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The WC is a selection of five useful, interesting & notable insights, handpicked by our CIO Wyatt Cavalier and pumped into your inbox every Wednesday.
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Table of Contents
Energy — solved
For 70 years, scientists have been trying to solve fusion.
Fusion, the energy source that powers our sun, has long been touted as the panacea for leaving fossil fuels behind and providing clean, unlimited energy to the entire global population.
It’s four million times more efficient than coal and oil, and produces no carbon dioxide. It yields no long-lived radioactive waste and has zero risk of a nuclear meltdown. It could lift billions of people out of poverty. It could be the missing link that gives us interstellar space travel.
It’s a big fucking deal. And this week, scientists cracked it.
For the first time ever, they’ve been able to produce more energy from the reaction than it consumed. Experts say commercially available fusion power is still *decades* away, even given this breakthrough, but these same experts massively overestimated how long it would take solar energy to be practical.
Maybe we’re not too far away.
I’m on a boat
This week, I learned about two #BoatLife trends.
Both tickle in the way that watching Ben Fogle does. Possibly achievable daydreams.
1.) First up, Floating Houses.
Searches for floating houses are up 17% this year, near an all-time high.
They’re part of the trend of slightly odd home types like “hobbit,” “concrete,” “tiny,” and “passive.”
They’re different to houseboats (search volume declining, oddly) in that they don’t move on their own. They’re literally a house that floats. They’ve got all the requirements of a boat, a camper-van, and a normal house, rolled into one. Thus, there are a wide variety of furnishings and fittings required to build a floating house that just don’t really exist yet.
This guy made it all from scratch.
There’s an easy influencer/insta company to be built here if that’s your thing.
2.) Second up, living on a cruise ship.
For the low price of $50k per year, you can live in a 237 sq ft box aboard a cruise ship.
Or you can lease a 1,970 sq ft luxury condo for the duration of the ship’s life (60 years) for $8m, or around $10k per month.
Setting sail in 2025, the MV Narrative circumnavigates the earth once every three years, making stops in ports for five days at a time. The monthly all-in fee (around $2k per person) includes dining and drinks at 20 restaurants, a spa, a fitness center, access to healthcare, an 800L microbrewery, a library, a cinema, and three swimming pools.
If you can afford the initial outlay for the unit, it’s not crazy expensive aboard the ship.
A family of five (👋 wife!) would cost around $10k per month + any cash you spend in port.
And until then…
Three new things
Back by popular demand, here are three new things I discovered this week:
1. The Sample
The Sample is a bit like the newsletter equivalent of the 2000s favorite StumbleUpon (which is still a thing!).
It asks what you’re into, then sends you periodic newsletters it thinks you might like.
I love reading and subscribing to newsletters, so this may not be for everyone, but I’ve found several new favorite writers this way.
2. FundingStack
One of those serendipitous newsletters was DFA Capital by Adam Metz.
Adam is launching FundingStack early next year.
FundingStack is disrupting how emerging fund managers (👋) and founders raise money by making it dead easy to find hundreds of thousands of individuals, family offices, and institutions that want to invest in whatever you’re building.
It’s priced around 5%of what PitchBook costs and has way more utility.
Check out early mockups if you’d like (you’ll need to request access) and get on the waitlist here.
3. Waffle
Ok, this isn’t new.
And I’m revealing/reinforcing how deeply uncool I am by highlighting a Wordle derivative (Yes, I still play daily, shut up).
But I love Waffle.
It’s a daily word game similar to Wordle, where you move letter tiles around to complete several five-letter words.
If you liked (still like?) Wordle, give it a try.
What do a T-Rex and the US Constitution have in common?
Sotheby’s having a tough week. Last week, the historic auction house hosted one of the “best and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skulls ever found.”
The estimated sale price was $15m to $20m. A huge piece. It sold for $6m.
Yesterday, they were meant to auction off a copy of the US Constitution similar to the one that sold for $43m earlier in the year. Here’s the listing page today:
They very quietly “postponed” the much-hyped auction.
Ah here we go: @Sothebys saying the seller wants to give unnamed "interested institutional parties with additional time to pursue fundraising efforts for a possible acquisition…" pic.twitter.com/88xxuJ4aN5
— Kelly Crow (@KellyCrowWSJ) December 13, 2022
As you may (or may not) have heard, another DAO popped up to try to buy this version after Ken Griffin stole the last version away from the internet kids.
Regardless of the reason the auction was pulled, it’s not good optics for Sotheby’s, and it doesn’t look good for the market for slightly esoteric blue-chip auction items.
My kids have broken me
…And now I can prove it scientifically. Over time, all men see a reduction in testosterone levels. These reduced levels have a raft of alarming side effects, including:
- increased body fat
- lower energy levels
- depression
- memory loss
- inability to concentrate
- insomnia
- decreased strength/mass of muscles
- fragile bones
- decreased body hair
- swelling / tenderness in the breast tissue
- hot flashes
- increased fatigue
- effects on cholesterol metabolism
But dads have it worse, and the more time they spend with kids, the worse it gets.
Dads who spend three hours a day (or more) with their kids have 50% less testosterone than their counterparts with no children at all. The study proving this was published about ten years ago, which probably explains this chart.
Before you jump into TRT, though, be aware the benefits are uncertain and the risks are pretty severe.
Just going to go look for a nanny now.
One last thing…
Thank you to everyone who donated to our gofundme.
We raised just enough to keep the ‘stache on. For those who want to know why the mustache isn’t much bigger than it was when the campaign began, I refer you to item five above.
Thanks to all who donated. You’re now stuck with this for a few more weeks. https://t.co/jSBlZwe8Ru pic.twitter.com/zdsOdOhRWP
— Wyatt Cavalier (@itiswyatt) December 14, 2022
What caught your eye this week?
Cheers,
Wyatt
