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CEO Picks - The best that international journalism has to offer!  S9'True Detective' Season 4's Shocking Finale is Already Here -- Can It Stick the Landing?   True Detective: Night Country has been a season unlike any other. Aside from the usual shift in location, tone, and detectives, it’s also been the series’ most puzzling run, posing countless questions despite the limited amount of time it has to address everything. Now, with only one episode left, will True Detective wrap up all its baffling storylines, or will it leave its supernatural elements open to interpretation?
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S1First electric cars. Next, electric factories? - The Economist (No paywall)  BASF is in the business of molecules. As the world’s biggest chemicals firm, with operations in more than 90 countries, it makes a lot of them. When those molecules contain carbon atoms (and a great many do—they are a wonderfully versatile resource) those carbon atoms tend to come from fossil fuels. When their manufacture requires high temperatures, which is also often the case, that heat comes from burning fossil fuels. Until recently BASF’s massive plant in Ludwigshafen in Germany accounted for 4% of the country’s entire consumption of natural gas.
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S2How worried should Amazon be about Shein and Temu? - The Economist (No paywall)  “Shop like a billionaire.” With that enticing slogan Temu touted itself to Americans watching the Super Bowl on February 11th. Football fans had been treated to a similar advert from the e-commerce company at last year’s event. But this time the message was hammered home. In all, Temu’s ad played five times. That won’t have been cheap. A 30-second slot during this year’s Super Bowl cost around $7m. JPMorgan Chase, a bank, reckons the company will spend $3bn on marketing this year, up from $1.7bn in 2023.
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S3On "A Wonderful Country", Israelis joke their way through trauma - The Economist (No paywall)  The comedy sketch opens at “Columbia Untisemity News, where everyone is welcome—LGBTQH,” says a university student with pink hair and face piercings. She explains that the “H” stands for “Hamas”. Another student, who wears a chequered keffiyeh scarf and studies “queer post-colonial astrology”, chimes in enthusiastically. “Yeah, I totally simp Hamas, it’s so trending right now.” They decide to video chat with a Hamas militant, expressing concern for his well-being while he berates them: “We will throw you from the roof, you homosexual dirt.” The students are delighted. “Did you hear? They want to throw me a rooftop party!”
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S4Why Costco is so loved - The Economist (No paywall)  In the nearly 40 years that The Economist has served up its Big Mac index, the price of the McDonald’s burger in America has more than tripled. In that same period the cost of another meaty treat—a hot-dog-and-drink combo at Costco—has remained steady at $1.50. Last year customers of the American big-box retailer devoured 200m of them. Richard Galanti, Costco’s longtime finance boss, once promised to keep the price frozen “for ever”.
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S5The US pepper that was nearly lost  The fish pepper has a striking appearance. Growing to a height of about 61cm (2ft), its leaves are a variegated silver and green. The spicy peppers start out as creamy white with striations before turning green and then red, though they never completely lose their stripes. They're a mutation of serrano or cayenne peppers, carrying a recessive gene for albinism, and until very recently, they were grown almost exclusively in the Chesapeake Bay area of the US' Mid-Atlantic coast.The fish pepper (named for its common use in seafood dishes) is popular today, but it nearly disappeared altogether: that it still exists is thanks to William Woys Weaver, a Maryland author and ethnographer. In 1995, Weaver discovered a jar of seeds in the bottom of a freezer that belonged to his grandfather, H Ralph Weaver. Back in the 1940s, African American folk artist Horace Pippin gifted the fish pepper seeds to H Ralph Weaver after getting treated by him for arthritis using honeybee stings from a hive belonging to the family.
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S6Marvel's Most Progressive Show Has One Surprising Shortfall  Modern media is attempting to be more inclusive by showing different perspectives and asking their audiences to be more open-minded. A point of contention in this ongoing discussion is the “subs vs. dubs” argument for international films and TV, and what, exactly, it means to localize media in the first place. But localization, which is the act of adapting a work to fit the cultural aspects and tastes of a new audience, has received some recent pushback. Subtitles are seen as better suited to convey a sense of cultural authenticity — resulting in full English dubs becoming less popular.But is wanting an English dub really a sign of cultural laziness? For someone like myself, a person who is legally blind due to albinism, the argument is moot.
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S7Should I Give My Cat A Bath? Here's the Easiest Way to Find Out  Cats are apex predators, optimized for sprinting and stalking. But perhaps the most ingenious aspect of their design is that they come with a built-in shower. Cat tongues are amazing little instruments that wick dust and dirt from furry pelts with every lick. This cleaning method may seem unhygienic to us, but it’s quite effective.In spite of this evolutionary miracle, some cat owners still feel the need to bathe their pets with soap and water (and broadcast it.) But if you were hoping to become Internet-famous for treating your kitty to luxurious bubble baths, you may want to find another avenue for cat clout, for both your sake and your pet’s. Cat science tells us this isn’t necessary — but of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.
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S840 Clever Things That'll Make Any Room in Your Home Look Better for Under $35  Home is where you kick back to relax, eat a good meal, and snuggle with your pets — which is why it’s a good idea to make sure it looks as nice as can be. But if interior decorating isn’t your forte it’s not a problem, as there are tons of clever things on Amazon that’ll make any room in your home look better. Also, they’ll do it for under $35. Since everything you’ll find below is ultra-affordable, feel free to add more than a few to your cart. Your home will thank you later.If you’ve got a blank space above your couch you don’t know how to dress up, consider adding these floating shelves. Their metal wire hexagon shape gives them an incredibly modern appearance, and the bases are made from real paulownia wood that can support up to 13 pounds.
