Weekend Briefing No. 637
Sell One Less - Corporate Terrorism -- Robot Freud
Welcome to the weekend.
Prime Numbers
6 — CATL’s new Shenxing battery can charge from 10 to 98% in just 6 minutes — nearly five times faster than leading EV batteries from Hyundai and Porsche. It even hits that speed in Arctic temperatures, charging fully in under 10 minutes at -22°F.
57 — A 3.5-ounce reduction in shoe weight could shave 57 seconds off an elite marathoner’s finish time, according to a recent study. That finding has footwear brands racing to strip every possible gram — thinner laces, nitrogen-injected soles — pushing the latest Adidas super shoe down to just 3.4 ounces.
3,100,000,000 - NASA's return to the Moon hinges on a $3.1 billion contract with Axiom Space for new spacesuits, and the Inspector General now warns that further delays could push a 2028 landing to 2031, since the suits currently in use on the ISS haven't received a major update in two decades.
Sell One Less
Ferrari has sold just 330,000 cars across its entire 79-year history, the same number Hermès ships in Birkins and Kellys every two years, and Rolex moves every three months. That number is the whole strategy: Ferrari is a luxury goods company that happens to make engines, running 50% gross margins (versus 7% at Ford and 15-25% at Porsche) and earning roughly $170,000 in gross profit per car. The operating rule is simple, “sell one less car than the market demands,” and it’s enforced ruthlessly: 80% of each year’s 14,000 units go to existing owners, customers must typically own 10 to 20 Ferraris before qualifying for a supercar, and a single once-a-decade model like the $4 million F80 (capped at 799 units) can deliver 30% of annual profits in its first year. The bigger lesson for any premium brand is that scarcity isn’t a constraint to manage around, it’s the product; the moment you start chasing volume, you stop selling the dream and start selling a car. Acquired Briefing (7 min)
Ferrari is a fascinating company. If you like deep dives on business strategies like this, check out my other email Acquired Briefing.
Corporate Terrorism
A Paris court just did something that has arguably never happened before: convicted an entire corporation for financing terrorism. Between 2013 and 2014, Lafarge, one of the world’s largest cement manufacturers, paid roughly $6.5 million to ISIS and other armed groups in Syria to keep its plant running, while Syrian workers were forced to cross sniper-lined checkpoints as their European colleagues were safely evacuated. The former CEO’s defense, that he didn’t read his emails, didn’t hold up against documented agreements stamped with the ISIS flag authorizing Lafarge cement trucks through checkpoints. The case sets a precedent that cynicism and profit-at-any-cost aren’t just ethical failures, they can be criminal ones, and that corporations can no longer offload blame onto a few rogue executives when the rot runs through the whole organization. NYT (12 min)
Robot Freud
Stumbling onto your partner’s ChatGPT history is a new kind of intimacy violation, one that didn’t exist five years ago and for which there is no etiquette yet. After accidentally opening her boyfriend’s laptop, a woman found a series of chats in which he had methodically workshopped his doubts about her, listing her body, her cats, her eating disorder history, and her “van life” past as liabilities, before ChatGPT concluded he should end the relationship. They tried to continue dating after the discovery, and he became more attentive and deliberate, but the damage wasn’t what he’d written so much as that she’d seen his unfiltered, pre-edited inner monologue, stripped of the softening language that love usually provides. Once you’ve read the ledger, you can’t unknow the math, and building a life with someone on top of their unresolved doubts turns out to feel lonelier than starting over alone. Lindsey Hall Writes (10 min)
Pancreatic Cancer Cracked?
Pancreatic cancer kills roughly 87% of patients within five years, making it one of medicine’s most stubborn problems, but a personalized mRNA vaccine is now producing survival numbers that look almost unbelievable against that backdrop. In a small phase 1 trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering, researchers custom-built vaccines for each patient using the unique genetic mutations in their tumor, essentially teaching the immune system to recognize cancer cells as foreign invaders. Of the 8 patients whose immune systems responded to the vaccine, 7 were still alive four to six years later, compared to just 2 of the 8 who didn’t respond. The same mRNA platform that made COVID vaccines possible may now be the key to unlocking immune responses against cancers that have historically shrugged off every treatment thrown at them. MSKCC (8 min)
Nukes For Progress
During the Cold War, American scientists tried to convince themselves that nuclear weapons could double as instruments of civil engineering. Project Plowshare proposed using atomic explosions to dig canals, carve out harbors, free up natural gas reserves, and otherwise remake landscapes at industrial speed. Planners seriously sketched a second Panama Canal through Nicaragua blasted open with hundreds of nuclear detonations. Harbors were actually cratered into existence in Alaska. Several underground gas-stimulation shots were fired in the American West, producing radioactive gas that no utility would buy. The project officially wound down in 1977, having accomplished little beyond contaminating ground and groundwater, but it remains a weirdly instructive case study in what happens when a technology looks so powerful that its wielders stop asking whether it should be used at all. When the only tool you trust is a hammer, every landscape starts to look like a canal waiting to be dug. Youtube (12 min)
Inconceivable Winner
After six rounds of reader voting, Lit Hub’s bracket for the best literary film adaptation of the last fifty years has crowned The Princess Bride, which dispatched The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with 60 percent of the vote. Rob Reiner’s 1987 fairy tale was initially a box-office disappointment, but its alchemy of postmodern irreverence, slapstick, and endlessly quotable dialogue has quietly made it the Swiss Army knife of cult classics. It helped that William Goldman adapted his own novel, a rare combination of source author and Academy Award-winning screenwriter, and that Reiner had carried the book around for years after his father handed it to him. The runner-up, a billion-dollar operatic trilogy, never really stood a chance against a small film about true love, Rodents of Unusual Size, and the correct way to never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line. As you wish. Literary Hub (3 min)
Own Your Failures
The fastest way to stay stuck is to spend your energy locating the person responsible for your problems anywhere except in the mirror. Extreme ownership flips that instinct: take full responsibility for your outcomes, treat setbacks as data rather than identity, and refocus on the next move as quickly as possible. The point isn’t denying that life is unfair, it’s refusing to let that unfairness become your operating system. Anthony de Mello’s companion reminder pairs well: cultivate activities you would pursue whether or not anyone praised you, paid you, or even noticed, because those are the only things that actually belong to you. Matt Haig adds a third layer, urging us not to envy things we wouldn’t actually want, not to absorb criticism from people we wouldn’t go to for advice, and not to mistake the appearance of belonging for the real thing. Rebounding fast, choosing meaningful work, ignoring the wrong voices: unglamorous, effective, and entirely within your control. Postanly Weekly (4 min)
Should We Work Together?
Hi! I’m Kyle. This newsletter is my passion project. When I’m not writing, I run a law firm that helps startups move fast without breaking things. Most founders want a trusted legal partner, but they hate surprise legal bills. At Westaway, we take care of your startup’s legal needs for a flat, monthly fee so you can control your costs and focus on scaling your business. If you’re interested, let’s jump on a call to see if you’re a good fit for the firm. Click here to schedule a one-on-one call with me.
Weekend Wisdom
The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you really are. - Carl Jung