Interesting Links: June 4, 2019

Why read Machiavelli?; Who is Jamie Barton?; New fintech meets old fintech - A $4.6 million lunch with Warren Buffet; Enterprise blockchain software: 18 months to obsolescence; and more...

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Business, News, Science, Technology, or whatever gets my attention.

Straight from my RSS feed:

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Ten links and micro-summaries from my 1000+ daily headlines. I filter them so you don't have to.

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1. Why We Should Read Machiavelli - According to the article, Machiavelli's writings are widely misunderstood. The article suggests that Machiavelli wrote about power from a practical perspective, reaching the same conclusions as earlier and later thinkers, and warning against cruelty, corruption, and abuse of power for utilitarian reasons, instead of ethical ones. It further suggests that much of the negative response to his work was driven by the church, which was threatened more by the secular nature of his reasoning than his actual conclusions.


2. Who is Jamie Barton? - She is a mezzo-soprano opera singer who likes bluegrass from the US state of Georgia. Click through to learn more about her. Here's a video embed from the BBC Classical-music article:

A crypto founder paid $4.6 million to have lunch with Warren Buffett, who called bitcoin 'rat poison squared' - Tron founder, Justin Sun, tweeted that his bid won this year's lunch with Buffet, and that he will invite other crypto-insiders to try to sway Buffet's opinion on the topic.

Gartner: Blockchain Tech Used by Enterprises at Risk of Becoming Obsolete Within 18 Months - Gartner warns that 90% of enterprise blockchain software will need replacement in 18 months due to unrealistic expectations and fragmentation in the blockchain industry. They also anticipate that 20% of the world's top grocers will be using blockchain by 2025.

Aberdeenshire find could push back date when Scotland was settled - Carbon dating from a new archaeological find puts artifacts from Aberdeenshire, in north-eastern Scotland, at about 6,000 years old. This neolothic dating predates previous finds by a century or more. h/t archaeology.org

How to Slice a Tomato Without Crushing It - Use a serrated knife, not a chef's knife, and saw through the skin with a gentle back and forth motion before trying to slice through the softer center.

Watch Queen Elizabeth II’s 1953 Coronation - The not-quite 15 year old queen took the throne when her father died, on February 6, 1952, but to allow the family to mourn, the coronation was postponed until June 2, 1953. In recognition of the 66th anniversary of that date, the link contains a series of 4 youtube videos covering the ceremony.

Floating cities, the LEGO House and other architectural forms of the future - Bjarke Ingels' TED talk shows slides of some of his completed and planned architectural work, such as a LEGO museum and other buildings that were inspired by similar creative ideas, including a bridge that serves as an "upside down art gallery", a waste to energy power plant with an alpine ski slope, floating villages, a modular floating city that will meet the UN sustainable development goals, and many others.

STEEM “Prelude in B Minor” - Op 28, No 6 by Chopin - This post contains an embedded youtube video with @drewley playing @chopin's Prelude in B Minor on piano. (5% of the rewards from this post will go to @drewley)

STEEM Novena - World’s First Open Source Laptop/Desktop - @vimukthi posts through @steemhunt with an Open Source Linux platform that can be purchased as just the boards, a desktop configuration, a laptop configuration, or an heirloom version - "with a beautiful protective case" (@vimukthi will receive 5% of the rewards from this post.)

### About this series

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