The Lottery Curse
In March 1995, a used car trader named Lee Ryan won the lottery for £6,527,880. At the time, he lived in public housing built by local authorities in Braunston, England with his girlfriend and their three children. After getting married that summer, he spent £1 million on a country mansion and a variety of cars including a Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche, and BMW. He also bought two Ducati superbikes, a £125,000 plane, and a £235,000 Bell JetRanger helicopter. His entire life had been turned around. He had “prayed to God to make him a millionaire” while he had been serving a prison sentence for stealing cars, and it seemed that his desires had come to fruition. However, his life of joyful lavishness later faded as he and his wife split in 2003, and he lost about £2 million in failed business ventures and property investments. After countless losses, he eventually chose to reside in a rented flat in South London with homeless lodgers. In regards to the lottery, he claimed “the money was cursed” (Charlton 2014).
The Need for Teaching Financial Literacy
The educational system has failed millions of people for years by not implementing a personal finance class that will adequately improve the financial literacy of our future. Teaching kids from a young age, even as early as elementary school, what money is, its value, how to save, invest, and spend will provide future generations with a better future. As we age, our financial decisions become increasingly frequent and complex, so it is important to stress the necessity of developing one’s financial literacy skills before they enter the real world.
El Salvador: Land of Volcanoes, and… Crypto?
For many, the roots of economic disadvantage among countries are related to not being able to have a currency that is strong in the international markets. In modern times the American dollar is the prime currency used around the world for international trade and even as a store of value for people who distrust their local currencies. Latin America has been at the mercy of the dollar many times throughout modern history. The 80s are known in Latin America as the “Lost decade” or “La decada perdida”. Many Latin American countries suffered a severe crisis due to the first OPEC-Related rise in oil prices in 1973. A second increase in the price of oil in 1979 and the U.S Fed driving up interest rates caused many Latin American countries to end up with large current account deficits and accumulated foreign debt (Frenkel, R., & Rapetti, M). El Salvador seems to be trying to break the circle of dollar dependency by switching to Bitcoin. But it could be just a reaction due to the U.S pulling resources from El Salvador due to the fear from U.S lawmakers of President Bukele going towards an authoritarian path.
Where Do We Fit In: Robots and Humans
Robots have been inspiring both negative and positive impressions ever since they were first conceptualized. On one hand, you have a fear of the unknown. People may see a humanoid device with powerful abilities and give in to the fear perpetuated by decades of movies and language that love to show robots as villains. Classic examples of this include I, Robot and The Terminator, both famous movies that perpetuate the idea of dangerous robots. In a more practical sense, there may be concerns about people losing their jobs to robots. An example of this would be self-driving cars uprooting the traditional trucking industry. Despite these ideas that can circulate in efforts to impede change, many people are excited to have robots in their lives. A 2008 study (C. Ray, et al) showed that many people in their survey group were happy about the prospect of domestic robots. Participants were especially excited about robots capable of verbal communication. Over ten years later, with devices like the Amazon Alexa in our homes, it’s easy to see how these early desires led to the creation of what is now a common interactive piece of technology.
Ancient Technologies that are Helping Alleviate Food and Water Insecurity in the Andes
As climate change intensifies, the Andean highlands of Peru are transforming into an arid region, reshaping the livelihoods of farmers and habitants alike. Tropical glaciers, like the Ausangate, are retreating, and the people living at the foothills of these glaciers are losing access to clean water, essential for drinking and irrigating crops and pastures.
The Roots of Math Anxiety
It is a common feeling found in people of all ages. Math anxiety. People feel nervous and worried regarding math. They consider the subject to be a nightmare and will go out of their way to avoid it. Not enjoying math is so normal, that those who do are considered strange. Of all U.S.-American adults, 93% claim to have some form of math anxiety, and it is estimated that about 17% of the U.S.-American population have high levels of math anxiety (Luttenberg 2018). It becomes a strange occurrence when people are very casual about their math performance. Performance in other subjects is regarded as being serious, but a negative math performance is something that can be shrugged off, since it appears as if everyone is bad at math.
Brain Control Interfaces: What Are They?
Science fiction is littered with far-fetched characters like cyborgs, androids, terminators, daleks, and cybermen. These impossible creatures are a blending of man and machine in perfect harmony with things such as cybernetic arms and enhanced intelligence and strength. That future might be here sooner than you think, albeit minus the Hollywood exaggeration of mayhem and destruction (we hope). Brain control interfaces (BCIs) are defined as devices that, “acquire brain signals, analyze them, and translate them into commands that are relayed to output devices that carry out desired actions.” (1) Long story short, BCIs are the key piece of technology that helps man bind to machine. They act as the middleman between your brain and the machine you wish to control. Think of them as a translator. Your brain only speaks in neural impulses, and machines only understand binary. BCIs help convert your neural impulses into binary data and vice versa. These devices have been used for a variety of purposes, ranging from, “complex control of cursors, robotic arms, prostheses, wheelchairs, and other devices.” (1) In recent years, there have been amazing breakthroughs in the development of these BCIs.
Advancements in Agricultural Technology
Agriculture is a salient cultivation practice, enriching the quality of life for generations upon generations of people since the first civilizations formed on Earth. Today, agriculture is essential for stimulating the global economy and can lead to higher job creation, especially when considering national poverty reduction efforts.
What is DWAC? The Donald Trump SPAC
The last 18 months have been one of the most peculiar times in modern finance. From crypto surges and NFTs, to meme stocks and all-time market highs. In October, Digital World Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: DWAC), a SPAC, was yet another stock to experience a meteoric rise, and has joined the fray of peculiar financial securities, becoming one of the most popular ticker symbols on Reddit forum Wall Street Bets. However, DWAC has a uniquely political twist: It is the SPAC bringing public what will become (post-merger) the Trump Media and Technology Group, a firm created and being run by former President Donald Trump.