Starbucks sells less hot drinks than you think
The pop-punk revival is in full swing.
Hey Comrade,
I went to see Oppenheimer last night (Barbie was sold out) and it was pretty unsettling stuff, helped along by along by a classic foreboding Nolan score. One of the few points of slight comic relief was the intermittent appearance of a bongo player who was the Nobel Prize winning theoretical physicist Richard Feynman.
Feynman’s autobiography Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman is written like an eight-year-old describing their summer holiday. He’s one of those people who has a childlike enthusiasm about everything, whether it's picking locks, doing pranks or quantum mechanics. Which sounds pretty tiresome for his colleagues but makes for a great read.
I am become Stuff,
Hugo
Dr H. Stuffenheimer
The Business of Stuff
P.S. The latest episode of Work Drinks is out! I interviewed Jane Heffernan about what it’s like being a headteacher.
The Stuff
The pop-punk revival is in full swing 🎸 - if you were within striking distance of adolescence in the early noughties, had a floppy fringe and struggled to maintain eye contact then you’ll no doubt be familiar with the likes of Good Charlotte and Blink-182. Both bands are playing at When We Were Young festival which has sold over 160,000 tickets thanks to everyone’s nostalgia for the era of George Bush and low rise jeans.
Nintendo posts record income 🕹️ - another noughties staple is on the up. The Super Mario Bros Movie and what apparently is the best Zelda to achieve an 82% jump in profits for the same period as last year. Historically they have avoided using their IP outside of their games but that’s changed under the current CEO.
Diageo and Diddy have fallen out 🍾 - it was the rapper who made Ciroc a thing when they entered a profit sharing agreement in 2007 but recently the relationship has soured and a legal battle is underway over alleged underinvestment and discrimination by the conglomerate.
Lots of people are getting overexcited about room temperature superconductivity 🔬 - some researchers have claimed to have discovered a compound that can act as a superconductor at room temperature. The impact would be massive as it would dramatically increase efficiency as well as having numerous other applications. A number of experts are sceptical however, typical.
China is going big on cruises ⛴️ - it really is the sign of a deeply despotic regime when they are encouraging their citizens to go on more cruises. The government will say people are choosing to do so, driving up China’s global share by 148% but there has been deep support from those in power for getting the population floating about the ocean.
Majority of drinks sold by Starbucks are cold 🍹 - as many suspect, people who go to Starbucks don’t actually like coffee which explains why 75% of their sales are of cold drinks. People have long rubbished the ability of Starbucks to make a decent cup of coffee but if you want a glittering unicorn caramel blended frappuccino cooler with sprinkles then it really is the place to be.
Threads has lost more than half its users 📉 - after an initial surge of users thanks to everyone wondering if they were going to become a Threads influencer, usage has dropped off as people remember that reading words is actually a bit of ballache and it’s much more relaxing to watch short videos of people being obnoxious.
Cargo-carrying sailing boats are making a comeback ⛵ - if the early noughties isn’t quite retro enough for you you’ll be pleased to hear that the freight business is taking it all the way back to the 1700s as a number of companies explore using trusty old wind power to move stuff around in order to cut down on fuel costs and environmental impact.
People are using AI to make politicians look silly 🍺 - I’m not sure they really need the help of AI as Ed Miliband famously demonstrated. Nonetheless someone has used AI to make Rishi Sunak look like he poured a really bad pint and given the bar staff a sort of disgusted look, as if to say how can you run a country if you can’t even pour a decent pint of bitter?
Dubbing content is a big use case for AI 🌍 - one of the challenges of content is that it’s only really useful to people who speak the language its created in. AI has solved that as it can automate the dubbing of videos, dramatically increasing the reach of YouTubers. The Stuff will soon be available in 12 different languages.
Have a good week!
If you can convince anyone to sign up to this waffle, send them here.
Other Stuff
Something to watch
The world from another point of view
Something to listen to
All The Small Things - Blink 182
Quote of the week
“The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion.” - Richard Feynman