#5SmartReads - April 25, 2022

Hitha on Michelle Yeoh, spelling bees, and how EU is holding Big Tech's content policies accountable

April 25, 2022

Enforcement and optimizing the Digital Services Act will dictate whether such a policy is successful or not (because the fine of up to 6% of gross revenue is a significant enough to ensure compliance), but it’s a very important first step in what’s shared online - and what isn’t.

The next steps? For the DSA to pass the European Council and Parliament (which is likely to happen).

To have something like this pass Congress? Extremely unlikely - and I view that as a shame, given how misinformation has done such damage to our nation.

The headline is a familiar enough story, especially in the 80’s.

What’s not typical is what happened next. When Yeoh was unable to have children, she parted ways with her husband with kindness (she didn’t want them to resent each other years later), and she ventured back into film to take on massive roles in both Asian and Hollywood projects alike. I’m most partial to her turn as Philippa Georgiou in Star Trek.

Yeoh openly speaks about her career, how she fared when her vision for her life wasn’t able to become a reality, and what she would tell her 28 year old self. This interview was like getting a pep talk from one of my heroes - I hope you find comfort in her wisdom as much as I did.

What impact does a spelling bee have to preserve language and culture?

A big one, if you’re learning Yup’ik or Iñupiaq.

“Almost any place in our language learning journey has so many structures built in that shut us down and make us feel inferior and incapable,” she said. “Any opportunity to eliminate the judgment and the inadequacy factors, they’re not just helpful, they’re 100% needed.”

In the auditorium this weekend, 16 students took that opportunity to make sure Yup’ik and Iñupiaq don’t fade away.

I don’t know how I got my Twitter feed to share so much Kanthony content from accounts I don’t follow, but I’m not mad about it and it is currently my happy online place.

Both Versha Sharma and I share an obsession with this season of Bridgerton and Kanthony in particular. And I value Versha using her role as EIC of Teen Vogue to tell more of the Bridgerton stories we need - a cover story with star Charithra Chandan, and this interview with creator Chris Van Dusen to answer all the Kanthony questions I’ve had since finishing the show.

No spoilers here - you’ll want to click over and read this.

“It's worth remembering that investors tend to bail on hot sectors and stocks once a trend seems played out...even if the fundamentals are still decent. Just look at what's happened to some of the market's favorite work-from-home and shelter-in-place stocks lately.

Shares of such pandemic darlings as Zoom (ZM), Roku (ROKU) and Teladoc (TDOC) have all plunged from their Covid highs and are now trading lower than they were two years ago, at the start of the pandemic. If the economy slows more rapidly than people expect, travel and leisure stocks could suffer a similar fate.”

Your daily reminder that the stock market is not the economy, but consumer spending remains high and this may help lessen the effects of the recession that is most certainly going to hit.

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