In 1637, the Dutch Republic erupted into a speculative fever over an unlikely item...the tulip.

Tulip Mania has become a legend synonymous with market euphoria and bubbles. But is this tale all it's cracked up to be?

Who's up for a story?

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In 1983, a 52-year-old senior executive at Texas Instruments was passed over for the company's top job.

He would go on to found and build the most strategically important company in the world.

Who's up for a story?

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1/ Morris Chang was born into a middle-class family on July 10, 1931 in Ningbo, Chekiang, China.

The early years of his life were set against a backdrop of hardship.

Wars and widespread poverty had overwhelmed the country, exposing him to this suffering at a young age.

2/ His father - an official in the local government - encouraged Morris to focus on school.

Fleeing the violence of the ongoing wars, Morris and his mother moved frequently.

His studies became his respite.

In 1948, at the height of the Civil War, they moved to Hong Kong.

3/ In 1949, Morris Chang was accepted to Harvard University.

He moved to America.

After just one year at Harvard, he transferred to The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to study engineering.

He graduated in 1953 with a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

4/ While he had originally intended to continue his studies and get a PhD, he failed his qualifying exam, so was forced to enter the job market.

He took an entry-level job with Sylvania Semiconductor, but quickly realized the company wasn't forward-thinking enough for his style.

THREAD: The story of the week in finance is how a group of retail traders at @wallstreetbets, with assists from @ElonMusk and @Chamath, took down the establishment short sellers at GameStop.

A thread on the underlying mechanics of the $GME saga...

1/ First, for those unfamiliar with the business, GameStop is a videogame and merchandise retailer.

It has >5,000 stores, primarily in malls, across North America, Europe, and Australia.

The business has struggled to modernize, hurting its financial and stock performance.

2/ For a variety of business reasons, a bull (i.e. optimistic) case regarding its future performance has formed.

It really came to the forefront after RC Ventures, an entity managed by Chewy founder @ryancohen, disclosed a large position and assumed three board seats.

3/ @ryancohen summarized his case, stating:

"We are excited to bring our customer-obsessed mindset and technology experience to GameStop and its strategic assets...expanding the ways in which it delights customers and by becoming the ultimate destination for gamers."

4/ At the time of that statement on January 11, $GME stock was trading at about ~$20 per share.

Since then, the stock has surged to ~$200 per share and captured the public imagination.

But how did it happen?

There are two dynamics at play: a short squeeze and a gamma squeeze.

Today is my 32nd birthday.

Over the last month, I asked several 90-year-olds what advice they would give to their 32-year-old selves.

Here's the life advice everyone needs to hear:

1. Now and then, break out the fancy china and drink the good wine for no reason at all.

2. Dance at weddings until your feet are sore.

3. Tell your partner you love them every night before falling asleep. Someday you’ll find the other side of the bed empty and wish you could.

4. Don’t fear sadness, as it tends to sit right next to love.

5. Treat your body like a house you have to live in for another 70 years.

6. Never raise your voice, except for at a ballgame.

7. Do one good deed every single day, but never tell anyone about it.

8. Time doesn't heal anything when it comes to relationships. Don't delay difficult conversations.

9. Find the things that make your eyes light up. Do more of those.

10. Always remind yourself that your track record for making it through your bad days is perfect.

11. If something has a minor issue, repair it. Minor issues become major issues over time. Applies equally to love, friendships, health, and home.

12. The most damning lie you can tell is the lie you tell to yourself.

13. No one has ever argued their way to happiness.

A paradox is a seemingly self-contradictory statement that proves true.

The most powerful paradoxes I’ve found:

The Paradox of Failure

You have to fail more to succeed more.

Our greatest moments of growth often stem directly from our greatest moments of failure.

Don’t fear failure.

Learn to fail smart and fast—never fail the same way twice.

Always put yourself in the arena.

The Paradox of Persuasion

Ever notice that the most argumentative people rarely persuade anyone of anything?

Persuasive people don’t argue—they observe, listen, and ask questions.

Argue less, persuade more.

Persuasion is an art that requires a paintbrush, not a sledgehammer.

The Paradox of Productivity

Work longer, get less done.

Parkinson's Law says that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

When you establish fixed hours to work, you'll find unproductive ways to fill it.

Work like a lion instead—sprint, rest, repeat.

The Paradox of Effort

You have to put in more effort to make something appear effortless.

Effortless, elegant performances are simply the result of a large volume of consistent, effortful practice.

Small things become big things.

Simple is not simple.

