Welcome to the weekend.

Prime Numbers

27,000,000 — There are 27 million people in the United States who get paid to post on social media, and 44% of them said social media is their full-time job. Overall, advertisers paid content creators $26 billion in 2023.

43 — Hurricanes cause damage. But even when insured, the blow can mean that businesses are unable to reopen and go under. Numbers vary — the Small Business Administration says that a quarter of businesses never reopen after a disaster, but FEMA puts the figure at 43% of small businesses that close for good. 

12.57 — The average price of a beer in an NBA arena has hit $12.57. There’s a fairly wide range in pricing, with the Cleveland Cavaliers coming in at $5.91 per beer and the Oklahoma City Thunder charging $6.84 at the low end, while the Boston Celtics have the temerity to charge $20.32 for a 16-ounce beer.

How to Raise Resilient Children

The decline of a local community has created a tragic domino effect: parents became fearful, children lost independence and smartphones filled the resulting social void. Yet religious communities, particularly Orthodox Jewish ones, offer a compelling counterexample and blueprint for rebuilding stronger neighborhoods. Their success stems from four key practices: creating phone-free times for real connection (like Shabbat), establishing multiple local institutions where children can grow, providing clear roles and responsibilities for youth, and celebrating in-person achievement over digital validation. While completely replicating these religious communities isn't necessary, their fundamental approach — prioritizing physical presence, fostering trust between neighbors and giving children real responsibility — offers a powerful antidote to the isolation and anxiety plaguing modern childhood. The key insight? We can't rescue childhood without first rebuilding the community. After Babel (7 minutes)

Money Buys Freedom, Not Happiness

Beyond the tired debate of whether money can buy happiness lies a deeper truth: what most people actually crave is freedom, not wealth itself. While money can solve practical problems and reduce pain up to about $100,000 annually, its real power lies in buying back your time, funding your health and enabling meaningful experiences with others. The true value emerges when wealth becomes a servant rather than a master, liberating you from obligations you despise rather than trapping you in a gilded cage of endless acquisition. The antidote to materialism isn't minimalism; it's purposeful spending aligned with your deepest values of believing, belonging and becoming. Art of Manliness  (47 minutes)

The AI Agents Are Here

In a significant leap beyond chatbots, artificial intelligence (AI) can now operate computers just like humans do — clicking, typing and navigating screens on our behalf. Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet leads this revolution with its "computer use" feature, scoring twice as high as competitors in navigating computers independently. While the current version stumbles (scoring just 14.9% on basic tasks compared to humans' 70%–75%), it represents a pivotal shift: AI breaking free from the confines of text boxes to handle real-world tasks like scheduling, form-filling and web research. This evolution promises to automate workplace drudgery but also raises urgent questions about privacy, security and the potential for misuse in an era where your computer increasingly does the computing for you. Platformer (7 minutes)

The Problem with Solar

In a puzzling contradiction, solar power is simultaneously nearly free and prohibitively expensive. While sunlight-to-electricity conversion has become remarkably cheap, this apparent breakthrough masks a fundamental problem: solar panels only work when the sun shines, and storing that energy for later use remains enormously costly. Power companies must build expensive new infrastructure to handle unpredictable solar surges, creating chaos in traditional grid systems designed for steady, predictable power flow. While solar enthusiasts celebrate near-zero or even negative energy prices as proof of success, these are actually warning signs of a destabilized system. Until we solve the storage problem, which remains financially out of reach even for wealthy nations and explains why solar struggles in developing countries, this "free" energy source will continue to burden power grids with hidden costs that make it both the cheapest and most expensive energy source we have. Persuasion (7 minutes)

The Deli Dynasty

What started as a humble horse-drawn meat cart transformed into a $3 billion deli empire through an unconventional business strategy: treating cold cuts like luxury perfume at Bloomingdale's. But beneath Boar's Head's premium brand lies a fascinating story of family warfare, eccentric leadership (the CFO claims not to know who the CEO is) and a stark generational divide. While the charismatic "Jay Gatsby of deli meat" Bob Martin Sr. revolutionized the industry with bold marketing, his more-reserved son now operates from the shadows alongside a cousin who shows up to board meetings in flip-flops. The owners' ironclad control over their empire has rewarded them handsomely — the families have extracted over $1.5 billion in payments while maintaining such extreme secrecy that even senior employees aren't allowed to see basic sales figures. New York Times (7 minutes)

The Anxious Overachiever

Five powerful limiting beliefs plague even the most successful professionals, creating a disconnect between their external success and internal confidence. 1) The "Anxiety Means Danger" Trap: Many high achievers misinterpret normal pre-performance stress hormones as signs of weakness or impending failure, turning natural biological responses into self-fulfilling prophecies of anxiety. 2) The "Need to Feel Confident" Myth: Successful people often believe they must eliminate fear before performing well, when in reality, confidence is about performing well despite feeling anxious. 3) The "Past Trauma" Fallacy: Many get stuck believing they must resolve childhood issues before moving forward, when present-day habits, not past events, typically maintain anxiety patterns. 4) The "Everyone Notices" Delusion: High achievers often waste enormous mental energy imagining others constantly judging their anxiety, when most people are too focused on themselves to notice. 5) The "Coping Skills" Paradox: Counterintuitively, the very techniques people use to manage anxiety often make it worse long-term by teaching the brain that anxiety is dangerous and must be eliminated. Nick Wignall (7 minutes)

The Hopeful Skeptic

While many mistake cynicism for wisdom, there exists a more powerful mindset: the hopeful skeptic. This isn't about blind optimism or harsh doubt, but rather a sophisticated hybrid mindset that surpasses them both — the precision of a scientist combined with the openness of an optimist. Like a skilled detective rather than a jaded critic, the hopeful skeptic gathers real evidence about who to trust, making informed decisions based on observation and experience rather than defaulting to either blanket faith or suspicion. Research reveals this balanced approach leads to superior outcomes in everything from cognitive performance to lie detection and relationship building. Not only is this mindset more practical; it's more accurate. Humans consistently prove more trustworthy than we assume. Most importantly, hopeful skepticism breaks free from the false choice between being "smart but cynical" or "kind but gullible," showing that an incisive mind and an open heart aren't just compatible. They're complementary. Behavioral Scientist (7 minutes)

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.

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Weekend Wisdom

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants. - Epictetus