Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses*
Plus: El Nino, nuclear energy, and Barbie
Hello!
Welcome to new subscribers—I am pretty bad at doing this regularly but I occasionally have to move people over from my old TinyLetter web page since Fair Warning has now been on 3 different platforms.
This edition of Fair Warning will be pretty short and sweet. I’ve been crazy busy lately, and I have a friend staying with me for a week so I’m not expecting to be able to send Fair Warning for a couple of weeks. Sorry!
*I was looking for songs about beer and this was the best line I could find..?
On the home front
It would be remiss of me to NOT put this in here since it has consumed my working life for the last 2-3 weeks. WSJ has launched an Election Challenge where you can try and guess what will happen at various moments during the 2024 election. Currently most of the questions relate to the debate on Wednesday 27th but we’ll have more fun questions on the way soon after. It’s free to register and play, and you can sign up for emails to remind you to take part in new questions or see how you did. I’m really thrilled it’s finally out there, and I hope people have fun with it!
Here Are the Locations Where U.A.W. Strikes Are Happening
The United Automobile Workers union strike is the biggest news story in the US at the moment. This map shows that it really is a nationwide strike, and not just confined to one or two states or cities.
Americans’ Dismal Views of the Nation’s Politics
Some sentences from this fascinating, if depressing, poll: “A growing share of the public dislikes both political parties.” “Candidate choices are underwhelming.” “Positive views of many governmental and political institutions are at historic lows.” Yikes.
Elsewhere
The Big Swing: El Niño in a changing climate
This story beautifully explains El Niño and La Niña and how they influence weather patterns across the globe.
This is a really interesting angle on the issue of Europe’s energy sources, since it lost access to Russia’s natural gas. 90% of the UK and EU’s reactors have passed or are nearing their lifespan. Yikes.
Odds and ends
Explore the evolution of beer, from Stone Age sludge to craft brews
YES, the history of BEER. I’m not gonna lie, I do not drink beer unless it is the only thing available, but I thought this was a really neat way of presenting a historical timeline. If you’re into beer, you’d do well to answer the questions at each section as it’ll recommend a beer for you. Cool!
Twitter is Still Throttling Competitors’ Links—Check for Yourself
Love this. What a fascinating data-driven investigation that proves how Twitter/X is treating competitors.
The ‘Barbie’ Soundtrack Could Be as Popular as the Film Itself
First, Barbie revived the film industry, now it’s dominating the music business as well, according to this Bloomberg piece. I haven’t seen the film at all (I know, shame on me! I just don’t really care about films that much!) but I think what’s missing is the music itself in the page? I found myself wanting to hear it to see what all the fuss is about.
That’s everything I have for this week! Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed Fair Warning, please forward to friends and tell them how great it is. As always, you can get in touch with me by replying to this email.