Space: The Final Hard Drive

 NEWS YOU CAN USE

Turn headlines into talking points.

🛰️ The Ultimate Cloud

Only eight more days to Christmas, according to my eldest. Giggly excitement for her. Induced panic for me (those Labubus still haven’t arrived…pray for me.)

Meanwhile, Christmas came early for the world’s richest man.

No, Elon hasn’t gone to Mars yet (WHEN??), but SpaceX is circling a rumoured mega-IPO that could value the company at a mind-boggling $1.5 trillion (the largest public offering ever.)

So, while you’re scanning the skies for Santa, get used to seeing… satellites. 
Lots of satellites.

Starlink already blankets low Earth orbit (9300 and counting), and SpaceX now launches rockets so often it barely makes the news (unless the big one blows up.)

Why the rush? Like everything else these days — AI.

AI runs on data centres, and they are hungry beasts: land, permits, ‘friendly’ politicians — and above all, power. They gulp electricity, need oceans of water for cooling, make you sick, and make tempting targets for anyone with a drone (hello Russia, China, or local nutjob after clicking all night on YouTube.)

The sci-fi solution? 👉 Put them in space.

Up there, you get 24/7 solar power—no clouds, no nighttime, no need for Mad Max-style water wars.

Google, Amazon, IBM, OpenAI — they all want in. SpaceX just happens to own the road to orbit.

Astronomers hate it. But the rest of us probably won’t even notice — unless the billionaires use this stuff to finally… leave.

And honestly?
That might be the best Christmas gift of all.

DECODE THIS

Already thinking of piling your hard-earned pennies into rockets and data centres? Yeah… we’ve probably missed that boat.

For long-term AI infrastructure, Wall Street’s new pet acronym is M.A.N.G.O. — five companies powering the AI arms race (chips, cloud, and the brains behind the bots)

Do you know which five?

⬇️ Answer at the end

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 THE CULTURE CODE

🧸 Toys R Us (Again)

Turns out, I'm not alone in panic-buying miniature monsters for Christmas.

Adults are now the biggest toy buyers on the planet.
Not for kids — for themselves. Let that sink in.
Nearly a third of global toy sales now come from people old enough to vote (though most don’t).

This is the ‘kidult’ economy, with grown adults:

• Hoarding Jellycats 

• Building Lego Botanicals at 1 a.m. (after taking ‘botanicals’ at 11 p.m.?)

• Treating Hot Wheels like investment portfolios (and screaming “Don’t touch” at their kids.)

Why? Stress relief. Warm, fuzzy nostalgia. And the secret hope that, unlike your battered Star Wars figures, these might actually be worth something someday (keep them in the box!)

By 2032, the collectable toy market could hit $35 billion.

So next time someone judges your shelf full of cuddly toys?
Tell them you're investing (and seriously, don’t let them touch.)

💡 PRO TIP: Toy nostalgia = instant connection. “What toy did you have to have as a kid?” (Tommy Gun Action Man…)

💬 FOLLOW-UP: "Do you still have any childhood toys?"

⛔ DON'T SAY: “Can I have them?” (Not a good look.)

TALK TOOLBOX

🤬 Damage Control

Little Jimmy just took a marker pen to your mint Pokémon card?
11:42 a.m. Christmas Day, and you realize — you didn’t start the turkey?
Surrounded by relatives?

In Japan, there's “shōganai” (shoh-gan-eye)
Roughly “Well…what can you do?”
It’s the national shrug. Not defeat, but release.

If that doesn’t land, try one of these before you default to:

“OH, FOR #$%& SAKE!! YOU $%&#"!!”

And give Little Jimmy issues for life.

These phrases create just enough emotional distance to stop the spiral

• C'est la vie!
  (French for “That's life”—sounds fancier when you're annoyed)

• It is what it is.

  A verbal shrug for the soul.

• Worse things have happened to better people.

  Perspective, served dry.

• That’s one for the memoir.

  Instantly reframes chaos as content.

• This will make a great story.

  Future-you already finds it funny.

They don’t fix the problem, but they stop the problem from hijacking you.

💡 PRO TIP: Say the phrases out loud. Pick the one that feels right and commit.

💬 YOUR TURN: Do you use any others? Hit reply and let me know.

⛔ DON’T SAY: “Why does this always happen to me?” (Your brain will happily agree.)

FAMOUS WORDS

“As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind: every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.”
(John Glenn, American Astronaut, 1921-2016)

🎬 Can you name the film?

⬇️ Answer at the end of this issue

BECAUSE THE ROBOTS ARE COMING

🤖 Say It, Build It

Finally, a robot that might save relationships.
(Before pleasure-bots come along to end them.)

You speak. It builds.

IKEA instructions just became obsolete, and couples everywhere whisper, “Thank God.”

But it does raise the question: how long before someone tries, “Build me a gun”?

💬 FOLLOW UP: What would you want it to build?

BITS ‘N BOBS

🧬 From DNA to whales: life, scaled (prepare to feel very small)

🎤 Karaoke is good for you — medically. Socially? Jury’s still out (you haven’t heard me sing.)

👩🏻‍💻 Wikipedia’s most-read pages of 2025 (the internet reveals itself)

ANSWER

Answer: M.A.N.G.O.

Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Google (Alphabet), Oracle

🎬 Answer: The Right Stuff (1983)

America’s early astronauts race rockets, egos, and gravity to prove humans belong in space.

🌍 Cultural Impact: Fixed the image of astronauts as cool, cocky, all-American heroes.

🧠 Deep Dive: Nominated for eight Oscars, the film blends heroism with satire on NASA's publicity machine.

LAST WEEK

🗳️ Would you be okay with ads in your dreams?

A) ⛔ Hell no — my brain is the last ad-free zone - 64%
B) 💰 Sure… if they pay me - 29%
C) 🤔 Maybe — depends if they trigger nightmares — 0%
D) 💤 Who cares? I never remember my dreams anyway - 7%

💬 Your Two Cents

B.A: “God no. My sleep is fitful enough without having Netflix barging in making things worse.”
S.Y: “I’d like my brain to sort its own data/dreams thanks very much.”

THIS IS THE END

That's it for #49.

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