# Karl's Notes
> Notes about society and building a better future.
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [About](https://www.karlsnotes.com/about.md) - Hi, I'm Karl. I'm a former diplomat with an interest in (geo)politics, technology, and entrepreneurship. Every so often I write about something I've read or am curious about. Now: I'm currently focusing on geopolitics x AI. These are some of my posts: * IKEA and the future of living * How to start…

## Posts
- [My thoughts on the foreign policy AI evaluation gap](https://www.karlsnotes.com/my-thoughts-on-the-foreign-policy-ai-evaluation-gap.md) - A recent paper published on Arxiv, 'The Foreign Policy AI Evaluation Gap', highlights the complexity of grading the use of AI when it comes to statecraft, which they define as "the purposive, institutionally mediated conduct through which a political actor seeks to shape its external environment."…
- [Grok used in Iran strikes](https://www.karlsnotes.com/grok-used-in-iran-strikes.md) - In a sworn court declaration by Cameron Stanley, the US Department of War Chief Digital and AI Officer, he claimed that xAI's Grok for Government model was used during Operation Epic Fury to strike 2,000 distinct targets in Iran within 96 hours. This declaration was filed to keep a data centre runn…
- [Gudja must not become the airport’s overflow](https://www.karlsnotes.com/gudja-must-not-become-the-airports-overflow.md) - Originally published on MaltaToday Earlier this year, Prime Minister Robert Abela officially launched the East Expansion Project at Malta International Airport. He described it as a key investment in quality, resilience, and long-term infrastructure. The airport, he said, is often the first and las…
- [Life in Norway during the Second World War](https://www.karlsnotes.com/life-in-norway-during-the-second-world-war.md) - Someone on Reddit asked a simple question: what was life like in Norway during WW2? The answers ran to hundreds of comments so I cannot verify them individually, but what people describe, aligns closely with the history of the Norwegian occupation. History that survives in family memory is not the…
- [On Regulating the Unknown: The 1865 Locomotives Act and AI](https://www.karlsnotes.com/on-regulating-the-unknown-the-1865-locomotives-act-and-ai.md) - In 1865, the British Parliament passed the Locomotives Act. It required that any 'self-propelled vehicle' be manned by three people, one of which had to precede the vehicle on foot and carry a red flag to warn horse-drawn carriages. The vehicle was limited to a maximum speed of 4 miles per hour in…
- [A note from 'A Village in the Third Reich'](https://www.karlsnotes.com/a-note-from-a-village-in-the-third-reich.md) - I have recently finished reading 'A Village in the Third Reich', which I cannot recommend enough if you're interested in World War II history. The book takes a look at the history of Oberstdorf, a village at the foot of Bavaria, Germany, next to the border with Austria, and the experience of its pe…
- [Expanding your company in the EU is about to become easier](https://www.karlsnotes.com/expanding-your-company-in-the-eu-is-about-to-become-easier.md) - In her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, European Commission President Von der Leyen outlined plans for the establishment of 'EU Inc', which will allow citizens to register an EU-wide company online and within 48 hours. This is an extract from her speech. The emphasis is mine: This reali…
- [Malta and food security](https://www.karlsnotes.com/malta-and-food-security.md) - Two days of bad weather is all it took for supermarket shelves in Malta to empty out, after ferry services from Sicily were halted. Around 70% of our food is imported and our supply chains are one storm away from disruption. The Financial Times this week reported on a global shift where nations are…
- [Running Venezuela: The Return of the American Protectorate?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/running-venezuela-the-return-of-the-american-protectorate.md) - In a midnight raid on Caracas on 3rd January, the US quickly deposed Nicolas Maduro as President of Venezuela by kidnapping him and the First Lady, and bombing several locations. At a press conference the following morning, President Trump remarked that following the ousting of President Maduro, th…
- [Interesting things I found this year](https://www.karlsnotes.com/interesting-things-i-found-this-year.md) - The following are some of the more interesting images, posts, links I found throughout 2025, whether online or in my travels. Recruiting for the Endurance A copy of Ernest Shackleton's famous 1912 recruitment advertisement for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition aboard the Endurance, which beca…
- [New French platform combines carpooling with cross-border price arbitrage in the EU](https://www.karlsnotes.com/new-french-platform-combines-carpooling-with-cross-border-price-arbitrage-in-the-eu.md) - A few days ago on 11th September, a platform was set up in France with the explicit aim to help consumers take advantage of different prices in neighbouring EU Member States of common staples like cigarettes and alcohol. Carklop's idea is to use the model that BlaBlaCar has perfected for cross-bord…
