Extra, Extra
Throwing Good Money After Bad Ideas: “The global economy is slowing. In a sharply downgraded forecast released Tuesday, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned that President Donald Trump’s volatile yet sweeping tariff policies are inflicting greater damage than expected, with the effects more concentrated in the U.S. than anywhere else.” Meanwhile, “when shoppers shift more spending to dollar stores, it usually reflects growing financial stress.” And dollar stores are doing massive numbers.
+ The Fast and The Curious: Mary Meeker “hasn’t released a trends report since 2019. But she dusted off her skills to document, in laser detail, how AI adoption has outpaced any other tech in human history.” The report featured the word “unprecedented” 51 times. “ChatGPT reaching 800 million users in 17 months: unprecedented. The number of companies and the rate at which so many others are hitting high annual recurring revenue rates: also unprecedented. The speed at which costs of usage are dropping: unprecedented.”
+ Words Without Friends: “Words matter. The protester at Columbia University in 2024 holding a sign labeling Jewish demonstrators who were waving Israeli flags as al-qasam’s next targets was dismissed as being hyperbolic. So were the by any means necessary banners carried at demonstrations and the red inverted triangles, similar to those Hamas uses to mark Israeli targets, spray-painted on university buildings, a national monument, and even the apartment building of a museum director. When demonstrators wave the flags of terrorist organizations, wear headbands celebrating those same groups, and publicly commemorate the martyrdom of terrorist leaders such as Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, they’re not throwing the bomb, but their message can light the fuse.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Boulder Attack Didn’t Come Out of Nowhere. (You can be pro Palestinian, pro two-state solution, pro peace, and anti Netanyahu, without being pro Hamas, pro terror, and pro killing Jews. These nuances are not subtle.)
+ Food Fight: “A U.S.- and Israeli-backed initiative to feed starving Gazans has struggled during its first week of operations, with the resignation of two top executives, allegations that the Israeli military has shot into crowds of civilians rushing to pick up aid packages, and the ongoing refusal of the United Nations and humanitarian partners to join the effort.” US consulting firm quits Gaza humanitarian aid effort amid criticism. (The world has to figure out a way to stop this conflict.)
+ Lunch Break: “A Navarre, Florida, sandwich shop employee reportedly helped authorities save a domestic violence victim who had allegedly been kidnapped by her abusive, pro-wrestler boyfriend after the worker recently found a note in a store bathroom that read ‘HELP!'”
+ Mongolian Beef: “Mongolia’s prime minister has resigned after social media photos of his son’s lavish lifestyle sparked an anti-corruption investigation and weeks of mass protests.” (It turns out there are still places where political corruption is frowned upon.)
+ The Tallow End of the Gene Pool: “Tallow is fat that has been slowly melted, strained and then hardened into a waxy paste. Often used in cooking, all sorts of animal fats — goat, swan, even lion — have also been used as a cosmetics ingredient since antiquity.” Add that to TikTok and you’ve got a trend. Miracle balm or cow pie? What’s behind the beef tallow skincare trend.
