HYHA Vol. 2
Positivity, Breaking the fast, and Something for the nerds
Hey Guys,
I hope you enjoy the second volume of HYHA.
If your view of the world is guided by what you read in the news, things look pretty grim. The future looks even worse than today. And today is apparently worse than yesterday!
Pessimism holds a special place in our hearts. Pessimism sounds smarter, and it gains more attention than optimism. This is why the news is littered with death, doom, and catastrophic stories.
Not only are things much better than we think - they're better than they've ever been. Rosling and his team analysed millions of data points and removed the emotion from the results. And what they found is a decline of bad trends and an increase in positive trends.
Here are some of the bad trends which have declined:
HIV: Rates of infection per million are half of what they were in 1996.
Combat deaths: At the height of World War Two, there were 200 combat deaths per 100,000 people. Today that number is 1.
Hunger: 28 per cent of people worldwide were malnourished in 1970. Today, that figure is 11 per cent.
The world's population is indeed increasing, but it's not increasing exponentially. In fact, it's already begun slowing down. This is thanks to more people having access to contraception and less need to have so many children who previously were used for manual labour.
Now, here are some of the positive trends:
Women's suffrage: At the dawn of the 20th century, almost no countries allowed women to vote. Today, 193 out of 194 do.
Food production: Crop yields have nearly quadrupled since 1961. This has been a significant driver of the decline mentioned above in worldwide hunger.
Access to electricity: The share of people with access to electricity increased from 72 to 85 per cent from 1991 to 2014.
Access to clean drinking water: More people than ever can drink safe, treated water, with that figure going up 30 per cent from 1980 to 2015.
If you're ever feeling like our world is headed towards imminent doom, remind yourself that journalists and politicians are storytellers. They have a bias toward a dramatic and negative worldview. If you want to feel better about where we're heading as a society, read Factfulness.
I'll admit, I definitely went down the intermittent fasting rabbit hole (or joined the bandwagon). While I still think there are benefits, in my experience, skipping breakfast gave me permission to eat unhealthy for the remainder of the day. I haven't eaten breakfast for close to 5 years, and since starting again, my overall eating habits have improved. I still aim to do another week-long fast for UNHCR this year, but apart from that, I'm all about breakfast!
This one is for the nerds. If you're like me, you spend a quarter to a third of your life looking at a computer. So why not add a little joy to the experience? I first started using mechanical keyboards (or 'mechs' as they're known) about 2 years ago after watching a random Youtube video. Mechs come with many different switches, each with its own unique feel and sound. The main varieties are clicky, quiet, and tactile switches. But the ultimate sound to achieve is Thock (I'll let you Google it). To achieve Thock, you need to customise your keyboard, which is where the real fun is.
If you're looking for some inspo, here are a few of my favourite Youtubers: Switch & Click, HypoTech, Squashy Boy, and TaeKeyboards. Just be careful though, this hobby is VERY addictive. I now alternate between 6 different keyboards depending on my mood. Sad, I know.
Thanks for the ongoing support guys!