- [North Korea's Tourism Push Comes at a Cost to Local Residents](https://www.karlsnotes.com/north-koreas-tourism-push-comes-at-a-cost-to-local-residents.md) - DailyNK uses satellite data to reveal how North Korea's new beach resort gets priority electricity access while local residents face increased power restrictions: The Wonsan-Kalma Coastal Tourist Area—a pet project of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un—finally opened on July 1, eleven years after cons…
- [Assessing the effects of anti-mafia police actions on lending](https://www.karlsnotes.com/assessing-the-effects-of-anti-mafia-police-actions-on-lending.md) - The Financial Times reports on a European Central Bank study that shows: Between 2018 and 2021, nearly 700 Mafia-linked firms across Italy were dismantled. An ECB study into the impact of this crackdown — conducted alongside a team of academics from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Uni…
- [Investing in Peace](https://www.karlsnotes.com/investing-in-peace.md) - Originally published by the Times of Malta “It is in this spirit that Malta speaks of and promotes its active neutrality. We seek and promote peace and stability in a troubled and complex region. Malta presents no threat of any nature to anyone. Malta extends to all its neighbours the engagement an…
- [The great Malaysian cooking oil arbitrage](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-great-malaysian-cooking-oil-arbitrage.md) - Malaysian cooking oil subsidies and EU biofuel mandates have created an arbitrage opportunity where fresh oil can be bought cheap, relabelled as 'used', and sold at a profit to aviation fuel producers. ...the Straits Times and Climate Home News recently reported on a striking scheme in Melaka, Mala…
- [The Hanseatic League](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-hanseatic-league.md) - The Works in Progress magazine has an interesting piece on the rise and fall of the Hanseatic League: The original hansas were bands of Germanic merchants who traveled together for protection against pirates at sea, robber bandits on the riverways, and bandits and brigands on land. Each hansa origi…
- [What happened after Prigozhin's mutiny in June 2023?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/what-happened-after-prigozhins-mutiny-in-june-2023.md) - On 24 June 2023, many were following closely the events taking place in Russia, believing that they were witnessing a coup d'état live on X (Twitter) in one of the world's nuclear powers. Many were also left questioning what happened in its aftermath and before Wagner's founder was killed/died in A…
- [Comparison of Indian and Pakistani nuclear forces](https://www.karlsnotes.com/comparison-of-indian-and-pakistani-nuclear-forces.md) - Military briefing: India and Pakistan test red lines of nuclear rivalry
- [You can learn a language by watching television (and change pronunciation in the process)](https://www.karlsnotes.com/you-can-learn-a-language-by-watching-television-and-change-pronunciation-in-the-process.md) - What is an internationally not well-known possibility is that you apparently can learn a language just by watching TV because it’s the most interesting TV available. Older generations informally acquired Italian by watching Italian television. Today, younger Maltese are not doing the same and are,…
- [Voting in South Korea is split West-East](https://www.karlsnotes.com/voting-in-south-korea-is-split-west-east.md) - In South Korea, the blue are the center-left Democratic Party and the red are the conservative People Power Party. Together, they account for 95% of the vote. Source. One of the most common political divides is that cities tend to be much more progressive and rural areas more conservative. It makes…
- [Demographics of the New Bundestag](https://www.karlsnotes.com/demographics-of-the-new-bundestag.md) - The MPs taking seats on Tuesday range in age from 23 to 84. The youngest is Luke Hoss, a student from the far-left Die Linke who has promised to give away most of his €11,000-a-month salary. The oldest is Alexander Gauland, a former journalist from the AfD who in 2018 downplayed Hitler and the Nazi…
- [Italy's Superbonus: Good Intentions Meet Poor Fiscal Planning](https://www.karlsnotes.com/italys-superbonus-good-intentions-meet-poor-fiscal-planning.md) - In the depths of the COVID pandemic, with the ECB committed to keeping sovereign spreads low and the EU fiscal rules suspended, Italy launched what would become one of the costliest fiscal experiments in history. Prime Minister Conte announced that the government would subsidize 110% of the cost of…
- [Religious and ethnic groups in Syria](https://www.karlsnotes.com/religious-and-ethnic-groups-in-syria.md)
- [5% in EU Innovation Funding Yields a 4,300% ROI](https://www.karlsnotes.com/5-in-eu-innovation-funding-yields-a-4-300-roi.md) - Some observations from a report on 'Startups backed by the EU’s Framework Programmes', recently released by dealroom.co, dealflow.eu, and EU Startups: While only 5% of the EU innovation funding (about €12B) goes directly to startups, these same startups have raised an additional €70B in private cap…
- [An alternative timeline?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/an-alternative-timeline.md) - Who would have believed you if one year ago you told them that Syria's leadership would be meeting high level EU officials, or that the United States of America would be voting with the Russian Federation, Belarus, the DPRK, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic among others?
