James' World 2

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How much do you read?

For most of my adult life, I read maybe five books a year — if I was lucky. I’d read a couple on vacation and I’d always have a few slow burners hanging around the bedside table for months.

And then, one year, I surprised myself by reading 50 books. This year I’m on pace for 100. I’ve never felt more creatively alive in all areas of my life. I feel more interesting, I feel like a better father, and my writing output has dramatically increased. Amplifying my reading rate has been the domino that’s tipped over a slew of others.

I’m disappointed that I didn’t do it sooner.

Why did I wait 20 years?

Well, our world today is designed for shallow skimming rather than deep diving, so it took me some time to identify the specific changes that skyrocketed my reading rate. None of them had to do with how fast I read. I’m actually a pretty slow reader.

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Reading

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Scientists already had a pretty good idea that things have been about as dry as can be out west for a while now. The region has been experiencing a “megadrought” that dates back to the start of the century. In 2020, researchers dubbed it the worst drought in 500 years, in a paper published in the journal Science.

Things have only gotten worse since then. In the last two years, the region already bereft of rainfall saw record-setting heatwaves — including a new high for hottest temperature ever recorded and a devastating heat dome that literally started to melt infrastructure — along with out of control wildfires, shrinking water reservoirs, and dwindling supplies of natural water sources. With a full record of the last two decades, scientists concluded that the West’s ongoing drought is the worst since at least 800 A.D.

Researchers and climate scientists examined moisture levels in soils collected from a wide stretch of the American West, ranging from up north in Montana to areas of northern Mexico, out west toward the coast of the Pacific Ocean, and eastbound to the Rocky Mountains. Those samples — along with tree ring samples, which appear closer together during dry periods — helped to paint a picture of this modern drought and those of the past. Unfortunately, our current situation does not compare favorably to history.

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A new study has found that the current 20-year drought is the worst dry period in recorded history.  Shutterstock

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It’s a case of “what goes up must come down,” according to Hubble Space Telescope astronomers who say the space cloud likely originated in our galaxy and is boomeranging back. When it returns, they predict “a spectacular burst of star formation, perhaps providing enough gas to make 2 million suns.”

Astronomers are aware of many space clouds, but the Smith Cloud is unique because its trajectory is well-known.

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Hypothetically speaking, let’s say that you’re a part of a pyramid scheme. Maybe you know that’s what it is, or maybe you truly believe in it, but either way, it’s a pyramid scheme. And in order for it to run, you need a constant flow of new blood. You need new people who don’t really understand what you’re doing, but they see people making money and want in. And let’s say that your pyramid scheme has been having a real rough go of things lately, and you’re down big. Getting a bunch of new people in could allow you to cash out. What would be the ideal space to reach lots of folks with a promise of wealth and a message of FOMO for anyone who fails to get on board?

Spoiler alert: It takes place on a Sunday in February. That’s right: Four cryptocurrency companies — all crypto exchanges where people turn real money into fake money in hopes that the lines go up — managed to get national advertisements during the biggest televised event of the year, Super Bowl LVI.

Coinbase got the most attention, broadcasting a DVD screensaver-style QR code for 60 seconds to lure folks into visiting their app, which then crashed. You’d think that if you drop more than $6.5 million for a commercial, you might want to put some money into maintaining your servers, but hey, that’s just me. Those who did get through to the Coinbase app were met with an offer: $15 of Bitcoin, just for signing up. This is, of course, a common tactic of any gambling site: “Here’s some funny money, it’s not worth anything but it’s enough to get you hooked.”

Other crypto exchanges went a more conventional route, pulling in celebrities for their spots. FTX, another exchange, tapped comedian Larry David, who spent the ad dismissing major technological innovations throughout human history, including the wheel, toilets, electricity, and democracy — which, sure? Those all seem equal to crypto, I guess. The ad ends with the message, “Don’t be like Larry. Don’t miss out on the next big thing.” What world-changing innovation crypto offers is never explained in the ad — the real message is that if you don’t get it, you’re a fool.

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crypto

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