Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), April 01, 2024


EFITA newsletter / 1089 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


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Voir France Agricole 21/03/2024

Publications about ag robots

Ag Robotics: areas of interest (nb of publications)

01 - 21/03/2024

La bergère, de Stefano Bruzzi (Piacenza, IT, 1835 – 1911)

02 - 21/03/2024

The Signal – Global Ag High Tech Initiative

> Ground Breaking Podcast Episode #3: How Public and Private Sectors Can Work Together to Reduce the FUD Factor
ICIT's Joyce Hunter discusses how the ag industry can work with government organizations to ease the process of ag tech adoption.

>TELUS Formally Announces Proagrica Acquisition: Strategic Acquisition or Act of Desperation?
The acquisition of Proagrica raises doubts about TELUS's prospects in the ag software market, says one industry insider.

> Integrating Data-Driven Solutions for Fine-Tuned Climate Control in Indoor Farming
Next-generation technologies can radically transform indoor farms and greenhouses into prolific food sanctuaries.

> Sustainable Rice Paddies: How Riso Gallo Uses xFarm Technologies to Digitalize Its Supply Chain
A multi-year project aims to digitalize Riso Gallo’s entire supply chain participating in the ‘Rice that sustains’ project by 2026.

> Key Takeaway from the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit: Survival
While the tone of the event remained positive, the prevailing message underscored the importance of survival for agtech startups.

> Field Data Management Software: 5 Key Takeaways From Stratus Ag Research Study
Agribusiness analyst Shane Thomas shares insight on the latest research on the adoption and use of field data management software.

> Field Data Management Software: 5 Key Takeaways From Stratus Ag Research Study
Agribusiness analyst Shane Thomas shares insight on the latest research on the adoption and use of field data management software.

> How AWS and Ever.Ag Are Accelerating AI-Enhanced Crop Management and Sustainability
FieldAlytics will leverage AWS's Generative AI on the SageMaker platform to offer crop growth modeling and imagery change detection.

> Bayer Pilots Unique Generative AI Tool for Agriculture
The company has been using proprietary agronomic data to train a large language model (LLM) with years of internal data.

> 5 Ways Drones Are Making AI More Accessible to Farmers
Drone technology makes AI more affordable, easier to manage, and more accurate, thus giving farmers who use it significant returns.

> Transforming Crop Insurance: Prioritizing Producers and Enhancing User Experience with Technology
Satellite imagery and remote sensing stand out as one of the most promising technologies poised to transform crop insurance.

> Latest Farming Technology Trends Available From Bushel 2024 State of the Farm Report
The report shares perspectives from America’s larger, high-growth, and next-gen farmers.

> CropX and WiseConn Announce Digital Integration to Streamline Irrigation Management for Drip Irrigators (CropX Technologies)

> Bayer Crop Science Extends Global Partnership with AgriFutures growAG for Innovation (Bayer)

> John Deere, Kinze and Ag Leader Form Collaboration Agreement (Deere & Co.)

> Intelinair Revolutionizes Crop Intelligence: A Game-Changer in AgTech
Intelinair is reshaping the future of agriculture through its cutting-edge technology.

> Why the VISION Conference Is So Important to AgGateway
CEO Brent Kemp says its important for them to be involved in conversations about interoperability and ag tech adoption.

> How AI Is Taking Green-on-Green Spray Technology to New Levels of Productivity and Sustainability
Learn how advancements in AI computer vision is providing never-before-seen accuracy.

> Cross-Industry Insights: Why Amazon Web Services Supports the VISION Conference
Ron Osborne, Global Head of Technology for Agriculture at AWS, shares why AWS was a proud partner of the recent VISION Conference.

> How Machinery Company Jacto Is Helping to Deliver Connectivity to Brazilian Farmers
Connectivity is a huge obstacle for Brazilian farms to climb the level of digital agriculture.

> Infusing Ag Tech Into the Future
Corteva's Brian Lutz discussed the cross-industry synergies that will shape the future of ag tech at the recent VISION Conference.

