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454 lines
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<title>13 July, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Is It Hot Enough Yet for Politicians to Take Real Action?</strong> - The latest record temperatures are driving, again precisely as scientists have predicted, a cascading series of disasters around the world. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/is-it-hot-enough-yet-for-politicians-to-take-real-action">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sotol and the Making of the Next Big Drink</strong> - The Mexican spirit has been called the next mezcal. But its newfound popularity has brought problems, too. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/sotol-and-the-making-of-the-next-big-drink">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What to Do with Climate Emotions</strong> - If the goal is to insure that the planet remains habitable, what is the right degree of panic, and how do you bear it? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/what-to-do-with-climate-emotions">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Instant Pot and the Miracle Kitchen Devices of Yesteryear</strong> - Preparing meals is a Sisyphean task, and anything that promises to make it faster, or easier, or better, or healthier, or more fun, is irresistible. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/afterword/the-instant-pot-and-the-miracle-kitchen-devices-of-yesteryear">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vermont’s Catastrophic Floods and the Spread of Unnatural Disasters</strong> - In parts of the Northeast, two months of rain fell in two days. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-a-warming-planet/vermonts-catastrophic-floods-and-the-spread-of-unnatural-disasters">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Why brands are blowing up your phone</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="A figure is annoyed while looking at their phone and a graphic of dollar signs and coins is overlayed." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nakaoHpX7yH2N9jVR0EHx3F5Jls=/86x0:1835x1312/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72448599/TextMarketing_TheBigSqueeze.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Marketers would like a word with you (via text). | Paige Vickers/Vox/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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What you give and what you get when a company has your phone number.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OTRI57">
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I have a new text bestie, and it’s the brands.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xp2Xja">
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Scrolling through my phone recently, I was surprised to see just how many of my incoming messages were not from friends or family but instead from companies. The package update from UPS made sense, as did the alert on the restaurant reservation I’d made over the weekend. But why did I have an offer from a swimming-pool-sharing service I’ve never used and an alert about a sale on items from Tory Burch, a brand I’ve never purchased? And what about the Pride party invite from a beauty loyalty program named Allē?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZPHLaa">
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The situation made me feel a little sad and uncool — I’d rather a friend ask me to a party than an <a href="https://alle.com/about">app made by the pharma giant that makes Botox</a>. It’s also just a reality of being a consumer today, albeit a reality that snuck up on us. Reaching consumers via SMS, meaning text messages, has become increasingly popular among marketers. If you feel like the brands are texting you a lot more than they used to, it’s because they are.
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</p>
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<aside id="I4lGlK">
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<div>
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</div>
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</aside>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XsFmFb">
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“Getting someone’s phone number is incredibly valuable for marketers,” said Erin Blake, vice president director of connections strategy at Digitas, a digital marketing agency. “There’s a reason why a lot of brands care about SMS as a channel for marketing and why you’re seeing so much of it right now.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t50lsf">
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It’s not that hard to see why. I voluntarily gave my phone number to all the companies currently texting me except for one (I think), and I’ve considered engaging with those messages much more than I would any other advertisement. If I’m being honest here, if I’d taken a closer look at the party invite, maybe I would have gone.
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</p>
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<h3 id="bcDNMN">
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You open your texts a lot more than you do your emails
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GWUEov">
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There are multiple reasons marketers are turning to text to reach consumers, the main one being that it works.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1cyrQg">
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Text message open rates are astronomically high, having a <a href="https://on.emarketer.com/rs/867-SLG-901/images/eMarketer%20SMS%20Marketing%202021%20Report.pdf">97 percent read rate</a> within 15 minutes of being delivered, according to Insider Intelligence. That’s well above open rates for emails, which <a href="https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/knowledge-base/what-are-good-email-metrics/">estimates</a> place at around 20 percent. Consumers <a href="https://www.attentive.com/blog/texting-statistics">click through on SMS</a> at higher rates than they do <a href="https://mailchimp.com/resources/email-marketing-benchmarks/">emails</a>, too.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<aside id="9CGRGo">
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<q>“Texts are acted on in near real-time, we’re talking minutes”</q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bL20IS">
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“Texts are acted on in near real-time, we’re talking minutes, as opposed to email, which is going to have a low response rate in a couple of days,” Blake said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3d9t5O">
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Text has served as a fresh channel as other, more traditional formats have become difficult to navigate, explained Sara Varni, chief marketing officer at Attentive, an SMS marketing platform. “There’s been a lot of changes around privacy and regulation when it comes to how people can retarget customers, and so channels that used to be tried and true, whether that was a retargeting program with <a href="https://www.vox.com/google">Google</a> or an email, some of those channels have declined over time,” she said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tQRSKz">
