Overview
Today’s feed was a study in crowding and costs, from America’s national parks and China’s tourist mix to AI’s bill for chips and data centres. Markets and tech rubbed shoulders with football joy at Stamford Bridge, a nudge to turn off motion smoothing on family TVs, and a community push to fund a student’s future with views.
The big picture
AI’s bill comes due, while Nvidia faces a hard question
Mike Burry says Nvidia’s accounting for GPU useful lives ignores how fast each new generation makes the last look wasteful. He argues older chips lose economic value long before four to six years, and warns about frothy demand and possible scrutiny. Nvidia’s memo to analysts reportedly cited him by name, which he posted with a rebuttal.
OpenAI’s funding mountain
A viral summary of an HSBC note puts OpenAI’s funding need at $207 billion by 2030 with huge ongoing costs for compute, even if revenue grows sharply. It frames the current AI race as capital hungry, with business models still catching up to infrastructure spend.
Inside Nvidia, use AI for everything you can
Jensen Huang told staff to use AI across tasks, pushing back on managers who had discouraged it. He backed productivity gains without promising cuts, which fits Nvidia’s position supplying the hardware behind the boom.
Windows search vs user intent
A widely shared screenshot shows Windows 2025 surfacing a film promo as the top match when a user searched for the Terminal app. It tapped into long running gripes about web-first prompts and the friction they add to simple actions.
Eli Lilly breaks from a Big 3 PBM
Mark Cuban flagged Eli Lilly’s move to Rightway for its US staff, away from CVS Caremark. It adds pressure on the dominant pharmacy benefit managers whose opaque practices have drawn scrutiny, and follows other employers trying alternatives.
National parks put a price on foreign footfall
A new US policy will charge non residents $100 per person at 11 packed national parks from January 2026, and exclude them from free entry days. Supporters point to litter, crowding and maintenance backlogs, while others note most crowding is domestic and worry about eco tourism.
China’s tourist mix tilts toward Russia
From Beijing, Pieter Levels notes few Western tourists and many Russians, with airport signage in Chinese, English and Russian. Visa free entry for Russians has boosted arrivals, reflecting new travel patterns and policy choices.
North Carolina ends cashless bail for violent offences
A meme led post cheered Iryna’s Law, which restores cash bail for violent suspects after a high profile case in Charlotte. Supporters call it common sense, while critics warn of strain on jails and due process issues.
Immigration and headlines
Kurt Schlichter mocked a tabloid framing of a “relative” in an immigration story, arguing the tie was stretched for clicks. The replies argue over what counts as family and how media language shapes perception.
Chelsea’s big night, youth on the pitch, and transfer hindsight
Chelsea thanked fans after a 3-0 win over Barcelona, with 18 year old Estêvão stealing the show. Supporters also buzzed about academy debuts for Josh Acheampong and Tyrique George, a sign of the manager’s confidence late in a routine win. Elsewhere, fans revisited Barcelona’s 2020 call to sell Marc Cucurella, now a European champion with Spain and thriving at Chelsea, while rival fans teased Barça over Lamine Yamal’s form discourse at just 18.
Brains peak later than we thought
A Cambridge study says adolescence stretches into the early thirties, with brain network changes hitting key points at 9, 32, 66 and 83. The post went wide, not least for what it says about life timing and expectations.
Household tech PSA: turn off motion smoothing
A helpful holiday list decoded the brand names for motion smoothing so you can switch it off on family TVs. Replies swapped tips like using Filmmaker Mode and recounted stealth missions on parents’ remotes.
Nostalgia during an outage
The old Twitter Fail Whale resurfaced during an X outage, stirring memories of the platform’s early years and how outages used to feel charming, not sterile.
A community tries to fund a Master’s with views
Nigerian X rallied to push a student’s campus video over a million views to aid a scholarship bid in Russia. It is the sort of collective boost that can change a single outcome.
Money, parents and boundaries
A viral warning not to show your payslip to family struck a chord, with replies full of sudden requests and pressure. It opened a window into remittance culture and the push for healthier lines around finance.
Pop culture meets politics
A post tied Uncle Roger jokes to China’s sensitive “egg fried rice” meme, noting the real cause of his Weibo ban was a bit on Beijing’s politics. The mix of food, memes and memory shows how the internet keeps history in circulation.
Why it matters
AI’s economics are getting real. If useful life assumptions for GPUs are too long, profits can be overstated, which affects valuations, tax and reinvestment plans. Combine that with OpenAI scale capex and you get a market where cash, accounting and regulation matter as much as code. Inside firms, leaders pushing staff to use AI signal that productivity habits, not headcount, will decide who benefits.
The US parks fee debate is about crowding, conservation and who pays. Charging non residents may raise funds and cut strain at a few hotspots, yet it risks dulling international goodwill and does not fix domestic crowding. China’s tourist mix shows how policy can redraw travel flows in months, with knock on effects for airlines, hotels and retail.
PBMs are under pressure. Big employers trying alternative models can force better pricing clarity, which could ripple through formularies and out of pocket costs for patients.
Football reminds us how fast stories turn. Youth debuts lift a club’s mood, while transfer calls can age badly. The Yamal jokes also show how harsh online timelines can be for teenagers in elite sport.
Culture posts carried practical value and empathy. Switching off motion smoothing makes films look right. A payslip post put words to the strain many feel. The scholarship push shows how online communities still do tangible good. And the Fail Whale flashback offered a little grace in a glitchy day.
