Stock Watch: Brand Collabs

Icebreakers with… John Green

The legendary author, YouTuber, and podcaster John Green agreed to do Icebreakers with us, and guess what—we only cried twice during the entire interview. 

Btw, Green's first nonfiction book, The Anthropocene Reviewed; Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, is out now. If you gave his podcast five stars, you'll love the book.

What's something that podcasting offers that books don't and vice versa?

With a textual book, your eyes can rest on a passage, or skip over one, or reread a bit, and I've always enjoyed being able to choose the pace of my reading experience. But one thing I prefer about podcasts (and audiobooks) is how personal they feel, how hearing another human voice creates a space where the listener’s and speaker's thoughts can commingle.

What star rating would you give the five-star rating scale?

Three at most, maybe two. Before I wrote books or made YouTube videos, I worked as a publishing assistant at Booklist magazine, and during my years there, I reviewed hundreds of books. Booklist reviews don't include star ratings, and why would they? In 175 words, one can say much more about a book (or a movie, or a hotel, or a barbershop) than a single data point ever could. The five-star scale didn't become ubiquitous until the internet era because it doesn't really exist for humans; it exists for data aggregation systems.

What is the most surprising thing about watching a movie adapted from one of your books?

My best friend Chris put it very succinctly to me once: "It's so weird to see famous actors say words you wrote at our Starbucks."

You live in Indianapolis, of all places. What's the one thing people should know about it?

Indianapolis is such a beautiful city. We have one of the US' largest urban parks and a lovely canal system. Also, we have a cemetery, Crown Hill, that is the last and final resting place of more US Vice Presidents than any other location on Earth. I feel like our tourism board should advertise that more. 

If you could own any sports franchise other than the English soccer team AFC Wimbledon, of which you are a huge fan, what would it be?

I would love for there to be a Major League Soccer team in Indianapolis, but I would not want to own it. Owning a sports team seems very stressful. I own around 0.04% of AFC Wimbledon, and that's enough for me. 

What would you write on a giant billboard?

ISN'T IT WEIRD THAT ALL OUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ARE MADE OUT OF CHEMICAL REACTIONS?

Tell us about something you love doing that you're terrible at. And tell us about something you really do not like doing that you're great at.

I love playing Tetris—like, the 30-year-old original Nintendo version of Tetris—but I'm no good at it whatsoever. I've been playing that game regularly since I was 10 years old, and I have never improved. As for something I don't enjoy but excel at: I'm pretty good at writing emails, but gosh do I dislike it. 

Name three books on your nightstand right now:

Clint Smith's How the Word Is Passed, Ashley C. Ford's Somebody's Daughter, and Erik Samuelson's All Together Now.

Each week, Morning Brew's Head of People Ops Kate Noel answers reader-submitted questions about work in 2021. 

Q: "I have a job offer from one company, but the company I really want to work for has scheduled my interview for the end of the week. How can I buy some time with the company that gave me the offer?"—Zoya, Pakistan

A: Zoya, there is nothing wrong with being transparent on both sides. Reach out to the company that has your interview scheduled for the end of the week and let them know that you are still very interested in this position. But also share that you just received an offer from another organization that requires your response sooner rather than later. Perhaps they can move your interview if they are very interested in you. 

Now let's chat about that offer you already have. You should reach out to the company and tell them you need some more time to consider their offer. Sharing that you are also considering other roles can make you seem even more attractive to that organization. 

Q: "I started a new role at my company (virtually) about eight months ago with no formal training. I'm constantly feeling like I don't know how to do my job, and it's been too long for me to tell my manager (plus she's crazy busy). What should I do?"—Taylor, New York 

A: Dope question, Taylor. Let's think about how we can reimagine your question so that you can get the answer you need without looking crazy to your boss (because you did lowkey wait eight months to ask your manager how to do the job lol). I would ask your manager something like this: "How can I do my job better to support you?" I think her answer would reveal her expectations for the role and other skills you could develop that would make you a rockstar employee.  

I also have to add that perhaps if you lasted eight months without knowing how to do your job, and your manager hasn't said anything about it, you may actually know more about your job than you think. 

