P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #380
Happy Birthday America 🇺🇸
my story 🚀
fun facts 🙌
SpaceX getting paid to destroy the International Space Station. It’s way more legitimate than it sounds. “In a contract worth up to US$843 million, NASA has selected SpaceX to design the "US Deorbit Vehicle." The spacecraft will bring the $150 billion International Space Station out of orbit to safely and burn up in our atmosphere at 3,000 ºF (1,649 ºC).” ~ learn more
A Tesla Model Y police chase. If the police didn’t have aerial assistance, I think Teslas would be a guaranteed way to escape. But they do, so maybe don’t try and evade the cops? ~ learn more
Do you know what a Water Witch does? They help discover underground water, though some call BS on the practice. “It's a person who has developed their intuition to be able to tune into the vibrations of water. By using L rods or fly rods, they can use that intuition as an indication to tell them when they tune into that particular vibration that leads them to water.” ~ learn more
oh, chicago 🏆
So many Divvy bikes are in Lake Michigan. “There aren’t many shipwrecks off Chicago’s coast anymore, but the city’s lakeshore has its own kind of ghostly marine curiosity: tons of rideshare bikes submerged in Lake Michigan’s shallow shorelines.” ~ learn more
How debt ate Chicago. This is a pretty depressing article. I think it’s likely accurate on the fiscal points but also could have been written at any time over the past several decades. What it leaves out of the analysis might be all the difference — the positive effects of entrepreneurial culture paired with the vast amount of resources the city still commands. ~ learn more
tech, startups, internet ⚡
Web Check, a simple tool for scoping out a website’s underpinnings. It’s a little, yet useful tool for web nerds like yours truly. There are others, like BuiltWith, but this takes a bit wider technical scope. ~ learn more
This reporter feels bad about the startup hype BS that she used to write. “I used to be good at spinning stories. Give me a half-baked startup idea, a semi-charismatic founder and a fistful of VC dollars, and I could write a story compelling enough it barely mattered whether there was an ounce of truth in it.” ~ learn more
to your health ⚕
Wellness is getting weird(er). “The Vielight Neuro-Vagus combo combines our Neuro (brain stimulation) and Vagus (vagus nerve stimulation) devices into an effective system unique to Vielight.” ~ learn more
FDA advisory committee votes against MDMA therapy. This is more nuanced than I wanted to believe at first. Before you scoff, it’s worth a read to understand their criticisms. However, the FDA may still approve the therapy. ~ learn more
under the microscope 🔬
Apple supplier TDK claims 100x energy density in new battery tech. “The new material provides an energy density—the amount that can be squeezed into a given space—of 1,000 watt-hours per liter, which is about 100 times greater than TDK’s current battery in mass production.” ~ learn more
thoughts of food 🍔
Foods from the 1920s and ‘30s. “In midwestern kitchens, the lard-based diet achieved its apotheosis in a dish called salt pork with milk gravy, here served with a typical side of boiled potatoes…” ~ learn more
big ideas 📚
Google uses a lot of energy, so you can bet they’ll buy lots of carbon credits. That energy comes (I think mostly) from fossil fuel power plans, which contribute carbon to the atmosphere. This isn’t going to change any time soon, so you can bet they’ll be buying more carbon credits! “Google’s emissions surged nearly 50% compared to 2019, the company said Tuesday in its 2024 environmental report, marking a notable setback in its goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.” ~ learn more