Stuck in the middle

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Why you shouldn’t take anything anyone says so personally; Ford says no to sharing driver data; and Karl Bushby completes 28-year walk across the entire planet.

Let’s get into it!

Do you like everyone? Of course not. So why would it make sense for everyone to like you?

That’s why sage advice has always said, ‘don’t take it personally’.

Author Don Miguel Ruiz wrote a book called The Four Agreements in the early ‘70s, and not taking anything personally was one of the four.

"Even when a situation seems so personal, even if others insult you directly, it has nothing to do with you. What they say, what they do, and the opinions they give are according to the agreements they have in their own minds."

In other words, most people are projecting their own thoughts onto you when they’re being judgemental, and most of us respond to what people say by projecting our own insecurities or self-evaluations onto what they say.

We validate them, even when they don’t really know what they’re talking about it. For a dozen other pieces of wisdom on this topic, dive in here.

The Ford Motor Company has announced they won’t sell driver behaviour and location data to third parties.

Called the Ford Privacy Promise, the company made the announcement on the heels of its competitor, General Motors, agreeing to pay a $220 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by 36 attorneys general who alleged the company illegally sold its own customers’ data.

According to court filings, the company enrolled millions of GM drivers in what it called the Smart Driver program between 2016 and 2024. The program allegedly collected data on drivers’ behavior and locations, and then sold that data to data brokers, who themselves sold it to insurance companies.

The insurance companies allegedly took that data and used to it to recalculate the premiums of drivers enrolled in the program.

Ford sidestepped questions about GM, while emphasizing privacy as a top priority of its own customers.

“I wouldn’t comment on what our competitors are doing, or anything that’s sort of been in the news there, but certainly it’s something that people don’t trust companies to take care with their data, and we really want to make sure we’re building that trust relationship with them,” Ford Chief Privacy Officer Kristin Jones told TechCrunch.

This real-life Odyssey actually took place.

Karl Bushby of Hull, England travelled to Punta Arenas, Chile in 1998, and on November 1 of that year, began walking what would become a 31,000-mile journey back home.

At no point did he take any mode of travel other than walking or swimming. He was stopped at international borders countless times, and was forced to put his trip on hold until he could get his papers in order.

From March 17 to March 31, 2006, he waited until the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia was frozen enough for him to walk across it. He still nearly died in frozen water and during a confrontation with a polar bear.

During September and October of 2024, he swam across the Caspian Sea. Two years later, he swam across the English Channel in order to get back to England, and the other day, he arrived back in Hull, on foot of course.

His 28-year journey was plagued by years-long stoppages, including during the 2008 Great Recession when sponsorship money dried up, and during the COVID pandemic in 2020.

You’ve probably noticed a shift in the music industry lately that’s seen bands and artists increasingly booking residencies in destination cities rather than bringing a tour to every town that may have demand to see them.

Money is, of course, everything in the music business, and the numbers suggest the residency is a winner for musicians—especially those capitalizing on nostalgia and FOMO (fear of missing out).

Take the Backstreet Boys, for example. After a highly successful 80-show residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas between 2017 and 2019, and another 61-show Sphere residency that’s set to wrap up at the end of this year, the Florida heartthrobs are heading to Toronto for a 12-show residency in February, March, and April.

By staying put, musicians cut significant costs on travel and logistics, allowing them to reinvest that money into the show itself, while making it a must-see experience, even if it means travelling as a fan.

"[Fans] want recreations of the video, they want the greatest light show they've ever seen, they want drones overhead making screenshots," said Eric Alper, a Toronto-based music publicist.

"They want an Instagram-able and TikTok-able moment so they can share on their own socials that they're at the show and you're not."

Let’s go to the movies!

November has sure seen its share of awesome movie releases. How many from the ’80s do you think you remember? Play today’s trivia and find out!