While we enter in Week (I have no idea anymore) of the pandemic, I wanted to share a few articles I’ve saved up and thought were a little excessive before the pandemic.
Now that unemployment has hit Great Depression levels, these stories are even more absurd.
But here they are:
Is the World’s Best Butter Worth 50 Dollars a Pound? [Saveur] – “In a tiny creamery just off the barn, St. Clair reached into a refrigerator and took out a pound of her product—four dandelion-yellow balls in a large Ziploc bag. A former New Yorker with no experience in food production, she began making butter almost by accident, after buying a pair of Jersey cows. Wanting an expert opinion, she mailed unsolicited samples to Thomas Keller; he called back to say he wanted to buy all of it, and eventually asked her to acquire more Jerseys.”
Silicon Valley Is Quietly Building Its Own Wall Street [Medium] – “[Eric Ries] conceived of an exchange that would allow companies to benefit from the sale of common stock, while insulating them from short-term stock-market pressures, which he saw as destructive to corporate innovation.”
This one is poignant as it’s dated April 1st, I should’ve sent it out in April when I first saw it (sorry!):
This Looks Like a Depression, Not a Recession [Medium] – “JJust weeks after the stock market crashed in 1929, President Herbert Hoover assured the country that things were already “back to normal,” Liaquat Ahamed writes in Lords of Finance, his Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the financial catastrophe. Five months later, in March 1930, Hoover said the worst would be over “during the next 60 days.” When that period ended, he said, “We have passed the worst.” Eventually, Ahamed writes, “when the facts refused to obey Hoover’s forecasts, he started to make them up.” Government agencies were pressed to issue false data. Officials resigned rather than do so, including the chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
World’s first Animal Crossing interior design service launches, offering consultants £40 an hour to perfect in-game homes [Pocket Gamer] – “Homeware brand Olivia’s has launched a consultancy service that’s now taking applicants for interior designers to help Animal Crossing: New Horizons players perfect the look and feel of their in-game homes. Budding and professional interior designers are being offered upwards of £40 an hour to provide this much-needed service, and it’ll be available to players worldwide.”
It just shows that pandemics hit people differently.
For some, it’s a huge struggle.
For others, they’re hiring interior designers for a virtual house. Wild.
Have a great day!