A podcast I’m listening to
I’m about halfway through Tim Ferriss’ interview with Matt Pottinger, former US Deputy National Security Advisor. As the resident expert on Chinese statecraft and political strategy, also fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Matt talks about the importance to read Chinese government plans as they are written to elicit the purest meaning, without them first passing through a translation filter – which just about all of us would have as our only option.
Matt also discusses the privacy and social impacts of TikTok on American youth, and it’s not benevolent. The privacy concerns, (i.e. “the CCP is listening”) according to Matt, pale in comparison to the social impact, as he references controlled studies that revealed TikTok in the US suppresses and favors content wildly differently than both what’s organic and the Chinese version of TikTok, which promotes educational concepts and pushes CCP propaganda. American TikTok is shown to disproportionately push divisive and anti-American content, while hiding content that speaks against the CCP. Before the conversation shifts to discuss Taiwan and its importance in today’s global economy, Matt closes the TikTok discussion by drawing attention to the PAFACA act of Congress whose purpose is summarized by Matt as, “TikTok can thrive, but we’re not going to let it be edited and controlled and manipulated by a totalitarian dictatorship that doesn’t even have the rule of law, much less free speech rights.”
So far this podcast episode has been a good listen, especially for those concerned enough to understand how laws and technology can affect our lives here at home.
Using jet lag to foster change
Jet lag is inconvenient – the loss of quality sleep time, kids wired at weird hours, feeling hungry at the most bizarre times. But among the thorns emerged a rose for us. With a baby in our bedroom, ready to be moved out into the kids’ room, we used the time change to catapult into the adjustment. Now we are able to sleep mostly through the night.
It’s glorious.
On top of that, my wife and I now wake up a solid hour earlier using some valuable daylight time that we had previously forgone.
A firetruck birthday and a new hobby
Saturday we celebrated my son’s birthday and he wanted firetrucks and a bounce castle. As it turned out, the bounce castle – along with tables and chairs for toddlers – can be rented altogether from one company in our area. A quick chat with the local fire company earned us a visit from a fire engine operated by two volunteers. Our little man was so stoked when the firetruck rolled up on our street and he and his friends got to sit inside and take photos with real firemen. The stuff dreams are made of.
But the gift I was most excited to give my son was a bit smaller. Sized as M0000, this is the smallest gi available from my Brazilian jujitsu dojo. As one of our son’s favorite activities is “wrestling with Daddy”, he dropped everything when he realized what it was: his very own gi. And I think he knew what it meant as well. My dojo requires minimum age 3 to begin training BJJ. Of course it’s mostly just fun and games with everything focused on the fundamentals, to help the kids learn while having fun. He has already done three kids classes; and today he finally had the nerve to join the other kids on the mat for a game of “capture the tail” (pull a flag out of others’ belts while protecting your own, to learn the back take). I’m a proud Dad!
Question: favorite in-flight activities
What are your 2-3 favorite activities while on a long flight? Movies? Reading? Sleeping? Chatting with a stranger? Browsing the web? Scrolling?
And since we’re here, what’s your biggest in-flight pet peeve?
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