- [4 years in German politics](https://www.karlsnotes.com/4-years-in-german-politics.md) - They say a week is a long time in politics, let alone four years. This is how the political landscape of Germany changed between the federal elections held in 2021 and in 2025. In 2025, the centre-left party SPD, lost its dominance in most of the regions it won in 2021, with very few exceptions. Th…
- [Will DPRK casualties in Ukraine lead to change in North Korea?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/will-dprk-casualties-in-ukraine-lead-to-change-in-north-korea.md) - Originally published on The Diplomat Asia-Pacific Current Affairs Magazine At the beginning of November 2024, rumours of troop deployments to Russia started spreading among the residents of the North Korean city of Hyesan, on the border with China. Families feared that their own sons would have to…
- [Good things happening in Malta](https://www.karlsnotes.com/good-things-happening-in-malta.md) - Updated: 07/01/25 Over the past year, I have been gathering stories of progress and positive change taking place in Malta, which often get overshadowed by negative news. Here are some achievements to keep us optimistic about our country's potential: Artificial intelligence to help predict and manag…
- [Experts vs Prediction Markets on Assad's fall in Syria](https://www.karlsnotes.com/experts-vs-prediction-markets-on-assads-fall-in-syria.md) - On 6th December, Project Syndicate published a piece titled 'The Global Power Vacuum Comes to Syria' by Ian Bremmer, a world-renowned political scientist, and the founder of Eurasia Group. It had been 10 days since the start of the renewed offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria. The f…
- [How to give feedback to your superior](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-to-give-feedback-to-your-superior.md) - Wes Kao wrote an interesting piece on how to be able to give feedback to your manager or a higher-up in the organisation's hierarchy. She starts off by saying that you should only resort to giving feedback to a higher-up if you have exhausted all options, including making sure that you cannot solve…
- [How apps are designed for habit formation](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-apps-are-designed-for-habit-formation.md) - I recently read an interesting post about how platforms, in this case UberEats, use certain frameworks to form habits around their apps. The author, Max Matsinger, references the Hook Model by Nir Eyal. According to this model, habits are formed through four phases: Trigger, Action, Variable Reward…
- [When was this photo taken?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/when-was-this-photo-taken.md) - Guess the year this photo was taken: 1911 Submit Guess Start Over A simple 'guess-the-date' type quiz created with Claude 3.5 Sonnet and photos from simpler times in Malta For reference on where some of these photos were taken, check here and here.
- [Given Malta's lack of permanent freshwater rivers and limited rainfall, what methods did the ancient Maltese use to obtain potable water?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/given-maltas-lack-of-permanent-freshwater-rivers-and-limited-rainfall-what-methods-did-the-ancient-maltese-use-to-obtain-potable-water.md) - A post on Reddit on r/geography asked how the Maltese people historically managed their water needs, given the island's water scarcity. The question sparked an answer by a Maltese historian (u/bertthemalteser) who provided an overview of the traditional water management techniques used on the islan…
- [Vote share vs seat share in the UK's general election](https://www.karlsnotes.com/vote-share-vs-seat-share-in-the-uks-general-election.md) - The 2024 UK's general election gave a large victory to the Labour Party, which saw its share of seats in Parliament increase from 202 to 411. The media called it "landslide victory" for Labour, and a "drubbing" for the Conservatives, and they are right, the Labour Party received more than double th…
- [Generate your own junta name](https://www.karlsnotes.com/generate-your-own-junta-name.md) - Generate Name
- [The politics of flag emojis](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-politics-of-flag-emojis.md) - For years, tribes have used visual symbols to identify themselves and unite people behind shared values. This practice began with painted symbols and evolved to include flags following the invention of silk. Flags often tell the story of the nation state or group they represent, and change over tim…
- [Surprising alignment of MEPs in the European Parliament](https://www.karlsnotes.com/surprising-alignment-of-meps-in-the-european-parliament.md) - Last week, EU citizens cast their votes to elect Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for the next five-year term. Many chose their preferred candidates or political parties based on their policies. However, once elected, some of these candidates often join political groupings that might surpr…
- [Lack of resources hinder African diplomacy in Washington](https://www.karlsnotes.com/lack-of-resources-hinder-african-diplomacy-in-washington.md) - Politico has an interesting report on the challenges that African countries face in order to impact US politics. Many African countries do not have enough diplomats on the ground, or they lack financial resources to manage their embassies properly. The more startling parts of the report explain how…
- [How Sunday Scaries market their songs on YouTube](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-sunday-scaries-market-their-songs-on-youtube.md) - If you have been scrolling on YouTube Shorts lately, you might have met with this trending video format: Someone sneakily films their roommate/brother/neighbour playing around on electronic turntables in an unusual setting - on the bed, next to a BBQ set etc. The caption humorously suggests that th…
