Topic Reading-Vol.4223-11/16/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Michael Jackson jacket sells for £250,000 at auction

Michael Jackson was one of the most iconic and influential singers/dancers in the history of popular music. Born in 1958, he started his career with his brothers as Jackson 5, took off his solo career in the early 70s, and became King of Pop in the 1980s. Recently, the leather jacket he wore in a Pepsi commercial in 1984 was sold for $300,000 at an auction in London. Why do people buy clothing and items that once belonged to celebrities at inconceivably high prices? Some enthusiastic fans want to own a piece of memorabilia associated with their celebrities for their emotional attachment or nostalgia. Others buy for investment or their collections. Whatever the reasons might be, such clothing and items aren’t bought for a practical purpose. Do you think those who bid thousands of dollars for Michael Jackson’s tight-fit leather jacket are physically fit to wear it?

Enjoy reading the article and learning about how much people spend on celebrity items.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67388618

Topic Reading-Vol.4222-11/15/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Michelin-starred restaurant closes because it’s too expensive

Michelin stars are an annual restaurant rating system used by the red Michelin Guide to grade. According to the Guide, one star signifies "a very good restaurant using top quality ingredients", two stars are "refined and inspired food that is worth a detour", and three stars mean "superlative, exceptional cuisine like art that is worth a special journey". Once Michelin-starred, the restaurant becomes very popular among gourmet dinners and tourists and its tables are hard to book. However, recent inflation has hit the cost of operation too hard on a Michelin-starred restaurant that has been in business for 26 years in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and made the doors closed. The inflation rate in Northern Ireland has been on an upward trend in recent years. In 2021, the inflation rate was 3.3%. In 2022, it rose to 4.8%. And in 2023, it is expected to reach 6.7%. The rise in inflation has had a significant impact on the cost of living in Northern Ireland. The price of fuel, food, and other essential goods has risen sharply. This has put a strain on household budgets and has made it more difficult for people and businesses to make ends meet, including this prestigious Michelin-starred restaurant. A small yet high-profile victim of the rising prices and labor costs.

Read the article and learn about how inflation impacts

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/michelin-starred-restaurant-deanes-eipic-closes/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4221-11/14/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

Can AI cut humans out of contract negotiations?

Large Language Model (LLM) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that is trained on a massive amount of text data. LLMs can be used for a variety of tasks, including, text generation, language translation, answering, and summarizing. This new tool is already used in Google Translate, ChatGPT, Grammarly, and Bard. So, LLM is like a large-scale collective knowledge of experts. A legal specialist or layer learns, develops, and uses the knowledge and intelligence to create, examine, and give advice to the client or management on legal documents like an agreement or contract. So, if an AI tool learns language data from a dedicated field of LLM, it could do legal jobs as properly as experienced an expert, and much faster. In fact, specialized AI tools for legal experts can not only examine legal documents like a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) but also make suggestions for changes. For example, it shows acceptable causes in green, unacceptable ones in red, and non-standard clauses in amber. Then, it re-drafts clauses based on the previous agreements from the LLM. The whole process takes only a few minutes, which could take hours even for experienced experts. What legal experts need to do then is to check the suggestions and give approval or changes that might be more suitable for the specific case. Another area AI is taking place over human intelligence.

Enjoy reading the article and learning about another rising power of AI.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67238386

Topic Reading-Vol.4220-11/13/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Three big reasons Americans haven't rapidly adopted EVs

While nearly 30% of new vehicle shoppers are likely to consider an EV in the US, they aren’t buying EVs as much as the car and EV industries hoped. Even though annual EV sales are expected to surpass the one million threshold this year in the US, it is a mere one-14th of the global EV sales. Why aren’t Americans buying and driving EVs? The first hurdle is the affordability. The median income for a family of four in the US is around $70,000 while the average electric car costs over $60,000. As inflation and interest rates rise, EVs are still too expensive for average consumers even with government and state subsidies. And remember, most households in the US need more than one car. The lack of reliable charging stations is another roadblock for EVs in the US. The increase in charger installations hasn’t kept up with the pace of EV sales. And not all the charging poles are functioning as properly as they are supposed to. Also, many Americans drive a long distance. When they travel, they neither want their driving range limited by the battery nor spend longer than a few minutes for charging. Indeed, gas stations are all over the place where drivers can also rest, eat, and buy things. In the meanwhile, China’s EV and PHV market is leading the world.