Buckle up, everyone, this story is *wild*.

The 62-year-old Dyatlov Pass mystery, in which nine students died at the hands of an unknown force, has likely been solved thanks to the movie Frozen and gruesome car crash experiments.

Me, for @NatGeo + thread!

In what has become known as the Dyatlov Pass incident, ten members of the Urals Polytechnic Institute in Yekaterinburg—nine students and one sports instructor who fought in World War II—headed into the frigid wilderness on a skiing expedition on January 23, 1959. 1/x

One student turned back after experiencing joint pain.

He never saw his friends again.

2/x

The team made camp on February 1, pitching a large tent on the snowy slopes of Kholat Saykhl, whose name can be interpreted as “Dead Mountain” in the language of the region’s Indigenous Mansi people. Ominous, sure - but these were experienced mountain hikers. 3/x

The nine were never heard from again.

When a search team arrived at Kholat Saykhl a few weeks later, the tent was found just barely sticking out of the snow, and it appeared cut open from the inside. The next day, the first of the bodies was found near a cedar tree. 4/x

The BATTLE OF PAVAN KHIND (13 July 1660)

300 MARATHAS against 10000+ ADIL SHAHI TROOPS

A Sparta style last man stand at a mountain pass which ensured Shivaji Maharaj's safety.

Valour, loyalty and sacrifice!

Baji Prabhu Deshpande was one of the most able lieutenants of Shivaji. He sacrificed his life defending Shivaji in a heroic last stand known as the "Battle of Pavan Khind" in which his force was hugely outnumbered.(1)

In this battle he became a martyr, but managed to halt the enemy forces for several hours, which secured Shivaji’s safety and victory on another front. Without this heroic last stand Shivaji’s glorious career may have been cut short.(2)

Baji Prabhu was senior to Shivaji. In the beginning he opposed Shivaji being from a rival Maratha clan, but realised that Shivaji stood for national resurgence. Henceforth he became a friend and loyal supporter of Shivaji.(3)

In 1660, Shivaji was trapped in the fort of Panhala, under siege and vastly outnumbered by an Adilshahi army led by general Siddhi Jauhar.(4)

You think the Gamestop short squeeze is the greatest ever? Not. Even. Close.

This is the story of Piggly Wiggly and one man taking on Wall Street ALONE.

Buckle up, because this is one of the craziest stories in investment history.

It all started in 1919 when a man by the name of Clarence Saunders invented the first modern supermarket—Piggly Wiggly stores.

Before this time, people had to go into a store, give the clerk a shopping list, and then wait for their items to be gathered and brought out.

Saunders changed all that when he created a retail self-service market where people could pick the items themselves and pay on the way out.

People loved the idea so much that within 3 years there were over 1,200 Piggly Wiggly stores in the U.S.

With this success, Saunders began licensing the Piggly Wiggly name out to other retailers.

Unfortunately, some of these retailers in the northeast began going out of business in the fall of 1922, all while using the Piggly Wiggly name.

Traders on Wall Street heard of these closings and decided that they had an opportunity on their hands.

They began shorting Piggly Wiggly while also spreading rumors that the parent corporation was in trouble.


Within a week the price dropped from $50 to $40 a share.

1) The Temple of the Divine Claudius was a vast temple complex on Rome's Caelian Hill, overlooking the valley that would later be occupied by the Colosseum. Though almost nothing now remains of the structure, its scale and grandeur once rivalled anything in the city.. #LostRome

2) The 'Claudium' was intended as a sacred complex to revere Claudius and the imperial cult. Construction began soon after the death and deification of the emperor in 54 AD, initiated by his widow Agrippina who was likely responsible for his supposed death by poisoning. #LostRome

3) The sprawling temple complex sat on a gigantic podium that spread across the Caelian Hill, measuring 180 x 200 metres; with towering retaining walls of travertine that raised the structure 20 metres above the valley below. #LostRome

4) The elevated sacred area was likely entered by steps facing the temple on the west side. The temple itself had a projecting hexastyle porch and was surrounded by gardens and a grand portico, probably the 'porticus Claudia' mentioned in Martial's 'On the Spectacles'. #LostRome

5) Statues of both Agrippina and Claudius’ ill-fated young son Britannicus, sculpted in sumptuous dark Egyptian greywacke, were discovered among the ruins on the Caelian Hill in 1651 – and had almost certainly been displayed in the temple precinct. #LostRome

💘💌 St. Valentine's Day in the Victorian era: A THREAD 💌💘