- [How did the Medici make their money?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-did-the-medici-make-their-money.md) - The history of the Medici family in Florence is closely tied to banking, even if many of the innovations in finance, such as the use of double-entry bookkeeping, were invented before their time. What the Medici 'invented', or rather practised, according to Tim Parks in his book Medici Money, was an…
- [Creating food from thin air](https://www.karlsnotes.com/creating-food-from-thin-air.md) - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research and development arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, has funded a research project by a team of scientists from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and other Johns Hopkins University divisions, as well as North Ca…
- [Venezuela increases tensions in Essequibo](https://www.karlsnotes.com/venezuela-increases-tensions-in-essequibo.md) - Guyanese President Irfaan Ali has claimed that Venezuela's signing of the “Organic Law for the Defense of Guayana Esequiba” on 3 April, “cements Venezuela’s intent to annex more than two-thirds of Guyana’s sovereign territory and make it part of Venezuela”. According to the President of Venezuela t…
- [The Swiss approach to designing railway infrastructure](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-swiss-approach-to-designing-railway-infrastructure.md) - At Zurich station, nearly all long-distance trains arrive just before the xx.00 or xx.30 minute, and depart just after. This means that every train makes a good connection with every other train. It’s easy, say, to get from Chur in the south-eastern Alps to Yverdon in the west of the country: the t…
- [Turkey's local elections](https://www.karlsnotes.com/turkeys-local-elections.md) - An interesting graphic I found on reddit which shows how voting patterns in Turkey have radically changed over the past 13 years. AK Parti, in orange, is the political party of Turkish President Erdoğan, while CHP, in red, is the Republican People's Party founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and the m…
- [International shipping meets geopolitics](https://www.karlsnotes.com/international-shipping-meets-geopolitics.md) - Houthi rebels in Yemen have been targeting shipping going through the Red Sea ever since Israel started its military campaign in Gaza, in what they claim is a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. More specifically, the Iranian-backed rebel group are targeting shipping linked to Israel, the Uni…
- [Albania accelerating its EU accession by 5.5 years thanks to AI](https://www.karlsnotes.com/albania-accelerating-its-eu-accession-by-5-5-years-thanks-to-ai.md) - In a recent OpenAI blog post on Elon Musk's lawsuit against the company, the authors make a reference to how OpenAI tools are helping Albania "to accelerate its EU accession by as much as 5.5 years". A recent agreement between the government of Albania and the AI company allows the country to use C…
- [The Hardest Flag Quiz on the Internet](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-hardest-flag-quiz-on-the-internet.md) - I made the hardest flag quiz you can find on the internet.
- [Public Housing is Good Development Policy](https://www.karlsnotes.com/public-housing-is-good-development-policy.md) - Around 950 million people in Africa are expected to move to cities by 2050. They will need accommodation, 70% of which does not currently exist. In this post, Oliver Kim makes the argument that while "public housing seems like a natural response to housing crisis, purely on the basis of rights.....…
- [What percentage of territory is controlled by governments?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/what-percentage-of-territory-is-controlled-by-governments.md) - From Our World in Data: Most countries effectively control their territory, but some do not. To protect their citizens against internal and external threats, uphold the rule of law, and provide infrastructure and other public goods, governments need to control their territory. This map shows how go…
- [The Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-tech-accord-to-combat-deceptive-use-of-ai-in-2024-elections.md) - At the recently-held 2024 Munich Security Conference, 20 leading technology companies signed a pledge "to work together to detect and counter harmful AI content" from interfering in democratic election being held globally this year, in which more than 4 billion people are expected to be voting. Ado…
- [Emerging state-affiliated threats in the age of AI](https://www.karlsnotes.com/emerging-state-affiliated-threats-in-the-age-of-ai.md) - This week, OpenAI and Microsoft stopped five "state-affiliated" actors with fancy names such as 'Salmon Typhoon' and 'Emerald Sleet', from abusing AI services offered by OpenAI. 'Microsoft Threat Intelligence', a global network of security experts, "tracks more than 300 unique threat actors, includ…
- [Should facial recognition be treated like nuclear weapons?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/should-facial-recognition-be-treated-like-nuclear-weapons.md) - Just finished reading the book 'Your Face Belongs to Us' which uses the story of the US tech company Clearview AI, to inform the reader on the evolution of facial recognition technology; starting from Aristotle's theories on the 'true face', and ending with Silicon Valley's current attempts to perf…
- [States that explored nuclear weapons](https://www.karlsnotes.com/states-that-explored-nuclear-weapons.md) - Today, only nine countries possess nuclear bombs. This outcome was not inevitable, as technology for building them rapidly spread all over the world, enabling countries with limited GDP to develop a bomb given sufficient dedication and resources. Since the 1940s, many countries have attempted to do…
