Weekend news drop
Penny Stocks Are Booming, Which Is Good News for Swindlers Penny stocks — the name given to more than 10,000 tiny companies — have been around forever, but they’re booming as small investors flood the market. Retail investors see the tiny companies as the next big opportunity after meme stocks and cryptocurrency. This time around, social media is fueling the craze. But shares are an easy target for fraud. (New York Times)
What Conspiracy Theorists Don’t Believe The question “How could anybody believe this stuff?” comes naturally enough. That may not be the most helpful question, however. Conspiracy theorists believe strange ideas, yes. But these outlandish beliefs rest on a solid foundation of disbelief. (The Atlantic)
The government’s lawyers saw a Google monopoly coming. Their bosses refused to sue. FTC memos suggest Obama-era regulators passed on an opportunity to rein in Google when the company still had viable competitors. (Politico)
Our Strange Addiction The transformation of tobacco and cannabis into early modern global obsessions. The 1610s were a key decade in tobacco’s transformation into a new global obsession. Before long, the gift (or curse) of smoking had given rise to one of the world’s most lucrative industries, emerged as a key driver of the Atlantic slave trade, and initiated a global bad habit that humanity still hasn’t kicked more than four hundred years later.. (Lapham’s Quarterly)
The Year Live Music Stopped Most musicians’ primary source of income is gone, venues everywhere are struggling, and the government hasn’t come through on an aid package. It’s hard not to lose hope, but in talking with professionals across the industry and looking to regions around the world, we gain perspective on how to rebuild live music from the ground up. (Pitchfork)
The Amazin’ True Story of Piazza, Clemens and the Broken Bat. With so much for Mets fans to be excited about in 2021, one lifelong masochist reminds us: In New York, nothing ever changes. The Mets are gonna Mets. Case in punishing point: This 21-year-old tale about two dudes, a beef and a splintered chunk of wood (Sports Illustrated)