The King is Dead – long live the King

This week completes over 300 days cut off from the outside world here and ten years of me working from my home office; 

No lockdown required. Since 2010 I have saved thousands in rent, dry cleaning, shoe leather, unhealthy lunches, forced socialising with people that are not your friends (e.g. ‘team building’ offsites) and hours of commuting. This is the future for many jobs well beyond COVID, but it’s not for everyone, but maybe half of office jobs can use technology that is available right now and never to go into the CBD again. What do you think?

^{Lan Kwai Fong’s legendary Elvis sadly passes away}

The King is dead; long live the King, he will be missed. I chatted to him many years ago, probably no one around to replace him now.

I have mentioned EV’s before. Here is a company you have probably never heard of NIO (that has a market cap more than GM) that has a new car that they claim does 1000 km on a single charge. They also have the EP9, one of the sexiest and fastest supercars (four motors, one at each wheel; 1360 bhp on tap!) I have ever seen. Check out the vid of it setting the absolute record for any car petrol or electric at the Nurburgring; 6.45.90 mins in 2017, it’s like being on the Shanghai Maglev! (photo attached).

At last the US trustbuster has woken up to – gasp – that Facebook is a monopoly! Shock, Horror! “For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users,” said Attorney General Letitia James of New York. At least they have cut off the online megaphone of the WH looney at last, but it took 5 dead people to do that. 

How did the Russians keep the lights on at Lighthouses in the arctic for the past 90 years? The power source may surprise you.

Word of the week; ‘Quereinsteiger’ – a German word that loosely meaning ‘lateral entrant’ – someone who changes career after their initial qualifications. It used to be viewed negatively, but is now being reevaluated due to COVID. David Bowie went through three distinct phases of music and I have had at least three distinct career changes at appx 15 years’ intervals and I feel the better for it.

Technology tip of the week: if you use Google Chrome you can check if your email and passwords have been compromised by opening Chrome and going to settings>Safety check>Check now. I found 7 of my 300+ passwords that I have ever used were compromised. I had already changed them a while back.

Tip of the week: The NLR – Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio – predicts critical illness. The NLR was identified as an independent risk factor for critical illness in patients with COVID-19 infection. You can calculate yours here it also tells you if you are ok or at risk.

Traveller’s tales: The A – 320 took off and reached its cruising altitude, the captain made an announcement; “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard Cebu Pacific flight 293, non-stop from Cebu to Manila. The weather ahead is good and, therefore, we should have a smooth and uneventful flight. Now sit back and relax… OH, MY GOODNESS!” Silence followed, and the plane gave a huge jerk upwards. After a few minutes, the captain came back on the intercom and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, sorry about that, while I was talking to you, the flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap. You should see the front of my pants!”

A passenger then yelled, “That’s nothing. You should see the back of mine!”