Do You Thank the Rich When They Donate Billions?
Hey peeps,
I disappeared down a few too many rabbit holes this last week or two. But the result wasn’t all bad, if you discount my new obsession with ridiculously long background stories of recipes on Google.
But my quasi-lockdown-induced obsessions tended more towards society and what’s screwing us over, so I have some big pappa pieces coming out soon (and one just published as I’m writing this now).
Here’s the weekly roundup, enjoy!
From J.J.’s Vault
(All the below links are paywall-free since you subscribe to my newsletter and I love you in a platonic fashion.)
This is the first big piece, I spent probably close to 20 hours researching and crafting this monster—so hopefully it’s a good read! I used to be a government auditor in a past life (don’t kill me), but in the extensively interesting tax textbooks I had to memorize, I certainly don’t recall being taught how to help billionaires avoid $500 million in taxes by donating to charity. And yet—now I know. And it’s terrible.
This one was a bit hard to write. I actually grew up with a serial killer and never put pen to paper about it on the subject. Until now, that is.
Since the subject was on my mind, I was researching serial killers in general and made a list of a few special ones. Serial killers that could be drinking a coffee beside you right now and you’d have no idea.
This topic came up in my mind when I wrote a piece discussing the new-age reality that we’ll technically have a huge number of serial killers soon.
Oh, and I lost 1,000 followers on Medium, but it wasn’t a bad thing.
From the News
Every week I curate a few pieces that I found sad, amusing, interesting, or strange. Or all 4 in one. Unfortunately, some may have a paywall.
This man found himself a trillionaire (not a typo) overnight after investing $20 in crypto. Fortunately for our collective sanities, it was just a glitch. Still amusing.
This scientist spent 10 months tracing back a $0.75 computer error in 1986. It incredibly paid off—it turned out to be Russian hackers trying to steal military secrets. Crazy.
Florida congress candidate William Braddock (guess which party) was supposedly recorded on tape saying he would assassinate his competition with the use of KGB contacts. Yay for democracy!
Speaking of Florida, good ol’ Rick DeSantis just signed into law something straight out of Communist China—every student, staff, and teacher will have to declare their political beliefs to the state government. I can’t believe this isn’t satire.
For those that love tuna subs at Subway—the world’s most widespread franchise (yes, even more Subways exist than McDonald’s at last count)—they’re currently fending off accusations from a lab that saying their tuna sandwiches contain 0% tuna DNA, which one could probably expect in a tuna sandwich. But then again, I’m not a geneticist.
From J.J.’s Life
We got some semi-crappy news yesterday—the lockdown in Taiwan will continue at least until July 12th. At least the infection rate has gone down quite substantially, there’s only been between 70-130 in the last few days (out of a population of ~23 million).
Still, I’d like to be able to work in a coffee shop again, which I’m sure will happen soon enough. At least alcohol is still available, so I can pretend my living room is a coffee shop anytime I drink enough. I’ll probably hear the same amount of voices by then, anyway.
J.J. Pryor
(It’d be super cool if you hit the like button or left a comment. The algorithms love that and I love you for doing it.)
PS. My own story links above are ‘friend links’ which means you don’t have to be behind the paywall on Medium.
PPS. The image above is from a gold museum here in the north of Taiwan. A phenomenally gorgeous mountainous area with lots of room for trekking and some amazingly unique architecture. I just thought the giant chunk of gold with tens of millions was strange. I’m sure that government-owned piece could pay for plenty of desperately needed vaccines. Or they could give it to me. Both work in my books.
I believe that thanking the rich for leaving their billions to various charities will depend on which charities they choose. If the charities are working for the betterment of humankind, then they have earned my thanks. If they leave their money to other charities, as in religious or political, then they don't get my thanks. It's my thanks and I get to choose whether or not I approve of their choices. As the poem says, "No man is an island" and we owe society for what success we attain. I'm not denigrating hard work, but without the help of society, these people would never have succeeded in making a fortune. Police who protect (sometimes), fire departments, public health departments, and all the other forms of infrastructure that make life as we know it, possible. These things have contributed to the great success of a few people and the happiness of many of us.
Best of luck on getting your gold bar, but until then, please keep writing. The world (in my opinion) needs your humor. Or at least I do!