#10 - Buenos Aires, The Halo Effect & Going a Little Too Far
From the city of fury & fair winds đŹđ„
Halo Hola from Buenos Aires, where the steaks are superb and cheap, the sun is shining almost all the time1, a radically new president is bringing hope to a disastrous economy⊠and there are almost as many bloody2 mosquitoes as there are âAIâ projects.
Oh, and of course, where fĂștbol is life.
đł Random Rabbit Hole
The Etymology of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires in English means âgood airsâ or âfair windsâ, the latter being the intended meaning by the 16th century founders.
Somewhat paradoxically however, the resident porteños (âpeople of the portâ), call it la Ciudad de la Furia (âthe City of Furyâ) because of its wild charm.
The name Buen Ayre comes from Bonaria hill (from âbon aireâ) in Sardinia, where the stench of the swampland below couldnât be smelt. The old city swamp was rampant with mosquitoes3, which carried malaria (âmal aireâ = âbad airâ).
In the early 14th century, a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built on this hill after the Spanish (Aragon) conquered Sardinia. The legend goes that in the later part of that century, a storm caught a ship near the island forcing the sailors to dump all the cargo. But the one box containing a sculpture of the Virgin of Mercy reached the coast4, which was taken to the church and venerated with the invocation of Virgen del Buen Aire (âOur Lady of Good Airâ) as a patron of sailors.
In 1536, Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza, founded the first settlement at Buenos Aires and named it Nuestra Señora Santa MarĂa del Buen Ayre (âOur Lady St. Mary of the Good Airâ).
The port settlement was abandoned after being attacked by indigenous peoples but another Spaniard Juan de Garay established a new settlement there in 1580. This is why they say Buenos Aires was founded twice.
De Garay retained the original name but extended it to Ciudad de la SantĂsima Trinidad y Puerto de Nuestra Señora la Virgen MarĂa de los Buenos Aires (âCity of the Holy Trinity and Port of Our Lady Virgin Mary of the Good Airsâ"). This was the cityâs first official name and was shortened to Buenos Aires in the 17th century.
đĄ Critical Thinking
Biases â The Halo Effect
(the bias, not the band)
As mentioned in the previous issue, this is a big year politically, with both the US and UK having elections, so more than ever we need to have beliefs that arenât the result of political or ideological biases but deliberate reasoning.
The Halo Effect (a.k.a. halo error) is a cognitive bias that occurs when a personâs impression of someone/something in one area influences their opinion of that person/objectâs other characteristics.
Itâs the (unconscious) behaviour of making judgments about someone/something based on unrelated things. For example, when a person is attractive, we may tend to assume theyâre also intelligent and kind.
We see this all the time in marketing too, when a customer is biased towards certain products because of good experiences with other products from the same company.
â Fellow Writer & Teacher đšâđ«
Going a Little Too Far
I have an old high school buddy with whom I constantly chat about crypto, economic trends, and stocks. Heâs a lead software engineer at NASDAQ now and we were talking about the merits of IC vs PL (individual contributor vs people leader).
He loves technical management and being up to date on the latest tech without getting into the nitty-gritty of code, whereas I love the flexibility of not having to worry about other peopleâs work and being able to travel whenever I want.
This, coupled with our constant talks about higher-risk investments while weâre young, immediately reminded me of
âs recent post from just a few days earlier. I shared it with my mate and he came back with one sentence from it.Itâs now pinned to our Telegram chat.
Louie, apart from being a really cool guy I always love seeing on Zoom, is the reason I started this newsletter. An âIâm going to do it one dayâ idea became a reality when I joined Louie and
âs Newsletter Launchpad course and for that Iâm really grateful to the both of them.And the best way to thank them is to take this S-P-A-M as far as it can go. â
đ¶ Music & Art
Melodeath â The Halo Effect
(the band, not the bias)
In the previous issue I introduced one of my favourite bands, The Halo Effect, but then realised I was remiss to have not included it in an issue including the bias⊠Well, itâs not like thereâs a limit to sharing songs from one band!
đ Devilâs Word of the Week
Halo, n. â Properly, a luminous ring encircling an astronomical body, but not infrequently confounded with "aureola," or "nimbus," a somewhat similar phenomenon worn as a head-dress by divinities and saints. The halo is a purely optical illusion, produced by moisture in the air, in the manner of a rainbow; but the aureola is conferred as a sign of superior sanctity, in the same way as a bishop's mitre, or the Pope's tiara. In the painting of the Nativity, by Szedgkin, a pious artist of Pesth, not only do the Virgin and the Child wear the nimbus, but an ass nibbling hay from the sacred manger is similarly decorated and, to his lasting honor be it said, appears to bear his unaccustomed dignity with a truly saintly grace.
Before you goâŠ
If you enjoyed todayâs post, please remember to: đ
đ ° SHARE it with ONE friend, family or colleague
đ ± LIKE it â€ïž
Thanks for reading! Iâm off to see the SUPERCLĂSICO đ±đ€©
Prince đŠ
Suck that, Europe
Too easy
I feel connected to history now đŠ
You CAN make this shit up.
Prince, I really loved this edition. And not because you linked to me in the bottom (thank you for sharing that, it means a lot that it resonates.)
But what I love about this is that it has the perfect mix of personal, loads of insights I knew very little about the history of Brunoâs Aires. And it leaves me feeling really good.
By the way, I love steak, I might have to visit Argentina soon. Never been.