P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #240

🎃 Happy Halloween!

Andy Warhol drawing gets upcycled. In 1954, Andy Warhol drew Fairies, a simple ink drawing on paper. A group called MSCHF bought it for $25k, made 999 identical copies. ““Possibly Real Copy Of ‘Fairies’ by Andy Warhol” is a series of 1000 identical artworks. They are all definitely by MSCHF, and also all possibly by Andy Warhol. Any record of which piece within the set is the original has been destroyed.” | learn more

The hard-to-copy Chinese mail keys. I tried to copy a mail key this week. The self-service machine wouldn’t do it. The key desk at Home Depot couldn’t do it. I finally took it to a locksmith, who, before even seeing my key, warned that he couldn’t copy Chinese mail keys. I wasn’t quite sure what was so special about these. Judging by this reddit thread, I’m not the only one who’s faced this challenge! | learn more

The UK uses miles, not kilometers. I’ve been to the UK more than once, and somehow this was still news to me. | learn more

Austin rents up, up and away. “Average rent, which sat at $1,367 and dipped to $1,300 at its pandemic low (-4.9%), skyrocketed to $1,647 by September 2021, a 25.3% year-over-year increase.” | learn more

Are you paying attention to lithium? It’s a key material in all the batteries we’re putting inside our technology products, especially electric vehicles. While it takes 8-10 years to bring a lithium mine online, it takes less than 2 years to bring a battery plant online. | learn more

A strategy for B2B content. Josh Shultz shares his approach to creating a system that arms salespeople to have useful, data-backed conversations. “By the time you talk to a prospect, you’ll know: their exact pain point, what they want, what they are most interested in with you.” | learn more

Most drugs don’t do anything significantly good or bad for most people who take them. A brief exploration of NNT (number needed to treat) and NNH (number needed to heal). | learn more

A long interview about sleep. Sleep researcher and expert Dr. Matthew Walker talks with Andrew Huberman about sleep, covering a lot of ground in this 3-hour interview. The timestamps are well-labeled if you want to get right down to any one topic and its relationship with sleep. Choose from caffeine, alcohol, cannabis, sex, and more. | learn more

The quest to overcome gene therapy’s failures. This article in Scientific American recounts the history of gene therapy, its promise, and its multiple failures. There is continued hope as researchers find new ways to minimize risks. A quote from one gene therapy company’s chief medical officer: “I think you have to have humility when you’re manipulating the human genome.” | learn more

The push for bioplastics. I am paying attention to the shift away from fossil materials to make plastics. There’s a global wave of consumer and regulatory pressure that I expect to drive this change. Coca Cola has a new prototype bottle made entirely from plant-based plastics. They say the technology is now ready for commercial scale, but their projections for adoption are still measured in decades. | learn more

A primer to web3. This is a great and approachable slide deck by Katie Chiou. It’s renewed my interest in DAOs (Digital Autonomous Organizations). If you are (or ever were) a member of DAO I’d love to hear from you. | learn more

The case study of a DAO. This is a deep dive into Friends With Benefits (FWB), a private social media network structured as a DAO. “In just its first year, FWB has already pushed the boundaries of how social tokens can create new forms of social and business organization. This case study covers the community governance structure, its strategy for working with VC’s, the standalone products leaders and members have collaboratively developed, and what the year ahead looks like for this exciting social DAO.” | learn more

The DAO contributor funnel needs work. “Discovery: no Glassdoor of DAOs for beginners 2 browse; Onboarding: Discords lack process for ppl 2 gain context; Contribution: DAOs disproportionately benefits self-starters who create their own scope” | learn more

The rise and fall of Carlos Ghosn. This 4-part podcast series by HBR reviews how one of the world’s most visionary CEOs turned into a fugitive. | learn more

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