Water Rationing’s Un-Moos-ual Suspects. Why Journalists are Quitting. And GamerGate for Game Theorists. Plus more! #178
Grüezi! I’m Adrian Monck – welcome!
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1️⃣ When Water Rationing Comes, Who’s to Blame?
In America’s West, the answer comes on four legs.
America’s West faces a water crisis. Golf course sprinklers? Casino water features? Guitar-shaped pools? Nope.
Cows.
Wade Davis has a book out describing how the romantic pursuit of steak is sucking the Colorado river dry:
“The entire water crisis in the American West comes down to cows eating alfalfa in a landscape where neither belongs.
“The delta of the Colorado could be reborn with the water that today goes to produce a third of 1 percent of the nation’s cattle production.
“The federal government sets aside 250 million acres of open land for ranchers who produce less than 10 percent of America’s beef.
“No amount of water conservation in the home, on the golf course, or in the swimming pools and fountains of Los Angeles and Las Vegas will make a difference as long as half of the country’s water supply is used to fatten cattle.”
When your water gets rationed, you know who to blame.
⏭ Elsewhere in America it’s not the steak but the fries de-soaking the soil.
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2️⃣ Why Journalists Are Giving Up
Call it a profession, a trade or a vocation. Or call it quits.
What’s making journalists turn their backs on journalism?
Oxford‘s Reuters Institute has the answers: money and morals.
“When you’re 20, earning little money doesn’t matter so much. When you’re 30, with no weekends and still earning little money, the equation is much more complex.”
“Changing careers has allowed me to move into a new house, buy a better car and provide more for my son...”
“You come across things like corporate censorship ... Advertisers have a disproportionate weight in the news. Some business models are just not sustainable and this ... creates self-censorship.”
There’s much important work to be done in journalism, but it‘s not the answer to the question – who am I?
You’ll definitely meet some incredible people. You’ll most likely not get rich.
⏭ Is it time to quit your passion job?
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3️⃣ ‘Gamergate’ for Game Theorists
How a jobs board for economists became a toxic swamp.
Economic Job Market Rumors (EJMR) is a careers discussion board for people with PhDs and Nobel aspirations. You might expect it to be a place for Socratic dialogue. ‘Wokeness’ even.
Turns out it’s hate speech heaven. One in ten posts are ‘toxic’ and EJMR is populated by elite institution alums who keep spreadsheets of their enemies.
How do we know? Economist Florian Ederer and colleagues studied it and managed to track down the places EJMR’s anonymous trolls were hating from.
The result? Some drole media stories.
But online discussion board disputes seem to spiral downwards to Gamergate levels of toxicity.
Subsequently? Death threats for Ederer.
As one economist wrote:
Status envy and anger turn everyone into the same monsters, looking to attack and blame the same people, whether you’re an unemployed trucker in Arkansas worried about making rent or a 5th year PhD student at Harvard nervously managing the shame of having to settle for an industry job that starts at $190k a year.
Anonymity seems to endow immunity.
⏭ Ederer and colleagues’ full study is here.
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4️⃣ See the World’s Biggest CO2 Sucker
We only need about 7,500 of them...
More bad news? It runs on gas to start with. But every journey starts with a single step.
⏭ You can read more about ‘Project Bison’ here.
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5️⃣ What Can Replace Sand in Cement?
Coffee grounds. You just need to brew them at 350°C.
⏭ Here’s the science behind how it makes cement almost a third stronger.
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6️⃣ What Happens When The Ice Melts Under You?
If you’re a baby penguin, it’s sink or swim. Mostly it’s sink.
⏭ The study that recorded the catastrophic loss of tiny emperor penguins.
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7️⃣ The Secret of Good Neighbours?
It’s stinky, oozy, and fatty. It’s cheese.
The NYT reports on a French initiative to make people talk to each other. The secret? Just bring cheese...
The meet-up, known as the Talking Cheese — which combines a smorgasbord of dairy goods with talks by local residents on their subjects of expertise — is one of a dizzying galaxy of activities run by the Republic of Super Neighbors, a grass-roots initiative whose territory spans about 50 streets...
⏭ Non-cheesy reading on Bea’s book club podcast.
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If you enjoy this newsletter – please recommend it!
Best,
Adrian
