Topic Reading-Vol.3617-3/7/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

World's most delicious pancakes

A pancake is a flat, thin, and usually round cake that is cooled on a hot pan. It is made from batter, often but not necessarily, containing eggs, milk, and butter. The shape and structure of pancakes vary from place to place and culture to culture. For example, Socca, popular in Provence in France and Liguria in Italy, is crafted from chickpea flour, water, and olive oil. In Russia, thin and round Blinis is eaten with gourmet toppings like caviar and smoked salmon. Japanese hotcakes are tall and fluffy and topped with cream, syrup, jams, or anything. And crepes in France are popular not only there but also in many parts of the world served on a plate on the table or folded and wrapped for takeout. As for Americans, they love thick and fluffy buttermilk pancakes often drenched with butter and maple syrup, just like the way they pour spoons of dressing on a salad.

Enjoy seeing the images and reading the brief descriptions of popular pancakes around the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/worlds-most-delicious-pancakes/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3616-3/6/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Your delivery orders are making restaurants mad. Now they're fighting back

Delivery service is on the rise anywhere in the world. In fact, food delivery had been expanding all over the world especially in the US, China, and Southeast Asian countries even before the pandemic. Restaurants saw additional business opportunities in addition to their in-store and takeout services. Food delivery service providers were well funded by hawk-eyed capitalists that were looking for rising business opportunities. For gig workers, food delivery was one of the cheapest and easiest ways to make money in their spare time. Indeed, unlike the rideshare service, it doesn’t require owning a vehicle. Then, the Covid pandemic arose, which put many restaurants left no choice but to take as many delivery orders as they could to survive. However, as delivery orders increase, restaurants have to bear increasing delivery costs while paying the rent for the empty dining space. Then inflation has come and labor costs have risen quickly. So, restaurants are now desperate to make delivery businesses more profitable or encourage customers to order online and pick up their orders at their storefronts while competing with delivery-only ghost kitchens, which don’t have to bear the rent for dining rooms. Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic has changed the landscape of restaurant businesses. Taste and service don’t seem to be enough for restaurants.

Enjoy reading the article about how restaurants have been converting their businesses during and after the pandemic in the USA.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/23/business/restaurant-delivery/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3615-3/5/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

This is what a $1 million home looks like in 4 European cities

One million dollars is a lot of money, at least for most people. Nowadays, wage workers earn $10 to $15 an hour in many developed countries. So, if you make $15 an hour and work eight hours a day for five days a week and take two weeks off a year, you’ll make $30,000 a year. Then, you’ll need 33 years to earn one million. But you’ll need to eat, pay rent, and buy clothes. Now you kind of know what one million means for low-wage workers in developed countries.

Then, what kind of home can you buy with one million dollars in major cities in Europe, such as central London, near a historic center Salamanca in Madrid, a good neighborhood in Paris, and eastern Berlin (former communist zone)?

Enjoy watching the video that features examples of apartments priced at one million dollars.

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/business/2022/01/31/1-million-dollar-home-europe-orig.cnn/video/playlists/business-real-estate/

Topic Reading-Vol.3614-3/4/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Life may actually flash before your eyes on death - new study

A brain monitor of an 87-year-old epilepsy patient recorded his dying brain by chance. There were brainwaves that look identical to high-cognitive demanding tasks like recalling memories or dreaming before and after a fatal heart attack. One of the neurosurgeons of the patient thinks during the last 30 seconds before the patient’s heart stopped supplying blood to the brain after the heart attack, he might have a last recall of memories. Since this was not a planned study but just an accidental recording of the brainwaves right before and after the patient’s death, it surprised the neurosurgeons who analyzed the recording. Do we really have a last moment recall of our life or experience before the brain dies? If so, we wish to have a happy ending.

Enjoy reading the article and learning about this accidental but interesting finding of the last moment brain activity.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60495730

Topic Reading-Vol.3613-3/3/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Uttar Pradesh elections: The crushing pain of India's job seekers (8:16)

Uttar Pradesh is a state in northern India. It is the most populated state in India with a population of over 200 million, which also is more populous than any other subdivision in the world. It is known for the Taj Mahal and a few other world heritage sites. The services sector is the largest industry in the state, including travel, tourism, hotel, real estate, and insurance. Also, the agriculture industry employs the most workers in the state. However, Uttar Pradesh now has the highest youth unemployment in India. Young people are frustrated over a lack of jobs. As of December last year, only 12 million of the state’s 70 million youth had a job. So, many of those unemployed students are left no choice but to look for government jobs or move to other states, but no students want to work in farming because it provides enough income only for living but not enough for their future family. In any case, the odds to get a job seem very slim.

Watch the video and learn about students’ desperate situation in the most populous state of India.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-india-60491427

Topic Reading-Vol.3612-3/2/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Metaverse app allows kids into virtual strip clubs

Meta, former Facebook, says it is committed to making and keeping the metaverse safe for everyone (yesterday’s Vol.3611). But in a metaverse, developers can create a virtual space where people can use their avatars to do anything they want, including a space that isn’t appropriate for children to enter. For example, inside a metaverse app, VRChat, there are rooms where users’ avatars can meet at a dancing club or strip bar. The problem is that anyone at any age could go into this virtual space only with a Facebook account, whose identity isn’t usually verified. So, a primary school kid could enter this adult space and be sexually intimidated or assaulted by adults. It is far from just playing a VR game. Since the virtual space is totally immersed once you put on a VR headset, it is quite dangerous. Also, it is difficult for parents to find out what their child is experiencing in the headset. And remember, it is 3D, where things look and feel very real. Are the ways to protect children from such harmful experiences?

Read the article and learn about the dark side of the metaverse.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60415317

Topic Reading-Vol.3611-3/1/2022

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Zuckerberg reveals AI projects to power Metaverse

The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection, and 3D spaces in the metaverse will let the users socialize, learn, collaborate and play in ways that go beyond what we can imagine, Meta’s introductory site says. In the 3D world of virtual reality, augmented reality, and AI-generated world through special goggles or eyeglasses, you can experience an imaginable world, enjoy concerts and shopping, not just play but play in games, and interact with the avatars of other people. Recently, Meta, former Facebook, unveiled some ambitious AI projects to realize the Metaverse. As nearly anything could be created, it could be a dream world for many. But it could be a nightmare if it is used for malicious purposes, such as 3D deepfake, sexual experience and assaults, privacy breaches, and so on. Can Metaverse platformers be responsible for keeping their virtual world in order? Can they manage better in the 3D world than they are doing (or failing) in the 2D world?

Enjoy reading the article and learn about what Meta is committed to doing in the metaverse.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60492199