Read the article and learn why the US EV market looks so small in the rear-view mirror.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20231108-three-big-reasons-americans-havent-rapidly-adopted-evs

Topic Reading-Vol.4219-11/12/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers, 

The floating desalination machines powered by the waves

As the world’s population grows at an unprecedented speed, having added two billion since the millennium, the world needs more water. However, global warming and extreme weather conditions make it harder to provide stable water supply to many regions. The good news is that we have plenty of water in the oceans and seas. If we could desalinate the seawater in sustainable ways, we would be able to provide clean, fresh water for many people. In fact, over 300 million people today use desalinated water in the world, and the demand for desalination plants is increasing. However, most of the conventional thermal desalination plants are highly energy-intensive and use fossil fuels to heat seawater. Another desalination method is the membrane system, which pushes seawater through a semi-permeable membrane to remove the salt. This technology uses less energy than the thermal system but it still requires quite a lot of energy. So, a Canadian start-up came up with a new floating desalination technology that uses a membrane system powered only by the movement of the waves. Of course, water conservation should be the first priority and step to securing clean water for people, plants, and animals, new technologies are on their way for sustainable development.

Enjoy reading the article and learning about new, sustainable ways to produce fresh water.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67237006

Topic Reading-Vol.4218-11/11/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Developing countries owe China at least $1.1 trillion – and the debts are due

China is one of the world's largest providers of financial loans and aid to developing countries. As of 2022, the world’s second-largest economy has provided a total of $1.3 trillion in loans and aid to developing countries mainly on infrastructure projects, such as roads, railways, power plants, and telecommunications networks. These projects were expected to help boost economic growth and development in the recipient countries. One example is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $62 billion development project that links the Chinese port city of Gwadar with Pakistan's northern provinces including the construction of roads, railways, power plants, and other infrastructure. Another is the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, a 756-kilometer railway line that connects Ethiopia and Djibouti. China provided $4 billion in financing for the project, which was completed in 2016. Most of these loans had a five to seven years of grace period plus a two-year suspension due to the pandemic. Now, there are at least 57 countries that have outstanding debt to Chinese creditors. Have those heavy infrastructural investments brought out any economic returns to the recipients? Will those borrowers be able to repay the debts, or will those Chinese lenders bear the painful rescheduling or write-off of the loans?

Read the article and learn about the mounting debts in developing countries.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/07/business/china-bri-developing-countries-overdue-debt-intl-hnk/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.4217-11/10/2023

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Plastic or paper? The truth about drinking straws

Each year, over 460 million tons of new plastic are produced, which produces about 380 million tons of plastic waste. Approximately, 43 million tons of plastic waste comes from consumer products, including single-use plastics like packages, containers, and straws from the food and beverage industry. In response to consumers’ awareness, many fast-food restaurants and coffee chains have switched from plastic straws to bio-degradable ones like paper. However, they aren’t as durable as plastic ones and become too wet to suck after a while. Also, paper straws are found to contain more lasting chemicals than plastic ones, which stay in the environment for decades and contaminate water and the environment. Also, the amount of gas emissions during the production of bioplastic straws is found to be higher than that of conventional plastic ones. Even though plastic straws are indeed harmful to the environment, no better alternative has been widely produced or used yet.

Enjoy reading the article and learning about the pros and cons of plastic straws.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231103-plastic-or-paper-the-truth-about-drinking-straws