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S10Without a Doubt, the 55 Weirdest & Most Genius Things Under $30 on Amazon  Ready for a journey into the quirky and genius side of Amazon? This retail giant has just about everything available to purchase, and some of that stuff is pretty weird. But weird stuff can be pretty awesome too — like all the items on this list, for example. From multipurpose gadgets to pet care hacks, read on for a wild ride through affordable finds that'll have you saying, "Wait, that exists?" Prevent the inconvenience of tangled dryer sheets with these bedsheet detanglers, clever laundry accessories designed to prevent bedsheets from bunching and twisting during washing and drying. Not only do these stop your sheets from turning into a laundry nightmare, but they can also speed up drying time by stopping other items from getting caught in your sheets.
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S1125 Years Ago, Stephen King Made His Best TV Thriller of the 20th Century  The Stephen King miniseries has never been a benchmark for consistency, particularly back when the horror maestro’s work became an annual staple of ABC’s ’90s schedules. For every It, there was a Langoliers. For every The Stand, there was a Tommyknockers. And who can forget how the man himself butchered his greatest cinematic adaptation, The Shining, in the name of prime-time entertainment? But the aptly named Storm of the Century proved to be his finest miniseries of the century.Premiering 25 years ago, the three-parter occasionally resembles a King Greatest Hits. A malevolent outsider causes havoc in a small Maine community, a la Needful Things. The initial sense of chaos is centered in the local supermarket, as in The Mist. There are nods to Dolores Claiborne, in the shared hometown of Little Tall Island, and the isolating weather conditions are similar to those that exacerbated Jack Torrance’s slow descent into madness.
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S12Nintendo Switch Just Quietly Released the Most Iconic Video Game Trilogy Of All Time  Since 1996, Tomb Raider and its nimble protagonist Lara Croft have been through a lot: 20 games, three reboots, three blockbuster films, and one million hours of back-and-forth over whether curvy colonizer Lara is any good for womankind. But it all started with the original Tomb Raider and its two rapid-fire sequels (released in quick succession in ‘97 and ‘98). Now, the original trilogy is back with a fresh coat of paint (along with some frustrating issues that probably shouldn’t be a thing in 2024) and available to play on the Nintendo Switch.Each game in the trilogy spans across the globe — the Peruvian mountains, the Great Wall of China, some muddy rivers in India — and relishes in presenting Lara exactly how she is, wherever she is. They all feature short levels in which you have to conquer dastardly booby traps, roaring animals, and some easy platformer puzzles to open doors that push you to new levels and closer to stolen treasure.
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S13S14S15Alexei Navalny had a vision of a democratic Russia. That terrified Vladimir Putin to the core  Alexei Navalny was a giant figure in Russian politics. No other individual rivalled the threat he posed to the Putin regime. His death in an Arctic labour camp is a blow to all those who dreamed he might emerge as the leader of a future democratic Russia.What made Navalny so important was his decision to become an anti-corruption crusader in 2008. Using shareholder activism and his popular blog, he shone a spotlight on the corruption schemes that enabled officials to steal billions from state-run corporations.
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S16S17S18Corruption and clean energy in South Africa: economic model shows trust in government is linked to takeup of renewables  South Africa relies heavily on energy from coal-fired power stations, which emit large quantities of carbon. But making the transition to greater use of renewable energies, such as solar, is being hampered by a number of factors. Chief among them is corruption, which is affecting the quality of institutions.In a recent paper I set out how perceptions of corruption in the country’s institutions have had a huge impact on the country’s transition to clean energy. This is particularly true of institutions involved in energy, such as the state power utility Eskom.
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S19Slums and guns in Bamako: what's driving the illegal weapon trade in Mali's capital city  As west Africa urbanises, many cities have become interconnected through trade, travel and technology, and crime has increased in complexity and scope. The proliferation of arms in west African cities, especially in the aftermath of conflicts in Libya (2011) and Mali (2012), has added to these challenges in Bamako, Mali’s capital.In 2018, the Small Arms Survey estimated that roughly 40% of violent deaths in Mali were committed with firearms. The figure may be even higher for injuries. A 2022 United Nations report showed that 300 assault rifles, 49 artisanal arms and 22 machine guns were seized in Mali between 2014 and 2020 by security agents.
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S20S21S22Stop Basing Your Self-Worth on Other People's Opinions - Harvard Business Review (No paywall)  Self-worth is our set of core beliefs about our value as a human being. It’s how we see ourselves and who we perceive ourselves to be. People differ in what they believe they must be or do to have worth or value. When we externalize our self-worth, we get emotionally and chemically rewarded when we succeed. This inevitably turns into a never-ending loop in pursuit of instant gratification. To undo this, we need to develop an awareness of where our self-worth is internally anchored. Author of the popular HBR article How to Stop Worrying About What Other People Think Of You, high-performance psychologist Michael Gervais argues that our fear of other people’s opinions — what he calls FOPO — may be the single greatest restrictor of human potential. In his new book, The First Rule of Mastery (Harvard Business Review Press), Gervais, who works with world-renowned athletes, artists, and musicians, as well as Fortune 100 leaders and teams, shares the mental skills and practices we need to overcome FOPO. This excerpt, which is lightly edited, explores our tendency to outsource our self worth — or look to others for external validation.
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