Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 20

Why Are Baseball Players Always Eating Something?

I watched a baseball game last night for the first time in a year. I know that exactly because the last time I sat through a game was the final game of the World Series last year. Ok, it wasn’t actually the whole game … just from the fifth or so inning onwards. The truth is, I generally find baseball way to slow to watch. But the one thing that is hard to miss is how baseball players always seem to be chewing on something.

An article this week from The Atlantic aims to answer this question of...

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: The Next 100 Years – A Forecast for the 21st Century by George Friedman

If the upcoming U.S. Presidential election and potential ensuing backlash and chaos has you up at night, this book might offer a helpful reminder that everything happens on a much longer timescale than we sometimes feel as we live through history. In the book, renowned futurist and geopolitical expert George Friedman paints a picture of what the next 100 years of our world might look like. From predicting that Poland will become a global superpower to the rise of Mexico, it’s a sobering and ...

The Forgotten Silence of Childless Men

At several points over the past few years, I’ve showcased a story about women who make the personal choice not to have children. Usually, their stories are ones of personal bravery, confidence and empowerment. This week I came across an article that was one of the first to talk about a more invisible side of this equation: the men who love women who don’t want children.

Sometimes staying childless is a mutual choice. Other times, the man in a relationship can be the one who desperately wants ...

The End of the Diet Industry May Be Here

Oprah Winfrey stepped down from the board of Weight Watchers, ending her longtime affiliation with the brand. If you’re looking for a bellwether to judge the future of the diet industry, this may be as good as any. Earlier this year she had admitted to taking a GPL-1 weight loss drug, and shortly after her move, Weight Watchers shares had a significant drop. In another indication of this upheaval in the diet industry, and Weight Watchers has also joined the party by releasing their own GLP-1 dru...

3 Fun Examples of Non-Obvious Halloween Creativity to Share

Today is Halloween and a new survey suggests that for nearly half of all Americans, it’s their favorite holiday of the year. Amidst all the candy gathering and costume making, there are a lot of people and brands who use the day as a chance to put some stellar creative ideas out into the world. In honor of that I thought I’d share a few of my favorite examples here.

Since 2010, comedian and motivational speaker Josh Sundquist has been sharing images of his viral Halloween costumes that ta...

Victoria’s Secret Brought Back Their Runway Show as an Example of How They’ve Changed. Did It Work?

Six years ago, Victoria’s Secret shelved their popular runway show after significant blowback from media and consumers alike who felt the show was objectifying women. Since then, the brand has had to go through leadership changes and significant soul searching about what it stood for. This week they brought back their runway show in an attempt to “reflect who we are today, plus everything you know and love.” The show had some notable changes, including featuring more plus-sized models and leavin...

The Non-Obvious Book of the Week: Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz

In Four Lost Cities, science journalist Annalee Newitz takes readers on a journey to explore the rise and fall of four ancient cities: the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in Central Turkey, the Roman vacation town of Pompeii on Italy’s southern coast, the medieval megacity of Angkor in Cambodia, and the indigenous metropolis Cahokia, which stood beside the Mississippi River.

For any fan of historical non-fiction or futurist works, Four Lost Cities brings both together in a unique way by expl...

New Zealand Airport Institutes 3-Minute Hug Limit When Dropping Off

New Zealand’s Dunedin Airport launched a sign that limits the time you can hug someone to say goodbye in an effort to ease airport traffic congestion. It went predictably viral, with people calling the sign and rule behind it “inhumane” while sharing it widely. All those detractors might be missing the point. This is clearly an example of the old PR adage that any attention is good attention since the world is now talking about an airport in the otherwise often forgotten, second largest city on ...

Mail In Voting, Ballots and the Truth About Voting Transparency in America

I already voted. Millions of Americans have too. In Virginia, you can register to vote by absentee ballot and just mail in your vote early. The majority of states have similar mail-in options for voters. I do that in every election. No standing in line. No awkward conversations with pollsters asking how I voted. Just fill in the ballot and mail it. Yet, some people are afraid to vote this way, and this fear is being manipulated by stories about how showing up in person is the “safest” way to mak...

What Funny Wildlife Photos Can Teach Us About Life

If you have ever gone out with a camera to try and capture animals in the wild doing something interesting, you might have felt that moment of elation when you manage to capture the magic moment. Once in a while, that image might even be something funny.

This week, the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards announced their range of finalists and the choices are exactly as fun as you would hope. The rules of the competition say there is no digital manipulation of AI editing allowed, prom...