- [Guyana has the world's highest oil reserves per capita](https://www.karlsnotes.com/guyana-has-the-worlds-highest-oil-reserves-per-capita.md) - The magazine 'Americas Quarterly' has recently published an article highlighting how Guyana, a country in South America, now has more oil per capita than any other country in the world. According to the International Monetary Fund, Guyana can now, theoretically, reach a per-capita GDP rivaling Ital…
- [How much can a ship carry?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-much-can-a-ship-carry.md) - These marks [found on the photo above], called load lines, show the maximum load a ship can carry. Load lines owe much to a British member of Parliament named Samuel Plimsoll. Worried about the loss of ships and crew members due to overloading, he sponsored a bill in 1876 that made it mandatory to…
- [Lee Kuan Yew on Malta](https://www.karlsnotes.com/lee-kuan-yew-on-malta.md) - Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern-day Singapore, visited Malta in 1967 looking to assess how the country had faired since the rundown of British forces following Malta's independence in 1964. At the time, the British were also looking to leave Singapore and, just like Malta, Singapore's economy w…
- [In Russia, power is a big beast. In Switzerland power is a kitten...](https://www.karlsnotes.com/in-russia-power-is-a-big-beast-in-switzerland-power-is-a-kitten.md) - In a Financial Times interview, author Giuliano da Empoli, remarked: “In Russia, power is a big beast. In Switzerland power is a kitten, and it’s been domesticated. Through history, it’s been diluted, distributed, at local level and through referendums. Swiss politicians are boring. That’s quite a…
- [Top posts of 2023](https://www.karlsnotes.com/top-posts-of-2023.md) - Another year has come to an end, and I wanted to share five articles that did particularly well with readers in 2023. These articles cover a range of topics, from technology to geopolitics, and personal development. I am grateful for all the readers who visited karlsnotes.com, shared feedback, and…
- [The world is run by those who show up](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-world-is-run-by-those-who-show-up.md) - A Reddit comment discussing an article on long-shot replacements for Governor of California during the 2021 recall election, explains how an individual can have a much larger impact without having to run for office. The author says that they worked "as an advisor to 3 different (Australian) Senator…
- [The football match that started a war](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-football-match-that-started-a-war.md) - The Salvadorean national football team arrived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on 7th June 1969, ready for the first of three football matches that could qualify them for the 1970 World Cup. They spent a restless night in a hotel in the Honduran capital, as supporters of the home team surrounded their acc…
- [How the IAEA uses nuclear technology to control insect pests](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-the-iaea-uses-nuclear-technology-to-control-insect-pests.md) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is often mentioned in the context of nuclear safeguards, especially when it comes to countries like Iran, and North Korea, or on the JCPOA, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal. The Agency is however also very much involved in civilian applications o…
- [The outsized role of commodity traders in geopolitics](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-outsized-role-of-commodity-traders-in-geopolitics.md) - Over the past couple of decades, large scale geopolitical events might have been the result of decisions made in tiny, sleepy, Swiss towns, rather than on the battlefield, or in capitals around the world. In the first half of 2011, Libya, on the southern coast of the Mediterranean, was undergoing i…
- [AI adoption can save up to $360 billion in healthcare costs](https://www.karlsnotes.com/ai-adoption-can-save-up-to-360-billion-in-healthcare.md) - In the United States, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare has been a debated issue in the industry for over a decade. A recent working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research has found that the implementation of AI in healthcare could result in yearly savings of $20…
- [Why state-building is important: the case of Haiti](https://www.karlsnotes.com/why-state-building-is-important-the-case-of-haiti.md) - Haiti has been in the press a lot lately. The country has been dealing with a number of serious challenges, leading some analysts to label the country "a failed state". The government of Haiti's recent call for an armed intervention by foreign powers, continues to cement this rhetoric, while armed…
- [Why is everything so hard in a large organisation?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/why-everything-is-so-hard-in-a-large-organisation.md) - A user posted a link to an article on Hacker News discussing the question 'why is everything so hard in a large organization?'. I found a reply comment by another user interesting. Reproducing it here word by word. "It's hard because it's meant to be hard. Once you have a large org that's making mo…
- [You have 4000 weeks](https://www.karlsnotes.com/you-have-4000-weeks.md) - Based on an average lifespan of 80 years, we have 4000 weeks on Earth. 4000 weeks to spend learning, working, sleeping, travelling, enjoying our hobbies, doing sports, talking to friends or family, fall in love, and everything in between. Sometimes we feel that there is never enough time to do all…