> Marketing in Ag Tech: How to Effectively Reach Your Audience
A recent podcast sheds light on the complexities of marketing in the ag tech sector and offers practical insights for driving adoption.

> Why the VISION Conference Is So Important to AgGateway
CEO Brent Kemp says its important for them to be involved in conversations about interoperability and ag tech adoption.

> How AI Is Taking Green-on-Green Spray Technology to New Levels of Productivity and Sustainability
Learn how advancements in AI computer vision is providing never-before-seen accuracy.

> Cross-Industry Insights: Why Amazon Web Services Supports the VISION Conference
Ron Osborne, Global Head of Technology for Agriculture at AWS, shares why AWS was a proud partner of the recent VISION Conference.

> How Machinery Company Jacto Is Helping to Deliver Connectivity to Brazilian Farmers
Connectivity is a huge obstacle for Brazilian farms to climb the level of digital agriculture.

> Infusing Ag Tech Into the Future
Corteva's Brian Lutz discussed the cross-industry synergies that will shape the future of ag tech at the recent VISION Conference.

> Marketing in Ag Tech: How to Effectively Reach Your Audience
A recent podcast sheds light on the complexities of marketing in the ag tech sector and offers practical insights for driving adoption.

> Corteva Leverages Data and Technology to Help Farmers Produce More with Less
Embracing the power of data and technology, Corteva is revolutionizing agriculture.

> Ground Breaking Podcast Episode #2: Untangling On-Farm Data for Clear Takeaways
Intelinair's Kevin Krieg discusses how farmers are using data and how the industry can create seamless solutions for farmers through collaboration.

> Smart Farming and the Transition to Regenerative Ag: Why Are EU Farmers Struggling With Climate Cognitive Dissonance?
While EU farmers understand the biggest risks to their farms, a study reveals they aren’t using available tools to manage these threats.

> Precision Farming Market: Unveiling the Growth Potential and Revolutionizing Agriculture
In the dynamic landscape of modern agriculture, the precision farming market is sowing the seeds of innovation and efficiency.

> Varaha Raises $8.7 Million to Accelerate Agricultural Decarbonization
Varaha emerges as a frontrunner in combating climate change in the developing world through nature-based carbon credits.

> How Syngenta Is Partnering with CropX to Optimize Irrigation and Meet Sustainability Goals
After a successful trial, Syngenta is installing the CropX system on additional irrigated corn production acres.

> Harnessing Ag Tech for Sustainable Ag
A VISION Conference panel explored how cutting-edge agricultural technology serves as a catalyst for a transformative journey.

See globalagtechinitiative.com


Mouton de profil, de Stefano Bruzzi (Piacenza, IT, 1835 – 1911)

03 - 21/03/2024

Revenant du marché après la chute de neige, de Stefano Bruzzi (Piacenza, IT, 1835 – 1911)

04 - 21/03/2024

Robots and happy workers: Productivity surge helps explain US economy’s surprising resilience, by Paul Wiseman, February 21, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trying to keep up with customer demand, Batesville Tool & Die began seeking 70 people to hire last year. It wasn’t easy. Attracting factory workers to a community of 7,300 in the Indiana countryside was a tough sell, especially having to compete with big-name manufacturers nearby like Honda and Cummins Engine.

Job seekers were scarce.

“You could count on one hand how many people in the town were unemployed,” said Jody Fledderman, the CEO. “It was just crazy.’’

Batesville Tool & Die managed to fill just 40 of its vacancies.

Enter the robots. The company invested in machines that could mimic human workers and in vision systems, which helped its robots “see” what they were doing.

The Batesville experience and others like it have been replicated countlessly across the United States for the past couple of years. Chronic worker shortages have led many companies to invest in machines to do some of the work they can’t find people to do. They’ve also been training the workers they do have to use advanced technology so they can produce more with less.

The result has been an unexpected productivity boom, which helps explain a great economic mystery: How has the world’s largest economy managed to remain so healthy, with brisk growth and low unemployment, despite brutally high interest rates that are intended to tame inflation but that typically cause a recession?

