Hello!
As you may know, I am the unpaid Tumblr intern for Keats & Co, a company that makes the world's best coffee and tea and then donates 100% of its profit to combat tuberculosis in impoverished communities. (By the way, if you subscribe before March 24th or are currently subscribed, you'll get a video of me reading and discussing my favorite John Keats poem.) But lately I've been using Tumblr for more than just coffee promo. It seems to be the only online space other than YouTube where I can make stuff without deleting it.
When I'm on Threads, or Instagram, or TikTok, or whatever, the urge to delete my posts becomes so intense that I almost always delete them within a few minutes. I worry maybe I'll be misread, or maybe I've misspoken, or maybe maybe maybe maybe. But on Tumblr—which has not historically been the safest or most fun place to hang out online, at least for me—I've been feeling fancy-free and really enjoying myself, perhaps because fewer people use the site and so it feels less like shouting in a public square and more like chatting with a (large) group of friends.
I don't know how to solve the social internet's current problems, which I feel are profound. Often, I find myself simply opting out (or else participating and then quickly deleting). But I still like being online with people, just as I did twenty years ago. I still want to find a way to make it work. And for the moment, strangely enough, that way for me is a creaky, dilapidated website that reached its highwater mark some 15 years ago.
I hope you're doing okay.
John
You can always email us at [email protected]
This Week in Stuff
We got to experience a sunset from a coral reef, and were reminded that oceans aren’t silent. (Instagram)
Kids at Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity painted pebbles for the penguins at Edinburgh Zoo. (Instagram)
Alveus Sanctuary, a wildlife sanctuary & virtual education center, got a new animal ambassador. (YouTube)
The second edition of the Internet Phone Book, a directory of websites, is open for submissions! (internetphonebook.net)
John started playing Red Dead Redemption 2 as a pacifist on his YouTube channel. You can catch up by watching the first livestream! (YouTube)
Please send us stuff you think we should feature to [email protected]
The world has made huge progress in reducing extreme poverty; could this be coming to an end?
Hannah Ritchie
At the turn of the millennium, 2.2 billion people in the world lived in extreme poverty. In international statistics, this means they survived on less than $3 per day (in today’s money).
In the two decades that followed, this number more than halved. You can see this decline in the chart.
This huge reduction was driven by rising incomes and poverty alleviation across East and South Asia. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the opposite happened: while the share living in extreme poverty declined, the total number increased.
Looking ahead, based on the latest available projections from researchers at the World Bank, this reduction in global extreme poverty is expected to end. In fact, numbers in 2040 might be higher than they are today.
This is because most of the extremely poor today live in countries with stagnant economies. If these do not see much stronger economic growth, the world will have nearly one billion living in dire poverty for decades to come.
Note that these projections are based on the latest growth projections from the World Bank and the IMF. From 2031 onward, poverty projections are based on the average growth rates observed from 2015 to 2024.
Our World in Data is a UK-based non-profit organization that publishes research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems. You can find more of their data insights here. Want to receive even more Data Insights like this from Our World in Data directly in your inbox every few days? Sign up for their newsletter!
This Week at Complexly
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Josh Scherer of Mythical Kitchen joins Hank on Ask Hank Anything to ask if human meat can be vegan, if "nothing" is a hot dog topping, what the first question ever asked was, and more!
Some Games to Play!
Queens Ultimate (by Hey, Good Game)
SpellCheck.xyc (by Answer in Progress)
This Gubbins postcard was made by D. Send yours to [email protected]
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Things That Keep Us Going
Last week, we asked for your best mood-boosting activities. Thank you to everyone who shared their mood booster with us!
The world is a crazy place, but humans are so beautiful. My foolproof mood booster is to simply exist with other people. Connecting with humans fills my heart with so much joy and love, and sharing a laugh is such a powerful feeling.
My mood booster is crocheting. I do it all the time, in the car, at school, at home, etc. It makes me feel productive and in control. Plus, the things I make are great gifts!
Going outdoors is the simplest, quickest, most effective way to lift my mood. Even just stepping out the front door. I have a lot of walkers in my neighborhood and just seeing all the people doing their daily walk somehow makes me feel the world is still okay.
When life is chaotic and the world is heavy, I take a deep breath, make a cup of tea, sit in the sunshine, share love with my students, drink water, head out for a run, read a book, write it all out, dance with my kids, and take a deep breath.
I make dinner for someone. When things are hard you have to put good things in your own way. It doesn't have to be fancy dinner. Send an invite to a friend, put it on the calendar, the preparation will take care of itself.
I ride my bike to boost my mood. You can clean the mind of whatever dirt was on it by cycling it through a mixture of physical exercise and beautiful scenery. The joy of moving myself along by bike and seeing the world from a very lovely perspective never fails to boost my mood
My mood booster depends on my energy level. When my energy tank is low, I go to my cats (or, rather, they come to me). Watching them be cute and enjoy some pets always brightens my mood.
On days where my energy is overflowing and my brain is going a little too fast, I turn to crafting. Soap making, candle making, coloring, diamond painting, embroidery, or any other craft I can focus all of my attention to while I'm doing it. It never fails to cheer me up for the following few days.
I can't remember where I saw this, but someone said they created a document in their notes app called, "Good things are always happening to me" where they keep track of the little wins they have daily. Like maybe on your drive to work you don't meet a single red light, or maybe someone paid you a really nice compliment that made your day, or even as simple as you managed to find just the right angle for your broken charger to work. Anyways, I've created my own document, and now when I'm having a hard day, I go back to that list and remember that good things are always happening to me.
When the world is heavy and I feel quite small, I always lean towards what I call “animal therapy”. Whether I go visit my friends farm and see the horses, see my sister’s dogs, or run into a cat while on a walk. Being around animals has helped immensely with my mood and mental health. It also allows me the opportunity to think outside myself and also…get outside! Gotta enjoy nature while we can I guess.
When the world is chaotic and busy, I like to take time to do something slow and thoughtful. My favorite ritual for this is simply tea and coffee (sorry Hank and John, I'm not picking sides, I like both) Something about an intentional ritual brings order to chaotic times. Slower is better, perhaps.
That’s all, folks!
If you’d like, start a “good things are always happening to me” list (inspired by Nancy’s answer to last week’s prompt). Spend some time over the next week adding stuff to your list, and then share it with us! If you already have a list like this, we’d love to read it.
Send your list to [email protected].
