Happy Saturday Besties —

If we were going to sum up this week of pop-biz in a few words we’d say: credit cards, the Moon, Nvidia, Brigit Mendler, and Nvidia (x2). 

Plus, 🚨 BIG NEWS. 🚨 

Yesterday, we announced TBOY Hotline: a Q&A podcast series. Ask us… How should I ask my Millennial Manager Milly for a raise? What’s you’re most surprising investment experience? Or get Jack’s advice on a cooookie crisp recipe. So email us back your best.

This week’s edition is 45% of the best of the pod and 55% things we had to share off the record. 

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About the Moon Mission…

Where was NASA? For the 1st time ever this week, a country didn’t land on the moon, a company did: Publicly-traded Intuitive Machines. Because NASA outsourced the mission for $118M to the Houston-based publicly traded company ($LUNR). The latest? Odysseus tipped over…

• 🌝 The $1B space stock, Intuitive Machines, is responsible for Thursday’s lunar landing. Unlike SpaceX or Blue Origin, this company is laser-focused on the moon — It’s leaving the lander there forever, hopefully just the first building block of an eventual Moon City. And the stock’s up 300% just this year.

• 👀 Reddit just filed to IPO… and it’s expected to arrive on the NYSE next month. It’s the smallest of the major social media companies in active users, but those users are the most engaged.

• 🔺 Nvidia, the AI chip queen, led the team in earnings as profits sextupled in the 4th quarter. It now trails just Apple and Microsoft as the 3rd most valuable company in America.

• 🍔 Beyond Meat popped 9% after engineering its healthier 4th Generation plant-based burger. They sprinkled in avocado oil to make a “leap forward” in the recipe.

• 🍪 22% = The drop in Chocolate Chip flavor ice cream sales from 2018 to 2022, while Cookies & Cream jumped 73%. The best review of the lagging flavor: “It’s not the worst, but it’s not that good” (an 8-year-old in the NYT article).

• 🏀 The 3-point contest = The event that boosted the NBA All-Star Game viewership over 30% from last year. The Highlight: Steph Curry vs Sabrina Ionescu shoot-off.

• 🎓 Over ½ = The proportion of college grads in jobs that don’t require degrees (aka “underemployed”). 5 years after graduating, “Health Professionals” have the least “underemployment” based on area of study, while Public Safety/Security had the most.

• Rice does not rescue wet iPhones. Apple released a statement that you should do this instead. Even though basmati is 3/3 for us…

• American Airlines increased their checked bag fee for 1st time in 6 years. United and Jet Blue followed suit already, because there’s nothing airlines like more than when a competitor raises a fee. Your move, Delta @Ed.

• Beyoncé became the first Black woman to top the Billboard Country Songs chart, hitting No. 1 with "Texas Hold 'Em."

From last week:

We asked: What’s the best Girl Scout cookie? And you said:

For next week’s edition: Would you rather take a $15 ride in a self-driving taxi or a $15 Uber? Submit a response here.

• “Chizza”: It’s like if pizza and chicken had a love child. Invented at KFC (whose parent co also owns Pizza Hut).

• “Blackberry-style”: New phone cases for iPhones with Blackberry-ish keyboards featuring physical buttons… the solution to stop fat-fingering your DMs.

• “WcDonald’s”: McDonald’s just flipped their M upside-down like it is over 100 different anime shows. This weekend, WcDonald’s is taking the fictional restaurant IRL in 30 cities.

via Nick’s Apple Notes

“We don't value things, we value their meaning” ― Rory Sutherland, Alchemy

What’s the picture in the background of the TBOY logo? Hint: It needs salt flakes.

• Jack Black’s mom, Judith, was a rocket scientist. She developed the “abort” system that saved the astronauts on Apollo 13. She finished it on the day Baby Jack was born.

• Anti-Left-Turn Sign: The 1st-ever road sign that forbid you from making a left turn was in Buffalo, NY.

• Better bathrooms: Buccees has actually won more bathroom awards than Wawa. 1 location in Texas has more urinals than any other rest stop — a whopping 33.

• “Do the dumbest idea you can think of” - Liquid Death CEO Mike Cessario on how he founded the water brand

• “Technology isn’t good or bad. It depends on how we use it.” - Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on the potential of AI

• “Success sometimes comes down to ‘The Cupholder.’” A top reason many choose cars is for the number & placement of the cupholders… we read it in a Malcolm Gladwell book years ago (can’t remember which)

• Holidays: Leap Day 🐸 HBD to all the leaplings out there.

• Entertainment: SAG Awards can be streamed on Netflix tonight at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET.

• Life: Friday, March 1st (Employee Appreciation Day). Celebrate ‘em 🎉

👂 Tuesday: Wall Street is rewarding Robinhood stock for being boring.

👂 Wednesday: Cult-fave convenience store chain Wawa’ secret to success is its bathrooms.

👂 Thursday: Liquid Death revolutionizes advertising with the tiniest billboard ever.

👂 Friday: “Everyone hates them” (1 pro baseball player’s words about the new Nike <> MLB jerseys).

 👀 Monday: Bacon sales have fallen from 20 years ago… and you can blame it on 1 backfiring ad campaign…

Answer: It’s Salt Bae’s steak. The celebrity chef, known for the kitschy way he salts his meat, just turned off the heater at one of his extravagant restaurants to cut costs (but he insists he’s profitable).

And one more thing. Need advice? Got a Q? Curious about the definition of “DINKWADASS?” Hit reply to get your question answered by Nick & Jack on our new podcast series: TBOY Hotline. Use subject line: TBOY Hotline. And whip it up as a voice memo so we can push play with your question live on the show.

 🙌 🙌

—Nick & Jack

Correction from last edition, Simu Liu hosted the People’s Choice Awards.