Can't believe how quick and willing the Lithuianians were to give up their car.

Pretty cool way some Ukrainians are able to help the war effort and overcome the information blackouts Russia is trying to establish.

Not super in-depth, but crazy to think about this. Makes me question if I could carry on business as usual if Canada or Mexico was amassing troops at the U.S. border

IMO, poorly written article / blog, but clear enough to paint a scary picture of fraud, manipulation and perhaps child abuse (pending the age of students) at least neglect and putting others in a dangerous situation. It is wild to me the number of schools, marketers and other businesses involved yet somehow missed all the red flags. I appreciate a summary of this and hope we stop profiteering off vulnerable young people.

Interesting deep dive here. I had no idea that so many 3rd parties were involved in the content moderation. I do think the authors are overly critical of the Accenture relationship and simplify the decision making process to be black and white. In reality, I'm sure Accenture has tens if not hundreds of projects at FB and if they were to pull out of this one, they could still prosper and be a partner for FB.

Great point of view from someone that has the bona fides to speak intelligently and eloquently on the failures in Afghanistan and the Taliban's rapid rise to power. Had no clue of Karzai's role in the initial Taliban rise to power in the 90s.

Interesting perspective from someone that truly minimized how difficult his job must have been. It is interesting to hear how determined the Taliban were/are.

Having been through a few courses where Lean Startup was the primary approach to new business/venture creation, this is super interesting. I think there is a time and place for Lean Startup - say you are entreprenuerial, but you don't have a real idea yet. Or your goal is to marginally improve an existing product or service. There is still plenty of appeal in creating a business in this way, but perhaps bigger, paradigm shifting ideas require less input from customers and experimentation.

Would love to get input from actual founders @Bill (not sure you can @ someone on Readup) on their take of Lean Startup.

What a prickly topic and obviously an incredible tangle of failed policies, corporate malfeasance and lack of personal responsibility. It's great to hear grassroots efforts to fill gaps left by public health failures exist. However, I wonder the efficacy of such programs. The author discussed many of the critiques of other programs (judge reviewed drug therapy), but I personally would like to see more stats from SSPs, overdose drugs, etc. From reading this it is hard to know if these programs are actually better at statistically pulling people, families, regions out of addiction issues or if this is a more humane and just way to approach the problem.

The student loan crisis is something that we need to address and wake up to. I've read a few additional articles about dentists that have six figures of debt and make a decent living. While I do think there needs to be a hard look at cost / benefit of certain degree programs either at the undergrad or graduate level, there is something beautiful about being able to pursue an actual passion. It's hard to fathom solutions, but the price of programs will continue to rise to cover operational costs...how will we as a nation respond? Who will be able to afford college, even a decent public school, in 10 years? Certainly not middle class families.

I'm always fascinated by large scale logistics and operations - ports, trains, airports, canals, etc. I could sit and watch ships go by for days. Great and interesting summary of the full story. I hope the captain and the remaining crew can head home soon. Surely they are used to being away from home for some time, but this is probably much longer than normal.

Appreciate the level of detail provided in this article, and while it is likely we will never know the true origin of Covid with 100% accuracy, I do appreciate that at least journalists are trying to keep the public informed on the research into the origination. Whether Covid was lab created or not, it's been devastating and also a miracle for science to show how we can quickly fight large scale pandemics through vaccinations and whatnot.

I try to time block but generally have to give up some time in those blocks to meet new demands or unforeseen priorities that could not be planned for. I see lots of companies trying this in different ways.

Crazy...but really interesting and sad

Have been having this inner turmoil myself, which as I watch some of my friends claim 'essential worker status' or just sign-up ahead of laws allowing them to do so is causing me a lot more anxiety than I thought it would. I'm happy every time another person gets a shot, but definitely feel like there is some moral imperative to wait your turn. As someone with a young kid and formerly a pregnant wife - I want to jump the line too. I'm impatient. But at the same time we have made it 12 months, what's 1 or 2 more.

