Living vicariously through this random German soccer fan who decided to spend the week leading up to the World Cup roaming around Georgia and documenting everything
Tourists slowly realizing that most of rural Japan just looks like rural America will never not make me smile.
This is from Toyooka in Hyogo Prefecture. KFC is just as much of a Japanese institution as it is an American one at this point.
once you turn 20 you have to fight everyday for the rest of your life to not lose your personality & spirit...bc what once came naturally to you will be exhausted into nothing if you don't actively Try. it's terrifyingly easy to become a lethargic, soulless adult
Microsoft just announced an Xbox 25th anniversary console and controller in translucent green. The X button at the front lights up green, and the bumpers on the controller honor the OG Duke controller. Full details here https://t.co/DyI62ZSK7K
In a lot of US states you make roughly the same amount of money (or more) getting government benefits and working under-the-table cash jobs than you do working an above-the-table job, the hallmark of the middle class.
So, if you’re in the middle class, from a financial perspective, you either grind to get into the upper class (where there are tax advantages like 20% cap gains) or you drop down to work less and collect benefits.
Toxic, unsustainable, and needs fixing but it is what it is.
Hi @patrickbetdavid ,
Last year, you lamented that US companies have shipped their manufacturing abroad, taking advantage of low-cost labor in other countries. This, you suggested, is why we need tariffs.
I happen to know where your shoes are made, as you showed clips of the Tuscan factory in your video. I was surprised to see that you're retailing them for $600. That's a handsome mark-up!
As you may know, many companies offer full-grain leather sneakers made in Tuscany for a fraction of the price. I've attached a screenshot of some from Gustin ($199). These are also made with a stitched-on cup sole, like the ones you're selling. Gustin's prices are uniquely low because of their pre-order business model, which allows them to cut waste. But lots of companies use the same factory as you and charge considerably less than $600.
Curious, why not make the sneakers in the United States? There are many factories still here, such as Opie in North Carolina. They retail their US-made sneakers for $428. Their business model allows third parties to work with them while maintaining a healthy profit margin. Faherty, for instance, made a leather deck shoe with them this season with a stitched-on cup sole. Their retail price is $398 — $30 less than Opie's direct-to-consumer price.
In a 2023 interview with DJ Vlad, you said that you're worth $450 million. That was three years ago, so perhaps you're worth more today. Yet all your merch is made abroad, including in South American countries such as Nicaragua and El Salvador. Even your Tuscan factory is cheaper than a comparable US factory.
On your show, you often lament how greedy executives have screwed American workers, particularly in the manufacturing sector. Would you be interested in moving all of your sneaker production to the United States and charging a fairer price? This will create jobs for US workers and allow consumers to get a fairer value.
I'm still beyond pissed Mario Kart World wasn't allowed to be nominated for Best Score/Music for The Game Awards last year all because the category was sponsored by Spotify, which meant it would've had to also be on Spotify in order for it to get nominated 💀
This is fucking insane. I almost don't know what to say. Back during Gen V I never really got to experience the Dream World because my family didn't have internet yet and by the time we did the whole thing was shut down. And now, thanks to these people, I can experience it for
Michelle Obama has spoken fairly regularly about how the Obama’s would miss out on opportunities so they would not inconvenience the public because they were in the White House to serve others.
Car dependency is a mandatory tax on your freedom and bank account. True fiscal conservatism is living in a walkable neighborhood where you don’t need a $40,000 depreciating asset just to buy groceries.
every company that goes bankrupt in the united states is legally required to publish the name, address, and exact dollar amount owed to every single vendor they were paying.
this is called the Schedule F filing. it's public record on PACER. updated daily. and almost nobody in B2B outbound knows it exists.
when a company files chapter 11, they have to list every unsecured creditor. that means every SaaS vendor, every agency, every consultant, every freelancer who was billing them. name of the company, contact address, and the exact amount they're owed.
that list is a goldmine and here's why:
every vendor on that Schedule F just lost a paying customer. their revenue took a hit. their churn metrics are fucked. and they're actively looking to replace that revenue THIS month. not next quarter. not "when budget opens up." right now.
go to pacer .gov. search by chapter: 11. filter to the last 30 days. pick any filing in your industry. download the Schedule F attachment.
you now have a list of 120 to 900 vendors who are actively bleeding revenue from one account loss. with their real company name and mailing address right there in the federal filing.
run those company names through AI-Ark or leadsonar. pull the founder or head of sales. 86% enrichment rate on first pass because these aren't stealth startups. they're established vendors who just got stiffed.
cold email:
"[first name] - saw that [bankrupt company] filed chapter 11 last week. if [your company] was providing [service category] to them, you're probably backfilling that revenue right now. we help [vendor type] companies replace churned accounts with outbound pipeline in under 30 days. fixed price. refund if it doesn't land. quick loom?"
you're not guessing they have a problem. the federal government confirmed they have a problem. in writing. with the dollar amount attached.
we ran this for a RevOps consultancy in march. one chapter 11 filing from a mid-market ecommerce company. 347 vendors on the Schedule F. 291 enriched. 84 cold emails sent to the highest-fit vendors. 19 replies. 6 closed at $7,400 average.
$44,400 from one bankrupt company's creditor list that took 40 minutes to pull.
and there are 15-25 new chapter 11 filings per week in the US alone.
btw the vendors on Schedule F are also owed money they'll probably never collect. which means they're not just looking for new revenue. they're emotionally primed to say yes to anyone offering a quick win. the psychology is doing half the selling for you
run it
every passage is like "hitler demanded 50000 planes to be made in one year. albert speer swore he would make a hundred thousand planes instead. by using slave labor and at the expense of everything else they made 23469 planes. in that same time the allies made 250 billion planes"
Montreal, Edmonton, Cambridge, Portland, Missoula, Buffalo, Denver, Minneapolis, Austin, Kansas City, Vancouver and Toronto are just some of the hundreds of North American cities that have eliminated arbitrary, minimum parking requirements.
one time i was feeling sad, so i went to a dog park to look at dogs. i did not own a dog.
i walked through the gate, sat on a rock next to a girl around my age, and asked her which dog was hers.
turns out she didn’t own a dog either.
we laughed. then for the next two hours, we talked about our lives, our childhoods, our ex boyfriends… all the things that felt so so heavy at the time.
for those two hours, she was my best friend. she made me feel seen, understood, and a little less alone. and i think i did that for her too.
then we hugged, never exchanged contact, and never saw each other again.
sometimes I think about her. and all the other serendipitous, short, but meaningful connections we can have with other human beings on this earth.
genuine human understanding is so so precious. and the willingness to be open to them, is worth protecting, and worth fighting for.
so if it takes just a small bit of courage, i think i’ll keep going to dog parks alone.