Corporate warfare via journalism
There are things I write about in this newsletter specifically because my dad reads it, and would find those things interesting. This week, it's Hunterbrook Media.
Depending on who you ask, Hunterbrook is either a news-powered hedge fund or a hedge fund-powered newspaper. They've hired journalists to investigate various publicly-traded companies; if these investigations reveal any shady practices, Hunterbrook then shorts the companies in question before making their findings public. In their ideal scenario, the value of the targeted company's stock then goes down and Hunterbrook makes a lot of money.
Apparently this isn't insider trading, because Hunterbrook's reporters are instructed not to seek out sources within the companies they're investigating. And it's probably a solid investment on Hunterbrook's part; the cost of housing and feeding a newsroom of two dozen journalists has to be pocket change compared to the amounts of money hedge funds usually deal in.
It's not the most ethical thing in the world, obviously, but it is really, really funny.
Recommendation: The Maltese Falcon
The thing about seminal works of genre fiction is that everyone agrees they're good, but nobody actually reads them. And then you do read them, and they are good, but you can't tell anybody because they all agree with you already. But at least your opinion is informed, goddamnit.
Anyway. The brilliant thing about Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon is its refusal to tell you what any of its characters are thinking. The prose describes what they say, how they're saying it, their expressions, their actions, but gives you no insight as to anyone's motivations or what they're up to once they leave the reader's sight.
As a result, you can't trust anyone in The Maltese Falcon — not even its protagonist. And that's what keeps you guessing until the last page.
This Week's Links
Aesthetically speaking, the Stargate might be the perfect science fiction object. It spins. It lights up. It makes satisfying cha-chunk noises. And now Kristian here has made a miniature prop version that does all of those things.
I love this. Not just because the project is cool, but because it's my favorite kind of website: the kind that exists because somebody built something interesting, and they want to show it to the world.
These Songs Are Still Legal in Chechnya
“From now on all musical, vocal and choreographic works should correspond to a tempo of 80 to 116 beats per minute,” Chechnya’s Culture Ministry said in a statement, according to the Moscow Times.
In a meeting, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov instructed Chechen Culture Minister Musa Dadayev to make Chechen music “conform to the Chechen mentality,” and added that “Borrowing musical culture from other peoples is inadmissible,” the Moscow Times reported.
Burglary crew allegedly nets up to $30M in one of the largest cash heists in LA history
In today's world of crypto scams and offshore digital assets, it's weirdly reassuring to know that you can still pull off a good old-fashioned heist. Also I was nowhere near Los Angeles that weekend, and you can't prove otherwise.
I wonder if that 3D-printed Stargate scales up to life size. I have ideas.
-K