To economists, strong productivity growth provides an almost magical elixir. When companies roll out more efficient machines or technology, their workers can become more productive: They increase their output per hour. A result is that companies can often boost their profits and raise their employees’ pay without having to jack up prices. Inflation can remain in check.
.../...
See apnews.com


Plantix: more than a crop doctor driven by AI

The Plantix app helps farmers to detect pests and diseases on crops within seconds. It works on Android phones.
See futurefarming.com

The Efita newsletter is sponsored by:

05 - 21/03/2024

Midi, heure du déjeuner, de Stefano Bruzzi (Piacenza, IT, 1835 – 1911)

06 - 21/03/2024

Deciphering The Diet-Cancer Connection, by Chuck Dinerstein, MD, MBA — February 13, 2024

The discourse about the link between diet and cancer can often be as convoluted as a tangled mess of spaghetti. If you were expecting definitive answers in the realm of nutritional science, the TH Chan School of Public Health discussion on "Reducing Cancer Risk Through Nutrition" will disappoint.
See acsh.org


If Your Child Can’t Eat More Than 340 Medium Apples Per Day, You Can Skip The Organics

In January, the USDA published its 2024 Pesticide Data Program, covering the 2022 production period. It illustrates that more than 99 percent of the 8,512 fruits and vegetables sampled had residues below the established EPA tolerances. And 27.6 percent had no detectable residue.
See acsh.org


In the face of extreme weather, scientists look to adapt crops, by Lourdes Medrano, Undark Magazine, December 18, 2023

Do wild varieties of overlooked grains, fruits, and vegetables hold the key to developing more resilient agriculture?
See agdaily.com


Most Popular Social Media 2004/2023
See statistics
See vidéo


Printemps, de Stefano Bruzzi (Piacenza, IT, 1835 – 1911)

07 - 21/03/2024 Voir meisterdrucke.fr

L'abbeverata del gregge nel Rio Restano, de Stefano Bruzzi (Piacenza, IT, 1835 – 1911)

08 - 21/03/2024 Voir meisterdrucke.fr

Why are some people biased against agriculture? By Michelle Miller, Farm Babe, January 02, 2024

If you’re a part of agriculture, chances are you’re no stranger to people saying that this industry (or at least parts of it) are bad. Some people think that the food system is broken (more on that here) and that agriculture has a disproportionately negative impact on the environment — there are so many misconceptions about ag. Some of this is due to a lack of knowledge about agriculture, while some of this is due to bias against agriculture.

Bias can be a prejudice in favor of or against something. Some bias is unconscious, meaning that you don’t even realize that you hold stereotypes, beliefs or subconscious attitudes toward people or something.

So let’s dig into why some people are biased against agriculture.
.../...
Another interesting fact is that Americans believe that less than half (46 percent) of U.S. farms are family owned — when really 98 percent of U.S. farms are family owned and operated. This on its own isn’t bias, but it could absolutely cause people to be biased against larger farms.
.../...
See agdaily.com


Retour à la maison, de Stefano Bruzzi (Piacenza, IT, 1835 – 1911)

09 - 21/03/2024 Voir meisterdrucke.fr

La prima neve, de Stefano Bruzzi (Piacenza, IT, 1835 – 1911)

10 - 21/03/2024 Voir anca-aste.it

Responsible plant nutrition: A new paradigm to support food system transformation, by Achim Dobermann and all. (International Fertilizer Association (IFA), Paris, France)
See sciencedirect.com
View PowerPoint presentation


Bayer wins latest trial in Pennsylvania Roundup weedkiller suit, by AGDAILY Reporters, March 06, 2024

Bayer Ag secured a legal victory in Philadelphia on Tuesday regarding its Roundup weedkiller, while plaintiffs in California withdrew another case.

