THE MUSTS

The Halloween Economy Breaks All Time Record

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year. But beyond its traditions and festivities, Halloween bears considerable economic significance - which I think you guys might not be aware. So let’s dive in to some scary scary figures.

To put it into perspective, this year's Halloween expenditures are projected to break a record high exceeding a staggering $12 billion, surpassing the previous record of approximately $11 billion spent in 2022. That's 25% more than people spent in 2018, for example.

Everyone is engaged: Notably, an all-time high of 73% of Americans intend to partake in Halloween celebrations, surpassing both last year's 69% and the pre-pandemic figure of 72%.

Smile Willy Wonka: While in the last Tanamesa issue we talked about the decline in the number of people eating chocolate with the rise of ozempic and the healthy lifestyle (remember?), this time Wonka has everything to celebrate.

In terms of financials, Americans are predicted to spend over $3.6 billion on Halloween candies this year, marking an impressive 15% surge compared to the $3.1 billion spent last year. To underscore the scale, the global candy market amassed $12 billion last year, with American Halloween festivities accounting for over 25% of worldwide candy sales.

Did you trick or treat last tuesday? I didn’t eat a lot of chocolate, but I did some tricks indeed….

What else is on?

• UAW Strike reaches deal with record pay raise. Remember the historical strike agains the biggest US automakers of the first edition of the newsletter? Deals were closed with a historical 25% pay rise for employees over four and a half years. Go Strikers!

• ESPM is bigger than Disney: For the first time in history, Disney has released the figures for the traditional ESPN - and the global sports giant generated more profit than the entire entertainment division (films & streaming) of the company.

• Bad investment. Social media company X internally valued itself with a 55% drop from what Elon Musk paid for the company last October.

• Brazilian Unicorn: Nubank, the biggest digital bank by funding in the world, could be worth $100 billion by 2026, says Morgan Stanley.

Loneliness Epidemic: Almost ¼ of the world feels lonely

If it had been released in this decade, the famous Akon's song could have been even more successful: Just like the rapper, one in four people around the world feel very or fairly lonely.

The survey represents almost 80% of the world's adults, but because it doesn't include China, the researchers say the figure is even higher.

• Who is suffering the most? Although efforts to reduce loneliness are focused on older people, they are the ones who suffer the least from it: 17% of adults aged 65 and over feel lonely.

On the other hand, young adults - aged 19 to 29 - have the highest rates of loneliness, with 27% saying they feel very or quite alone.

In general, the figures are very similar for men and women, but there are more countries where the rate is higher for women than for men.

key takeaway: text your friends baby, answer to my vocal messages and be more present. Yes - that’s for you.

Fast Facts

• Argentina Elections. Whoever it is, the next president will take over a country with inflation at +130%, interest rates at 133% a year, and foreign debt in the billions.

• Priorities. US announces project of nuclear bomb 22x more powerful than Hiroshima bomb.

• Having children to enrich. Trying to boost its birth rate, Hong Kong starts to give money in addition to countless other initiatives.

• Dengue fever. The disease is beginning to spread and has worried countries in Europe like Italy, France and North America.

• +60% against. Australia rejects recognizing indigenous peoples rights in the Constitution.

• Extra: We aren’t terrified enough about losing the Amazon. Incredible article about the consequences of its deforestation.

The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt and Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong

If popular belief has always said that the dynamics worked this way, new research into the Paleolithic era is showing that the division of labor was a little different.

Analyzing Neanderthal remains, scientists found that there were no differences in trauma patterns between men and women, indicating that both sexes participated in the same activities throughout their lives.

In addition, another study that analyzed food-gathering societies found that 79% of these cultures had women hunters - including those who had children.

More random things

• Best Inventions of 2023. From more than two decades, TIME editors have highlighted the most impactful new products and ideas of the year and the result of this year is outstanding! I highly recommend reading through the categories and choosing at least 5 ideas to marvel at how incredibly intelligent human beings can be.

• Ready for a trip? Psychedelic retreats are going mainstream. As they are still illegal in most parts of the world, some curious tourists travel abroad to try them legally - and get some kind of spiritual guidance. Someone wants to join me? Seriously.

• Future? Present. The Chinese government has made progress on the "flying cars" agenda, authorizing the start of tests by a drone cab company, which means that the technology will already be on the streets in urban air.

A bit of AI talk:

The US government regulates AI for the first time. Biden just signed the first decree regulating artificial intelligence in the United States, to boost AI based on clear rules. One of the main requirements is that companies share previous tests with the government, proving that they cannot produce biological or nuclear weapons or help terrorists.

