ITK Daily | August 5
Happy Friday.
To be ITK, know this:
SCMP: Massive Chinese military drills break decades-old tacit rules with Taiwan
+ On day 1 of exercises that will last until Sunday, the PLA lobs ballistic missiles over the island and breaches its airspace
+ The tactics, which break decades-old tacit Beijing-Taipei agreement, are part of a strategy to strike fear and panic across the Taiwan Strait, analyst says
Nikkei: 5 Chinese missiles land in Japan's EEZ: Defense chief
+ Blinken told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi about Pelosi's possible trip to Taiwan in early July, weeks before she made her visit. The planned trip did not become public until July 19
+ @yabutaleb7: Scoop: The White House summoned China’s ambassador Thursday to condemn Beijing’s escalating actions against Taiwan and reiterate the US does not want a crisis, after Pelosi’s visit sharply escalated tensions.
+ @GalloVOA: China's launch of 11 ballistic missiles was "irresponsible and provocative," says @USAmbJapan. "China’s actions only demonstrate that they prefer conflict and coercion," he says.
OTD: In 1864, Rear Admiral David Farragut's Union fleet attacked Mobile Bay. "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" he famously declares.
The White House Situation Room is getting a makeover: Politico reports The multi-million dollar project to renovate the White House Situation Room will start in about two weeks and take about a year to complete.
+ The White House Situation Room is getting a facelift for the first time in 15 years
+ WHSR, as it’s known internally
+ The goal is to maintain the WHSR’s original look from 1961
+ “The wear and tear is very heavy given its usage. It’s a 24/7 operation”
Spain bans setting the AC below 27 degrees Celsius.
Get to know Chris Buckley: 1 of 100 reporters, columnists, and influencers who live and breathe at the intersection of globalization, disruption, and politics. Full list here.
CNBC: Payrolls increased 528,000 in July, much better than expected in a sign of strength for jobs market
+ Nonfarm payrolls rose 528,000 for the month and the unemployment rate was 3.5%, easily topping the Dow Jones estimates of 258,000 and 3.6%, respectively
+ Traders are now pricing in a higher likelihood of a 0.75 percentage point hike for the next Federal Reserve meeting in September
Read this: Wisconsin couple dead after lightning strike Thursday near White House WP
+ Police identified those who died as Donna Mueller, 75, and James Mueller, 76, a married couple from Wisconsin
+ First lightning deaths in DC since student struck at St Albans in 1991
+ Lightning kills 23 people in the United States in an average year
Amazon to acquire maker of Roomba vacuum for roughly $1.7 billion.
MR: The Alexa + Roomba singularity is upon us.
Cincinnati, we have a problem: Push notifications were buzzing across the smartphones owned by the executives at Macy’s, Kroger, and P&G with the news that Jeff Bezos and his team at Amazon were seeking to formally defeat the business model that has shaped the blue-chip captains of commerce in Cincinnati for over a century. Full post here.
+ “Amazon is acquiring Whole Foods.”
Read this: Planning an American summer road trip in your EV? Don't forget your charger. Bloomberg
Behind the scenes videos are a communications superpower - full post here.
Meta is reportedly testing a new livestreaming platform, called Super, where influencers can interact with followers and earn money.
Starbucks will unveil its Web3 initiative, which includes coffee-themed NFTs, at next month’s Investor Day event.
Lady Gaga confirms ‘Joker 2’ role opposite Joaquin Phoenix.
HEAT 2 hits bookshelves on August 9, 2022.
Read this: Are football clubs the new streetwear brands? Mr Porter
+ As a consequence of the glamourization of athletic garments, the resale market has boomed. It is now a multi-billion-pound industry, led by businesses such as Classic Football Shirts and Cult Kits
+ “Football is about more than 90 minutes on the field. It’s a culture that lives and connects far beyond the pitch, across different countries and continents even. That is its power."
Get to know: Barkley Marathons: The Barkley Marathons is known as one of the most challenging races in the ultrarunning world. Inspired by a jailbreak, race founder Gary "Lazarus Lake" Cantrell created the mysterious race, which runs in late March or early April in the Tennessee hills. Launched in 1986, the race is limited to only 40 participants yearly. The field consists of runners of all abilities, from elite runners to people Cantrell says have no business there. If you are accepted into the race, you receive a letter of condolences from Cantrell. Full post here.
Wonderful to speak with Miranda West this morning for an upcoming episode of Brigadoon Radio. We chatted about the future of publishing, working with a book agent, not paying attention to what others are doing, the balance between creativity + commerce, and the latest happenings at Do Book Co.
+ "Books to inspire action"
+ Learn more here: https://thedobook.co/
Read this: Barcelona spent its way into crisis. Can it now spend its way out? NYT
+ One of the world’s biggest soccer teams needed to close a $700 million shortfall. Its president, Joan Laporta, may have done it. But the club’s problems are not over.
+ “Winning is a universal human motivation.”
Read this: How to sleep like a Lioness: Meet the England team’s guru The Times
+ Dr Luke Gupta worked with the squad in the run-up to the historic Euro 2022 final. He reveals how to get an uninterrupted night’s kip
+ In elite sport, training and nutrition is fairly prescriptive. “But you can’t really be prescriptive with sleep. It doesn’t work like that.”
+ “There is an expectation that sleep is rigid — that it should be long, continuous, unbroken — and when it does get broken, there’s this feeling of inadequacy, ‘my sleep is no longer how it should be’.
+ "[Sleepiness is] that relaxed feeling, you can’t keep your eyes open.” Tiredness is feeling fatigued"
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
********
Caracal produces ITK Daily.
Caracal is a geopolitical communications + intelligence firm working with Chief Communications Officers with global responsibility.
Caracal provides advisory + analysis + amplification services.
More @ caracal.global
To receive ITK Daily by email, send your email address to marc@caracal.global.
********