Facing numerous lawsuits alleging Roundup caused cancer, Bayer maintains the product’s safety despite these claims. Recent legal wins in Arkansas and Delaware add to the company’s success in trials, with Bayer prevailing in three consecutive cases and 13 out of the last 19 trials.

The win in Philadelphia marks a significant milestone for Bayer, particularly following recent rulings on admissible evidence in Roundup litigation. The company also announced a successful trial outcome in Pennsylvania, where a retired postal service worker claimed Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, a California farmer and his wife voluntarily dropped their lawsuit alleging Roundup caused cancer, further bolstering Bayer’s position. Despite ongoing litigation, Bayer remains steadfast in defending the safety of Roundup and its products.

“We continue to stand behind the safety of Roundup and will confidently defend the safety of our products and our good faith actions in any future litigation,” Bayer said in a statement.
…/…
See agdaily.com

How genetically modified pigs could end the shortage of organs for transplants, by Rob Stein, February 29, 2024
…/..
To get FDA approval to start a formal study in humans on the organ waiting list, Revivicor is first studying the pig organs in baboons and in the bodies of people who have been declared brain-dead.

Revivicor has so far sponsored eight such "decedent" procedures, involving hearts and kidneys, at NYU Langone Health in New York and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. More tests are planned as more body donors are found.

A liver procedure using a cloned, modified eGenesis animal was recently announced at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Livers could be used as temporary bridges to transplantation with a human organ, researchers say.

In addition, surgeons at the University of Maryland in Baltimore implanted gene-edited pig hearts into two men who had run out of other options. Those volunteers survived only a few weeks. But Ayares says the men provided invaluable information about using organs from genetically modified cloned pigs in people. For example, researchers found evidence of a pig virus in one of the heart recipients, prompting Revivicor to add additional testing to ensure the animals are free from that risk.

"We're trying to solve the organ shortage crisis," Ayares says. "These people are heroes."
See npr.org/


Embrace new technologies to accelerate progress towards SDGs, UN Sec-Gen urges G-77 nations, by Richard Wetaya, February 3, 2024

At the recently concluded third South Summit (G-77 + China) in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged nations to harness new technologies to accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Halfway through the 2030 deadline for realizing the goals, several G-77+China Bloc countries —   which helped shape the UN open working report on sustainable development and proposed concrete SDGs ahead of the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — remain behind schedule.

Guterres said he had proposed an SDG Stimulus of 500 billion dollars a year in affordable, long-term finance for sustainable development and climate action in developing countries and added that initiatives like the Global Digital Compact, which he proposed in his Common Agenda, could accelerate progress towards the SDGs for nations in the Bloc.

“The Global Digital Compact initiative aims to ensure that no one is left behind in a new technological era,” Guterres said during the Summit, whose theme was Leaving No One Behind.
.../...
See allianceforscience.org




More than 90% of new cars sold in Norway are electric. And it all started with some pop stars driving around in a jerry-built Fiat Panda, by Sam Wollaston, 12 Mar 2024 15.41 CET

I’m kneeling on the snow outside the king’s house, impersonating a 1980s heart-throb, with a man named Harald and an electric car. It’s a situation that probably needs some explanation.

Harald isn’t the king, although the king of Norway is also called Harald; we just happen to be outside the monarch’s residence, a handsome red manor. I’m in Stavanger to find out how, in a world where transport contributes about 20% of CO2 emissions, Norway came to lead the world in electric car take-up. In 2023, 82.4% of private vehicles sold in the country were electric. In January, the figure was 92.1%. The goal is to hit 100% by next year.

Meanwhile, in the UK, a ban on new petrol and diesel cars was recently pushed back from 2030 to 2035. Just 14.7% of new cars registered in January were electric. The situation in the EU is even worse: 10.9% of cars sold there in January were electric.
…/…

See The Guardian

Scientists engineer plant microbiome for the first time to protect crops against disease

Scientists have engineered the microbiome of plants for the first time, boosting the prevalence of ‘good’ bacteria that protect the plant from disease.
See southampton.ac.uk


Which Countries Have the Largest Forests?

