In my opinion, people should read less news. Similarly, holders of shares in listed companies should read fewer stock market reports.

The internet has resulted in a proliferation of news sites and newsletters, and social media platforms have perfected the art of delivering catchy headlines. Instead of occasionally checking the economic, political and market news, we're now required to plough through countless "hot takes" about the same data. The range of reports is also much wider. I'm not sure that our brains are designed to stockpile so much useless information.

I've been unsubscribing from a number of market newsletters recently, if all they offer is a generic rehash of the same information. They are not helpful to my central purpose, which is to identify and accumulate shares in high-quality companies and hold them for a long time. I need to look for signals and ignore the noise. I need to spend more time thinking about how the future might look, and less time reading about the present.

An old friend of mine, Phil Pearlman, agrees and wrote this recently on his blog site: "I care a lot about a few things. I care about my family, my friends, and my clients. I care about my dog. I care about music and having time to do what I enjoy, like running and cooking for my family. I care about what happens in my neighbourhood and community to a degree. Of course, I do not want bad things to happen to anybody anywhere ever. But I don't have room to care that much."

As promised, here is the feedback from my visit to the Meta head office, which I will do in two parts. I'll cover the building tour now, and tomorrow I'll talk about insights picked up about the company. My old school friend, who is now a director of data analytics at the company, spent over 2 hours showing us around the head office campus and chatting about the business.

Funnily enough, it became a bit of a culinary tour as we visited all the themed restaurants in the building. We had two lunches, one at the Indian canteen and then the Middle Eastern section. The ice-cream store also lured us in. I asked why they provided all this free stuff, which included coffee stands and countless fridges stacked with drinks and snacks along the halls.

The main reason is to avoid Meta employees wasting time driving out to get food. Their Menlo Park office is not close to much else. But most importantly, it means employees are not out at restaurants socialising with other tech titans and potentially getting headhunted. Demand for the best talent is very competitive.

The main building we visited is called MPK 21, it is where 'The Zuck' himself works. The art is amazing and there are featured items all over the place. The roof is a garden with over 200 trees and 800 meters of walking paths. They even have a family of foxes living happily in the rooftop garden. It really felt like an amazing place to work, and you get the sense that those working there, especially in the AI division, feel like they are making history. I'll write more about that in part two.

Scientists have found a way to make the skin of mice temporarily transparent. In early experiments, researchers found that rubbing Tartrazine, a food colourant also known as Yellow #5, on the stomachs of mice allowed them to see through the skin, to tissue and blood vessels below.

When light hits a surface it refracts and that determines what we see. Counterintuitively, adding food colouring doesn't increase the refraction but decreases it in the red part of the light spectrum, making the skin transparent. It sounds like science fiction.

If this technology ever reaches humans, it will be a huge breakthrough in diagnostic medicine. Instead of needing invasive and expensive procedures to see what is happening inside of us, a bit of food colouring could be used to give doctors those insights. You can read more here - Common food dye found to make skin transparent.

YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, should be enjoying a great summer after becoming the platform's most-subscribed user with over 300 million followers and setting a record for gaining 29 million subscribers in June alone. He's also launching a show on Amazon Prime.

However, Donaldson is facing his most challenging period yet, marred by serious allegations about unsafe work conditions and inappropriate behaviour within his team.

MrBeast is also losing his edge as a new wave of YouTubers, often copying his style, are rapidly gaining popularity. Channels like the Stokes Twins, Vlad Bumaga and Topper Guild, have been growing faster than MrBeast by mimicking his content and even using similar thumbnails. These imitators have perfected "retention editing," a style that keeps viewers engaged by cutting shots every 1.5 seconds, a technique that Donaldson's team pioneered.

Social media is a place where successful formats are copied. However, it was believed that MrBeast's videos were too complex and costly to replicate effectively. Yet, these new YouTubers are proving otherwise, challenging MrBeast's dominance.

Since the beginning of the year, MrBeast's numbers haven't grown at rates that he is accustomed to. This is possibly due to the controversies or simply reaching a peak of what's possible on YouTube. MrBeast may be spread too thin with his intense production schedule and new ventures, including the Amazon show.

Selena Gomez has joined the list of young self-made billionaires. Good for her - 80% of her net worth is derived from her Rare Beauty cosmetics brand.

More really old cave art has been found in Sulawesi. These paintings in Indonesia were thought to be 43 900 years old - Estimates now suggest they're 51 200 years old.

Asian markets are holding steady this morning. Alibaba surged 4.9% higher in Hong Kong, following the company's inclusion in the Stock Connect program, which allows mainland Chinese investors easier access to their shares.

In local company news, Vukile is making its entry into the Portuguese market with the acquisition of a retail portfolio worth EUR176.5 million (R3.5 billion). The portfolio includes three major shopping centers in Lisbon and Porto, namely RioSul, Loures, and 8a Avenida, with a gross lettable area of 74 083 square metres. Let's hope they haven't overpaid.

US equity futures are slightly lower pre-market. The Rand is trading at around R17.87 to the US Dollar.

It's gloomy and overcast in Joburg, and we may soon have the first rains of the summer. Excellent!