Arvind's Newsletter

1.In 2023, your remote work comes at a cost: it is tougher to navigate the job market reports the Mint based on a recent survey.
Work-from-home still has its takers, with many urban Indians finding it somewhat useful for life and career. But such respondents are also more likely to feel that finding a job is tough these days, Mint’s latest biannual survey has found.
Around 54% of the respondents who find remote work useful said finding a job was “difficult" nowadays, whereas the share was 43% among those who see benefits of working from the office
People who prefer to work from home (WFH) are observing that the number of remote jobs available are on a decline.

2.WSJ in a news exclusive : Lab Leak in China Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, US Energy Department Now Says. The U.S. agency’s revised assessment is based on new intelligence.

The shift by the Energy Department, which previously was undecided on how the virus emerged, is noted in an update to a 2021 document by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’s office.

The new report highlights how different parts of the intelligence community have arrived at disparate judgments about the pandemic’s origin. The Energy Department now joins the Federal Bureau of Investigation in saying the virus likely spread via a mishap at a Chinese laboratory. Four other agencies, along with a national intelligence panel, still judge that it was likely the result of a natural transmission, and two are undecided. So the truth will not be known ?

3.For a longer life, afternoon exercise may be best, a large study shows as reported in the Washington Post.The data collected from more than 90,000 people gives afternoon exercisers the edge for longevity, but morning exercise might burn more fat

Afternoon exercise may reduce the risks of premature death more than morning or evening workouts, according to a new large-scale study of more 90,000 men and women.

But if morning or evening exercise is your preference, don’t despair. The study also finds that physical activity at any time of day is better for longevity than not exercising.

And other new research indicates that there can be unique benefits to slotting exercise into the morning hours, suggesting that the best time to exercise depends on what we want from a workout

4.Why the Medallion Fund is the Greatest Money-Making Machine of All Time

In this article, Nick Maggiulli, who writes a popular blog on personal finance called Of Dollars And Data, analyses the success of Medallion Fund, managed by Renaissance Technologies, founded by mathematician Jim Simons. Few years ago Greg Zuckerman of the Wall Street Journal published an excellent book called “The Man Who Solved the Market” on Jim Simons, the mathematician who has built Renaissance Technologies and turned it to a mega fund capable of generating mega returns over the course of several decades.

5.Ease productivity overload with “niksen,” the Dutch art of doing nothing. Modern life offers an endless gauntlet of work, worries, and stimulation. Niksen is the practice of setting aside time to do absolutely nothing. Research shows that rest and relaxation are associated with improved focus, reduced stress, and bolstered creativity.

In its native Dutch, niksen means literally “to do nothing.” According to Maartje Williems, the author of The Lost Art of Doing Nothing, the verb is derived from the noun niks (nothing), and it wasn’t coined to be a ringing endorsement. This is evidenced by its lexical cousin niksnut — essentially, a layabout who does nothing and doesn’t contribute to society.

But in recent years, niksen has undergone a rebranding. In 2017, journalist Gebke Verhoeven published an article titled “Niksen Is the New Mindfulness” in the magazine Gezond Nu (Healthy Now). The article applied the Dutch verb to the benefits of relaxation that psychologists and sociologists were seeing in their research.