WINK WINK AND STIR THE POT

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1. WINK WINK AND STIR THE POT

Wow! Pretty sobering read from Tom Friedman. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin got assassinated." From NYT - Trump's Wink Wink to 'Second Amendment People'

+ "Cohen says that this phenomenon is called 'stochastic terrorism': using language and other forms of communication to incite random acts of violence that are 'statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.' It can help us understand just how dangerous Trump’s statements are: Trump puts out the dog whistle knowing that some dog will hear it, even though he doesn't know which dog." From Vox - Trump’s 2nd Amendment comment wasn’t a joke. It was "stochastic terrorism."

2. SWELTERING

"Parts of the United Arab Emirates and Iran experienced a heat index that soared to 140 degrees in July, and Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, recorded an all-time high temperature of nearly 126 degrees." Why is this a problem? "In coming decades, U.N. officials and climate scientists predict that the region’s mushrooming populations will face extreme water scarcity, temperatures almost too hot for human survival and other consequences of global warming." From WaPo - An epic Middle East heat wave could be global warming’s hellish curtain-raiser

+ “Accelerated sea level rise is real, and it’s ongoing, and it’s not something we should doubt based on the altimeter record,” said Fasullo. From WaPo - Seas aren’t just rising, scientists say — it’s worse than that. They’re speeding up.

3. MOBILE ADDICTION

"A recent study of 1,200 students in South Korea found that women are significantly more dependent on their devices." Why? One theory. "Baylor University’s James Roberts, who helped conduct the 2014 study, says the phenomenon has to do with how women use their phones to form social bonds, while men want to be entertained or seek information." From Wired - Why This Population Is Addicted to Smartphones

4. PLEASE PLACE THE ITEM IN THE BAG

"One million shopping trips were audited in detail, amounting to six million items checked. Nearly 850,000 were found not to have been scanned, the report said, making up 4 percent of the total value of the purchases." From NYT - Self-Service Checkouts Can Turn Customers Into Shoplifters, Study Says

5. DRUGS AND MARKET ECONOMICS

"Okay, I'm going to say it: The heroin epidemic was caused by the legalization of marijuana. We wanted legal weed, and we got it. Looking at the American drug market as it existed, Guzmán and his partners saw an opportunity. An increasing number of Americans were addicted to prescription opioids such as Oxycontin. The Sinaloa Cartel decided to undercut the pharmaceutical companies. They increased the production of Mexican heroin by almost 70 percent." From Esquire - El Chapo and the Secret History of the Heroin Crisis

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