See visualcapitalist.com

Mapping the World’s Forests: How Green is Our Globe? By Adam Symington, January 20, 2023

See visualcapitalist.com

The Decarbonization Channel provides a data-driven look at all things decarbonization with a focus on the U.S. energy sector.
See visualcapitalist.com


Scientists just set a nuclear fusion record in a step toward unleashing the limitless, clean energy source, by Angela Dewan, CNN, February 8, 2024
.../...
Nuclear fusion is the same process that powers the sun and other stars, and is widely seen as the holy grail of clean energy. Experts have worked for decades to master the highly complex process on Earth, and if they do, fusion could generate enormous amounts of energy with tiny inputs of fuel and emit zero planet-warming carbon in the process.

The scientists fed the tokamak deuterium and tritium, which are hydrogen variants that future commercial fusion plants are most likely to use.

To generate fusion energy, the team raised temperatures in the machine to 150 million degrees Celsius — around 10 times hotter than the core of the sun. That extreme heat forces the deuterium and tritium to fuse together and form helium, a process that in turn releases enormous amounts of heat.

The tokamak is lined with strong magnets that hold the plasma in. The heat is then harnessed and used to produce electricity.
.../...
See cnn.com


How AI Is Helping Us Learn About Birds

Machine learning is powering new insights into how birds migrate—and forecasts about where they’ll go next, by Malena Carollo, February 3, 2024
.../...
The information that the humans produce, whatever it is, you know, whether you’re an expert, or whether you are a novice, can be really essential as like kernels of what these machine learning models operate on.
See themarkup.org

Weather forecasts have become a lot more accurate

Weather forecasting has come a long way. The chart above shows the difference between global forecasts and the actual weather outcome 3, 5, 7, and 10 days in advance. The biggest improvements we’ve seen are for longer timeframes. By the early 2000s, 5-day forecasts were “highly accurate” and 7-day forecasts are reaching that threshold today.

Unfortunately, this quality of information isn’t available to everyone. There are big differences in accuracy across the world, with a large gap between rich and poor. This is a problem. 60% of workers in low-income countries are employed in agriculture, arguably the most weather-dependent sector.

Accurate weather forecasting is crucial in protecting lives and livelihoods, especially in a world where weather is likely to get more extreme.

See Our World In Data

Women have made major advances in politics — but the world is still far from equal

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were no women in national parliaments around the world.

This changed in 1907 when women first entered Norway’s legislature. After very limited progress for the next four decades, women made it into many more parliaments in the second half of the 20th century — and in 2008, Rwanda had the first women-majority parliament.

The world has come a long way towards political equality. But as our new article on gender equality shows, women remain underrepresented, especially in the highest offices.

See Our World In Data

Improving agricultural productivity is crucial to ending global hunger and protecting the world’s wildlife

Land use for agriculture has been the main driver of the destruction of the world's biodiversity for a very long time. But at the same time, as we protect the world’s environment, we also have to find ways to produce the food needed to end hunger and malnutrition.

The chart above shows that, after centuries of stagnation, humanity has recently achieved a large increase in land productivity. Land use per person has declined by more than half. At the same time, food supply per person increased in every region of the world.

However, the fact that land use per capita has declined does not mean the problem is solved. While agricultural land use has been strongly reduced in some regions, it is increasing in others. If we want to see the planet’s wildlife thrive, we must reduce our land use further.

See Our World In Data

Who Americans spend their time with changes a lot across a lifetime

For this biweekly update, we’re resurfacing one of our most popular charts. It shows who the average American spends their time with across the different chapters of their life.

When young, Americans spend much of their time with friends and family. But in their 20s, this starts to drop off quickly, and is replaced with partners and children.

Across the next three decades, Americans spend much of their time with partners, children, and, unsurprisingly, coworkers. This time spent with colleagues begins to drop off around 60 years old — which makes sense since many people in the US enter retirement around this age.

The chart also shows that older people spend more time alone. But as our article on time use around the world shows, solitude and loneliness are not one and the same.

