P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #412
The reddest of light
my story 🚀
🏮 I’ve been reading up on the purported benefits of red light therapy. There’s decent evidence that exposure to red light can improve skin, and there are several other claims with much less support. A new “wellness center” opened a couple blocks from my home so I decided to experience it myself. One session almost certainly doesn’t do anything too impactful. I’m glad I tried it, and also I won’t be dishing out $40 for any more sessions. The staff told me they loved making it part of their routine — and if it was free at my workplace, maybe I would too! While I roll my eyes at the menu of “IV Infusions”, I am a big fan and regular user of their other core offering: saunas and cold plunges. Those are, in fact, free at my workplace!
fun facts 🙌
How do giraffes pick their nose? Guess before clicking. ~ learn more
Why Hong Kong uses bamboo scaffolding. A super cool visual explainer. “It’s flexible, strong and cheaper than steel and aluminium — metal alternatives that are now more commonly used in mainland China and elsewhere in Asia. In Hong Kong, skilled armies of scaffolders can erect enough bamboo to engulf a building in a day — even hours — using techniques that are thousands of years old, and have been passed down through generations.” ~ learn more
Butterflies taste through their feet. “Although some of a butterfly’s taste receptors are located on its tube-shaped mouthparts and antennae, most are found on its tarsus, or the bottom segment of its legs. The location of these receptors may seem odd, but they’re vital to a butterfly’s survival.” ~ learn more
Super Mario World code injection to play Flappy Bird. This is absolutely insane. “Using various Super Mario World glitches, I injected the code for Flappy Bird (code written by p4plus2). This is the first time a human has ever completed this kind of exploit.” ~ learn more
oh, austin 🤠
Y’all street. Texas is getting some stock exchanges! “The New York Stock Exchange will reincorporate its Chicago branch in Texas, it announced on Wednesday, rebranding it as NYSE Texas and moving to Dallas. With the upstart Texas Stock Exchange taking shape and the Nasdaq expanding its reach in the Lone Star State, the Dallas region is about to find out if “Y’all Street” is big enough for three players.” ~ learn more
Deer smuggling operation. About a far away from securities trading as you can get. “A South Texas deer breeder and his business partner were recently convicted of a slew of charges tied to their involvement in illegally moving captive white-tailed deer across county lines, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced Thursday.” ~ learn more
tech, startups, internet ⚡
Boomless Cruise. Supersonic aircraft startup Boom demo’d a quiet supersonic flight. “When an aircraft breaks the sound barrier at a sufficiently high altitude, the boom refracts in the atmosphere and curls upward without reaching the ground. It makes a U-turn before anyone can hear it.” ~ learn more
Using AI codegen tools to do “vibe coding.” You ask it for features, accept changes, and keep editing. ~ learn more
Inside view of a Youtube exploit. “Some time ago, I was looking for a research target in Google and was digging through the Internal People API (Staging) discovery document until I noticed something interesting…” ~ learn more
better doing 🎯
What is a morning/evening routine actually FOR? “There's two different main purposes for routines, and advice-givers mix them up. They lump these two quite different things under "morning routine" and it causes trouble when you try to design your own.” ~ learn more
Minimum effective dose. “I went to the gym today for the first time in weeks I tried to do only the bare minimum required – also known as the minimum effective dose. It may come as a surprise how little time we truly need at the gym to gain strength and muscle.” ~ learn more
to your health ⚕
Developmental toxins. From Bryan Johnson: “100 million US children exposed to industrial developmental toxins demonstrated a 5-point drop in IQ.” ~ learn more
retail therapy 💸
2025 ecommerce P&L benchmark report. Curious about revenue, gross margin, contribution margin and ebitda? “This report draws on the combined financials of more than thirty private and public DTC companies to show you – in specific numbers – where the market changed last year, how brands responded, and what you might expect this year.” ~ learn more
Chinese cars at smartphone prices. “In China, the prices of new cars have reached incredibly low values, which are comparable to the prices of modern smartphones. Chinese automakers have managed to offer vehicles at prices ranging from just $610 to $1,714, making them the most affordable models in the world.” ~ learn more
under the microscope 🔬
Cheap blood test detects pancreatic cancer before it spreads. This is not ready for clinical use yet, but is an exciting new methodology. “To detect the presence of these proteases in the blood, the researchers developed nanosensors containing a magnetic nanoparticle attached to a small peptide that attracts matrix metalloproteinases and a fluorescent molecule. They then placed millions of nanosensors in a tiny sample of blood. If matrix metalloproteinases were present, and active, they would chop the peptide in the nanosensors, releasing the fluorescent molecule. The researchers then used a magnet to suck out all the unchopped nanosensors, and measure how many chopped fluorescent particles were left. The more active proteases were present in the blood, the brighter the sample was.” ~ learn more
thoughts of food 🍔
The perfect boiled egg requires two pots of water. “The issue with getting the perfect boiled egg is that the egg white and the egg yolk cook at different temperatures. The white, or albumen, cooks at 185 °F (85 °C), while the yolk cooks at the cooler temperature of 149 °F (65 °C).” ~ learn more
on the blockchain ⛓
Web3 is putting up real revenue numbers. Not compared to Web2, but objectively real numbers. “Over the last 30 days, the top 20 public Web3 projects generated $1.2B in revenue.” ~ learn more
El Salvador walks back its bitcoin law. Not because of any problem with bitcoin legal tender, but because they need that IMF dough. “The reforms come as part of a broader financial agreement between Bukele and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). One of the conditions for a proposed $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility loan was that El Salvador mitigate "potential risks of the Bitcoin project." ~ learn more
Kidnapped co-founder of Ledger had his hand mutilated. David Balland is co-founder of Ledger, a hardware wallet designed to keep your cryptocurrency secure from internet hackers. “Balland and his wife were kidnapped early on Tuesday morning from their home in central France, and were taken by car to two separate addresses where they were held captive, Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a press conference late on Thursday.” ~ learn more