Week of October 8, 2018
A few things from around the Internet this week:
Beginning
Max Roser on the global expansion of the internet.
And while many of us cannot imagine their lives without the services that the internet provides, the key message for me from this overview of the global history of the internet is that we are still in the very early stages of the internet. It was only in 2017 that half of the world population was online; and in 2018 it is therefore still the case that close to half of the world population is not using the internet. The internet has already changed the world, but the big changes that the Internet will bring still lie ahead and its history has just begun.
Hiding
A story of mystery and intrigue in the wealthy Dallas suburbs.
More than two years have passed since the trial, but Burgess is still asked to speak about the Southlake case. He was recently invited by members of the town’s business community to give a presentation in a building a few hundred feet from where Guerrero was shot—not far from Trader Joe’s and a vegan cinnamon bun shop.
The audience was transfixed as Burgess presented what was essentially an adapted version of his opening statement at the trial. The crowd, roughly forty of the most influential people in town, gasped and laughed and shook their heads as Burgess described the cartel attorney who had been living among them, along with the various nicknamed characters who’d tracked him down and murdered him on a warm Wednesday evening in Town Square.
Luck
Robert Seawright on helping those around us.
If you’re like I am, it’s far easier to lose empathy for those who are less fortunate than we’d like to think. We all like to believe that our achievements are our own and that our failures are someone else’s fault.
But we are almost surely far less skilled than we assume and, even if not, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle can get the better of us when we least expect it. Rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. Everything can change in a New York minute.
So please, let’s all resolve to pay a bit more attention to those who could use a little or maybe a lot of help. Do it in a manner that is consistent with your conscience and your convictions. But please don’t delay. A better life hangs in the balance.
Change
Please vote 🙏🏼 All of the information you could ever need: here.
At times, however, their support feels hush-hush. A few of their other friends who support Mr. O’Rourke are married to men who support Mr. Cruz and have refused to let them speak about it publicly. One friend said she wanted to protect her marriage, and worried she’d be “crucified, burned at the stake” if people found out, Ms. Clarke said.
“My hope would be that women in similar places as us would feel liberated from the expectation that you’re just doing the same thing you’ve always done, because it’s safe, because it’s what your pastor is telling you to do, or your husband,” Ms. Clarke said. “We have to own it.”