Oddly Enough #6: News And More You Missed This Week

October 9, 2017

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Oddly Enough is back with an all new edition of interesting news and stories about how a bronze arm was recovered off a Greek coast, a man claiming to have come from 2048 to warn of alien invasion, Pakistani women using microfinance to grow, the dawn of smartphone dystopia and how Chinese tourists are shaping Bali’s tourism industry.

Antikythera Wreck – New Bronze Arm Found

A shipwreck that happened almost 2000 years ago is still leaving researchers and archaeologists spellbound. The Antikythera wreck is a Roman-era shipwreck of a vessel that carried several artefacts. The discovery was first made in 1900 by a group of divers. Very recently, marine archaeologists have found a bronze arm along with many other items that could lead to better understanding of the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient hand-held device which was used to track planetary alignments and make predictions.

You can read this story on The New York Times.

Alien Attack? – Man Claims To Have Come From 2048

In Casper, Wyoming, the police arrested a man for public intoxication as he claimed to have travelled from the future to warn of alien invasion. The local news reported that the man warned residents to leave Casper as aliens would invade next year, he alleged. He also claimed that he was able to time travel because the aliens filled his body with alcohol. He stated that that he was erroneously transported to 2018 instead of 2017.

You can read this story on Associated Press.

Empowering Pakistan’s Women – Is Micro-finance Helping?

Microfinance as a tool to empower people came about during the 1980’s through Yunus Khan’s Grameen Bank. This model thrived in the beginning but its negative effects began to show. The model was seen to be financially unsustainable and highly dependent upon donations. In Pakistan now, several banks and NGOs are giving out micro loans to small entrepreneurs to start businesses like home baking, tailoring, teaching, etc. Despite these loans having provided women with a better environment, the amount of loans given out are not enough to make them financially independent.

You can read this story on Al Jazeera.

Wired Minds – Tech Insiders Fear Of Smartphone Dystopia

Justin Rosenstein is the engineer who created the ‘like’ button on Facebook. Now, he has taken radical steps to limit his social media use. He compares the use of Snapchat to heroin. There is a growing awareness amongst people about how technology is affecting a person’s ability to focus which could lead to a lower IQ. Other tech experts cited in the story claim that this is changing democracy and changing the way people engage with each other. They do not believe that dystopia is far-fetched.

You can read this story on The Guardian.

Tourism Boost – Chinese Tourists Are Reshaping Bali’s Industry

Despite the rumours of a possible volcanic eruption in Bali, tourists are flocking to Indonesia for their vacations. These tourists are essentially Chinese. 250 million out of 1.4 billion people in China hold a passport and tend to travel in groups. Indonesian President, Joko Widodo has expanded the list of visa-free countries to include China. This move has doubled the number of tourists coming in every year. The number could reach up to 20 million by 2020 with Chinese tourists grabbing half the market share.

You can read this story on South China Morning Post.