts.

Columbia University protests and the lessons of "Gym Crow" (Popular Info) & Bloodlust (Kevin M. Kruse) By calling in the NYPD and kicking protesting students out of housing, the president of Columbia both forgot the history of her institution, and kicked off a national protest movement that has already spread to a dozen campuses. Given we’re ~10 days out from the 54th anniversary of the Kent State shootings, strong work from America’s top universities.

I Am a Jewish Student at Columbia. Don’t Believe What You’re Being Told About ‘Campus Antisemitism’ (Jonathan Ben-Menachem for Zeteo) Mehdi Hassan’s new publication is coming out swinging. This piece from a student at Columbia is an amazing alternative to the Grey Lady and the increasingly out of touch MSM about student protests. Remember, one of the members of DEVO (the “whip it” band with the weird hats) saw his friend get shot at Kent State, as it was only 54 years ago.

Volkswagen ‘the first domino to fall’ after union vote, says UAW president (The Guardian) & A historic victory for unions (Popular Info) This is the first auto factory unionized in the south, and most likely not the last, given the tenacity that Shawn Fain is bringing to this fight. UAW is already planning a General Strike in 2028, which is going to be WILD.

Starbucks vs federal labor agency: U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments (AP) The Supreme Court might actually rule that anti-organizing tactics mega-corporations use are just fine, and if they aren’t, that the NLRB should use the courts, not try to help workers itself. As if the government served any other purpose…

Teen Suicides Force Meta, Snap to Tackle Rising Sextortion Problem (Bloomberg) Essentially, teen boys are a LOT more vulnerable to the “screencapped ur noods, send btc” than adults are. Paywalled unfortunately, so I’ll try to find more resources on this that are accessible. This is dastardly, so if you do have a teen, make sure they know it’s safe to come to you if something like this happens to them.

The Coddling of the American Parent (Daily Beast) One more time for the people in the back, Haidt’s new book is not supported by the evidence. It exists to comfort neoliberal parents who are so smug in their own beliefs that they won’t bother to fact check someone who agrees with their pre-existing conclusions.

Chinese AI companies develop chatbots of dead loved ones (Rest of World) & He Would Still Be Here': Man Dies by Suicide After Talking with AI Chatbot, Widow Says (Vice) I cannot stress enough, if you are thinking of hurting yourself, talk to a human being. On the phone, in person, even in text, but please, talk to a human, not a chatbot.

Why Do People Make “Bad” Financial Decisions? (Dollars & Data) Excellent analysis that gives good evidence of why lottery tickets, penny stocks, and other long-odds/high-reward schemes are more popular when you have nothing. A 500% return on a few thousand bucks makes no difference to the rich, but it can be truly transformational to those of modest means. Judge less, empathize more.

Artificial Intelligence & the Magic Money Tree (Radio Free Mobile) The survey showed a surprising number of people asking for tangible advice, on stocks/investing, finance, and general household management. So, instead of investing in NVIDIA when it’s at all time highs, the author recommends Qualcomm. Of course, as I am neither a fiduciary or an investing professional, anything I say should not be trusted.

Bringing things out of the paywall this week, just to remind everyone what they’re missing. If you miss the music, poetry, and quotes, you’re going to miss the extra dispatches, What-To-Read/Watch/Play, and more surprises that are coming!

Quote of the week

The most common mistake we make is to do a great job on an unimportant task.~Kevin Kelly

Poem of the week

Vibe of the week

BlackClub’s set on Elevator Music is banging. Bringing techno back to its roots, reminding you that it didn’t come out of Detroit to be forgotten. Put it on and go hard.

Keep your head up,tn

P.S. Logos! Substack’s survey interface is trash, so once one is built in Google Forms, y’all will get to vote!