Interesting history of boycotts and the implications of what a boycott could mean of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

I’ve been saying this since I learned about NFTs last week...if only I was this wise before with my beanie babies

Loved this. As the father of a 7 month old, I find myself cheering him on anytime he eats a new food or attempts to crawl. I think there is a lot I will take away from this, and I have already shared with my wife. I'm tempted to buy the book and read it - as a student of an anthropologists I feel like I'd really enjoy the full book.

Really great narrative about BitMex and sort of a history on how crypto currencies have been developed and evolved over time. It seems that the coins are becoming more and more like traditional financial instruments conforming to regulation - perhaps not by choice but rather through coercion like the DOJ and SDNY lawsuit against BitMex. I found this article informative, well written and intriguing.

Also, more Readers on Readup means better comments and conversations, higher quality articles in the AOTD game, better Discovery, and more opportunity for competition on the Leaderboards. In countless ways, growth leads to more growth.

"The Readup Flywheel"

It is compelling - I see a few things that are needed to make this possible. A really seamless customer onboarding experience. Easy to discover, try, and buy with limited kinks and plenty of helpful tips along the way. Secondly, a robust writer outreach (biz dev) team / effort. While it is compelling to say come get your free money, and it'll be awesome when you can say to writers "you have $47 unclaimed earnings", you will need to make sure there is some sort of recruitment initially to get the writers bought in. Then a seamless onboarding experience for them as well.

Excited for the future!

Holy shit - if you want to be rocked into not leaving your house till the pandemic is over read this. If you want a good reason to cry and feel sad read this. If you are tired of staying home and want to fly to Cancun or Miami or Aspen this weekend with your friends read this.

I think the media generally stopped covering Covid deaths over the summer. People couldn't handle it anymore. This is the first piece I've read about children and their battles with the virus. It's so scary how rapidly the youth they highlight here seem to die.

Interesting to say the least! It's very interesting to see how the pandemic has accelerated the need for innovation and shifting business models to be viable in the 'new normal'. The writing here was excellent with good data points to support the narrative. However, I found the article to be a bit lengthy and could have been shorter.

I find that with older generations this question of dying alone through potential years of suffering from loneliness versus catching Covid and dying after 2 weeks of hell is a rather easy decision for them to make. Obviously I cannot put everyone into this category, but my grandmother is taking the former approach. I guess the nice thing is the autonomy that older generations have to make that choice for themselves. I wonder how it will impact children and younger generations that do not have the autonomy and clearly need social engagement for learning and development.

I’m not sure there has ever been a moment in our lifetimes with such perplexing ethical and moral and even legal dilemmas that the entire world has has to confront.

Overall, a pretty uncomprehensive article in my view.

However, it does it on the point that rankings are seemingly arbitrary year over year. It's sad that prospective students do not prioritize individual fit, course offerings, location, cost, etc. more and focus primarily on these rankings to guide applications.

The whole rankings ecosystem seems like a burden from the large alumni surveys to the data provided by schools and then the mysterious algorithm that consumes it all then spits out a score. It feels shallow and easy to manipulate.

Growth will be a result of our success, but growth itself is not the goal.

I love this. I’ve been thinking about capitalism recently. Why are we forced to grow? Why do companies have to grow to be successful? Why can we not create sustainable businesses that cover their costs, meet and exceed customer needs and be done?

I think that growth will come, and perhaps it will be a hockey stick but even if it is more of a low angle ramp I think it’ll come. It doesn’t need to be a fancy marketplace, but it can’t be. And Readup can grow with the community to meet their needs without becoming a behemoth that spins of more and more revenue year after year.

The bit in work is quite smart - #4. Work hard and even if you miss you’ll likely land somewhere pretty good.

I was definitely under the impression that the entire WH staff was on the conspiracy bandwagon. It’s good to read that some staff and RNC officials weren’t, and instead were trying to mount bonafide (although unsuccessful) legal challenges.

Really enjoying this Axios series.