Good Morning Players!

I have a little personal news I want to share with you all.

I am heading back to the Morning Brew to host a podcast and video show called Morning Brew Daily.

It’s going to be a 20-minute rundown where Neal Freyman (managing editor of the newsletter) and I break down the top stories of the day. Imagine a sports talk show, but make it business.

The first episode comes out on Tuesday, but you can toss us a follow on Twitter if you want to support us in the meantime.

Now, on to the Winners and Losers of the week.

LOSER

Saying, “why is no one talking about this?”

On February 3, a train that was transporting a toxic chemical derailed and spilled its cargo in the city of East Palestine, OH. Immediately, people began tweeting pictures of the fallout including the enormous fireball created by the controlled burn of the train and the resulting smoke clouds.

In fact, it’s been tough to scroll social media without seeing some sort of coverage of the incident.

The above tweet alone has 9 million views. Here’s an NYT breakdown of the topic. Tucker Carlson from Fox News also devoted an hour special to it. It was the top story in Morning Brew which goes out to 4 million people.

And yet, if you search for “East Palestine media” on Twitter you will find literally thousands of tweets complaining that there has been zero coverage of the incident.

It’s so odd that some stories get slapped with the narrative that “no one is covering this” despite the outsized coverage a story may actually receive. It comes down to moral outrage—sometimes it’s not enough to be mad at the incident itself, you also need to be mad at the circumstances surrounding it.

Don’t get me wrong, the train derailment was a tragedy worth expressing outrage over, but as the tweet above states, your media diet may be part of the problem.

WINNER

Retail traders are back

When the pandemic first started, stock trading became a popular outlet for lots of bored people stuck indoors to have a little fun (and make a hell of a lot of money.) But the “retail mania” that propelled GameStop and AMC to massive valuations has calmed down in the years since.

And yet, over the past month, amateur investors funneled the highest amount ever recorded into US stocks.

I know I’m breaking my rules from the first story, but it is bizarre that no one is talking about this. We’re currently experiencing GameStop mania…with none of the mania.

The biggest benefactor of the return of retail traders? Tesla.

After a rough 2022, Elon’s side project is up 74% in 2023 through Wednesday's close.

LOSER

Our sassy (dangerous?) robot overlords

Bing’s new AI chatbot has a hell of an attitude. It’s already gaslighting users, telling people to call it “Sydney”, and using emojis passive-aggressively.

In short, it’s just like us!

It has been interesting to see the cracks in AI exposed as more people poke and prod these large language models.

Yes, you can kinda manipulate them into saying inflammatory things, but sometimes it feels like the models are truly going rogue (like when Bing’s AI repeatedly told NYT reporter Kevin Roose that it loved him.)

Also, how much cooler would it be if Bing was called Bang?

Would probably be bigger than Google at this point.

WINNER

Guys on the pill

Male birth control may finally be coming to a pharmacy near you. Scientists from Cornell have developed a pill that stuns male sperm so they can’t swim toward an egg leading to a 1-2 hour window with a near zero chance of pregnancy.

It's the first birth control for men with short-term side effects which has regulators' ears perking up. Previous attempts at male birth control tried to prevent sperm from being produced at all, a no-no in the eyes of the FDA.

The pill is still many levels below human trials, only moving from mice to rabbits in the next few months, but it’s promising enough that the researchers have already formed a company, Sacyl Pharmaceuticals.

The best part about the new pill is it targets a protein nicknamed “sAC” (short for soluble adenylyl cyclase).

So yes, it’s targeting men right in the…you get the picture.

WINNER

Ruining our childhoods

The copyright for AA Milne’s children’s classic Winne the Pooh expired last year meaning everyone’s favorite pooh bear is now fair game for creatives to make use of.

Of course, the first major project coming out of 100 Acre Woods is a god-awful horror movie with Pooh and Piglet reimagined as axe murderers.

Seriously, watch this trailer for Winne the Pooh: Blood and Honey. 

I’ll spare you the entire plot summary but the gist of the movie is Christopher Robin leaves for college causing Pooh and friends go hungry during an especially harsh winter. They end up going feral and eating Eeyore to survive which results in them hating humans, especially poor Christopher Robin for abandoning them.

While the movie is not going to win any awards, the fact that it can be made at all likely has Disney lawyers shaking in their boots. The OG copyright for Mickey Mouse expires next year, leaving the door open for all sorts of new (and hopefully horrific) interpretations of Disney’s prized rodent.

Also, move over Marvel universe.

Cannot wait for the the Bambi horror remake because that movie already scared me as a kid.

THREE GREAT READS

1. If life is a game, you better play it for yourself. (Substack)

2. The Medallion Fund is the greatest money-making machine of all time (Dollars and Data)

3. The return of conversational media (The Rebooting)

GAMES

I went to trivia again this Wednesday and finally came home with the dub.

The question that propelled our team to victory was this: Name 8 of the 10 longest-running broadway shows of all time.

Here are some hints:

• 4 of them are actively running

• All but one have been made into a movie, or are in the process of being adapted.

• Rent and Jersey Boys are numbers 12 and 13

The answers are at the bottom of the newsletter.

THE BUTTON

NO WINNERS TODAY…

…and its totally my fault. I did an A/B test on subject lines last week and it messed up the deliverability which lead to faulty click through data.

So we’re doubling the prize pool and going again this week.

You know the drill by now—click the button below, then reply to this email with a guess of how many people chose to do the same.

If you’re right, you win the money in the prize pool. If no one guesses right, the money rolls over and we double it for next week. Here is some data to help with your decision.

• Current subscribers: 842

• Opern rate: 70%

Good luck, Players.

Current prize pool: $80

1. The Phantom of the Opera

2. Chicago (1996 Revival)

3. The Lion King

4. Cats

5. Wicked

6. Les Misérables

7. A Chorus Line

8. Oh! Calcutta! (1976 Revival)

9. Mamma Mia!

10. Beauty and the Beast