Heroes don't get paid
I am currently on the job hunt and I still see a lot of pseudo-fancy job ads like UX Hero, or Analytics Ninja. While those might be intended to stand out among all those boring ones, it also leaves me with the impression that they are high-stress/low-paid jobs that got some fake glitter. For a great workplace simply add a foosball table. 10/10 would recommend.
Though, more importantly, this again made me think about all the politicians calling frontline workers heroes during the current pandemic. Which is worse.
The fact of the matter is: heroes don’t get paid.
Pay me in applause
Apparently, there are also now essential worker action figures available. While Trevor Noah calls this good news, I am a bit more skeptical. It’s undeniably a good thing that essential workers - from nurses to garbage collectors - get more appreciation and applause. Though action figures won’t get them paid. You can’t live on that - afaik.
Superhero toys might help in reducing some bias and aid in understanding why those jobs are indeed essential in our society, it might also lead to more inequality. There have been plenty of voices over the last years and centuries, that called for better infrastructure and more money for - let’s say - social professions. Though, all we get is tax exemptions and bailouts for billionaires and large corporations.
Margaret Thatcher said that “there is no such thing as society,” and Ronald Reagan said that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” These stupid slogans marked the turn away from the postwar period of reconstruction and underpin much of the bullshit of the past forty years.
We are individuals first, yes, just as bees are, but we exist in a larger social body. Society is not only real; it’s fundamental. We can’t live without it. And now we’re beginning to understand that this “we” includes many other creatures and societies in our biosphere and even in ourselves.
- Kim Stanley Robinson
This idolizing of essential workers now might just leave people with the impression that vital professions are just more altruistic. Hence, they don’t need money. They found their true calling. Let’s give more money to bankers.
Imho we should change #ThankYouHeroes to #PayYourHeroes. Or something like that.
Source: Mattel / Instagram
Source: War and Peas
Segments
📈 Fantastic data and where to find them
[data, data visualization, data journalism]
Visualization of donor blood types matches recipients. The red cross has something similar.
Inequality is drastically on the rise. Boomers got the big bucks.
Cool population density maps for Europe.
Not all coronavirus victims would’ve died soon anyway. 50-59-year-olds lose on average 30 years.
Beautiful data art by Danielle Navarro.
🔥 It’s getting hot out there
[climate change]
“We are operating a multigenerational Ponzi scheme.” Meaning, let some people in the future figure out the things we are wrecking. A must-read from the New Yorker.
Personal footprints are not gonna solve everything. Industry and society needs to change.
We might get the rainforest in Antarctica sooner than we expect.
And Germany is experimenting with sauna for everybody. (NASA)
🙅♀️ You did Nazi me coming
[against right-wing politics]
The Intercept on Trump’s nationalism in response to white American militias/terrorists storming government buildings to “protest” the lockdown.
Dismantling the rule of law: Flynn prosecution stopped.
A case study of Mr. Trump’s style of governing, in which personal relationships and loyalty are often prized over governmental expertise, and private interests are granted extraordinary access and deference. - NYT
🕵️ I have nothing to hide
[privacy]
Facial recognition and AI is biased. Can’t be stressed enough.
Request your pictures from Homeland Security. It might be neat for the next photo album.
Tesla does not wipe customer accounts.
Install this app, for your personal freedom.
Smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi was listening. Big brother style. And Samsung has big security issues with its Galaxy S8. [German Sources]
Zoom out, most videoconferencing tools are not good with privacy.
This and that
Was - as the popular story goes - isolation during the plague the reason Isaac Newton discovered gravity? Spoiler alert: probably, maybe, not.
Elon Musk went full-on crazy and called - in his hubris - lockdowns ‘fascist’. Just billionaires worrying about their employees. Sorry, I meant money.
Tech giants are profiting from the pandemic.
Anti-vaxxers join right-wing activists and armed militia groups to oppose the restrictions.
OK, Boomer.email.
Always fun, Google’s graveyard.
I knew it, those damn liberals created the Coronavirus with 5G chemtrails on UFOs. You can target pseudoscience on Facebook. Though Facebook plans to prohibit it. 😉
Quelle surprise. Amazon uses data from sellers to launch competing products. Dollar dollar bills y’all.
High-tax US states usually fund low-tax states.
In a crisis - more than ever - strong institutions matter. As well as clear communication, empathy, and science over politics. (Not something strongMEN like.) 👩🏽🔬
Streaming influences how TV series are produced (fewer seasons and episodes).
Something fun at the end - accents of the UK and Ireland.