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<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/5/17199754/what-is-gdpr-europe-data-privacy-facebook">The GDPR</a>, Europe’s privacy law that went into effect in 2018, has made it a little harder for companies to track you and <a href="https://www.vox.com/open-sourced/2020/2/3/21116801/ads-internet-sites-cookies">chase you around the internet</a> with ads for that rug you decided not to buy. (It’s why you’re asked to accept <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/12/10/18656519/what-are-cookies-website-tracking-gdpr-privacy">cookie</a> trackers on all the websites now.) <a href="https://www.vox.com/apple">Apple</a>’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/6/7/22522994/apple-ios15-privacy-icloud">moves to up privacy protections</a> for its users <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/10/how-apples-email-privacy-update-will-change-whats-in-your-inbox-.html">have caused headaches</a> for email marketers, too.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cAQGT5">
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Many people’s inboxes are inundated with messages from dozens upon dozens of companies they’ve interacted with a handful of times, if at all. Even if you wanted to jump on that sale from American Airlines, you have to sift through 30 other offers you have no interest in. People’s text messages, at least for the time being, are less cluttered — in part because it’s more expensive for brands to text people than it is to email them.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JQ97a2">
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“In general, most users’ text message feed is a lot less spammy than their email feed. It’s harder to get permission, but once you get permission, it works better,” said Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at advertising firm Publicis.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DPlVN1">
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Unlike email, text doesn’t have a separate folder for junk or for spam, or, in the case of a service like Gmail, a different section for promotions you never even have to look at if you don’t want to. “There’s none of that filtering on your SMS messenger client,” Goldberg said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p1i60M">
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All of our text messages are mashed together, putting brand texts together with messages from your mom. It’s a solid deal for marketers, though maybe not so much for you.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jraAg1">
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“Your text message inbox is incredibly personal, that’s where a lot of people are having most of their interpersonal communications on a day-to-day basis,” Blake said. “I would caution brands to really think through how they can be good stewards of that trust and build that relationship, because if you break it, that’s a lot harder to get back.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="mu78XA">
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The good, the spam, and the ugly
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3HD49t">
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What people in the industry say about marketing via text message is that it’s one of a number of avenues brands can use to reach consumers and that the good actors involved are very smart about how often to message and with what. They say that SMS marketing is more conversational, not just a constant attempt at a hard sell, and note that consumers can often respond to messages to really interact. It’s actually somewhat true.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dyw3nY">
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There are plenty of examples where you can see text messaging from brands working. There are moments when SMS is really clutch, like when a flight moves gates, or a shipment is delayed. Chatbots on websites and in text messages are notoriously bad for solving anything beyond basic problems, but in a world where <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/3/15/23640640/gpt-4-chatgpt-openai-generative-ai">artificial intelligence and ChatGPT</a> do really make them better, you could see that adding some value to SMS, too. “Maybe now because of Chat GPT, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/robots">robots</a> will make people more happy than humans, so SMS could grow along with all of the other text-based services,” Goldberg said. (To be sure, the hype machine around AI right now basically has it either fixing everything under the sun or ruining the world, hard to say.)
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<aside id="1oQ3Qd">
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<q>“We don’t want to turn SMS into the next version of email, which becomes a graveyard of brands and promotions in your inbox”</q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oPBlw2">
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Varni said that text message marketing can be a solid medium for giving consumers a curated experience, for sending loyal customers special deals, for educating people, or for alerting them when an item becomes available they wanted. Her company works with its clients to try to make sure it doesn’t go overboard. “We don’t want to turn SMS into the next version of email, which becomes a graveyard of brands and promotions in your inbox,” she said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="31Rrth">
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In many cases when it comes to legitimate companies and brands, people are signing up to receive text messages, often in exchange for a discount or free shipping or some sort of gift. A <a href="https://www.attentive.com/2023-consumer-trends-report">survey from Attentive</a> found that 91 percent of consumers globally have signed up for an SMS program or are interested in doing so.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O196Nb">
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Still, it doesn’t take much for people to start to feel annoyed and overwhelmed by all the texts. A <a href="https://www.validity.com/resource-center/the-state-of-sms-marketing-in-2023/">report</a> from data company Validity found that 93 percent of survey respondents have felt annoyed at least occasionally by marketing text messages, 84 percent have gotten a text message from a company they didn’t remember signing up for, and 70 percent have worried brand texts pose a <a href="https://www.vox.com/privacy">data security</a> risk.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qrp35x">
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According to data shared with Vox by Robokiller, a spam text and call blocker, 70 percent of the spam messages identified on its platform were related to brand marketing messages in May and June of 2023. Even if the texts aren’t technically spam, that’s how many consumers see them, said Patrick Falzon, the general manager at Teltech, the app maker behind Robokiller. “Those are messages that are coming from what you’d think of as legitimate companies offering some degree of promotional discount, sales offer, trying to pull people back into some web funnel or experience,” he said, meaning guiding people from an entry point toward some goal or action, like a sale. He acknowledged that the high open rates can be enticing for marketers, but they can also create tension for brands over time. “You’re likely going to see increasing consumer fatigue,” he said, “and with that, consumer pushback.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0gbTNk">
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The good news for consumers is that if they want to stop getting marketing texts from brands, in many cases, they can just respond “stop” to the messages, and that’s that. Phone providers tend to take the issue quite seriously, too, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/17/tech/fcc-spam-text-crackdown/index.html">in part at the government’s urging</a>, blocking robotexts and making sure that once people say they want to opt out, they can. Still, the system is imperfect. Not every marketer is going to heed a consumer’s “stop” wishes or refrain from passing your phone number onto someone else. “There are more gaps in the regulatory frameworks on the text side of things vs. calls,” Falzon said.