Something bothering you at work? Ask Kate here.

Did the Coronavirus Get Leaked From a Lab?

Francis Scialabba

Maybe.

In recent weeks, the theory that Covid-19 was leaked from a Chinese virology lab has gained momentum in the scientific community.

On Wednesday, President Biden asked his intelligence agencies to "redouble" their efforts to examine the origins of Covid-19, with a specific focus on the so-called "lab-leak theory." 

If this hypothesis sounds like the plot to a bad sci-fi movie, just remember that sports teams put cardboard cutouts of people in stadiums for an entire season. Things are strange.

And especially as it relates to the origins of Covid-19, they're even stranger. Scientists have no hard evidence to pinpoint how exactly the coronavirus started spreading among humans in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. The two prevailing theories are:

• Natural origin: A bat carrying the coronavirus spread it to another animal such as a pangolin, and the pangolin spread an even more contagious version of the virus to humans.
• Lab leak: A scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which studies bat viruses, was infected with a contagious strain through a sloppy mistake or an accident and brought it out to the wider world. 

As researchers began studying Covid-19's origins last year, the natural origin theory dominated and the lab leak theory was considered preposterous. In the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, 27 scientists wrote, "We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 does not have a natural origin." 

The conversation had become political. Right-wing pundits and conservative lawmakers, particularly Sen. Tom Cotton, were pushing the US government to investigate claims that the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Democrats and left-leaning media folks pushed back, saying those claims contained racist undercurrents (and overcurrents).

But as 2020 went on, scientists found no evidence to support the natural origin theory, China was stonewalling any credible independent investigation, and people started saying, "You know what...this lab leak theory may not be as crazy as it sounds." Dr. Fauci said this week he wasn't convinced the virus developed naturally.

More clues have recently appeared supporting the lab leak theory, too. Last Sunday, the WSJ reported that three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology became so sick in November 2019 that they had to seek hospital care. Intelligence officials don't fully agree on the significance of the news, but that was the month epidemiologists believe Covid-19 first started circulating in Wuhan.

Bottom line: The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 3.5 million people and sent the global economy into a historic recession, yet we still can't say for sure how it started. Experts warn that with clues like blood samples drying up, time may be running out to ever learn the virus's true origins.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only Sunday Edition section that will encourage you to get out there and buy a castle. We'll give you a few facts about a listing (in this case, an actual castle) and you try to guess the price.

Castleist

Not sure about y'all, but after watching the cost of a two bedroom in the US skyrocket, moving to a castle in the south of France that overlooks the Pyrenees mountains doesn't seem like a wild idea. The château in this listing dates back to the 10th century and is classified as a historical monument. Amenities include:

• A new swimming pool, but you can call it a moat if you want
• Eight acres of land
• A medieval glacis, or slope, circles the castle to prevent invading enemies…though it remains powerless against spam calls
• Some ghosts for sure

How much for your very own medieval mansion? Scroll to the bottom of the newsletter to find out.

1. The only Memorial Day cooking guide you need. (Morning Brew)
2. Followed with the only MDW yard games guide you'll ever need. (Morning Brew)
3. A deep dive into Disney adults. (Kurtis Conner)
4. Inside youth baseball's most notorious dad-on-dad rivalry. (Esquire)
5. The millennial vernacular of fatphobia. (Culture Study)
6. Chase that down with the millennial vernacular of getting swole. (Emily Contois)
7. The secret psychology of sneaker colors. (NYT)
8. All hail Queen C: Female cicadas are choosy and in charge. (WaPo)
9. Vaccine waitlist Dr. B collected data from millions. But how many did it help? (MIT Tech Review)
10. "A united nations of crime": how Marbella became a magnet for gangsters. (The Guardian)

Meme Battle

Welcome back to Morning Brew's Meme Battle, where we crown a single memelord every Sunday.

Today's winner: Nick from Stamford, CT. Definitely not a subtweet of Morning Brew...certainly not…

This week's challenge: You can find the new meme template here for next Sunday. Once you're done making your meme, submit it at this link. We'll pick a new winner in next week's Sunday Edition and provide you with another meme template to meme-ify. 

€750k (~$915k)