Around the Web #15

New screening age for Breast cancer 🤱, First Viking king of England 👑, and St. Aquinas's Five Ways ✝.

Note: all AI content on around the web has moved to my second blog, The Epsilon. If you are interested in AI and machine learning, feel free to Subscribe.

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[Talking🗣️points for your next outing📍]

🤱 All women should begin screening for breast cancer at age 40.

🇰🇷 South Korea will give families $770 a month for one year to have a baby.

🏙 US Cities where you need a salary of over $300,000 to bring home $100,000.

💻Only about ~60% of the world’s population are using the Internet.

🏢Remote work in play: US office vacancy rate reaches an 12.9%, an all-time high.

💉U.S. deaths due to Fentanyl nearly Quadrupled in 5 Years

🧠First-ever brain surgery has been performed on a fetus.

🇺🇸US workers deserve a break: It’s time for a 32-hour working week – Bernie Sanders. 

👶🏽The chances that a newborn survives childhood have increased from 50% to 96% globally.

📻The world’s first AI-driven radio host is here.

💵Financial crisis is looming: Balaji on the Fiat crisis.

[Movies] 🎥🍿🎬

[I]: Vikings: Valhalla

I watched Vikings: Valhalla this past month (I am a sucker for historical drama, if still don’t know), and I learnt this bit of history for the first time: Canute ‘The Great’ (r. 1016-1035) is the first Viking king of England

[II]: Lost Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die

I am trying hard to avoid spoiler here, but I have to say that this Netflix film ended with the Battle of Brunanburh of 937AD. It is this battle that defines the countries we now know as England, Scotland, and Wales. Seven Kings Must Die is a feature-length film that serves as a sequel and conclusion to the popular Netflix series The Last Kingdom.

[III]: Narcos: Mexico

In the same vein of historical drama, I have just watched the first two seasons of Narcos: Mexico. I'd say it's an enthralling crime drama that explores the origins of Mexico's modern drug war. It focuses on the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel, led by the ambitious Félix Gallardo, and the DEA's efforts to bring them down. The show masterfully interweaves multiple storylines and perspectives, immersing viewers in the brutal world of drug trafficking, power, and corruption.

[Startups] 🚀®️👨🏾‍💻

[I]: Imagination is Overrated

Embracing randomness and finding an "inspiration generator" can lead to new ideas and opportunities that would otherwise be impossible to imagine. Instead of relying solely on your imagination, exposing yourself to random things daily can help you discover commercially viable opportunities and improve your life in unexpected ways.

The author's inspiration generator is Twitter, which exposes him to a variety of ideas and possibilities he wouldn't have thought of otherwise. I wrote about this ‘randomness’ idea in my PhD Memoir, under the section, Wanderer. 

[II]: How to build an MVP | Startup School

Build, launch your product, and iterate it. Build your first version for customers who have their hair on fire. Go after desperate early adopters; you don’t start your startup with all the answers. Building an MVP quickly: 01 Time box your spec, 02 Write down your spec, 03 Cut your spec 04 Don’t fall in love with your MVP. via Y-Combinator.

[III] Hiring and Startups

https://twitter.com/Austen/status/1647016487633457152?s=20

[IV] On PDF Hustlers.

According to the author: Discover how Benjamin Franklin, America's original "PDF Hustler," found success with "Poor Richard's Almanack," paving the way for his polymath accomplishments. Embrace the "PDF Hustler" label – sharing your hard-earned knowledge can be the first step toward greatness. Follow in Franklin's footsteps and turn your passions into a springboard for success.

[Theology] ⛪️✝️⛪️

[I]: The Divine Comedy of the Resurrection

A short essay citing Buechner's "Telling the Truth," (the gospel is a 3-act play): tragedy of the fall, divine comedy of incarnation & resurrection, and fairy tale ending of redemption.

Easter brings hope, grace, and a reminder that we're part of a beautiful story.

[II]: Theology in Division

What does it mean to do theology in the state of a divided church?

Brad East has an answer.

[III]: Deceit Theories of the Resurrection

The authenticity of Jesus as a historical figure is widely accepted by mainstream scholars, despite theories of deceit and mythicism.

[IV]: The lesson of the Resurrection

“Resurrection is that the broken heart you suffer now, the smashing of your worldly hopes, the pain of a loved one’s death or of your own failing body – the memory of all of that will, after death, be like one of Christ’s wounds.  It will take on a radically different character, and indeed be seen for what it always truly was, part of the purging and perfecting of a spiritual athlete.” via Prof Ed Feser’s blog.

[V]: Christianity and Origin of Life Research

A Theologian (William Lane Craig) meets a Chemist (Jim Tour), talks about origin of life research, and its (systematic) theological implications. Dr Craig introduces some new theological positions that I am hearing for the first –Theological ‘necessist’ and ‘contingentist’ (with two forms: creationism, supervisionism.) More here   

[Philosophy] 🧐🧠🧐

[I]: St. Thomas's Five Ways w/ Prof. Edward Feser

Feser on 1) classical philosophy & scholastic metaphysics as an entry point to Five ways, 2) critique of contemporary philosophy, and 3) philosophy & internet exchanges via Thomistic Institute podcast

[I]: Free Will, Souls, and the Problem of Evil | Richard Swinburne and Alex O'Connor

I don’t think I have shared any content from Prof Swinburne on this blog, so an introduction is in order, he is an 88 year old English philosopher and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He is known for his philosophical arguments for the existence of God and is a proponent of dualism, the belief that humans consist of both body and soul. He sat down with Mr. O’Connor and talked about ‘what are human beings’, free will, problem of evil, animal suffering, etc.