P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #477
We'll see what happens
my story 🚀
😎 A lot of people laughed at GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen’s appearance on CNBC after his bold, loosely-funded, offer to acquire eBay. When Andrew Ross Sorkin tried to pin him down on how the money comes together, Cohen confidently replied “we’ll see what happens.” A past version of me might have laughed at him too, but today’s version of me was inspired by him. As background, Cohen’s claim to fame was founding and building Chewy.com, which he sold sold for over $3 billion in his early 30s. You may be wondering how he became the GameStop CEO. Well, he put his money down on the table to buy a big stake when the stock was in the dumpster, and then took on the Board Chairman role in 2021. You may recall the GameStop meme stock roller coaster in 2021. Those two things were not merely coincidence. Later, in 2023, he took the CEO seat.
I’m reminded of this old joke:
A man is sentenced to death by a king. Before the execution, he says:
“If you spare me for one year, I can teach your horse to talk.”
The king, amused and curious, agrees.
Back in prison, another prisoner says:
“Are you insane? You can’t teach a horse to talk.”
The man replies:
“In a year, a lot can happen. The king could die. I could die. The horse could die. Or maybe the horse learns to talk.”
So I’m inspired by Ryan Cohen because I believe he’s a living example that a) the world is unpredictable and b) fortune favors the bold.
We’ll see what happens!
fun facts 🙌
Brita’s Instagram is in the hands of an unhinged marketer. “born to hydrate, forced to work in social media” Skim the captions when you need a quick laugh and a reminder to drink water. ~ learn more
Install the Russian language pack. “the most low-effort / high reward thing you can do for security is installing the Russian language pack (not even joking, it’s ridiculous how often that prevents execution)” Some malware checks system language to dodge Russian-speaking targets, so this goofy trick can stop certain payloads from running. ~ learn more
Clout-as-a-service. “For as low as ₹89 (or 95 cents), you can get your personal Instagram handle tagged on vague-enough videos and photos that look like you are out” at a cafe, concert, or trip, even if you are not. Abha Ahad calls it “clout-as-a-service” and frames it as a tidy little product for an increasingly simulated social life. ~ learn more
YouTube’s algorithms are driving Kyrgyz-speaking kids to Russian-language content. “There is no good way to be a Kyrgyz-speaking kid on YouTube.” Researchers simulated kids’ viewing and found Kyrgyz searches for cartoons and fairy tales often get steered into Russian content anyway. ~ learn more
tech, startups, internet ⚡
A thinking cap that types. “It’s a beanie that you can simply slip on and think about what you want to type, and it’ll appear on a connected device at about 30 words per minute.” Sabi says it can do continuous speech with EEG sensors, no implants or surgery, and aims to ship in 2026. ~ learn more
The next level of agents is /goal. “You write down what “done” looks like, submit it once, and the agent works toward it until it gets there.” The clean idea here is treating “done criteria” like a primitive that different tools can share, so an orchestrator can route work without translation. ~ learn more
Agents need control flow, not more prompts. “If you’ve ever resorted to MANDATORY or DO NOT SKIP, you’ve hit the ceiling of prompting.” The argument: reliable agents need deterministic control flow and checkpoints in code, treating the LLM as a component, not the system. ~ learn more
better doing 🎯
Talking to 35 strangers at the gym. “The solution was to approach the person as quickly as possible so that I didn’t have time to think about running away.” A lonely guy runs a one month experiment: talk to one stranger at the gym every day, log what happened, and see if friends appear. ~ learn more
If you can’t get a job today, it’s your fault. An aggressive title to an article that otherwise makes a good point. “the most valuable thing a 22 year old can do in 2026 is create something.” The argument: the college brand signal collapsed below the top 20, and now hiring mostly comes down to proof you can learn, ship, and follow through. ~ learn more
What really won the trillion-dollar tariff Supreme Court case. “After enlisting the help of four unlikely coaches — and one secret weapon he hasn’t told anyone about until now — he walked into the courtroom ready for anything.” Neal Kumar Katyal recounts how he prepared for a Supreme Court argument with enormous stakes, and what he learned about connecting under pressure. ~ learn more
to your health ⚕
The mystery in the medicine cabinet. “I’m now convinced that for most people in most circumstances, acetaminophen is safer than ibuprofen, provided you use it as directed.” A deep dive into why ibuprofen’s COX effects can mess with your stomach, heart, and kidneys, while acetaminophen’s big risk is mostly about overdosing. ~ learn more
retail therapy 💸
Anthropic says your SPV is BS. “Anthropic is calling them out *specifically*, by name, and essentially *saying* 100% of these are illegal.” A thread on what it could mean if a private company treats secondary transfers as void, and how messy the downstream chain might get. ~ learn more
Consumer attitudes toward Al customer support. “When the choice is ‘wait 15 minutes for a human or get help from AI right now,’ 44% switch to AI.” In this survey, baseline preference for AI is only 7%, but the moment there is a real queue, people change their minds fast. ~ learn more
under the microscope 🔬
Nanogenerator turns seawater into a clean energy source. “the addition of solar light and heat can enhance energy production by a factor of five. This natural effect has always existed, but we are the first to harness it.” EPFL researchers built a silicon nanogenerator that pulls steady electricity from evaporating seawater, using sunlight and heat to steer ions and excite electrons. ~ learn more
Plants weaponize caffeine. The chemical serves as a natural pesticide that “disturb[s] the behavior and growth of numerous insects and their larvae,” which helps explain why plants make it in the first place. In tests, some pests became uncoordinated and others had their appetites suppressed. ~ learn more
teaching the kids 👩🏫
Do teachers need advanced degrees? “The answer is a resounding ‘no’.” Cremieux rounds up big administrative studies (NC, FL, TX, LA) and keeps landing on the same point: advanced degrees and lots of official training mostly don’t move student outcomes much. ~ learn more
big ideas 📚
Modern files dominate the UFO releases. “modern files (2020s) drive 45% of release” This dashboard tracks unsealed UFO/UAP records and makes the time skew obvious at a glance, with a big chunk of material clustered in the last few years. ~ learn more
Spain just became one of Europe’s cheapest power markets. Spain pushed gas out of the price-setting role, and wholesale electricity followed, averaging “€44 per megawatt-hour” in early 2026. ~ learn more