Pages

Friday, 6 September 2019

Weekend Reading - Some Interesting Stuff

1) Chronic stress is starting to centre stage in diseases
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of the United Kingdom, stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 57% of all “sick days” in 2017/2018. The mind’s rising leverage over productivity is prompting interest in what might be impeding its performance. The focus has fallen on stress.

2) Earphones (buds / pods) are making you go deaf … slowly
Hearing loss isn’t just the stuff of senior citizens: 1 in 5 teens will experience hearing loss — a rate that’s 30% higher than it was 20 years ago. 
At maximum volume, earbuds and AirPods can be as loud as 110 decibels, which is the equivalent of someone shouting directly into your ear. According to the CDC, being exposed to 85 decibels over a prolonged period, or repeatedly, puts you at risk of hearing damage. If you’re listening to your earbuds at the maximum volume of 110 decibels, you’re at risk of hearing loss after just five minutes — barely the length of two songs.
When you’re using earbuds on a plane or train, you’re really pushing the limit of what’s safe. Some trains get up to 80 or 90 decibels. Then you’re pushing the limit 13 decibels over that, and that’s when it gets really dangerous.

3) Is non-standard labelling leading to food wastage?
In the US, as much as $218 billion on uneaten food is wasted every year. When analysing the entire supply chain, including farming and processing. Globally, the carbon emitted by wasted food can be classified as its own country—the third worst carbon emitter in the world, behind the U.S. and China.

4) Amazon’s latest payment method uses flesh and blood.
The e-tailing giant’s engineers are quietly testing scanners that can identify an individual human hand as a way to ring up a store purchase, with the goal of rolling them out at its Whole Foods supermarket chain in the coming months. The high-tech sensors are different from fingerprint scanners found on devices like the iPhone and don’t require users to physically touch their hands to the scanning surface. Instead, they use computer vision and depth geometry to process and identify the shape and size of each hand they scan before charging a credit card on file. The system, code-named “Orville,” will allow customers with Amazon Prime accounts to scan their hands at the store and link them to their credit or debit card.

5) An interview with Keshub Mahindra, now 95, discussing what life has taught him and lessons he would like to share with younger generations.
Keshub Mahindra is chairman emeritus of India’s Mahindra Group, a $20.7 billion conglomerate. His father and uncle founded the company in the mid-1940s. Mahindra joined the business soon after its inception, took over as chairman in 1963, and retired in 2012 after leading the group for five decades.
I believe happiness is an attitude of the mind. I tell my children, be happy in whatever you are doing, but I also tell them, be tolerant, be open, be honest, and transparent. That is how you should be. Take joy in the happiness of others.

No comments:

Post a Comment