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</p>
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<h3 id="iN4QHJ">
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Between the brands and the politicians, maybe just throw your phone into the sea (I kid, kind of)
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xZDdJC">
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Much of our personal data is already all over the internet and in the hands of actors good and bad. That landscape makes it a little difficult, from a distance, to decipher just how to think about text message marketing. On the one hand, it’s not ideal that companies that <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/23031858/data-breach-data-loss-personal-consequences">are pretty bad at protecting their data</a> get their hands on yet another piece of information. On the other hand, a text from a company with a sale isn’t the worst thing in the world. Like, oh, yet another brand has my phone number? At least I got a 20 percent discount for handing it over.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<aside id="N23LJN">
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<q>“We, as consumers, have become kind of numb to giving out our information online”</q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WbFgYf">
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“It’s just way more common to see, in funnels, brands asking for your phone number,” Falzon said. “We, as consumers, have become kind of numb to giving out our information online.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kJL6gN">
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The tipping point here really hinges on whether people become so inundated with messages that their phones wind up looking like their email inboxes — a space where there’s so much of everything that it’s next to impossible to find anything. And again, we don’t really have much ability right now to filter our text messages like we do our emails right now.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NmWUfH">
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The brands, hopefully, aren’t going to blow up our phones to the level of email in the near future, but we should prepare for some text-heavy months ahead. Marketers generally jump on the holiday season to send an extra number of texts, meaning you should expect more messages in October, November, and December. Then there’s election season and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/15-billion-political-text-messages-sent-2022-rcna64017">the raft of political texts that come along with it</a>. And then there’s the next holiday season after that.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sAG7Ww">
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“Political campaigns are really leaning into SMS as well, so it’s not restricted to commercial brands,” Falzon said. “Politicians are using it a lot. I think, unfortunately, it’s going to be a pretty rough next 12 to 18 to 24 months for consumers.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cFoM2m">
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So look forward to texts from Starbucks and Old Navy and <a href="https://www.vox.com/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/bernie-sanders">Bernie Sanders</a> from here until eternity.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5G5qzT">
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<em>We live in a world that’s constantly trying to sucker us and trick us, where we’re always surrounded by scams big and small. It can feel impossible to navigate. Every two weeks, join Emily Stewart to look at all the little ways our economic systems control and manipulate the average person. Welcome to </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/the-big-squeeze"><em>The Big Squeeze</em></a><em>.</em>
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NF25sR">
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<a href="http://vox.com/big-squeeze-newsletter"><em>Sign up to get this column in your inbox</em></a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fEmYHz">
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<em>Have ideas for a future column or thoughts on this one? Email </em><a href="mailto:emily.stewart@vox.com"><em>emily.stewart@vox.com</em></a>.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>There’s no such thing as a disaster-resistant place anymore</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Two children stand on the roof of a building in Montpelier, Vermont. The streets below are flooded with brown water." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ufYHdIfWp93B-Xad_ic_Yx-DX2U=/376x0:6396x4515/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72448565/1526471262.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Flooding in downtown Montpelier, Vermont, on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. | John Tully/The Washington Post via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Climate risks are becoming increasingly expensive. Not just locally, but globally.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R3vyN6">
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An estimated <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/live-blog/live-updates-14-million-flash-flood-alerts-deadly-flooding-new-york-rcna93383">11 million people</a> across the northeastern US are under flood risks or warnings this week after historic levels of rainfall — <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/weather/vermont-flooding-high-risk-new-york/index.html">1-in-1,000-year events</a> — swept through New England, with rivers in Vermont and New York’s Hudson Valley <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/07/11/us/flooding-vermont-ny-new-england">overflowing</a> and turning town streets into waterways.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mk6MTR">
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Flash flooding <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rare-flash-flood-warning-issued-new-york-woman-dies-trying-evacuate-rcna93346">killed</a> at least one person in New York, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed several more people are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/10/1186708761/u-s-issues-flash-flood-alert-for-northeast-after-woman-in-new-york-drowns">missing</a>. On Tuesday, President Biden declared a <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/vermont-northeast-flooding-rain-emergency/story?id=101059054">state of emergency</a> in Vermont, where, according to Gov. Phil Scott, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/us/vermont-flooding-rain-forecast.html">thousands of residents</a> have lost their homes and businesses.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DE7MSo">
|
||
The Winooski River, which runs through Vermont’s capital, Montpelier, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/07/11/us/flooding-vermont-ny-new-england">rose</a> above its <a href="https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?gage=MONV1&wfo=btv">normal </a>level of below 11 feet to a height of about 20 feet. This is the second-highest height on record for the river, only falling behind Vermont’s “greatest <a href="https://www.vox.com/natural-disaster">natural disaster</a>,” a <a href="https://www.weather.gov/media/btv/events/1927Flood.pdf">1927 flood</a> that killed 84 people.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3zcBfS">
|
||
Vermont and New York last experienced such dire circumstances in 2011 and 2012 respectively, when <a href="https://www.weather.gov/mhx/Aug272011EventReview">Hurricane Irene</a> and then <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/site/cdbgdr/about/About%20Hurricane%20Sandy.page">Hurricane Sandy</a> charged across the country, bringing catastrophic flooding.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zkO6nS">
