Brian's Musings
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    • Brian's 2020 Newlsetters >
      • 28th June 2020 – Mulling a Covid Afterlife
      • 31st May 2020 - Unlocking your mind while in Lockdown
      • 19th April, 2020 – More stimulants for lockdown contemplation
      • 3rd April 2020 - PLanning Ahead in a Time of Plague
      • 19th March 2020 – More to Mull on in Splendid Isolation
      • 24th February, 2020 - The Corona Virus and Much More
      • 24th January 2020 - What changes likely in the new year?
    • Brian's 2019 Newsletters >
      • 23rd November 2019 - Another fascinating mix from around the world
      • 30th October 2019 - Where are we headed now?
      • 10th October 2019 - Another tour of the issues
      • 27th August 2019 -Brighter than usual
      • 2nd August 2019 - Mostly more gloom and doom
      • 5th July 2019 - Not much improvement anywhere
      • 19th June 2019 - Better late than neverNew Page
      • 27th April 2019 - More to make you think about the future
      • April 2019 Letters to the Editor of Business Day
      • 2nd April 2019 - Another Month of Mixed News
      • 27th February 2019 - More good news than bad
      • 4th February 2019 - Trying to make sense of it all
    • 2018 >
      • 29th December 2018 - Preparing for 2019
      • 3th November 2018 - Death by Hot Air and Other Cautionary Tales
      • 26th October 2018 – The Case of the Treacherous Till Slip and Other Interesting Tales
      • October 2018 - Feedback on Draft Integrated Resource Plan for South Africa
      • 21st September 2018 - The Information Flow Continues
      • 31st August 2018 - Reading for the first weekend of spring / autumn
      • 31st July 2018 - Watching the World
      • 13th July 2018 - Energy Update 2018
      • 31st May 2018 - Grime and Punishment
      • 20th April, 2018 - The Equaliser Conspiracy
      • 3rd April, 2018 - More Fascinating Facts and Figures
      • 28th February, 2018 - World Update
    • 2017 >
      • 29th November 2017 - Guessing Our Future
      • 29th July 2017 – Basic Income Grant
      • 26th July 2017 – Ideas for a Brighter South Africa
      • 3rd July 2017 - Another Energy Update
      • 8th May 2017 – Trucking and Selling
      • 12th April 2017 - False News Today
      • 22nd March 2017 - Predicting Speed of Change
      • 27th February 2017 - Growing Inequality
      • 11th January 2017 - Medical Data Mining
    • 2016 >
      • 13th December 2016 - American Irony
      • 25th November 2016 - Global Decision Making
      • 30th October 2016 - Climate Changes
      • 11th October 2016 - Musing Investments
      • 19th September 2016 - The Inexorable Five
      • 2nd September 2016 - Driving Forward
      • 17th August 2016 - Innovationv Update
      • 19th July 2016 - Powering Along
      • 4th July 2016 – An Eye to the Future
      • 10th June 2016 - Reverse Education
      • 20th May 2016 - More Minding P's and Q's
      • 5th May 2016 - A Leisurely Future
      • 17th April 2016 - More Food for Thought
      • 29th March 2016 – America’s Digital Colonisation of the World
      • 11th March 2016 - Measuring Life
      • 26th February 2016 - Growing Older, Growing More
      • 12th February 2016 – Retirement Reflections
      • 29th January 2016 - Just Four More Years to 2020 >
        • 15th January 2016 - A Taste of Red and White
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Grime and punishment

Grime and Punishment
 
If my last newsletter was an attempt at science fiction, this one has some nuggets you could use in a crime thriller. The FBI estimates that fraud accounts for up to 10% of total US healthcare expenditure of US$ 3.54 trillion a year, of which US$ 1.1 trillion is spent on administration costs; now US$ 354 billion is bigger than the annual budget of many countries so one wonders what the American police have been up to. Maybe they need to take some tips from the Welsh police who used the fingerprints on the Whatsapp image of a man holding ecstasy tablets in his palm to identify and arrest the owner of the hand. It all gives new meaning to the mysteries of palm reading.
 
China’s Alipay and WeChat Pay have both developed social credit rating systems which are widely used in China. Now the Chinese government is embarking on the creation of a comprehensive social credit system that gives every citizen a social rating which determines the privileges each is allowed based on their recorded behavioural history. By contrast, in America the lack of data protection regulations is empowering companies to compile ever more detailed profiles of people around the world who use their systems. Meanwhile in the EU the new General Data Protection Regulation has come into effect placing restrictions on the activities of companies as they compile personal databases using data on EU citizens. All the while security services and criminals are hacking into mobile devices and using cameras, microphones and keystroke recording apps to surreptitiously create further furtive personal profiles.
 
As a next step in training face recognition software to recognise non-Asian faces, China’s CloudWalk Technologies has contracted with the Zimbabwean government to record details of one million of its citizens, while another Chinese company, Transsion, has emerged as a leader in the African smartphone market, with the latest models including facial recognition software.
 
Moving from crime to grime, the 2018 State of Global Air Report, prepared by the Health Effects Institute and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, records that 95% of the world’s population is exposed to fine particle levels exceeding universal air quality standards. Ambient particulate matter (particulate matter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers in aerodynamic diameter, or PM2.5) ranked as the 6th-highest risk factor for early death. Worldwide exposure to PM2.5 contributed to 4.1 million deaths from heart disease and stroke, lung cancer, chronic lung disease, and respiratory infections in 2016.
 
