$400 pineapples, $1000 frozen poop, and a $1 billion loss on Gamestop
Here's the best things I found on the internet in the past week!
What’s up everybody,
It’s Tuesday and you know what that means, another batch of my “conversation starters,” and a very good one if I do say so myself. Where else can you find stories on pineapples, poop and politics all in one email?! This is the best, most interesting, and most entertaining content I found on the internet in the past week. Enjoy!
What’s the coolest story or thing you found on the internet this week? Reply to this email and shoot me a link. Would love to hear from you!
Last year in this Tuesday newsletter, I followed breathlessly along with every development in the Hans Niemann cheating scandal, inarguably the most exciting thing to happen in the world of chess…ever. But a year later, we still don’t know whether he actually cheated (unlikely) or just rubbed everyone the wrong way (definitely). New York Mag surveys the aftermath of Niemann’s attempts to revive his ruined career.
From the department of You Can’t Script Sports: more than 150 men gathered in Germany (under a beer tent, naturally) for a finger wrestling competition in which competitors put one finger each into a leather strap and pull. Participants are prone to nosebleeds from the strain, and risk dislocated fingers and pulled muscles. The photos from the competiton are priceless.
It’s refreshing, shocking even, whenever you come across a really smart person who is able to synthesize and explain what’s REALLY going on in government beyond the horserace drama on the news. This New York Times story on “the rise of a new centrism” in Washington fascinated me, because it likely has more of an effect on my life than the latest scandal, and it presumes that a lot of what is happening is dictated by logic and reason (seems hard to believe, I know).
Here’s one Long Read of the Week that I never thought I’d recommend — a Slate deep dive into the world of black market poop dealers. Yes, people buy it, frozen, for medicinal purposes. And people sell it. It’s risky, even when it’s above board.
As you all know by now, I’m all for taking back downtowns/city centers for pedestrians. If banning cars altogether is too much to ask, here’s a pretty simple first step proposed by the Wall Street Journal: let’s get rid of left turns on downtown streets.
Meme stock king Roaring Kitty (subject of the Dumb Money movie last year about his 2021 meme stock short squeeze) resurfaced this week on X/Twitter and caused Gamestop stock price to double by tweeting a single, vague drawing of man sitting forward in his chair. Methinks this will end…poorly.
Only in L.A. … will you find someone selling $400 “designer pineapples,” and that they’re fully sold out. The LA Times looks into the rubyglow pineapple craze.
Watching master chefs make Italian food will never get old for me. The guys behind red-hot Brooklyn pizzeria L’industrie take Bon Appetit behind-the-scenes as they make focaccia, gelato and pizzas that will make your mouth water.
Thanks for reading and sharing! We’ll be talking about Furiosa on Friday so come back then!