24. According to Chess Journal, the world’s most expensive chess set, which includes diamonds and emeralds and was commissioned by Great Britain’s Royale Jewel Company, is valued at more than $9.8 million.

23. Status is a possible cause of dropping fertility rate.

22. Over the past 30 years, battery costs have fallen by 99%

21. Nearly 400,000 guests stayed at Airbnbs in Paris for the Olympics, equivalent to 5 Olympic stadiums.

20. 20 years after the electric light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, just 3% of US households had electricity.

19. Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is projected to account for a quarter of the world’s working-age population within a few decades and have more people of working age than China in about 10 years.

18. Apple has spent more than $20 billion to produce original TV shows and movies. However, Apple TV+ generates less viewing in one month than Netflix does in one day.

17. There are 33 million Starbucks Rewards members (1/10 American adults). At the end of March 2024, there was $1.9 billion of stored card value on Starbucks’ balance sheet.

16. In 2023, McDonald's bought 2 billion eggs from agribusiness giant Cargill.

15. In an unprecedented move, the Tokyo Stock Exchange sent letters to any company trading below book value to ask for a concrete plan to reverse this valuation.

14. China controls 40% of the world’s commercial shipbuilding capacity. The US has just 0.5%

13. Blue zones, “regions of the globe that supposedly contain lots and lots of extremely old people“, have nothing to teach us about extending human life.

12. 75% of containers that come to the US from overseas return to their origin empty.

11. Why did Egyptian pharaohs so often marry their sisters?

10.  Italy’s tax code effectively bans startups? Companies are taxed before making any money, based on how many assets they have. If they have lots of assets but aren’t making money (eg they’re still doing research/in stealth), then taxman get confused & hostile, run increasingly punitive audits

however, despite learning of a pending Trump victory before anyone else, Jane Street still managed to lose money on their trade because they [incorrectly thought a Trump win would be bad for] US markets."

9. "My favorite story about Sam Bankman-Fried involves his time at Jane Street Capital where he built a system to get the 2016 US Presidential election results [a few minutes] before any mainstream media outlets...

8. You shouldn’t say ‘hello’ in chat. [NoHello.net]