In today’s newsletter we discuss Bad Bunny spending $150,000 a month on a penthouse apartment in NYC, Girl Scout cookies are getting more expensive this year (if you can find them), Nvidia embraced WFH, everyone tells NASA they should cancel their SLS (Space Launch System) and go with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, and can ChatGPT come up with a better cocktail than a Bartender.

Business

Now you know inflation is out of control! The cost for a box of Girl Scout cookies, an undeniable crown jewel of cookies, are going up. That’s right. It turns out there are only two bakeries that make these amazing treats, and their cost of goods sold including the ingredients to make the cookies have gotten more expensive. So it’s time to pass those costs on to those innocent little Girl Scouts in the form of a $1 a box rate hike. The average rate for a box of Thin Mints (the best Girl Scout cookie IMO) was $5 a box in 2022. Many scout troops will be forced to sell their boxes for $6 a box this cookie season.

You might be asking yourself why should I care? Well, this is an almost completely selfish post today. Let’s just say I’m a big fan of Girl Scout cookies. Always have been. It started when I was young and my mom would leave a box of Thin Mints unattended, and I’d eat an entire sleeve in one sitting. Well, I’m 47 now, and not much has changed. To say I have very little self control when it comes to Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies is an understatement. You should also know I have a pair of nieces in Connecticut who are in the Girl Scouts, and they’re my main conduit for these delectable morsels of indulgence.

In 2022 the Girl Scouts of America sold 200 million boxes, generating about $800 million in revenue.

Inflation has a new victim: Girl Scout cookies

Tech

When the Covid pandemic hit, not a lot changed in my life, except the house got a lot louder and smaller when my wife and kids began WFH. I’d worked from home for close to 10 years by that point, working for my own companies or startups in NYC and SF. So while a lot of people were learning how to work from home, I was just annoyed that this revelation was such big news to them when I had embraced it and flourished 10 years earlier.

So not to make more of this issue all about me, but it is still shocking that some companies are still slow to embrace WFH and are in a rush to get everyone back into the office.

One company that’s been in the news a lot lately, and some could go as far as to say they are powering the AI revolution, is very happy to let staff keep WFH. That company is Nvidia, who makes high-powered chips used for AI trailblazers like ChatGPT and Bard.

They do have a return-to-office policy, but it’s not strictly enforced, and CEO Jensen Huang, who's worth $40 billion, is "perfectly comfortable" with staff working from home.

So if a company powering the AI revolution is fine with WFT, why are other tech companies like Meta and Google in such a rush to get all their employees back in the office?!?!

The company powering the AI revolution is quite happy to let staff keep WFH

Space

If only there was a low cost, proven space launch company who has a flawless safety record when it comes to launching astronauts into space for NASA and private space companies. Then perhaps NASA could cancel its SLS (Space Launch System) program that is estimated to cost “$2.2 billion to build a single SLS rocket, and this does not include add-ons such as ground systems, integration, a payload, and more.”

Want an example of how SpaceX could handle space launches for NASA going forward, allowing the agency to cancel SLS and save billions of dollars a year? Here’s a little tidbit from the article:

“The cost of these four engines is $582.7 million, or $146 million per engine. This means that a single engine on NASA's rocket costs roughly the same amount that the space agency paid for an entire mission on the Falcon Heavy rocket—$178 million for the Europa Clipper spacecraft.”

So that’s insane right? I mean, for the price of 1 SLS engine you could afford an entire SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket that is capable of launching nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lbs). From an economic perspective it seems like an easy choice if you ask me.

NASA should consider commercial alternatives to SLS, inspector general says

Entertainment

It seems like every industry is using AI to innovate these days, and the food & beverage industry is no different. It all started with an innocent query of ChatGPT to create a new cocktail, and that’s where things got off the rails quickly.

There was an article in Food & Wine (which apparently I don’t read enough) that tells a tale of an experienced bartender going up against an AI chatbot to create a new drink. While I won’t ruin the results for you, it doesn’t take AI to guess that flesh-and-blood bartender won’t be replaced anytime soon by AI.

The food & beverage industry in the U.S. is a $1.5 trillion dollar industry, and worldwide it is a $6.4 trillion industry as of 2022. That’s a market that sounds ripe for AI innovation.

AI-Generated Cocktails Are Here

Real Estate

The average renter in New York City pays around $3,450 for a studio rental to $7,395 for a 4-bedroom rental. If you’re Bad Bunny, a Grammy-winning Puerto Rican rapper and singer, you’re happy to pay $150,000 a month for a 4,552 square feet 4-bedroom penthouse apartment in Chelsea that comes with a “private 32-foot lap pool, an outdoor kitchen, and multiple seating areas.”

Bad Bunny can certainly afford it. In 2022 he made an estimated $88 million from his music sales alone, mostly from touring but also from acting and sponsorships deals he has with companies worldwide.

Bad Bunny Is Renting This Swanky N.Y.C. Penthouse for $150,000 a Month

Sports

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So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris