Pumpkin Spice Szn 🎃
This Week in Review ☕️: The infamous College Essay | Starbucks returns with its Iconic Fall Latte | Diamond prices are plunging | Noone wants to drink wine anymore | G20 summit in India to begin | Art
A Banksy got a basic investor 32% returns?!
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But art? Really? Okay, skeptics, here are the numbers so you can stfu 👋🏻 . Contemporary art prices:
Outpaced the S&P 500 by 131% over the last 2 decades
Remained stable through the dot-com bubble AND the ’08 crisis
Have the lowest correlation to equities of any asset class
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Quick Bites:
Artificial Intelligence 💬 : Will AI kill the college essay?
ChatGPT is forcing colleges to consider the consequences of students using AI to draft their admissions essays, The New York Times reports.
Writing our college essay about how we pulled ourselves out of the friendzone by our bootstraps. Rags to riches story, really
While AI chatbots aiding in essays might seem like a tech-savvy approach, it raises questions about authenticity and fairness.
Pass or fail? A- or C+? And how would your grade change if you knew a human being hadn’t written it at all? Also, what about those without access to such tech?
PS. Whose got that meme that says "you better start eating healthy from today because your future doctor is scamming his way through med school right now"
Same same but different 🤷🏻♀️
Our Thoughts💡: While colleges haven't banned or embraced AI yet, what we can ascertain is a whole line of professionals being wiped out.
ChatGPT is no secret on college campuses, so no lazy senior is paying a professional proofreader to grade his English Lit 101 essay when they can have a bot do it for free now.
Which might actually make a case for getting a degree given a top-tier college education costs you roughly $90k/per year.
That's $4180 per month for TEN years after graduation at 7% interest😫
Umm.. Yeah, we don't need to spend the extra bucks on copywriters and tutors 🙏🏻
ChatGPT it is. Can't put this genie back in the bottle now folks✌🏻
Starbucks☕️: Coffee because therapy's too damn expensive.. As summer comes to an end, there are 3 letters running on every coffee lover's mind: P-S-L.
The world's biggest coffee chain has returned with its most popular seasonal beverage: the Pumpkin Spice Latte.
Starbucks, Gilmore Girls, scented body baths, boots and leggings, Uggs, fuzzy socks, furry blankets and morning journals.. yep, we're ready for cozy szn🎃
PS. Our 16-year old cousin face-timed us last night. She was eating a McDonalds cheeseburger while drinking a Pumpkin Spice Cream Brew followed by a slice of pie.
Must be nice having a young digestive system.. we would've been hospitalised with a tube inserted up our bedonk right now 🤢
The infamous PSL combines the chain’s Signature Espresso and steamed milk with fall flavours of cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. And umm.. let's not conveniently forget about the dollop of whipped cream and sugary spices on top.
Starbucks baristas when they see a gang of rich, bougie housewives pack out the drive-thru line asking for pumpkin spice lattes the day after Labor Day👇🏻
Our Thoughts💡:
New Morning Ritual ☀️: Practicing our acceptance speech while pretending our Iced Pumpkin Spice OatMilk Shaken Latte is an award for staying sane this year🙏🏻
Luxury 💎: Diamond prices are in free fall.
Industry giant De Beers has been forced to slash prices by +40% for its 'engagement rings' category as consumers opt for lab-grown stones instead, Bloomberg reports.
Guys, you don't need a big rock for your spouse to realize you're the right amount of toxic for them 🤭
The lab-grown diamond industry has paid special attention to engagement rings, where consumers are especially price sensitive.
Hmm.. people finally catching up on the idea of buying gems that look the same but cost half. Now ain’t that financial health 😎
In addition, a growing number of consumers are opting for travel and experiences over fine jewelry, causing diamond demand to weaken across the board, Bloomberg reports.
De Beers conceded that there has been a shift towards synthetic stones, but doesn’t see it as a structural shift, Bloomberg.
“There has been a little bit of cannibalisation. That has happened, I don’t think we should deny that,” -De Beers
Tbh, diamonds are just lumps of graphite exposed to high pressure. If it's bigger, sparklier AND cheaper? Count us in🙌🏻
Our Thoughts:
What society tells you is normal:
💡$30k engagement ring
💡$50k wedding
💡$20k honeymoon
💡$70k car
💡$500k home
Is this the dream? Really???? 🫤🫤
Wine🍷: France is destroying enough wine to fill more than 100 Olympic-size swimming pools. And it’s going to cost the country $216 million.
Umm.. waybill it to the US. The Kardashians and bored housefraus will chug it down in a week🥹
Alternatively, you can always send it our way AND we'll drink it for free
Producers are destroying upto 80 gallons due to high costs and low demand.
Winemakers will use the money to distill their wine into pure alcohol for use in cleaning supplies or perfume, according to the Washington Post.
Annual wine consumption for the average French citizen has plunged about 70% from its peak in 1926, WSJ.
According to the European Commission, the drop in wine consumption for the ongoing marketing year is estimated to be:
💡7% in Italy
💡10% in Spain
💡15% in France
💡22% in Germany
💡34% in Portugal
Our Thoughts💡: Meanwhile, us to our mom every night:
We're eating salad for dinner. Well, it's fruit salad. Actually, it's mostly grapes. Ok, its all grapes. Fermented grapes. Fine, it's wine. We've got wine for dinner MOM.
PS. It's National Sangria Day soon, or as we like to call it Tuesday 🍷🍷
Quicker Bites:
Weight-loss drug maker ‘Wegovy’ becomes Europe’s most valuable firm.
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un plan to meet in Russia, US officials say
China signals Xi Jinping will not attend G20 summit in India.
Space Station astronauts return to Earth aboard SpaceX capsule.
Thousands of people stranded in Burning Man festival.
Barbie officially becomes 2023’s biggest box office hit.
Oprah Winfrey and The Rock donate $10mn to Hawaii wildfire victims.