See Our World In Data

What share of new cars are electric?

Tracking global data on electric vehicles… Explore data on electric car sales and stocks worldwide.
See ourworldindata.org


The global fight against polio — how far have we come?

A generation ago, poliomyelitis paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children every year. Many countries have now eliminated the disease, and our generation has the chance to eradicate it entirely.

A hospital room in the US with patients in iron lungs in 1952

See ourworldindata.org

 

“Bad” joke (See Reader Digest)

21/03/2024 See Reader Digest

“I Wish You Bad Luck”, read Supreme Court Justice John Roberts' Unconventional Speech to His Son's Graduating (very American speech... and nice – GW)

On July 3rd 2017, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the commencement address at his son’s ninth-grade graduation last month, bestowing advice that ran counter to many typical commencement speeches.

Extract: “Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why.

From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice.

I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty.

Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted.

I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time, so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.

And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship.

I hope you’ll be ignored, so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion.

Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.”


Read Roberts’ full remarks below :

Thank you very much.

Rain, somebody said, is like confetti from heaven. So even the heavens are celebrating this morning, joining the rest of us at this wonderful commencement ceremony. Before we go any further, graduates, you have an important task to perform because behind you are your parents and guardians. Two or three or four years ago, they drove into Cardigan, dropped you off, helped you get settled and then turned around and drove back out the gates. It was an extraordinary sacrifice for them. They drove down the trail of tears back to an emptier and lonelier house. They did that because the decision about your education, they knew, was about you. It was not about them. That sacrifice and others they made have brought you to this point. But this morning is not just about you. It is also about them, so I hope you will stand up and turn around and give them a great round of applause. Please.

Now when somebody asks me how the remarks at Cardigan went, I will be able to say they were interrupted by applause. Congratulations, class of 2017. You’ve reached an important milestone. An important stage of your life is behind you. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you it is the easiest stage of your life, but it is in the books. While you’ve been at Cardigan, you have all been a part of an important international community as well. And I think that needs to be particularly recognized.

Now around the country today at colleges, high schools, middle schools, commencement speakers are standing before impatient graduates. And they are almost always saying the same things. They will say that today is a commencement exercise. ‘It is a beginning, not an end. You should look forward.’ And I think that is true enough, however, I think if you’re going to look forward to figure out where you’re going, it’s good to know where you’ve been and to look back as well. And I think if you look back to your first afternoon here at Cardigan, perhaps you will recall that you were lonely. Perhaps you will recall that you were a little scared, a little anxious. And now look at you. You are surrounded by friends that you call brothers, and you are confident in facing the next step in your education.

It is worth trying to think why that is so. And when you do, I think you may appreciate that it was because of the support of your classmates in the classroom, on the athletic field and in the dorms. And as far as the confidence goes, I think you will appreciate that it is not because you succeeded at everything you did, but because with the help of your friends, you were not afraid to fail. And if you did fail, you got up and tried again. And if you failed again, you got up and tried again. And if you failed again, it might be time to think about doing something else. But it was not just success, but not being afraid to fail that brought you to this point.

Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.

Now commencement speakers are also expected to give some advice. They give grand advice, and they give some useful tips. The most common grand advice they give is for you to be yourself. It is an odd piece of advice to give people dressed identically, but you should — you should be yourself. But you should understand what that means. Unless you are perfect, it does not mean don’t make any changes. In a certain sense, you should not be yourself. You should try to become something better. People say ‘be yourself’ because they want you to resist the impulse to conform to what others want you to be. But you can’t be yourself if you don’t learn who are, and you can’t learn who you are unless you think about it.

The Greek philosopher Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ And while ‘just do it’ might be a good motto for some things, it’s not a good motto when it’s trying to figure out how to live your life that is before you. And one important clue to living a good life is to not to try to live the good life. The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is frankly not to think about them at all.

So that’s the deep advice. Now some tips as you get ready to go to your new school. Other the last couple of years, I have gotten to know many of you young men pretty well, and I know you are good guys. But you are also privileged young men. And if you weren’t privileged when you came here, you are privileged now because you have been here. My advice is: Don’t act like it.