- [ChatGPT: the new, better Google?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/chatgpt-the-new-better-google.md) - Some days ago, OpenAI released ChatGPT, an 'AI chatbot' that is able to hold a conversation, “admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests”. ChatGPT is a fantastic tool for anyone looking to have an engaging and informative conversation. It uses cutting-edge n…
- [Estonia saved its citizens 820 years by moving public services online](https://www.karlsnotes.com/estonia-saved-its-citizens-820-years-by-moving-public-services-online.md) - Estonia is a small country with a population of only 1.3 million. In 2005, it became the first country in the world to allow its citizens to vote online in elections, and today 46.9% of those eligible opt to vote online. Almost everything in Estonia can now be done online – from filing taxes to sig…
- [How to build an automated ecommerce store with Gumroad and Printful](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-to-build-an-automated-ecommerce-store-with-gumroad-and-printful.md) - Integrating a Printful store with your Gumroad account is one of the easiest ways to start a simple ecommerce store with automatic fulfilment. Gumroad is an online marketplace that allows you to sell and buy different services, including digital and physical goods. Printful is an online 'print-on-d…
- [I created a map of protests taking place in Iran](https://www.karlsnotes.com/i-created-a-map-of-protests-taking-place-in-iran.md) - I created a map using Felt, that shows the locations of protests and demonstrations held in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Not all locations are listed, but I'm constantly updating these as soon as they are reported by international media. Thank you for reading. If you would l…
- [Corsica's 253 year struggle for self-rule](https://www.karlsnotes.com/corsicas-253-year-struggle-for-self-rule.md) - This year's prison attack on the Corsican nationalist Yvan Colonna reignited the discussion about Corsica's struggle for nationhood from France. Colonna, who died a few weeks after the attack, was found guilty of the 1998 assassination of Claude Erignac, a representative of the French state in Cors…
- [How Zalando uses AI to make your shopping experience better](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-zalando-uses-ai-to-make-your-shopping-experience-better.md) - Zalando is a European company based in Berlin, Germany, that is equal parts fashion retailer and a tech startup. What started as an online shoe store in 2008, is now the continent's biggest wholesaler, delivering items to 23 countries and 49 million customers, from more than 5,800 brands. The onlin…
- [Interesting borders around the world](https://www.karlsnotes.com/interesting-borders-around-the-world.md) - In a recent post [https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-to-start-your-own-country-in-four-steps/], I wrote about the importance of defined territory for the legitimacy of countries around the world. Sovereignty starts and ends within international borders - some marked by natural phenomena, such as rivers…
- [Montbell: the outdoors company where 'function is beauty'](https://www.karlsnotes.com/montbell-the-outdoors-company.md) - In 1969, 21-year-old Isamu Tatsuno stood at the bottom of the Eiger mountain overlooking Grindelwald, Switzerland. By then, he had two main goals in life - to climb the Eiger, and found a company related to mountaineering. He did both by the time he was 28 years old. After travelling all the way fr…
- [Snap's increasing focus on utility AR](https://www.karlsnotes.com/snaps-increasing-focus-on-utility-ar.md) - Snap has been quietly working on expanding development of its utility AR tools and experiences, making it easier for users to enhance our physical world through digital addons.
- [The 2022 General Election - Malta](https://www.karlsnotes.com/2022-general-election-malta.md) - On 20th February 2022, Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela asked the President of the Republic to dissolve parliament, so that a general election can be held on 26th March.
- [An African Superstate: the East African Federation](https://www.karlsnotes.com/an-african-superstate-the-east-african-federation.md) - The fastest-growing region in Africa is also the site of an ongoing political experiment that aims, in the coming years, to have members of the East African Community band together and form the East African Federation - a single African superstate. The region has had a long history of collaboration…
- [Fuggerei: the world's first public housing](https://www.karlsnotes.com/fuggerei-the-worlds-first-public-housing.md) - In 1521, a German merchant and banker called Jakob Fugger, known as 'the Rich', a descendant of the famous Fugger family of Augsburg [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augsburg], took it upon himself to fund and build the first social settlement in the world. Known as Fuggerei after its founders' famil…
- [The towns built by Mussolini and their political legacy](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-towns-built-by-mussolini-and-their-political-legacy.md) - At the end of the 19th century, a Prussian officer had an idea to build a water collection system beneath the mountains in modern-day Latina Province, very close to Rome, Italy. The idea was to collect the water before this settles down and prevent it from stagnating in what are known as the Pontin…
- [What you have to go through to travel to Malta during COVID-19](https://www.karlsnotes.com/what-you-have-to-go-through-to-check-if-you-can-travel-to-malta-during-covid-19.md) - Updated February 2022 The Health Authorities in Malta have been promoting the use of the ‘ traveltomalta.gov.mt [http://traveltomalta.gov.mt]‘ website for those wishing to travel to the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both nationals and non-nationals are encouraged to visit the website to con…