In a May 2018 report, the WHO estimated that ninety per cent of the world’s population breathe air that is polluted and around seven million people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air that lead to diseases such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and respiratory infections, including pneumonia. Regional data shows that while the situation is improving in the richer countries of Europe and North America, it is worsening in the poorer rest of the world, another indication that inequality is not simply financial. Delhi, Cairo, Dhaka, Mumbai and Beijing are the world’s most polluted cities.
 
A 2017 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association warned that that by 2100 sea levels could have risen between two and three metres unless urgent steps are taken to eliminate use of fossil fuels. Around the world most than 145 million people live at an elevation of less than a metre above sea level. Two studies published in Nature in April 2018 show the Gulf Stream current is at its weakest level in 1,600 years. If the current continues to weaken, it could lead to freezing European winters, drier regions of Africa and rising sea levels.
 
On more positive notes, the EU has banned the use of biofuels from 2020. This will affect growers of biofuels crops around the world, particularly in Malaysia where swathes of jungle were replaced by oil producing palm plantations. In North and South America the land used for growing grain and cane could be used for other crops. The French government has introduced an incentive scheme to encourage petrol and diesel car owners to replace their old cars with new electric vehicles which has proved very popular with more than 45,000 applications in the first six months of 2018.
 
According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, more than 500,000 new renewable energy jobs were created in 2017 most of them in China manufacturing solar panels. By the end of 2017, 10.3 million people were employed in the renewable energy sector worldwide. In March 2018 Portuguese renewable energy was more than 100% of demand. As a result the government is eliminating subsidies, most of which were paid to fossil fuel power producers anyway. In early May 2018 Germany briefly reached 100% renewable. By then the country had averaged 42% for the year, well ahead of its 2020 target. On the electric car front, Kia and BMW are among other car makers developing wireless battery chargers.
 
Brookings calculates that American non-employer firms, which primarily use freelancers and gig-economy workers, have grown 2.6 percent every year since 1997 while traditional payroll employment has grown by only 0.8 percent a year. The growing number of people without employer-sponsored benefits such as paid leave, healthcare, and retirement assistance points to the need for portable benefits systems.
 
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  • Home
  • Brian's Blog
  • Musings
    • Brian's 2020 Newlsetters >
      • 28th June 2020 – Mulling a Covid Afterlife
      • 31st May 2020 - Unlocking your mind while in Lockdown
      • 19th April, 2020 – More stimulants for lockdown contemplation
      • 3rd April 2020 - PLanning Ahead in a Time of Plague
      • 19th March 2020 – More to Mull on in Splendid Isolation
      • 24th February, 2020 - The Corona Virus and Much More
      • 24th January 2020 - What changes likely in the new year?
    • Brian's 2019 Newsletters >
      • 23rd November 2019 - Another fascinating mix from around the world
      • 30th October 2019 - Where are we headed now?
      • 10th October 2019 - Another tour of the issues
      • 27th August 2019 -Brighter than usual
      • 2nd August 2019 - Mostly more gloom and doom
      • 5th July 2019 - Not much improvement anywhere
      • 19th June 2019 - Better late than neverNew Page
      • 27th April 2019 - More to make you think about the future
      • April 2019 Letters to the Editor of Business Day
      • 2nd April 2019 - Another Month of Mixed News
      • 27th February 2019 - More good news than bad
      • 4th February 2019 - Trying to make sense of it all
    • 2018 >
      • 29th December 2018 - Preparing for 2019
      • 3th November 2018 - Death by Hot Air and Other Cautionary Tales
      • 26th October 2018 – The Case of the Treacherous Till Slip and Other Interesting Tales
      • October 2018 - Feedback on Draft Integrated Resource Plan for South Africa
      • 21st September 2018 - The Information Flow Continues
      • 31st August 2018 - Reading for the first weekend of spring / autumn
      • 31st July 2018 - Watching the World
      • 13th July 2018 - Energy Update 2018
      • 31st May 2018 - Grime and Punishment
      • 20th April, 2018 - The Equaliser Conspiracy
      • 3rd April, 2018 - More Fascinating Facts and Figures
      • 28th February, 2018 - World Update
    • 2017 >
      • 29th November 2017 - Guessing Our Future
      • 29th July 2017 – Basic Income Grant
      • 26th July 2017 – Ideas for a Brighter South Africa
      • 3rd July 2017 - Another Energy Update
      • 8th May 2017 – Trucking and Selling
      • 12th April 2017 - False News Today
      • 22nd March 2017 - Predicting Speed of Change
      • 27th February 2017 - Growing Inequality
      • 11th January 2017 - Medical Data Mining
    • 2016 >
      • 13th December 2016 - American Irony
      • 25th November 2016 - Global Decision Making
      • 30th October 2016 - Climate Changes
      • 11th October 2016 - Musing Investments
      • 19th September 2016 - The Inexorable Five
      • 2nd September 2016 - Driving Forward
      • 17th August 2016 - Innovationv Update
      • 19th July 2016 - Powering Along
      • 4th July 2016 – An Eye to the Future
      • 10th June 2016 - Reverse Education
      • 20th May 2016 - More Minding P's and Q's
      • 5th May 2016 - A Leisurely Future
      • 17th April 2016 - More Food for Thought
      • 29th March 2016 – America’s Digital Colonisation of the World
      • 11th March 2016 - Measuring Life
      • 26th February 2016 - Growing Older, Growing More
      • 12th February 2016 – Retirement Reflections
      • 29th January 2016 - Just Four More Years to 2020 >
        • 15th January 2016 - A Taste of Red and White
  • Books