Visit a tennis ball factory

https://www.wired.com/2017/02/amanda-mustard-wilson-tennis-ball-factory-bangkok/#slide-1

Sell by? Use by?

The grocery industry is turning to voluntary standards to help reduce confusion in the dates that are currently printed on perishable products.

Because each company determines how to use the labels, there is no single standard. Some companies choose "use by" while others choose "best before".

The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute have teamed up with WalMart to recommend voluntary standards aimed at simplifying these labels.

On Wednesday, those two groups, and Walmart, announced that they had agreed to whittle that lexicon to just two phrases: “best if used by” and “use by.”

They said they hoped the change, which is voluntary, would be embraced by the vast majority of food manufacturers and producers sometime next year.

Walmart, the nation’s largest grocery retailer, said it strongly encouraged its suppliers to use “best if used by” on products that might not taste or function as well beyond the specified date, but were nonetheless safe to consume. The company also encouraged suppliers to save “use by” for the handful of products that are highly perishable and could pose a health hazard if kept too long.

Sounds like an excellent initiative. I wonder if this should be a template for a healthcare model?

NY Times: Sell By? Use By?

Can the Amazon model transfer to healthcare?

In this Bloomberg View article, Amazon is trying to find competitive advantage through shipping.

Large companies don't need help with their shipping costs as they have the size and capability to negotiate prices on their own. On the other hand, small to medium size companies are forced to use freight forwarding. Here is a brief summary of the process:

The role of the forwarder is all-encompassing. The job includes negotiating the best rates and most efficient use of multiple modes of transport, including trucks, rail and ocean-going vessels. The forwarder has to prepare all the accompanying paperwork as well, including customs documentation. When a problem arises -- say, a container is delayed at port -- the freight forwarder is expected to have the longstanding relationships needed to get it moving again.

The customer-service aspect of freight forwarding in particular has long resisted automation; there's no easy way to replicate relationships with shipping companies and port officials. But that doesn't change the fact that freight forwarding is opaque and highly inefficient. For example, the ability of forwarders to determine the best rates and speeds for shipping is oftentimes limited to a proverbial (and sometimes real) rolodex. Online portals where manufacturers can track their shipments are largely unknown. Stop by one of the many freight forwarders who offer their services in a port city like Shenzhen and you're almost certain to see a fax machine humming.

Amazon thinks that they can improve on the model.

Amazon thinks technology can eliminate many of these inefficiencies. For example, determining the fastest and most cost-effective shipping rate is really a question of data collection and analytics -- two things Amazon does very well (and smaller startups are already doing successfully). Amazon's size and data capacities should allow the company to buy up many more containers and coordinate more shipments than any individual freight forwarder could.

If they are successful, they could certainly find some significant competitive advantage.

Is there a similar opportunity for a nimble company to perform the same function in healthcare?

Bloomberg: Will Amazon Revolutionize Shipping?

What is your snot saying?

Interesting video I first found on "Science of Us":

Bloomberg: How to Cure Jet Lag

Scientists believe that they have found the protein that causes jet lag.
Link to the full story:  Bloomberg: This Scientific Breakthrough Could Cure Jet Lag Forever

The medical community has taken the next step toward finding a jet-lag cure, thanks to a Salk Institute study published last year in Cell. According to Dr. Ronald Evans, the lead author of the study, a protein called Rev-ErbA (pronounced ree-verb-AY) may be the key to unlocking a regular, healthy circadian rhythm no matter where (or when) in the world you are.

Here is how they think it works:

Your circadian rhythm doesn’t regulate itself: Rev-ErbA does. According to Evans’s study, the protein acts as a sort of master switch that coordinates the “turning on and off” of genes that regulate our circadian rhythms, including those involved in metabolism.

Pinpointing that master switch and understanding how it works is the first step to controlling it artificially. By regulating both the amount of Rev-ErbA in the body as well as how much it fluctuates over the course of a day, we might eventually find a cure for jet lag. And it doesn’t end there: The same science may eventually offer relief to people with chronic sleeping issuesand other chronic conditions that can develop as a result of a disrupted circadian cycle. 

Here is the bottom line:

Evans’s biggest takeaway is to place equal importance on all three of those pillars of circadian rhythm when resetting your schedule in a new time zone. The sooner you’re moving around, sleeping, and eating at the right times, the sooner you’ll adjust.  

More practical advice:

Instead, said Evans, you should wake up at a normal hour and head off-site for a morning meal: It’ll reset both your activity and feeding cycles while getting you some fresh air and forcing you to wake up at a reasonable time. Counterintuitive as that sounds, it’s far better than easing into your morning under the hotel duvet with a cup of coffee. “We can use food and light exposure to adjust more rapidly by timing when we eat, sleep, wake up, and are exposed to natural light,” she advised. Sunlight, she said, “helps signal and reset our circadian rhythms,” allowing our bodies to adapt more quickly.