The Daily Valet. - 10/27/23, Friday
✔️ This Is Way Bigger Than You Think
Friday, October 27th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
How much Halloween candy do you plan on eating this weekend? I’m on the hunt for baby Butterfingers, myself.
Today’s Big Story
The Creator Economy
Millions work as ‘content creators’ … but in official records, they barely exist
It can be hard to define ... but you know it when you see it, as they say. What's the connection between a recipe developer churning out delicious food while we follow along on YouTube and a TikTok makeup whiz with a new product collaboration? How about a short story writer with a loyal group of readers on Wattpad? Or even a fast-food delivery driver who live-streams their adventures and the personal trainer who got me through the pandemic lockdowns? They're all “content creators”—a broad term that seems to touch every corner of our modern lives.Citibank says that last year alone, the industry generated about $60 billion of revenue and is expected to bring in more than $75 billion in 2023. The creator economy, as it's known, is now a global industry valued at $250 billion, with tens of millions of workers, hundreds of millions of customers and its own trade association and work-credentialing programs. To get a sense of just how big we're talking about, YouTube estimated that roughly 390,000 full-time jobs last year were supported by its creators' work—in the U.S. alone. That's four times the number of people employed by General Motors, America's largest automaker.Writing for the Washington Post, Drew Harwell and Taylor Lorenz say that the creator space—once dismissed as a frivolous craze for tweens and teens— has “reshaped American culture, transformed how we get information, rewritten the rules for modern fame and amassed huge levels of wealth and influence.” It's even reoriented the American dream: “Influencer” is now ranked one of the most popular career aspirations for young people, above professional athlete and astronaut.And it's not slowing down. According to Goldman Sachs Research, there are approximately 50 million creators worldwide, projected to grow between 10% and 20% annually over the next five years. However, precise figures can be elusive due to the ambiguous definition of a creator, and not everyone can make a living from it. And Adobe's “Future of Creativity” study found that over 165 million creators have joined in the last two years alone—with significant growth in the U.S., Spain, South Korea and Brazil.Yet two decades after this industry first emerged, the U.S. government still has no substantial laws regulating how creators earn a living or flex their power. Without real oversight, the creator economy has ensnared the nation's attention without a broad understanding of its effects on society. “Content used to be king, because it was hard to make, distribute and monetize, but technology has changed everything,” one media analyst told El País. Now so many people can elevate their voice, but it's also “let bad actors push out lies and misinformation, contributed to a fragmentation of public discourse into thousands of niches and microtrends, eroded traditional knowledge centers and allowed popular strangers and recommendation algorithms to rule the platforms where most people try to make sense of the world.”
Disruption:
An even more profound paradigm shift looms as A.I. eliminates technical barriers to content creation.
A Deadly Rampage in Maine
A multistate manhunt was underway Thursday for an Army reservist suspected of being the gunman
Shootings at a bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night left at least 18 people dead and over a dozen others injured. Thousands of people were forced into an extended lockdown Thursday as police officers from local, state and federal agencies combed a vast and largely rural region for the shooter, identified as 40-year-old Robert Card.Pentagon records suggest that he has spent more than two decades in the Army Reserve. Apparently, he started making statements about hearing voices and wanting to hurt fellow soldiers while serving at a military base this summer, and spent a few weeks in a hospital, law enforcement officials told CNN. Locals are understandably afraid. Just 29 people died by homicide all of last year in Maine, according to state records.Police-issued shelter-in-place orders that remained in effect Thursday night in Lewiston and the nearby towns of Bowdoin and Lisbon, where a car wanted in connection with the shootings was recovered. “Currently there is an arrest warrant for eight counts of murder for Mr. Card,” State Police Col. William Ross told NBC News, adding that once the 10 other victims are officially identified, the number of murder counts is likely to increase. And while they haven't yet located Card, they may have a clue: A note was found at the suspect's home during a search with a warrant, four senior law enforcement officials said. Investigators are trying to determine the meaning of the note and how it could guide their investigation.
FYI:
Mass shootings are becoming deadlier and more common. Axios has compiled the 25 deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history.