|
||
Hurricane Sandy <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL182012_Sandy.pdf">killed 72 people</a> across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, including <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/site/cdbgdr/about/About%20Hurricane%20Sandy.page">44 New York City residents</a>. While residents in Vermont lost power during Sandy, it was the hurricane the year prior, Irene, which devastated the state, <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092011_Irene.pdf">destroying</a> 2,400 roads, 800 homes and businesses, and 300 bridges.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WalF8F">
|
||
Learning from Irene over a decade ago, Vermont knew it did not have the resources alone to handle its current flash floods, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/10/1186873107/vermont-new-york-storm-flooding">called in aid</a> from North Carolina, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Connecticut before the storm struck. The region’s lack of preparedness for these extreme events also makes sense when taking into consideration the area’s history with natural disasters.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2ZGEQx">
|
||
Vermont was once considered one of the most <a href="https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_record_Report.cfm?dirEntryId=350154&Lab=CEMM">natural disaster resistant</a> states in the country, and a local Vermont news station reported people were <a href="https://www.wcax.com/2022/09/12/no-one-tracking-why-climate-migrators-are-moving-vermont/">moving to the state</a> for the purpose of avoiding worsening wildfires, droughts, and floods elsewhere in the US. “Vermont is one of the few places in the world that is likely to get more habitable,” Chris Koliba, a professor of community development and applied economics at the University of Vermont, <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/04/21/climate-change-vermont-migration-population-influx">told Boston’s NPR News Station</a>, WBUR, in 2021.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h86awX">
|
||
Climate change isn’t just making natural disasters worse, it’s making them occur more frequently in places they rarely did before; for example, <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/6/7/23752290/air-quality-levels-wildfire-smoke-clear-canada-ny-causes-aqi-health-symptoms">wildfire smoke</a> engulfed the East Coast and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/27/us/canada-wildfire-smoke-great-lakes/index.html">many parts of the Midwest</a> earlier this summer, and Winter Storm Uri left <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/texas-winter-storm-uri/">4.5 million Texans</a> without power and killed <a href="https://www.kvue.com/article/weather/winter-storm/here-is-why-death-totals-from-winter-storm-uri-may-vary/269-f2bf277f-74d9-443b-ab2e-ff89f336f3ec#:~:text=The%20Texas%20Department%20of%20State,the%20way%20deaths%20were%20counted.&text=The%20State's%20report%20shows%20how%20it%20measured%20the%20amount.">246 people in 2021</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CGN12d">
|
||
While the electric grid and homes in the Lone Star State were designed to withstand extreme heat, they have virtually no resilience to cold weather (and even heat events have <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-06-20/texas-power-grid-asks-customers-to-cut-electricity-use-as-heat-wave-scorches-southern-us">begun to put pressure on the Texas grid</a> in recent years). Upgrading this system would <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/02/03/texas-ice-storm-emergency-preparedness/">cost billions</a>, but it may be necessary given that researchers believe storms like Uri could be <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/digest/scientists-see-link-between-climate-change-and-the-texas-cold-snap">linked to rapid global warming</a> in the Arctic.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lgQPmx">
|
||
Scenarios like Winter Storm Uri and this week’s flooding in the Northeast will become more and more common. Places with a history of natural disasters have the community knowledge and infrastructure to weather these events, but those that have never or rarely handled them before will need to upgrade and build new infrastructure quickly.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SEfRN2">
|
||
“It’s getting harder and harder to adapt to these changing conditions,” Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/11/climate/climate-change-floods-preparedness.html">told The New York Times</a> this week. “It’s just everywhere, all the time.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7zMB5B">
|
||
The risk of natural disasters is everywhere (even in the most resilient places). People will no longer just have to prepare for intensified versions of the natural disasters they know, but they will also have to consider the possibility of new types of disasters — floods, storms, heat waves, droughts, and fires — impacting their community. And since most US insurance companies are backed by international reinsurance companies that cover other parts of the world, homeowners everywhere will pay the price for climate change’s global effects.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h2 id="ncn60H">
|
||
<strong>Disasters everywhere </strong>
|
||
</h2>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8fLuCJ">
|
||
The northeastern US wasn’t the only region experiencing extreme rainfall and flooding this week.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="The streets of Montpelier, Vermont are covered in brown flood water. Three people in red and yellow kayaks paddle past partially submerged cars." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/h_m1fW_CHJq0MWv8MVhly0zNacY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24784258/1526471549.jpg"/> <cite>John Tully/The Washington Post via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Flooding in downtown Montpelier, Vermont, on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TyiWHZ">
|
||
In Japan, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66163535">floods and mudslides</a> killed at least three people in the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/japan-weather-flood-mudslides-d721eb645f0a3575fd3ac2d6cdea5313">Chūgoku region of Honshū </a>and on the island of Kyushu. Over the weekend, the Japan Meteorological Agency <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/10/thousands-told-to-evacuate-as-mudslides-floods-kill-one-injapan">issued an emergency warning</a> and urged more than 1.7 million residents to take shelter. In northern India, <a href="https://weather.com/en-IN/india/monsoon/news/2023-07-12-death-toll-91-flooding-heavy-rains-torment-north-india">landslides and flash floods</a> caused by a monsoon killed another 91 people.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bXFwFG">
|
||
At the same time, a heat wave is wreaking havoc across the southern and southeastern parts of China. The current forecast puts temperatures at <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3227078/china-alert-crop-and-power-grid-damage-heat-and-flood-risks-rise">95 degrees Fahrenheit</a> for the next week, with some regions reaching temperatures as high as 104 degrees. Cities across China <a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-extreme-heat-shelters-deaths-8770afb38c09dbd8613a599fb5e36c96">opened</a> their air raid shelters over the weekend to provide relief to residents suffering from extreme temperatures.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8HALj9">
|
||
This summer, these types of high temperatures are the norm nearly everywhere. July 4 was the <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/2023/7/5/23784587/hottest-day-heat-wave-recorded-temperature-climate-change">hottest day</a> on Earth on record, with the global average temperature reaching 62.9 degrees Fahrenheit.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yMChcW">
|
||
Unfortunately, heat at this level also creates the perfect conditions for another type of natural disaster: <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/6/7/23752290/air-quality-levels-wildfire-smoke-clear-canada-ny-causes-aqi-health-symptoms">wildfires</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="96QOPM">
|
||
In Canada, over 23 million acres of land have burned this year thus far, exceeding the previous record by more than 6 million acres even with months of fire season yet to come, the <a href="https://ciffc.net/statistics">Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre</a> reports. Altogether, more than 100,000 people have been <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65816466">evacuated</a> from their homes in response to the nearly 500 blazes tearing across the country.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lZELCv">
|
||
“Heat extremes are getting more frequent, more severe; precipitation extremes are getting more frequent, more severe,” Kai Kornhuber, a lecturer and research scientist at Columbia University, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-extreme-weather-events-climate-change-169250036362">told the AP</a> in March. “Fire weather, which is linked to wildfires, is getting more frequent, more severe, more areas that didn’t see these conditions before.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ow5BAT">
|
||
Some of these regions are equipped with the knowledge and infrastructure to deal with historic levels of natural disasters, but as the range and intensity of these disasters spread, regions unfamiliar with their effects will need to adapt quickly. Not doing so could cost lives.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5f1roH">
|
||
“When we talk about disaster response, we’re often thinking about what happens right after a disaster,” Rebecca Rice, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who researches emergency communications, <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/2/13/23594222/turkey-syria-earthquake-disaster-infrastructure-income-chile-haiti">previously told Vox</a>. “But it’s not just how you respond right away. It’s how you build a stronger community, where people have the social resources and the capital they need.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h2 id="xgG0Ea">
|
||
<strong>Global risk means higher insurance prices (for everyone) </strong>
|
||
</h2>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hrlACo">
|
||
As the global risk of extreme events, and therefore extreme destruction, rises, so do <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/05/realestate/home-insurance-climate-change.html">insurance costs</a>. Earthquakes in Turkey, monsoons in India, and heat waves in China actually affect the cost of insurance for <a href="https://www.vox.com/22686124/climate-change-insurance-flood-wildfire-hurricane-risk">everyone</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="People wade through brown flood water, pushing wooden wheelbarrows and bicycles laden with belongings." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_eU-GVO_KWgE6K9r8nQ4Rn7oDj4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24784260/1527213369.jpg"/> <cite>Arun Sankar/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
People with their belongings wade through the flooded waters of Yamuna River after heavy monsoon rains in New Delhi on July 12, 2023.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="orO81S">
|
||
These disasters are also why insurance companies are increasingly relying on reinsurance companies. Reinsurance companies are “insurance for insurance companies,” <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23746045/state-farm-california-climate-change-insurance-wildfire-florida-flood">as Vox’s Umair Irfan has reported previously</a>; essentially, when a massive disaster occurs, these companies help cover claims. “Reinsurance providers act as a backstop and help front-line insurers cover claims when a massive disaster strikes,” he <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23746045/state-farm-california-climate-change-insurance-wildfire-florida-flood">wrote</a>. “As a result, international reinsurers like Swiss Re keep a close eye on global systemic risks branching from rising average temperatures.” (Swiss Re is a Swiss-based reinsurance company.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rwLHU5">
|
||
When an insurance company puts together a plan and decides on a policyholder’s premium, they assess the risk of the area the policyholder lives in, Jason Thistlethwaite, a professor for the <a href="https://uwaterloo.ca/school-environment-enterprise-development/">School of Environment, Enterprise and Development</a> at the University of Waterloo, told Vox. If you live on a floodplain, on a low-lying coastline, or against a wildfire zone, that increases the risk, he added.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7g6npp">
|
||
Still, the amount an insurance company collects in premiums may not add up to the total cost of damage if the area is completely decimated by an extreme event. Therefore the company purchases additional coverage from the reinsurer, Thistlethwaite said. Purchasing this reinsurance raises costs for policyholders.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M2YfYv">
|
||
In recent years, reinsurers have dealt with mounting losses globally, and therefore are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-property-catastrophe-reinsurance-rates-rise-up-50-july-1-report-2023-07-03/#:~:text=Reinsurers%20insure%20insurance%20companies%2C%20and,insurers%20charge%20to%20their%20customers.">raising their prices</a>. “[The reinsurer] is going to pass those costs on to primary insurance and then the primary insurers are going to pass those costs onto their policyholders,” Thistlethwaite said. “There is some truth that a tranche of your premium is going to be reflective of the international risk environment generally.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9aLR2W">
|
||
Increasing natural disasters aren’t just making insurance unaffordable, however: They’re also making it unavailable.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hCwzgz">
|
||
Earlier this year, one of the largest insurers in the country, State Farm, <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23746045/state-farm-california-climate-change-insurance-wildfire-florida-flood">announced</a> it would stop accepting applications for business and personal policies in the fire-prone state of California. The company, which is worth $131 billion as of 2022, is the largest single provider of bundle home insurance policies in California. Other insurers in the state, including <a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/23746045/state-farm-california-climate-change-insurance-wildfire-florida-flood">Allstate</a>, also halted accepting new clients.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xVsOZt">
|
||
And on July 11, Farmers Insurance <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/farmers-insurance-pulling-out-of-florida-affecting-100000-people/">announced</a> they will no longer provide existing or new coverage in the hurricane-prone state of Florida, where they currently serve <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/12/business/farmers-insurance-florida/index.html">100,000 policyholders</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="raLZma">
|
||
Thistlethwaite says there are a number of interconnected elements driving insurers’ decisions to pull out of markets like Florida and California, including inadequately designed infrastructure, the increasing number of people living in high-risk areas, and the soaring costs of reconstruction.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aLQ2v9">
|
||
But the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters is uncontestedly a problem: “It really is a combination of four factors, with climate change being one of the core drivers,” Thistlethwaite said. “It’s really that and it’s those three other big reasons why availability of coverage is eroding.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="t9DQA6">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sHzWWh">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eEKNtE">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gnuJub">
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
<li><strong>How Hollywood appeases China, explained by the Barbie movie</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="a line of men and one blonde woman on a pink, sparkly set" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wFkT1AXp_bmhYlxEHPEFtXiWGEg=/235x0:1923x1266/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72448549/Screen_Shot_2023_07_11_at_6.02.37_PM.0.png"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Barbie and Kens in Barbieland. | Warner Bros.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Vietnam banned Barbie over a map featuring the nine-dash line. Here’s why that matters.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MDZ6Sb">
|
||
This surely wasn’t the kind of publicity that Greta Gerwig’s <em>Barbie</em> was hoping for. The long-awaited film adaptation of the Mattel doll made headlines when, two weeks before its July 21 theatrical debut, it was banned in, of all places, Vietnam. And not because of any explicit violence or plastic nudity, but for violating the country’s territorial sovereignty.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PbrWRZ">
|
||
The controversy concerns a map of the “real world” that appears when Margot Robbie’s Barbie is told she must leave Barbieland and enter the real world after her perfectly arched feet have inexplicably turned flat. Shown for only a split second, the map looks as if it were drawn by a child — one who likes bright colors and has failed geography class. Among a mess of shapes and scribbles, one oddly specific detail stood out to reviewers from Vietnam’s National Film Evaluation Council: a dotted, U-shaped trail crossing into the ocean from what’s supposed to be <a href="https://www.vox.com/china">China</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rNWkhI">
|
||
As far as the council is concerned, this is no ordinary doodle, but a clear and deliberate representation of the <a href="https://time.com/4412191/nine-dash-line-9-south-china-sea/">so-called nine-dash line</a>: a maritime boundary demarcating Beijing’s contested ownership of the South China Sea. The line has been featured on Chinese maps since the 1940s and, despite being rejected by the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2016, is still used today to justify the expansion of China’s naval presence in the region, its construction of artificial islands, and its intimidation of foreign fishermen.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt="Barbie (Margot Robbie) in front of a map including the Nine-dash line." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PlKNsEDbYaYC7BcTEvmrWVt1o_o=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24783177/F0X4_BpWYA4Jvdw.jpeg"/> <cite>Warner Bros.</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Barbie (Margot Robbie) in front of a map including the nine-dash line.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Zvzn66">
|
||
“To the Chinese, the nine-dash line signifies their legitimate claims to the South China Sea,” Peter Zinoman, a professor of history and Southeast Asian studies at UC Berkeley and author of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnzd2"><em>The Colonial Bastille: A History of Imprisonment in Vietnam, 1862-1940</em></a>, tells Vox. “To the Vietnamese, it symbolizes a brazen act of imperialist bullying that elevates Chinese national interest over an older shared set of interests of socialist brotherhood.” For this reason, <em>Barbie</em> will not be screening in Vietnamese theaters.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gsOhZD">
|
||
To some extent, however, the damage has already been done. “As if the balancing act of stoking and restraining domestic nationalism wasn’t hard enough,” NYU professor and historian of modern Vietnam Kevin Li tells Vox, “pressure from an outside voice actively calling the government’s legitimacy into question on territorial grounds complicates things further. The Republic of Vietnam had, after all, fought the Chinese for [the South China Sea] during the last years of the Vietnam War. In my view, banning [<em>Barbie</em>] was a no-brainer.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M44wPe">
|
||
The film<em> </em>has also raised security concerns in Washington, where politicians doubt the Warner Bros. Film Group’s <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/barbie-map-meaning-why-banned-1235662437/">assertion</a> that the map’s resemblance to the nine-dash line was purely accidental. “While it may just be a Barbie map in a Barbie world,” Mike Gallagher, a Republican representative of Wisconsin leading the House’s China committee, told <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/07/gop-declares-war-on-barbie-00105154">Politico</a>, “the fact that a cartoonish, crayon-scribbled map seems to go out of its way to depict the PRC’s unlawful territorial claims illustrates the pressure that Hollywood is under to please CCP censors.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iYEg2o">
|
||
It’s no secret that <a href="https://www.vox.com/23196838/china-hollywood-red-carpet-schwartzel">American studios cater to </a>China and its $4.6 billion film industry — they have been doing so for over two decades, at times to great success. However, the nature of their partnership is changing. The way it used to work, Wall Street Journal<em> </em>reporter Erich Schwartzel tells Vox, “Hollywood producers would bend over backward to appeal to Chinese audiences. If they thought casting a Chinese actor in a small role or filming certain scenes in China would help sell tickets there, they would do that.” Think <a href="https://www.vox.com/disney">Disney</a> adding a panda character to the Chinese release of <em>Zootopia</em>, or <em>Transformers 4: Age of Extinction </em>being partially set in Hong Kong and starring Li Bingbing and Han Geng in addition to a host of extras selected through a Chinese <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-actors-cast-in-transformers-4-through-reality-show-competition-2013-4">reality show</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FjbJti">
|
||
“That kind of reverse engineering has died down,” adds Schwartzel, who wrote a book on the subject titled <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2022-02-22/red-carpet-hollywood-china-and-global-battle-cultural-supremacy"><em>Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy</em></a>. “Now, it’s more about not including anything in your movie that risks angering the state.” This explains why <em>Doctor Strange </em>changed the ethnicity of the Ancient One, a spiritual leader living in a mountainous monastery, from Tibetan to Caucasian, why <em>Bohemian Rhapsody </em>removed all references to Freddie Mercury being gay, and why <em>Top Gun: Maverick</em> originally removed the Taiwanese flag from Pete Mitchell’s flight jacket. (It reappeared after protests from fans and the departure of investor Tencent; as a result, the film never played in China.)
|
||
</p>
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||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D42Jxk">
|
||
Still, there is an important difference between, say, turning a film’s antagonist from Chinese to North Korean, as was done in the 2012 <em>Red Dawn </em>remake, and displaying a map that recognizes Beijing’s highly disputed control over the vast majority of the South China Sea. As the theatrical world shrinks, the CCP’s control over Chinese society tightens, and the cooling of US-China relationship complicates international business relations, we might soon end up in a reality where — in addition to removing content that offends Beijing —Hollywood will “go out of its way,” as Gallagher had put it, to <em>insert</em> content affirming the party’s worldview.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div class="c-float-right">
|
||
<aside id="F3QKok">
|
||
<q> “Aiming for the PRC market, they are ready to accept the PRC’s view of geography. Disinformation works by repetition.”</q>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="b3WUmv">
|
||
This, many believe, was the case for <em>Barbie</em>. “The producers of the movie clearly hope it will be a blockbuster,” Hue-Tam Ho Tai, professor of Sino-Vietnamese history at Harvard University, tells Vox. “Aiming for the PRC market, they are ready to accept the PRC’s view of geography. Disinformation works by repetition.” It’s worth noting <em>Barbie </em>has already been <a href="https://www.kron4.com/news/national/philippines-consider-banning-barbie-movie-over-south-china-sea-map">approved</a> to screen in China, and that manufacturer Mattel has a vested interest in selling its dolls there.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UiTQXy">
|
||
Of course, affirming the CCP worldview comes at a cost. <em>Barbie </em>isn’t the first film to reference the nine-dash line, nor is it the first to be banned in Southeast Asia for doing so. Before surfacing in Barbieland, the line could be discovered in scenes from DreamWorks’ animated family film <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50093028"><em>Abominable</em></a>, Sony’s live-action adaptation of the video game series <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3175674/south-china-sea-philippines-pulls-hollywood-action-film"><em>Uncharted</em> </a>starring Tom Holland, and an Australian spy drama streaming on <a href="https://www.vox.com/netflix">Netflix</a> called <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3vz9v/south-china-sea-netflix"><em>Pine Gap</em></a>. Earlier this year, Vietnam even blacklisted <em>John Wick: Chapter 4 </em>for starring Donnie Yen, who is a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/09/china/donnie-yen-oscars-petition-hong-kong-intl-hnk/index.html">vocal supporter</a> of CCP <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy">policies</a>. (<em>John Wick </em>was briefly available in China but has since been pulled from its platforms alongside other <a href="https://www.vox.com/movies">movies</a> with <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/8/16/20694479/keanu-reeves-revival-memes-history-explained">Keanu Reeves</a> after the actor attended a Tibet-related concert.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="puSG8y">
|
||
Soon, Hollywood will also be facing resistance from the US government, which up until this point has remained largely offscreen. Alarmed by Beijing’s influence over American entertainment, the Pentagon recently announced in a Defense Department <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/pentagon-backs-boycott-of-film-studios-that-bow-to-chinese-censors/">document</a> that it will no longer share its bases, ships, and equipment with productions that allow Beijing “to censor the content of the project in a material manner to advance the national interest of the People’s Republic of China.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VBD6fF">
|
||
Schwartzel suggests it is economic incentive, not political pressure, that could ultimately push Hollywood out of China altogether. As time goes by, breaking into the country’s film market has only gotten more difficult. This is partly due to censorship, but also because of cultural barriers. “Chinese audiences were always much savvier than Hollywood believed them to be,” he says. “A panda in <em>Zootopia</em> is nice, but it is not the real reason people are going to see it.” The same applies to casting Chinese actors in small, forgettable roles, which in China are <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/mixed-reviews-in-china-for-hollywoods-flower-vases/news-story/28e52358ad329b68802238f764ef2c65">mockingly referred</a> to as “flower vases.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f667Q6">
|
||
Then there’s competition from Chinese cinema, which has grown incredibly sophisticated over the past decade or so. In 2011, <em>Transformers: Dark of the Moon</em> was the highest-grossing film in China. Ten years later, in 2021, it was <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2021/?area=CN"><em>The Battle at Lake Changjin</em></a>, a historical action epic about the People’s Volunteer Army’s unlikely victory over the US Armed Forces in a major battle during the Korean War. Commissioned by the PRC’s Central Propaganda Department, it brought in an estimated <s></s>$903 million against an impressive $200 million budget — numbers Hollywood can only dream of at the moment.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fkJR8s">
|
||
While the past and present prevalence of Chinese propaganda in American entertainment poses a significant danger for Americans, who may not always recognize it when it’s in front of them, the situation is even worse for countries not powerful enough to confront China head-on.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CEDp61">
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Synthesis, Destroyer, Klimt, King Of War, Time and Waikiki please</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Bangladesh women vs India women, 3rd T20 | Indian batters flop again as hosts pull off consolation win</strong> - India produced another underwhelming batting performance to end up with 102 for nine after opting to bat; Bangladesh won by 4-wickets</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>World Weightlifting Championship: Mirabai Chanu to spearhead Indian campaign in Riyadh from September 4</strong> - Apart from Chanu (49kg), Bindyarani Devi (55kg) and Achinta Sheuli (73kg), Shubham Todkar (61kg) and Narayana Ajith (73kg) will also compete in the world event.