When you get to your new school, walk up and introduce yourself to the person who is raking the leaves, shoveling the snow or emptying the trash. Learn their name and call them by their name during your time at the school. Another piece of advice: When you pass by people you don’t recognize on the walks, smile, look them in the eye and say hello. The worst thing that will happen is that you will become known as the young man who smiles and says hello, and that is not a bad thing to start with.

You’ve been at a school with just boys. Most of you will be going to a school with girls. I have no advice for you.

The last bit of advice I’ll give you is very simple, but I think it could make a big difference in your life. Once a week, you should write a note to someone. Not an email. A note on a piece of paper. It will take you exactly 10 minutes. Talk to an adult, let them tell you what a stamp is. You can put the stamp on the envelope. Again, 10 minutes, once a week. I will help you, right now. I will dictate to you the first note you should write. It will say, ‘Dear [fill in the name of a teacher at Cardigan Mountain School].’ Say: ‘I have started at this new school. We are reading [blank] in English. Football or soccer practice is hard, but I’m enjoying it. Thank you for teaching me.’ Put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and send it. It will mean a great deal to people who — for reasons most of us cannot contemplate — have dedicated themselves to teaching middle school boys. As I said, that will take you exactly 10 minutes a week. By the end of the school year, you will have sent notes to 40 people. Forty people will feel a little more special because you did, and they will think you are very special because of what you did. No one else is going to carry that dividend during your time at school.

Enough advice. I would like to end by reading some important lyrics. I cited the Greek philosopher Socrates earlier. These lyrics are from the great American philosopher, Bob Dylan. They’re almost 50 years old. He wrote them for his son, Jesse, who he was missing while he was on tour. It lists the hopes that a parent might have for a son and for a daughter. They’re also good goals for a son and a daughter. The wishes are beautiful, they’re timeless. They’re universal. They’re good and true, except for one: It is the wish that gives the song its title and its refrain. That wish is a parent’s lament. It’s not a good wish. So these are the lyrics from Forever Young by Bob Dylan:

May God bless you and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
And may you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
And may you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young

Thank you.
See time.com

Mortalité des enfants en bas âge / Mortality rate of young children

01 - 21/03/2024

Mortalité due à la malaria/ Malaria deaths per 100000 people

02 - 21/03/2024

Baisse de la mortalité des femmes à la naissance dans le SE asiatique / Reudction of maternal mortality in the SE Asia region

03 - 21/03/2024

Diminution de la mortalité due au SIDA dans le SE asiatique / Reduction in AIDS-related deaths in the SE Asia Region

04 - 21/03/2024

Fortune des familles américaines / US Family Net Worth

05 - 21/03/2024

Déclin de la natalité partout dans le monde / A global baby bust

06 - 21/03/2024

Ventes de voitures électriques / New EV sales

07 - 21/03/2024

Economy basics (1)

08 - 21/03/2024

Economy basics (2)

09 - 21/03/2024

Economy basics (3)

10 - 21/03/2024

La fin du boom de la construction en Chine / End of the Chinese Constructions boom

11 - 21/03/2024

Fuir Cuba / Leaving Cuba

12- 21/03/2024

Nombre pas exceptionnel de traversées de la frontière SW des USA / Number of Mexican Border Crossings Not That Big

13 - 21/03/2024

Première Ligue, la Reine / English Premier League Domination

14 - 21/03/2024

Coexistence de véhicules électriques et hybrides / A room for hybrid cars

15 - 21/03/2024

Concentration dans l'Ouest des élevages / Concentration of livestock breeding in the West of France

16 - 21/03/2024

Baisse du nombre d'élevages / Decline in the number of farms

17 - 21/03/2024

Taille des élevages en augmentation / Increasing size of farms

18 - 21/03/2024

Main d'œuvre dans les exploitations agricoles françaises / Labor on French farms

19- 21/03/2024