OVERWORLD:
-The Tik keeps Toking-

ONE BETWEEN:
-Cockroaches can live in your penis, according to Google-

THE DEPTHS:
^_700-year-old skyscrapers-

“I hate the opera. I think I must have a tin ear. No matter how hard I concentrate it still sounds like a bunch of Italian chefs screaming risotto recipes at each other.”
— Aristotle Onassis

✦DISCOVERY PICKS✦

▶️ YouTube:
Kendrick Lamar, 15 years ago

👽 Reddit:
Kill your local pedophile

✖️ X:
Writing is like going to the gym. Don't over-romanticize it. You go there, you do the thing.

❓
Mystery link.

Remember what Ke$ha said?

The Tik keeps Toking, despite death around the corner

TikTok creators might get their livelihood pillaged in the coming year.

But for some reason, TikTok’s influencer economy isn't experiencing existential dread.

Actually, most US TikTok creators don’t believe the platform will be banned within a year. And most haven’t noticed marketing budgets draining away from the app.

If you didn't know: Congress passed a law last month putting the app’s US operations in jeopardy. The bill demands TikTok separate from its Chinese parent company within a year, or face a nationwide ban.

Anyway, Fohr polled 200 US-based TikTok creators who make a living off the app. Here’s the stats:

✦QUICK HITS✦

✦Business & Tech✦

Elon Musk's AI startup xAI raised $6 billion in Series B funding, valuing it at $24 billion. Backed by investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, the funds will advance xAI's product development, infrastructure, and research.

Buds over booze: Americans are using marijuana daily more often than alcohol, with daily cannabis users reaching 17.7 million compared to 14.7 million daily drinkers. This trend is driven by younger generations' increasing acceptance of cannabis. The cannabis industry anticipates regulatory changes that could boost growth, while the alcohol industry faces challenges from shifting consumer preferences.

Pawesome: Bark Air, an airline for dogs, launched its first flight from New York to Los Angeles — and it sold out. The airline, created by pet company Bark, offers a "white paw service" with treats and noise-canceling ear muffs for canine passengers. Tickets cost $6,000 for NYC to LA and $8,000 for NYC to London.

✦Fashion & Culture✦

A good read, perhaps: Alessandro Michele, ex-Gucci creative director, currently at Valentino, dropped an interesting book. "La Vita delle Forme" blends fashion and philosophy, and explores Michele's personal reflections and journey through fashion.

Logan Paul criticized a doctor on Instagram for advising against PRIME Energy drink due to alleged chemicals. Paul responded by making fun of Pompa's suspended license and probation for stealing $1.4 million from his children's trust. Just two good guys talking, you know?

Big stepper: Kendrick Lamar just bought a modern farmhouse in Brentwood, Los Angeles for over $40 million. The 2018-built estate, designed by Philip Vertoch, features nine bedrooms, 15 baths, and numerous luxurious amenities.

✦Hmm… Interesting✦

How to Turn Your iPhone Into a Dumb Phone

For programmers: Lessons Learned from My First Roblox Game

Cozy 1-minute read: English is a very religious language

Big read for big thinkers: The Prophet Who Failed

ONE 

BETWEEN

Not cool

Google pays Reddit $60 million/year to tell you cockroaches can live in your penis

Did you know that Google pays Reddit $60 million every year?

It’s mostly for Google to access its content, which helps improve Google's AI and search with real-world data from Reddit posts.

Last week, we saw what 60 macaronis gets you — and it’s embarrassing.

Google’s new AI Overview, is their new AI compiler integrated into the search engine. Basically, it’s supposed to scrape the web for info and get you a straight answer without having to click a link.

The result: Google’s AI is confidently serving straight-up bullshit. Where does this bullshit come from? Reddit, partly.

In a viral screenshot, AI Overview recommends you add glue to your pizza sauce.

Internet detectives somehow traced back the source data, which was an 11-year-old ironic Reddit comment with 8 upvotes from a user named “Fucksmith.”

Check it out:

The source data:

So, now screenshots of Google’s AI Overview sad trumpeting are going viral.

Honestly, makes sense: Google’s AI is not a source of new knowledge. It's info indiscriminately scraped from the internet, sometimes recombined to seem new and smart.

When Google and Reddit announced their data-sharing agreement, jokes were made about Reddit "poisoning" Google’s AI.

Ironically, this is exactly what happened. Fucksmith is now Google.

This is a problem, because people go to Google for serious shit sometimes, like medicinal advice. You don’t want to get that w

The stock market doesn't care: Investors like AI, for reasons. So, Alphabet stock continues to rise. If this continues to be rewarded, the foreseeable user experience will involve a confusing mix of Reddit shitposts, actual information, and AI-generated hallucinations.

To that, we say yikes.

Before you go, here’s some more gunk:

THE DEPTHS

Very cool

700-year-old skyscrapers

Two words: Medieval skyscraper. Doesn’t make sense right? But it kinda was a thing.

The artwork you see above has circulated across the internet for a minute. It’s a drawing of Bologna in the 12th or 13th century, resembling a medieval Blade Runner with all its towering structures.

Bologna actually had up to 180 such towers, but only 22 remain today. The most famous still-standing ones are called the Two Towers.

Here they are:

These days, the height of buildings is a status symbol for a region. And such was the case for medieval Bologna as well.

During this era, Bologna was one of Europe's largest cities. Bologna had tons of ambitious construction projects including cathedrals, town halls, and towers. Most of which were built by noble families engaged in aristocratic traditions and feuds.

If you’ve got 12 minutes, The Present Past made this really good video about it:

Anyway, without space for castles, these families created urban complexes with towers serving as panic rooms rather than living spaces. These structures are referenced in art and literature, such as Dante's mention of the leaning tower, Garisenda.

Today, Bologna's skyline is sparse. Which is a move away from the aristocratic and mercantile intrigue that once necessitated fortified towers. While the city no longer needs such structures for protection, the remaining towers stand as historical remnants of a bygone era. Nice.