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Vyasarpadi’s very own Messi: How footballer Nandhakumar made it to the top</strong> - The journey of footballer S Nandhakumar, the only player from Tamil Nadu to represent India at the recent Intercontinental Cup, started on a playground in a neglected Chennai neighbourhood</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ashwin takes 5 wickets as India rolls the West Indies for 150, reaches 80-0 in 1st test</strong> - Ravichandran Ashwin claimed his 33rd five-wicket haul in tests and a piece of history as India bowled out the West Indies for 150 on the first day of the first cricket test</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Update and strengthen teaching skills with new technologies, Governor tells teachers</strong> - India’s economy has been strengthened to stand fifth in the world and attempts are being made to take the country to the third place and it will be possible with the help, cooperation and participation of all people, according to Thaawarchand Gehlot</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cooperative NCCF to sell tomatoes via mobile vans in Delhi-NCR at ₹90/kg: Govt officials</strong> - The cooperative will start sales in other cities such as Lucknow, Kanpur and Jaipur during the weekend.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Data | Uneven progress in Karnataka: Bengaluru, Mysuru regions way ahead of Kalaburagi and Belagavi</strong> - While Karnataka’s GDP has grown, it has not translated into better outcomes in education and health</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>High Court allows minor rape survivor to terminate pregnancy</strong> - The Allahabad High Court has allowed a 12-year-old survivor of rape rape victim to terminate her foetus, saying after considering that the continuation of pregnancy poses a greater risk to her physical and mental health</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Here are the big stories from Karnataka today</strong> - Welcome to the Karnataka Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Nalme Nachiyar.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cerberus heatwave: Hot weather sweeps across southern Europe</strong> - The heatwave could potentially lead to record-breaking temperatures, forecasters say.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In pictures: Cerberus heatwave hits parts of Europe</strong> - People in countries including Italy and Spain are struggling to cope with soaring temperatures.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Greek coastguard ‘pressured’ disaster survivors to blame Egyptian men</strong> - New evidence further challenges the official version of last month’s deadly sinking.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russian general fired after criticising army leaders</strong> - Gen Ivan Popov says he refused to keep quiet over issues at the front line in Ukraine.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: More than 20 drones shot down in latest attack</strong> - A third consecutive night of strikes on Kyiv comes hours after the Nato summit.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pixel Fold review: The first foldable that actually feels like a tablet</strong> - Google takes foldable software to the next level, and it makes a big difference. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1949235">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>It’s Amazon Prime Day: The best deals to everything awesome we could find</strong> - We’ll be adding deals throughout the day, so check back when you can! - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1949667">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rover sampling finds organic molecules in water-altered rocks on Mars</strong> - No clear implications for life, but some samples could be brought back to Earth. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1953490">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Linux could be 3% of global desktops. What happened to Windows?</strong> - Linux gains (or loses), Windows slumps, macOS jumps—it’s been quite a year. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1953373">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Chinese company wins race for first methane-fueled rocket to orbit</strong> - LandSpace says its test flight lays the foundation for a reusable rocket. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1953453">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Masturbation is perfectly normal and healthy. It releases dopamine and reduces stress. Improves prostate gland and cardiovascular health..</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Still got thrown off the bus.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HelpingHandsUs"> /u/HelpingHandsUs </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yhuav/masturbation_is_perfectly_normal_and_healthy_it/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yhuav/masturbation_is_perfectly_normal_and_healthy_it/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Chuck Norris parks his car in a no parking zone to buy some groceries. When he returns to his car, he sees a cop standing there. „Is that your car?“, he asks.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
„Yes, what‘s the problem?“, asks Chuck.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The cop points at the big no-parking sign and says: „Sorry Sir, it looks like we put that sign in the wrong place.“
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/HBNTrader"> /u/HBNTrader </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yen13/chuck_norris_parks_his_car_in_a_no_parking_zone/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yen13/chuck_norris_parks_his_car_in_a_no_parking_zone/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What’s a vagina’s favorite music genre?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Cuntry
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Edit: bro wtf these comments are way better than mine
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/yoyomaster230"> /u/yoyomaster230 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14y0sv7/whats_a_vaginas_favorite_music_genre/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14y0sv7/whats_a_vaginas_favorite_music_genre/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>My wife ran off with my best friend Mike yesterday</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Friend asks “Since when has Mike been your best friend?”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Since yesterday.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/evilholographlincoln"> /u/evilholographlincoln </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yc8ji/my_wife_ran_off_with_my_best_friend_mike_yesterday/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yc8ji/my_wife_ran_off_with_my_best_friend_mike_yesterday/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What did the Pokemon say after sleeping with Charmander?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Vulvasore.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Cicerello"> /u/Cicerello </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yafhl/what_did_the_pokemon_say_after_sleeping_with/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/14yafhl/what_did_the_pokemon_say_after_sleeping_with/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
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