The 100th Issue: NL #100

100 issues young.

Seinfeld passed 100 episodes, The Beatles produced well over 100 songs, and Emmitt Smith scored much more than 100 touchdowns. And lest we forget, the hula hoop champion of the world, Jenny Doan, boasted 100 hours of hula hooping in 2019. We know the centennial marker and beyond is typically reserved for the best of the best. We don’t take this milestone lightly- especially when it involves hula hoop records.

That’s right. For 100 issues now, you’ve tuned in for the latest and greatest in tech and digital marketing. You’ve laughed, you’ve cried, and maybe you even shared a few of our playlists with your friends. Or maybe you kept them for yourself? No judgment here. We’re just glad you decided to stick around.

We were going to list out our 100 favorite newsletters, but since that would just be a copy of the Tegan Digest archives, we went with plan B. In the spirit of 100, a fun roundup of top 100s from around the world wide web.

🍿 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
This one’s according to IMDb, so take it with a grain of a salt. But the top 10 includes The Godfather, Shawshank Redemption and The Wizard of Oz, so it’s a promising line-up.

🎵 Billboard’s Top 100
The current hot 100 charts because if I had to guess, some of these names will be new to you. Listed at the top is Jack Harlow- any idea who that is? You’re not alone.

🏈 NFL’s 100 Greatest
This one rolled out as a 10-week TV special. A collection of the 100 best plays, games, characters, game changers and teams. The site leads with a quote from Dr. Oz, so you know this list is legit.

📋 100 Best Lists of All Time
A list of lists. The New Yorker’s collection of the most iconic and the most bizarre, ranging from the Mayflower passenger list to a list of Letterman’s best interviews. Fantastic time waster.

👴🏻 100 Year-Old-Companies Still Around Today
Some surprising and some not-so-surprising. Quick spoiler, Target made the list. The place moms consider a safe-haven to empty their bank accounts is actually old news. Who knew? (Not me.)

⏰ Time’s 100 Most Influential Companies of 2022
Easy to get lost here. A catalogue of names you respect and names you’ve never even heard of. Once again, Tegan just missed the mark at 101. Maybe next year.

🎙️ 100+ Best Dad Jokes
Saved the best for last. This site has possibly ripped off a few of my originals, but I’m cool with it. The humor here is spot on.

In all seriousness, thanks for tuning in each week. Hopefully, you’ve picked up a few useful nuggets along the way. We have a blast putting it together and the fact that our friends actually read it? Icing on the cake.

Cheers!

John and the Tegan team

Top Stories

Cryptocurrencies Luna and TerraUSD tank, causing $300B in losses.

This one hurts. The two cryptos that were heralded as “stable” took perhaps the most unstable turn imaginable last week. Luna and TerraUSD, the two cryptocurrencies under the umbrella of Terraform Labs, collapsed, tanking the price of Bitcoin and triggering a loss of $300 billion in value across the crypto economy. Terra, a supposed “stablecoin” that was meant to retain a $1 price point, lost its peg, and the connected Luna crypto dropped 99% in a matter of days. As expected, investors panicked. Reddit’s TerraLuna forum was flooded with posts detailing users’ losses, ranging from thousands of dollars to their entire life savings.

What made the stablecoin so… unstable? Well, Luna and Terra were both backed by UST, which is dubbed an algorithmic stablecoin. This means its $1 peg is governed by underlying code, whereas other stablecoins like tether and USDC are backed by real-world assets such as bonds. UST has no real-world reserves. The current volatile state of the market proved no match for the currency, and UST was unable to maintain the dollar peg. Clear as mud? Good.

“The Luna/UST situation has hit market confidence quite badly. Overall most cryptocurrencies are down more than 50%. Combining this with global inflation and growth fears, does not bode well in general for crypto.” Terra’s initial collapse sparked a wave of selling, knocking 15-25% off the value of most of the major cryptocurrencies. Could this be the beginning of the end for digital currency? Probably not. But it’s definitely a loud word of caution for cypto investors.

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Congress meets over UFO sightings for the first time in 50 years.

Get the tin foil out. You might need it. US defense officials released videos of unidentified flying objects (affectionately known as UFOs) during the first Congressional hearing on the subject in more than half a century. A database of reports of UFOs now includes about 400 incidents, up from 143 reports a year ago. The deputy director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray insists nothing has been uncovered that’s “nonterrestial in origin,” but there are definitely incidents that are still considered unexplainable.

Reports of UAPs, the military’s term for unexplained aerial phenomena, have been increasing steadily in the last decade. Officials efforts to destigmatize such incidents most likely contributed to the spike. “For too long, the stigma associated with UAPs has gotten in the way of good intelligence analysis,” Bray said. “Pilots avoided reporting or were laughed at when they did.” Whether report findings lead to unexplainable theories or unauthorized drone activity, the UAPs are considered a national security threat. Lawmakers will seek improved cooperation between the Federal Aviation Administration and other government agencies to continue to improve efforts moving forward. They’ve also contacted Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum for help, but we’ve yet to hear final word concerning their plan of action. Stay tuned.

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Best of the Week

Stats to See

Inflation is causing more than 85% of Americans to change their spending habits. An interesting roundup of responses to rising costs. Basically, everyone is giving inflation a huge thumbs down.

What to Watch

Hulu’s latest limited series, Under the Banner of Heaven, is a true-crime drama that will keep you up at night. You’ll also wonder how you never knew Spider Man was Mormon, but I digress.

Weekly Tunes

In honor of the big 100, enjoy our team’s 100 fave songs. Keep in mind, the artists and songs included do not represent the musical views of all Tegan employees- except Taylor. We all stand by Taylor.

More News from the Week.

• Grubhub’s free food promo was a mess. And I can guarantee someone didn’t get their spicy mayo.
• Finally. Airbnb adds castles and treehouses to its rentals.
• The iPod Touch will soon officially retire. Raise your hand if you thought this happened ten years ago?
• An interesting look at the future of product placement, because nothing looks more natural than actors cheersing Fanta cans in the middle of an intense scene.
• Everyone’s favorite Gossip Girl Instagram account, @DeauxMoi, just landed a series with HBO. Welcome back, upper eastsiders.