Hajj begins today. Already this week, more than 1.5 million Muslims have traveled to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Hajj, one of the world's largest human gatherings. As a pillar of Islam, all Muslims who are physically and financially able to do so must make the journey to Mecca at least once in their lifetime, where they take part in several rituals, including circumambulating the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque and gathering on a hill near Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his final sermon some 1,400 years ago.
Pilgrims are different from tourists. Pilgrims travel to holy sites to deepen their faith. In some cases, pilgrimages can be quite inexpensive. In Spain, there are municipal hostels catering to Catholic pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago, costing between 5 and 15 euros a night. Travel to Mecca is much more expensive, costing between $3,000 and $10,000 per person, especially if you don't live in Saudi Arabia.
Pilgrimages are big business. There are more than 155 million pilgrims worldwide each year, which is probably an underestimate. Of those, more than 2 million take part in the Hajj, with participation last year exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Although the official event lasts for five days, most pilgrims stay in the country for several weeks. Hajj and Umrah, the other pilgrimage to Mecca, brought in $12 billion in revenue for Saudi Arabia in 2019.
Fossil fuels burn quickly and are found all over the world. Saudi Arabia has an 'eternal monopoly' At Islam's holiest site. The Saudi government is looking to expand religious and secular tourism and diversify its economy away from oil and gas. It is focusing on infrastructure to accommodate more tourists each year, including building government-owned hotels, offering government-sponsored tour packages, increasing airport capacity and expanding holy sites. It aims to attract 30 million pilgrims annually by 2030.
Does commercialization diminish the value of pilgrimage? The rituals of the hajj are meant to purify participants, who are expected to leave behind all their worldly possessions. But the hajj has always had a commercial element. The holy sites of many religions attract commerce, and pilgrims have traditionally bought and sold goods along the way to fund the once-in-a-lifetime journey. There's no doubt that the money now spent has made the journey safer and more convenient. Before the advent of public transport, the journey to Mecca took months, sometimes years.
Be smart in one go
🫠🤓🧐 These are just some of the author's favorite emojis, limited to the standard set available on most smartphones, but soon she will be limited only by her imagination.
Apple announced this week that it is integrating artificial intelligence into its entire product line, with one AI element being Genmoji, which allows users to create their own emoji using text prompts.
Apple's examples include a “smiling character relaxing while wearing a cucumber” and an alien in a suit.
But creating your own emoji has been possible long before any big tech company uttered the word “AI.” Anyone could submit a proposal to the Unicode Consortium, the nonprofit that has maintained a standard set of emojis for years. If approved, Apple and other software companies would design their own renderings.
For example, that's why the “frying pan with food” emoji looks different on different devices: is it paella or curry? This whole process can take years, as a Verge reporter found out when he suggested adding the “yawning face” and “waffles” emojis to the official list.
But as emojis become less mainstream and more niche, they could also lose cultural relevance. As Washington Post reporter Tatum Hunter asked, “How can we subvert conventional use of emojis when there are no conventions to subvert?”
As long as you're willing to upgrade your phone to access it, it'll still be plenty fun.
Numbers
Economists use the price of copper as a proxy for the global economy because copper is used everywhere: in power lines, wiring, cars, and more recently, electric vehicle batteries. Copper futures have risen this year, but so has theft. Let's look at the numbers.
175,801
The number of ports at US electric vehicle charging stations, which are increasingly becoming targets for thieves who strip charging cords to remove the copper inside and sell them.
$20
Charger companies told The Associated Press that thieves would be lucky to steal $20 worth of copper wire per cable. Replacing the chargers is much more expensive, costing hundreds of dollars. Repairing damaged public charger cords can cost as much as $1,000 apiece.
Ten%
It's impossible to determine how much metal has been stolen, researcher Ben Stickle told Wired, but he said there is a correlation between the price of metal commodities and theft: Stickle's research found that for every 10% increase in metal prices, catalytic converter thefts increase by 20%.
54%
A new AAA survey finds that consumers are less likely to consider buying an EV now than they were two years ago, in part because 54% of respondents are worried about finding a place to charge their vehicle.
No one is as smart as all of us
Let us know how you can make yourself smarter at smarter@marketplace.org and we'll include your recommendations in an upcoming newsletter.
Should marketplaces start offering games?
Come for the games, stay for the news. Editor Tony Wagner recommends this New York Times article (gift link here) about the many apps that offer crosswords and other custom-made daily games to attract loyal subscribers. Also, revisit our interview about Tradle, a game created by economists to help players get smarter about global imports and exports.
The long-term recruiting battle
Some Chick-fil-A restaurants in Louisiana are offering summer programs where kids can learn about the franchise's food-service business. The job-themed day camp, which costs just $35 and includes a kid's meal, has been popular locally and garnered mixed reviews on social media, said producer Maria Hollenhorst.
Another big news from WWDC
Forget about the artificial stuff, or rather, “Apple Intelligence” for a moment. At its annual developer conference this week, the tech giant announced that iOS 18 will support RCS, an open-source messaging protocol that could solve the “blue bubble/green bubble” problem that iPhone users have long had when texting friends and family on Android phones. Writer Ellen Rolfes (hi!) recommends this Rest of World article that suggests RCS could one day unify many fragmented messaging services into a single app.
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