Micropayments are a system where you pay a penny or a nickel or a dollar for a piece of content.
It introduces two kinds of friction, though:
There needs to be a tech system that can effectively move tiny amounts of money around.
As a reader/consumer of content, you need to constantly make decisions about what’s “worth it.”
— Read on seths.blog/2022/11/micropayments-for-content/
Interesting Bits
It’s Costing Peanuts for the US to Defeat Russia – CEPA
Russia’s total GDP is only $1.8 trillion. Vladimir Putin will have to divert spending from consumption to defense, risking social and political unrest over the medium term, and a real and soon-to-be present danger to his regime.
— Read on cepa.org/article/its-costing-peanuts-for-the-us-to-defeat-russia/
Here’s What Taking a Cold Shower Does to Your Body, According to Experts
Here’s What Taking a Cold Shower Does to Your Body, According to Experts:
Any time you can force yourself to withstand a physically uncomfortable situation (one that doesn’t threaten your safety, obviously), it forces you to toughen up. “If you can suck it up and stand in a cold shower, it makes you think, what other uncomfortable situations can you push through?” says Drogoszewski. “Those last reps in your strength workout? The final kick of a marathon?” Developing your mental strength is just as important as building physical strength, and this could be one of the easiest ways to do it.
380 million tons of plastic are made every year. None of it is truly recyclable. | Grist
380 million tons of plastic are made every year. None of it is truly recyclable. | Grist:
The U.S. plastic recycling rate has never topped 10 percent, and a report from earlier this year revealed that it has now fallen to just 5 percent.
Stocks suffered their worst September since 2002. What that means for October. – MarketWatch
Stocks suffered their worst September since 2002. What that means for October. – MarketWatch:
Since 1950, September has been the worst performing month of the year for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Russell 1000 and the worst for the Nasdaq Composite since 1971 and the small-cap Russell 2000 since 1979, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.
Byron Auguste On Rewiring the U.S. Labor Market (Ep. 160) | Conversations with Tyler
Byron Auguste On Rewiring the U.S. Labor Market (Ep. 160) | Conversations with Tyler:
in 1983, with the nation at risk, we suddenly decided, “Oh, point of high school is for everyone to go to college.” No one had told high schools up until that point. Now that that’s the case, the basic problem is, if you keep the number of college seats constant, and you demand that everybody try to go to college — and in fact, if businesses, to some extent, weaponize college degrees by saying, “Oh, if you don’t have a college degree, you can’t get into a decent job” — well then, suddenly you’ve got a huge demand for college degrees, and you’ve got basically mostly fixed supply.
*This was a wonderful podcast episode. Worth a listen. Link nearby should be to the transcript page. Should be able to find link or player to listen there too.
Woman’s medical odyssey shows how the system fails long-haul patients – The Washington Post
Woman’s medical odyssey shows how the system fails long-haul patients – The Washington Post:
A Government Accountability Office report, published in March, estimates that up to 23 million Americans are affected by long covid, with 1 million out of work.
Opinion | Robert M. Gates: Ukraine is a wakeup call to Americans’ complacency about their security – The Washington Post
Putin’s war reminds us that the world is a dangerous, deadly place. And that we are in a global contest with two ruthless, authoritarian powers that are determined to achieve their aspirations through any means. Our executive and legislative branches must understand the new world we live in, set aside business as usual and embrace dramatic change to ensure that we and our democratic allies prevail in that contest.
Finally, the president — and members of both parties in Congress — need to work together to explain to the American people why the fate of other countries, including Ukraine, matters to the United States. Of course, deterring aggression and supporting freedom and democracy matter. But Americans need also to understand in practical terms how events abroad affect security here at home and their own pocketbooks.
Ukraine’s military adapts tactics after enduring Russia’s initial invasion – The Washington Post
Ukraine’s military adapts tactics after enduring Russia’s initial invasion – The Washington Post:
The Ukrainian military has advised civilian defense volunteers to ignore armored vehicles and instead attack fuel trucks, which are unarmored and often driven by poorly trained Russian soldiers. Cutting off the fuel supply turns tanks and rocket artillery vehicles into road obstacles, and makes them susceptible to easy destruction or capture, said Zagorodnyuk, now chairman of the Center for Defense Strategies, a Ukrainian think tank.
China’s Births Hit Historic Low, a Political Problem for Beijing – The New York Times
China’s Births Hit Historic Low, a Political Problem for Beijing – The New York Times:
China’s ruling Communist Party has taken steps to address the birthrate decline, by relaxing its notorious “one child” policy, first allowing two children in 2016 and as many as three since last year. It is also offering incentives to young families and promising improvement in workplace rules and early education.
None have been able to reverse a stark fact: An increasing number of Chinese women don’t want children.
D.L. Damore 