Zooming Out: Now, with the world's biggest technology power defining its measures - even if only initially - they tend to become a reference for other countries.

It was time:

• AI models fail miserably in transparency. When Stanford University tested how transparent large language models are, it found that the top-scoring model, Meta’s LLaMA 2, only scored 54 out of 100.

• Apparently AI chatbots can guess your personal information from what you type. New research has found that large language models are excellent at guessing people’s private information from chats.

Something To Give Each Other by Troye Sivan: The core theme of this album is human connection: its evanescent nature and the lasting impression that even small moments can leave on us.

While we do encounter euphoric celebrations of passion, relationships, and community, we equally find moments of grief, the inability to let go of the pain of a relationship’s end, and parsing over those brief moments that take on significant different meaning as time wears on.

Troye isn’t a showy singer, by any means, which he uses to his advantage. Throughout the album, he sings with a chilled poise, a testament to his growth and confidence in himself. This choice renders the album a conversational and intimately experience, with Sivan speaking directly to the listener, giving us an earnest, unfiltered confession.

Best songs: What’s The Time Where You Are; Silly; Can’t Go Back Baby; Still Got it and Rush.

For those that enjoy Lauv, Taylor Swift, Melanie Martinez and Tate McRae (Rating: 7/10)

• Hidden Saviors. Why fungi plays such an important part in climate change and how they contribute to the trees they live alongside.

• Female Supremacy. Denmark’s first Viking queen was likely more powerful than the king.

• Full hearted. How Disney managed to make robots appear emotional.

• Animal kingdom. Galapagos giant tortoises are being put to work: as dedicated ecosystem engineers.

• Drink or Treat. If you are more of a drink person, here’s a list with 49 easy Halloween inspired cocktails.

• “Get out of here”. The sole museum dedicated to ouija boards sounds terrifying— especially after dark.

• Sci-fi horror. If you’re after a seriously scary horror film, you could do worse than check out this list.

 What do you do when you're not job-market-ready but can't afford a master's degree? Well, you enter a graduate program!

Jokes aside (not a joke), last week I went to Amsterdam in a 10 days conference to graduade from my traineeship at ING.

I used to be that kid who'd visit my dad's office, observing people typing away under this all white artificial light and thinking: "Is this life?” and “This isn't for me”. How can anyone be happy working in front of a computer in a corporate office every single day?

Fast forward a few years, and after graduating from Bocconi, I faced one of the hardest choices of my life: Return to Brazil for what used to be my dream job in Music Marketing or take a corporate job and stay in Europe.

For countless reasons, I chose to stay in Europe - even if it meant a career that didn't ignite my passion. I reflect a lot on this choice and how it affects not only my life today but also the person I am becoming. And here’s the thing:

Let me explain: Back when I was little, my greatest fear was professional failure. I dreamt of success, money, findind my purpose, and I honestly believed that only then could I be happy.

And the biggest lesson I learned in the past two years is understanding that our happiness is so plural that it could never be confined to a job. Since I’ve joined ING, I challenged myself, discovered new hobbies, explored new corners of the world, made lifelong friends, and everything while working in a 9am-5pm corporate job (from home thanks to COVID).

Little Micael would assume I’d be miserable working at a corporate, but it's liberating to know: I’m the happiest I’ve ever been and my life's happiness is not about my job.

Don't get me wrong: Am I saying we can all thrive and be happily ever after with terrible jobs? No. It's natural to seek a fulfilling job and you should always try to find something that makes you smile. It is a huge part of your day. I am lucky enough to have an incredible work environment, an amazing team, and ING provides a fantastic work-life balance. But if you ask me whether my job is my passion, the answer is a resounding no. However, have I been happy and successful over the last two years? Absolutely yes.

My biggest lesson here is that our happiness and our purpose in this life is so much bigger and greater than any job could ever be. It's about us, as individuals, creating and experiencing ourselves in this beautifully complex world.

To ING: I still don’t know how I passed those interviews and the incredibly selective application process. I'm extremely grateful to be part of a program that allowed me to explore, develop new passions, meet friends for a lifetime, and work at a company that is actually striving to make the world better. I can't predict whether I'll be part of the group for more one, three or five years. But I know you’ll always be a part of my story. And I am really proud of that.

Micael.

PS: If you like the topic, I highly recommend this course called “Science of Happiness”. It is facinating to discover how much power we have over our overall state of mind. And in case you were wondering, ITP stands for International Talent Programme.