September 29, 2020

empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines

International

Warring parties: What 2020 wasn’t really missing was a war. Unfortunately, the long-time conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted over the weekend with more than 50 killed. The battle is over a disputed piece of land called the Nagorno-Karabakh, which was part of Muslim-majority Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenian Christians. There was a 6-year war over the area which ended in 1994, leaving the area as effectively an independent state. The conflict has been simmering for years, but started up again in earnest. Turkey and Russia are on opposite sides which can only escalate the conflict. Iran also borders both nations and has offered to mediate the tensions in the past.

Facial ID: Singapore will be the first country in the world to use facial verification in its national identity project. The system will use biometrics to allow its citizens access to both private and governmental services. Singapore already uses the verification technology at its banks and tax offices, but it may be expanded for use in secure locations (like ports) or even to allow students to take their exams.

Swiss referendum: Swiss voters rejected a proposal to end an accord with the EU allowing the free movement of people (with 62% of the voters wanting to maintain free movement). While Switzerland is not a part of the EU, the country of neutrality apparently accepted the immigration policy as a means to help the country survive a possible recession. Fears that if Switzerland rejected the free movement, then the EU would limit their movement as well, reducing employment opportunities: the EU could have limited deals on transportation, research and trade. Swiss voters also decided to approve $6.5B in funds to purchase new military aircraft.

Technology

Upping the tolls: Google is taking a play out of Apple’s playbook and is re-writing its Play Store rules, so that Google will collect 30% of app store purchases.  There is some question as to whether Google’s exemption for sellers of physical goods or digital goods that can be used on other platforms (like Kindle) will continue.

European moonshots: Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, has committed to investing EUR1B of his fortune in European deeptech. Ek seems to be pushing Europe to actually make itself as great as the US when it comes to backing new technology companies. “Europe needs more super companies, both for the ecosystem to develop and thrive. But I think more importantly if we’re going to have any chance to tackle the infinitely complex problems that our societies are dealing with at the moment, we need different stakeholders, including companies, governments, academic institutions, non-profits and investors of all kinds to work together,” Ek said.

Microsoft’s bad day: Microsoft had a rough day on Monday after upgrading its services caused a major outage across its products including Microsoft 365, Teams, Azure and XBox. After about 6 hours, Microsoft rolled back the updates and services slowly returned online.

Shadow Oversight: Facebook’s oversight board was expected to be live and active before the US election. However, after naming its members in May, the board announced that it won’t be operating any time soon. Instead, several industry experts have decided to form their own unofficial, oversight board, aptly named “The Real Facebook Oversight Board.” The first public roundtable will be held on October 1 with the goal of: “we will use stunts, viral video, celebrity endorsement and skillful media management to throw a spotlight on the real-time threats to democracy from the misuse of social media platforms and big tech.” Facebook seems to have reacted to the pressure and will launch its board earlier than expected, but the actions of the board will be focused on removing controversial posts.

Games for good: In 2012, UN Habitat, Microsoft and Mojang, the company that made Minecraft, teamed up to form Block by Block — a venture that aims to improve marginalized areas by engaging community members in public works. Basically, community groups design public spaces in Minecraft, and architects transform the virtual spaces into reality. In Gaza, several women were chosen to design the virtual spaces, but not only did the women have to be introduced to architecture but to video games themselves. The initiative has built public spaces in Gaza, Kosovo, Nepal and Lebanon with initiatives started throughout Africa and Asia. As one participant put it, the work is not only rewarding but it puts the public in charge for the first time.

Prime Day: In case you missed it, Prime Day will finally occur on October 13-14.

Science

Water on Mars: The European Space Agency’s Mars Express (which is orbiting Mars) has reported the existence of three underground lakes on Mars. The largest, central lake measures 30 kilometers across, and is surrounded by 3 smaller lakes, each a few kilometers wide. The underground lakes are thought to be filled with very salty water (in order to stay liquid at such cold temperatures, they need salt). There is some debate as to what the lakes actually contain, but until another orbiter reaches the planet, the question will remain undecided.

Frozen Fires: In Siberia, firefighters are fighting a series of underground blazes or “zombie fires.” The fires are winter-resistant and erupt in the soft peat below the frozen surface. Last summer when the temperatures rose and the ground thawed, the fires continued in earnest and created huge wildfires. These underground peat fires are particularly bad threats to the climate — they release large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, perpetuating the cycle of climate change. “We are fighting both against the result of climate change and the very thing that causes it.”

Culture

Life imitating art: When the ECB designed its banknotes, it decided to depict fictional bridges and structures so as not to favor one country over another. One city had a different idea. The Dutch city of Spijkenisse has built physical replicas of all of the bridges depicted on the Euro currencies, creating “The Bridges of Europe” project. The colors of the bricks used in construction even attempt to match the colorful artwork on the notes.

Death and Taxes: We thought this piece of Presidential history was intriguing in light of recent events. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln paid $1,220 per year in income taxes (on a $25,000 salary). Under the Revenue Act of 1862, he was exempt from paying the income tax, but he felt it was his moral obligation to contribute.

City on the Edge: The entire town of South Park filled the stadium (as cardboard cutouts) for the Denver Broncos game this weekend. The Comedy Central characters helped to raise $130,000 for charity. South Park will also be airing a supersized Pandemic Special on Wednesday. While the running joke of having Kenny die in every episode stopped a few seasons ago, we suspect the prank may take on new meaning.

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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