P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #388

P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #

my story 🚀

First family ride with Kim’s new ebike!

fun facts 🙌

The citation black market. In a scientific community where more citations mean more prestige and more opportunities, you should not be surprised to learn there’s a market for citations. ~ learn more

The tallest hedge in the world is in Scotland. “Recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the highest hedge in the world, the Meikleour Beech Hedge was planted in 1745 and is one third of a mile long (530 m) and 100 ft (30 m) high.” ~ learn more

The insane biology of the Dune sandworm. After my daughter told me there wasn’t a worm big enough to eat me, we found this. Part science part fan fiction! ~ learn more

oh, chicago 🏆

An enrollment cliff has Illinois' public universities seeing red. “Total undergraduate enrollment in Illinois has decreased by over 20% since 2014, equating to 144,000 fewer students, according to a 2023 report by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. But that decline has not been equally felt.” ~ learn more

City street festivals lie about crowd sizes? “An analysis of city permit data found many street festival producers are submitting permits for crowd sizes significantly lower than what’s being advertised online — but the estimates are used to make safety plans.” ~ learn more

oh, austin 🤠

Did voters get bait.& switched with Project Connect? “Plaintiffs gathered together at Dirty Martin’s Tuesday afternoon to say what the plan has evolved into is not what they voted for back in 2020. … The lawsuit claims the city is illegally collecting property tax that renews every year for Project Connect because voters are not getting what they agreed to. “They’re pursuing what I call a ‘miniature’ Project Connect that’s not citywide,” [lead counsel] Aleshire said.” ~ learn more

tech, startups, internet ⚡

Rob May on AI investing. “Maybe it seems a little counterintuitive, but, I evaluate AI companies by looking for unique customer acquisition attributes. The indirect impact of AI is that those have become more valuable.” ~ learn more

Eric Schmidt private Stanford talk. It went around the news that he said Google chose work life balance over winning. That’s in here, and the rest of the talk is good too! The transcript and recording are both available. ~ learn more

better doing 🎯

Supermarkets are dens of trickery and deception. “A red or orange plastic net around the fruit helps to give the impression that the orange peel is a richer orange color, thereby making it look juicy and appealing to consumers. If the fruit is unripe, the colored net will also downplay its greenness and boost its orangeness, making it look ripe and more appetizing.” ~ learn more

to your health ⚕

The compounding loophole for GLP-1 drugs. Scott Alexander once wondered how the economy would handle a $12,000/yr drug that everybody wants (i.e. Ozempic). We haven’t seen the official price become the market price, though, because patent protections for the drug are currently suspended. That’s the compounding loophole. ~ learn more

retail therapy 💸

True Classic hype video. This is a pretty impressive sizzle reel for a t-shirt company. ~ learn more

Shein accuses Temu of running “fraud” marketplace. “Moreover, Shein claims that Temu has “continuously directed and used unfair and unlawful means” to compete, including by stealing valuable trade secrets, “egregiously” infringing on Shein’s copyrights, as well as poaching its resources, employees, and suppliers.” ~ learn more

thanks for reading!