Ghost Mail Weekender

Happy Sunday Voornaam,

The last time you received a Weekender, I had just returned from Le Mans in France. After an excellent week in London and then Dubai, I'm now back home in Cape Town. Dubai is the hottest place I've been in my life, but there are over 3 million people living in Dubai and they don't struggle to meet one another.
As for Antarctica at the other end of the climate spectrum, things aren't so easy.
In 2014, there was a solitary Tinder match in Antarctica, when two research scientists matched on the global dating app in the most remote part of the world. A man, who opted to stay anonymous, was working at the United States Antarctic McMurdo Station in December 2013 when he logged onto Tinder “just for fun”. Initially he had no matches in his area (obviously), but when he expanded his location radius slightly, one woman’s profile showed up. Turns out she was also a researcher and camping just a 45-minute helicopter ride away. In Antarctic terms, that’s practically next door.
He swiped right on her profile and received a notification minutes later to say that they had matched. The would-be lovers even had a chance to briefly meet in person before Ms. Researcher had to head back home to work on other projects. However, Mr. Anonymous expressed confidence that there would be a second date. “She is coming back at some point, and we may overlap. There’s still hope.”
Mr. Anonymous has kept his identity a secret for years out of concern that his employer (the US government) would revoke his internet privileges if they found out what he was using them for. If you think working in a barren tundra for months on end is hellish, then just imagine doing it without internet access.
Being catfished is a well-known issue in internet dating, when the person turns out to be very different from their profile. Perhaps being penguined is a thing out there instead.
This week, Dominique Olivier has written on trends that end and businesses that have short shelf lives. Loadshedding in South Africa is a perfect example of how businesses built to address a specific problem can suddenly find themselves offering a solution that doesn't have a problem. Read her insights here.
Read on for the dangers of taking leave as a Venetian glassmaker in the 13th century, as well as five interesting words and their meanings.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
The Finance Ghost (follow on X) | Dominique Olivier (connect on LinkedIn)

Going somewhere, glassmaker?

TL:DR: If you were a Venetian glassmaker in the 13th century, taking leave from work without permission from your boss (and the government) could result in your assassination.
Somewhere in the late 13th century, the secretive art of glassmaking was deemed so vital to the Venetian economy that the local glassmakers' guild decided to protect their craft any way they could. What followed was a bizarre set of strict rules crafted to ensure that the secrets of the trade remained within the city.
By 1291, a law came into effect that confined most of the glassmaking industry to the island of Murano. Murano actually isn’t just one island, but rather a cluster of them, connected by short bridges and located less than 2 kilometres north of the Venetian mainland in the lagoon. This move was initially pitched under the guise of a safety solution: since the furnaces used to melt glass posed a serious fire hazard, especially in a city full of wooden structures, relocating the glassmaking operations to Murano mitigated the risk of catastrophic fires in Venice.
Perhaps more conveniently, however, moving the industry to Murano kept the precious glassmaking technology - and the craftsmen themselves - confined to a single location, where they were easy to keep an eye on. Glassmakers couldn’t leave Murano without government permission, and doing so without authorisation (with or without proof that they had actually divulged any secrets) was punishable by death.
First, a messenger would be sent to retrieve the errant glassmaker. If they did not return, their family would be tracked down and arrested. If even this drastic step didn’t result in an immediate return, the assassin would be sent.
The method may have been questionable, but the results weren’t. By 1507, Venetian artisans on Murano had perfected a technique to coat glass with an alloy of tin and mercury, producing mirrors of never-before-seen size and unparalleled quality. Venice was the proud and unrivalled hub of glass-mirror manufacturing for 157 years until their dynasty came crashing down around them in 1664.
That’s the year that Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the treasurer to Louis XIV of France, managed to pinch the famous mirror-making technique and bring it to France. He did this by stealing a handful of glassmakers, promising them and their families board and protection from vengeful Venetians in exchange for their precious secrets. This theft effectively ended Venice’s monopoly on the glass-mirror industry, marking a significant shift in the production of these coveted items.
Thankfully, HR policies have moved forward a bit in the past few hundred years.

Trends that end: businesses with short shelf lives

Dominique's fast facts: Words and their meanings

An assortment of facts that will take you only a minute to read.

Kummerspeck (German). This charming word refers to the weight you gain during a particularly tough or stressful time. The Germans have tenderly dubbed this “Kummerspeck,” which literally translates to “worry bacon.” I feel seen and understood by whoever came up with this.

​Mencolek (Indonesian). The act of tapping someone on one shoulder whilst actually standing on their opposite side has an official name in Indonesian: “Mencolek.” Translated as “pinching,” the classic term refers most often to the age-old playground prank.

Age-otori (Japanese). If you know the feeling of sitting in the hairdresser’s chair post-cut, staring wild-eyed at your new and not-so-improved reflection in the mirror, then this word is for you. The Japanese word “age-otori” sums this regretful experience up and translates to “looking worse after a haircut”.

Tingo (Pascunese). This word describes the act of stealing objects you desire from a friend’s house by gradually “borrowing” them and not returning them. To think, I’ve been doing this to my mother for years without knowing there’s a word for it.

Badruka (Swedish). The Swedes have a word for when someone is very slowly and very reluctantly easing themselves into a body of water. Trust the Swedes, who have a thing for swimming in icy cold lakes during the winter, to come up with this. Do they also have a word for the person who eventually pushes the reluctant one in?