- [A Hacker News-inspired aggregator built with Softr.io](https://www.karlsnotes.com/a-hacker-news-inspired-aggregator-built-with-softr-io.md) - Hacker News has been a fascination of mine since I discovered it several years ago, and today it has become part of my morning routine. Through the site, I discovered countless interesting articles and ideas, and the most read article on this site also owes its success to the millions of Hacker New…
- [Tim Ferriss and the Art of Online Conversations](https://www.karlsnotes.com/tim-ferriss-and-the-art-of-online-conversations.md) - Over the past few years, you might have noticed an increase in the popularity of podcasts and the creation of audio-based content. Producing a podcast today is considered an essential networking and promotional tool. Major news networks, entrepreneurs, and politicians all want to be on podcast show…
- [Micro-level History](https://www.karlsnotes.com/micro-level-history.md) - I was recently having a conversation with a Spanish friend about the Spanish Civil War of the 1930’s. While I was interested in better understanding the bigger picture of this historical period – how the civil war was fought, who won or lost, how did it start and why, I was also very much intrigued…
- [Challenges to creating a Network State](https://www.karlsnotes.com/challenges-to-creating-a-network-state.md) - This is a review of the ‘How to Start a New Country’ piece by Balaji S. Srinivasan, which highlights possible pathways to a country founded and built online, and later also owning physical territory. I call this ‘the Reverse Estonia’, as the country has been on a similar path in reverse since the l…
- [Maltese Political Parties' Share of Parliamentary Seats](https://www.karlsnotes.com/maltese-political-parties-share-of-parliamentary-seats.md) - In a recent post [https://karlsnotes.com/first-count-votes-in-parliamentary-elections-in-malta-1921-2017/] , I visualised the number of first count votes received by Maltese political parties since the 1921 national election. This time, I created the above visualisation to show the composition of t…
- [The Barack Obama technique for making tough decisions](https://www.karlsnotes.com/the-barack-obama-technique-for-making-tough-decisions.md) - Over the past years, the definition of leadership has changed. We used to think of leadership as a trait associated with one’s title or hierarchical position within a company or an organisation. Today, we think of leadership as a social process that mixes individual desires and the group’s needs to…
- [How to start your own country in four steps](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-to-start-your-own-country-in-four-steps.md) - On 16th June 2014, Jeremiah Heaton declared 2,060km2 of arid land in Africa as the Kingdom of North Sudan, after promising his daughter that one day she would become a Princess. Heaton, a farmer from the US state of Virginia, had been looking for unclaimed territory around the world and after some…
- [First count votes in Parliamentary Elections in Malta - 1921-2017](https://www.karlsnotes.com/first-count-votes-in-parliamentary-elections-in-malta-1921-2017.md) - Malta is required to hold a General Election to elect Members of Parliament every 5 years. Elections are conducted using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method, which is regarded as one of the fairest ways to transfer the wishes of the electorate into parliamentary seats, in a more representatio…
- [How does a casual election work?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-does-a-casual-election-work.md) - General election candidates in Malta are allowed to contest in two different voting districts. If they are elected from both, they must resign from one of them and their seats are filled through a ‘casual election’ – ‘casual’ as in ‘not a regular thing’. Casual elections also happen when an MP resi…
- [Do the hard things.](https://www.karlsnotes.com/do-the-hard-things.md) - Back in 2014, I came across this [https://danwaldschmidt.com/2014-01-business-hard-things/] online post by Dan Waldschmidt on his Edgy Conversations blog. I saved it and still reference it when everything seems to be going the wrong way. You Have To Do The Hard Things You have to make the call you’…
- [IKEA and the future of living](https://www.karlsnotes.com/ikea-and-the-future-of-living.md) - The keyword guiding IKEA’s history is innovation. Ever since its start in 1943, the name IKEA has been synonymous with minimal, cheap furniture that can be bought and assembled in one’s own home. Its first innovation is also its most famous one – the flatpack furniture. By introducing this concept,…
- [Analysing famous speeches using Metaranx - an AI no code platform](https://www.karlsnotes.com/analysing-famous-speeches-using-metaranx-an-ai-no-code-platform.md) - Update - Metaranx is unfortunately no longer operational, but there are several other platforms which can do this. I recently received an invite from Metaranx to try out their new platform, an AI no code tool which currently lets users analyse the emotional sentiment of text using pre-built AI tool…
- [Building a No code app for a friend's side hustle](https://www.karlsnotes.com/building-a-no-code-app-for-a-friends-side-hustle.md) - One of my friends started baking and selling pizzas during the COVID-19 quasi-lockdown. His way of reaching people consisted solely of a Facebook page and sharing posts on his personal profile and a local Facebook group. People could either contact him on the page, directly on messenger or by calli…