Israeli Tanks Briefly Enter Gaza
Israeli troops briefly raid northern Gaza to ‘prepare’ for an expected full-scale incursion
Israeli troops and tanks briefly raided northern Gaza overnight, the military said Thursday, engaging with Hamas fighters and targeting anti-tank weapons in order to “prepare the battlefield” before an expected ground invasion. This, despite earlier calls from both the E.U. and President Biden to “pause” the military offensive to assist in the return of hostages held by Hamas.As calls grow for a cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “preparing for a ground incursion” of Gaza, but that he “won’t specify” when or how it would occur. A U.N. official warned Thursday that, despite Israeli evacuation warnings, “nowhere is safe in Gaza,” with many residents unable to move and facing the threat of airstrikes in the besieged Palestinian territory.Arab leaders also made a joint plea Thursday for a cease-fire to end civilian suffering and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. The damage from nearly three weeks of Israel's retaliatory bombardment is clearly shown in satellite photos and the Associated Press reports that Hamas' military wing said that Israeli bombardment has so far killed about 50 of the at least 224 hostages the militants abducted during its Oct. 7 assault.
Meanwhile:
U.S. and Qatar will revisit Doha’s ties to Hamas after the Gaza hostage crisis.
McDonald’s Ditches a Recognizable Utensil
The Fast Food Giant is scrapping its HOLLOWED-OUT McFlurry spoon after nearly 30 years. But I'm not Fooled.
It's not my only beef with McDonald's, but it's certainly the hill I'll die on defending. A McFlurry is supposed to be blended. Swirled. Flurried! That's its whole identity. But time and time again, I'm given a cup of soft-serve with my topping of choice just tossed on top. That's bad enough, but the fact that they served it with an oversized spoon made to be swirled was what always got me complaining to whoever was eating with me.Well, on Thursday, McDonald's announced that they're getting rid of that (purely ornamental) spoon in favor of a standard spoon that utilizes less plastic. Resturants are also changing how they mix the McFlurry treats—with machines now using a “reusable spindle that's swapped out and cleaned after each McFlurry is made.”The spoon's retirement comes as it almost reaches its 30th birthday. A McDonald's supplier employee invented the spoon (which is definitely not a straw) in 1995, reports Food and Wine. Reducing plastic is part of the fast food chain's goals to become more environmentally friendly. Earlier this year, it tested new strawless lids in some U.S. cities in an effort to stop giving out plastic straws. I'm all for sustainability ... and for actually blending in those tiny pieces of Resse's peanut butter cups.
Meanwhile:
It's not a trick, this year's Halloween candies are actually getting smaller. But maybe that can be a good thing?
In Other News
Districts must be redrawn before the 2024 election.
U.S. Economic Growth Accelerated to Strong 4.9% Rate Last Quarter as Consumers Shrugged Off Fed Hikes
Have you heard about ...
A Weekend Pairing
‘Pain Hustlers’ + a Modern Medicine Cocktail
Pain Hustlers, a slightly controversial yet highly entertaining dramedy from David Yates (now streaming on Netflix), takes its title from a group of pitchmen hawking fentanyl to clinics across the Southeast. Technically, the drug is legal. Their sales methods are not. But in the mockumentary footage that opens the film, they try to sell the audience on their innocence.The main character is Liza Drake, a single mother, a part-time stripper and natural hustler who charms her way into a sales position that requires her to get doctors to write prescriptions for their painkiller called Lonafin, which works twice as fast as fentanyl but only has one-tenth the market penetration. That is until they ride the opioid wave to extreme riches. And critics are loving it. Rolling Stone says it's “a social-issues drama masquerading as a satirical sideswipe at a corporately sponsored epidemic ... or maybe it's the other way around.” Of course, not everyone is sold. The Atlantic says “it's time for Hollywood to step away from the opioid crisis” because the film turns the whole ugly reality “into a scammer story, not a criminal one.”
Pair It With
Most “original” cocktail recipes really are riffs on classics, and the Modern Medicine recipe is somewhat like a modern classic called a Penicillin—which itself is a riff on the whiskey sour. The bourbon gets a nice citrus kick from Aperol and a dash of Scotch provides an autumnal and unmistakably smoky flavor profile.
Also Worth a Watch:
‘FX’s American Horror Stories’ on Hulu; ‘Primal Survivor: Extreme African Safari’ on Disney+
Shopping
What We’re Buying
A patch overshirt
Tennis brand Palmes is serving up some cozy layering options for fall. This patchwork motif is made of 100% merino wool and looks excellent over a blue poplin or oxford shirt. And it’s now over half off.
Get It:
Patch overshirt, $325 / $162.50 by Palmes Tennis Society
Morning Motto
Mindset is everything.
▾
Follow:
Share today’s motto:
