🐤 Save your energy

Europe's soaring energy costs are leading to widespread misery and protests.

Saturday | September 10th, 2022
Early Chirp

Welcome to the weekend, chirpers! If you’re among the fortunate folks who have the day off, here’s hoping you have a great one.

As you enjoy your Saturday, spend some time thinking about the men and women who are working hard to respond to emergency situations of all types. Today is World First Aid Day, and there are people from all walks of life who deserve our appreciation and respect. If you’re one of these brave first responders, here’s a resounding “Thank You” from me!

With the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks coming up tomorrow, there’s perhaps no better opportunity to give a hug or a handshake to the first responders in your community.

-Chris Agee

World

The Breakdown

A quick look around the world.

Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images

📖 Speaking My Language: All the linguaphiles out there probably already know that Merriam-Webster dictionary adds new words and phrases each year — but do you know what made the list this year? For starters, there’s pumpkin spice, the ubiquitous flavor of fall. There’s also the acronym ICYMI, which stands for “in case you missed it.” Among the 370 entries that made the cut is shrinkflation, or the frustrating way that businesses sell you less stuff for the same price. Merriam-Webster Editor-at-Large Peter Sokolowski released a statement confirming the news, explaining: “Some of these words will amuse or inspire, others may provoke debate. Our job is to capture the language as it is used. Words offer a window into our ever-changing language and culture, and are only added to the dictionary when there is clear and sustained evidence of use.”

💷 Take Note: Brits carrying around Bank of England currency bearing the late queen’s likeness can take comfort in knowing that it will remain legal tender for the foreseeable future. The bank’s governor expressed “deepest condolences” following Queen Elizabeth II’s death, referring to her as “an inspirational figure for our country and the Commonwealth.” Her son, who assumed the title King Charles III, made his first public address since her death, asserting: "Throughout her life, Her Majesty the Queen, my beloved mother, was an inspiration, an example to me and to all my family, and we owe her the most heartfelt debt any family could owe to their mother."

⚾️ Playing Hardball: Critics of Major League Baseball have long complained of the game’s slow pace, but that might be about to change. Recent decisions by an 11-member competition panel mean that gameplay will now include a pitch clock and limits to defensive shifts, both of which should speed the innings along. It’s worth noting that the four active players who serve on the committee each voted against the changes.

📣 SC Abortion Deal: While there are plenty of Republicans in South Carolina who support a near-total ban on abortions in the state, enough GOP state senators sided with Democrats on Thursday to shut down the proposal. With a vote of 30-16, the majority (including five Republicans) ended a filibuster and rejected the hardline approach to the state’s abortion laws.

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world news

Europe’s Energy Crisis Isn’t Getting Any Better

There will likely be even more protests to come.

Photo by Jens Schlueter/Getty Images

While there have been plenty of reports about California’s efforts to prevent rolling blackouts and energy scarcity in other regions of the country, much of Europe appears to be having an even tougher time keeping the lights on.

Prices are shooting upward across much of the continent, in large part due to reliance on Russia for its export of fossil fuels necessary to heat homes and provide electricity. The lingering impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and supply chain interruptions have also contributed to the problem. Experts say that climate change is another culprit.

Italian citizens had enough, taking to the streets in protest and setting fire to their energy bills.

Similarly, roughly 70,000 citizens of the Czech Republic marched in Prague as a protest against the government’s approach to the energy crisis.

For her part, newly confirmed U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss reassured Brits that she would be prioritizing an approach to increase the energy supply and bring costs back down to earth. As winter approaches, however, it seems clear that there will be plenty of hardship, shortages, and sky-high consumer prices in the near future for nations across Europe. If gas shortages, electricity outages, and runaway inflation continue to dominate the news in the coming months, there are sure to be even more protests and demonstrations by frustrated Europeans everywhere.

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social

Social Media Is Making Us All Angrier Than Ever

We've all experienced the vicious cycle of logging on and getting mad.

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It’s no surprise to anyone who’s spent any time on the top social media platforms that these businesses feed off of chaos and division. After all, humans are hard-wired to react when they feel offended or upset. That means that there is a clear motivation for social media algorithms to push such incendiary posts and articles to the top of the heap.

One expert on the subject, however, has recently concluded that the vicious cycle of getting on social media, getting mad, and getting even is amplifying — with no end in sight.

As Max Fisher wrote in his recent book “The Chaos Machine,” sites like Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and others know they’re competing for a limited amount of time in the day. As a result, they understand how important it is for users to feel as if they must stay logged in.

He explained: “Imagine, for instance, that your network produces 200 posts a day of which you have time to read about 100. Because of the platform’s tilt, you will see the most outraged half of your feed.”

As the number of posts increases while your capacity to read them stays the same, an increasingly volatile minority of posts are going to be shown on the platform’s feed.

“Over time, your impression of your own community becomes radically more moralizing, aggrandizing, and outraged, and so do you, at the same time, less innately engaging forms of content,” he said.

Maybe, just maybe, the solution lies in logging off of social media, getting out into the real world, and actually having a conversation with another person. Whether you agree on a topic or not, it’s much better to discuss things rationally than rely on a social media site to reinforce your basest instincts.

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world news

Ukraine Makes Moves Against Russia … But Will It Be Enough?

There's no indication the war will be over any time soon.

Photo by Alexey Furman/Getty Images

As Russian forces continue to push forward in their invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the opposition keeps exceeding expectations. This week, Ukraine regained control of a strategically important region of the country, though there’s no indication that the war will be over any time soon.

Nevertheless, Ukrainian military forces are not backing off of their counteroffensive, recently showcasing their abilities by attacking a set of bridges that Russia had been using to supply its troops in the Ukrainian city of Kherson.

At the same time, the massive Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant continues to operate in emergency mode as military operations threaten to knock it offline or, even worse, lead to a nuclear meltdown. Here’s what to know about the power plant’s current condition:

  • Only one of the six reactors is still operational.
  • There’s no outside source of electricity feeding the plant.
  • Russia and Ukraine are blaming each other for launching rockets into the area.

As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken explained after his recent visit to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin remains willing to “throw a lot of people” into the military operation.

“The initial signs are positive and we see Ukraine making real, demonstrable progress in a deliberate way,” he said. “But this is likely to go on for some significant period of time.”

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Early Chirp

Written by Chris Agee

90 N Church St, The Strathvale House
Grand Cayman KY1, 9006, Cayman Islands

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