- [Do political stickers work?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/do-political-stickers-work.md) - Go to any major European city and you’ll find dozens of stickers on road signs, bus stops and billboards. Each with a different message about the politics of a candidate, a political party or just a general pro or anti something message. I believe that in the US the bumper sticker is a more common…
- [Monopoly: the board game](https://www.karlsnotes.com/monopoly-the-board-game.md) - In 1903, Elizabeth Magie, a self-declared left-wing feminist, patented the Landlord’s Game, the forerunner of the now world-famous Monopoly board game. Today, Monopoly is more associated with capitalism than any left-wing ideology, but in the early years of the 20th century, the original goal of th…
- [A branding overhaul for Austria's ÖVP](https://www.karlsnotes.com/a-branding-overhaul-for-austrias-ovp.md) - In 2017, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) had a slogan which said ‘Time for something new’, despite it having been in government for 30 years. That same year, its new leader Sebastian Kurz [https://twitter.com/sebastiankurz] rebranded the party as the ‘New People’s Party’ and changed its colour fr…
- [Facebook of the 1940s](https://www.karlsnotes.com/facebook-of-the-1940s.md) - While World War II was nearing its end, the practise of data gathering to sell products or services directly to the consumer, was already in existence in the US. Data for sale Specific data on someone’s lifestyle was gathered in a list according to different interests and was used by private busine…
- [How did Keir Starmer win?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/how-did-keir-starmer-win.md) - I recently wrote about the online campaigns of the three candidates for the leadership of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Out of the three, Keir Starmer successfully clinched the nomination with the help of a formidable online campaign on Facebook and Instagram amongst other social media pl…
- [Towards a new country in Europe?](https://www.karlsnotes.com/towards-a-new-country-in-europe.md) - On Monday, Politico Europe released an article about the increasing sectarian discourse by Flemish nationalists about the future of Belgium. You can read the whole article here, but the argument mainly centres on how COVID-19 has accelerated the need for “for a “confederalist” Belgium, in which Fla…
- [Burundi's 2020 election](https://www.karlsnotes.com/burundis-2020-election.md) - Burundians will be voting for the next President and their new Deputies at the National Assembly on 20th May 2020. This will be the first election without the current President since 2005, and is bound to be an interesting one to follow, not least due to the COVID-19 crisis, which the current admin…
- [UK Labour Leadership election: the online campaign - Part 2](https://www.karlsnotes.com/uk-labour-leadership-election-the-online-campaign-part-2.md) - Back in February I had published a post regarding the social media following and number of ads promoted by the three contestants for leadership of the UK Labour Party, as well as a former contestant. The voting for the leader by members of the Labour Party, closed on 2nd April at midday and results…
- [Political campaigning in the time of Corona](https://www.karlsnotes.com/political-campaigning-in-the-time-of-corona.md) - The Novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has spread around the world at a phenomenal rate. Many institutions and private businesses have had to shutter down, white-collar workers started to work from home, and people in general have been left in a sense of disbelief at how a virus could liter…
- [Deepfakes in an Indian election campaign](https://www.karlsnotes.com/deepfakes-in-an-indian-election-campaign.md) - VICE [https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/jgedjb/the-first-use-of-deepfakes-in-indian-election-by-bjp] has recently reported that the president of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharatiya_Janata_Party], used deepfake technology to change the lan…
- [UK Labour Leadership election: the online campaign](https://www.karlsnotes.com/uk-labour-leadership-election-the-online-campaign.md) - Following a poor electoral result for the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, its leader, announced his intention to resign from the position, which triggered a leadership election. There are currently 3 contestants running for leader of the Labour Party; Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy, and Keir Starm…
- [Irish political dynasties](https://www.karlsnotes.com/irish-political-dynasties.md) - A few days before the Irish election, both Politico.eu [https://www.politico.eu/article/healy-rae-kerry-political-dynasty-irish-election/] and The Guardian [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/02/meet-the-healy-raes-the-rural-irish-populists-who-have-never-lost-an-election] published an arti…
- [Ireland goes to vote today](https://www.karlsnotes.com/ireland-goes-to-vote-today.md) - Can Sinn Féin be in government? [https://www.politico.eu/article/why-sinn-fein-is-surging-in-the-irish-election/] : Sinn Fein has moved from political pariah to potentially winning the greatest share of the votes in the Irish election, according to latest polls. While the party cannot achieve a maj…
- [Kiwis to vote in September 2020](https://www.karlsnotes.com/kiwis-to-vote-in-september-2020.md) - Prime Minister of New Zealand and Leader of the Labour Party, Jacinda Ardern, has recently announced that the country will be holding general elections on 19th September 2020. This article gives a pretty good overview on what to expect from the Labour Party’s electoral campaign from strategy to adv…

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