What I Wrote Last Week

Apple’s Q4 FY2024 Earnings Results

Business

How Albertsons Kills Rural Grocers with Land Use Restrictions. I did not know that this practice was common and seemingly legal.

Traditional sellers in Vietnam still aren’t sold on e-commerce. E-commerce platforms like Shopee or TikTok bring awareness, traffic and sales. Those that sell undifferentiated products struggle to compete with competitors that leverage these platforms. However, there are also downsides of working with these aggregators. Sellers have to sustain operation hours for longer. They have to share a significant cut of sales. The best approach is to build a connection with customers and an established online presence. But not every shop can do it.

China Reveals $1.4 Trillion Plan to Bail Out Local Governments. The Chinese government, in my opinion, keeps citizens happy with the one-party rule by providing them with a good economy and jobs. If the economy continues to be sluggish while corrupt officials get rich through pointless and expensive projects, how long will this last?

How ChatGPT Brought Down an Online Education Giant. Every business needs to look out for disruptions in the market and figure out a way to bolster its competitive advantages. Chegg failed to do that and is going to pay for that failure.

Other Stuff I Find Interesting

How China Is Like the 19th Century U.S

Rubber and tree sap: How ancient Maya cities have withstood the ravages of time. “Studies have shown that ancient Maya builders used a range of natural materials such as blood, eggs and natural rubber obtained from local trees when preparing mortar. For example, when in 2018 researchers analysed mortar taken from stones at the main pyramid at the Witzinah archaeological site near Yucatán, Mexico, they found traces of saturated fats typical of degraded natural rubber. The researchers believe the Maya masons obtained the rubber from local trees and used it as a binder along with a fine-grained clay to create a durable mortar to bind the stonework together.”

In Miami, Long-Settled Venezuelans Have a Bone to Pick With New Migrants. It is so baffling to me that some immigrants don’t have any empathy for their fellow immigrants who came after. To be clear, those that come here illegally and criminals should be deported. But that’s, I believe, just a small percentage of immigrants who just want to build a better life for their families. Why punish the majority for something that only a minority did?

No Tesla dealership? No problem. Uruguayans import the EVs from China. It’s fascinating what Uruquay has been doing to increase EV sales, including buying Teslas from half around the world!

America’s Empty Apartments Are Finally Starting to Fill Up. The next two years will be good for apartment building operators. People don’t buy houses because of high mortgage rates and inflated house prices. So they will stick to renting. How much power will these operators have? It will depend on whether there will be new constructions.

The Miscalculations That Sent Kamala Harris to a Devastating Loss. Immigration and inflation are definitively big factors. Another I’d say is that Democrats don’t reach out to voters effectively enough. They have, at best, an average candidate who is deeply unpopular and comes with baggage. Yet, voters didn’t know what she wanted to do for the country moving forward. They might have not liked Trump, but when the other candidate is a big unknown and their living cost increases due to inflation, they had to pick Trump, who at least offered slim hope. And I dislike the extreme wokeness from Progressives. It’s nothing different than the extreme views from the GOP.

Stats

20% of Duolingo is from the US

Physicians work an average of 59 hours a week

“The so-called ‘gig economy’ employs 10.2% of the American labor force”