Purer cocaine, same price: crack, narco-subs and tilting at windmills
Cocaine in Europe is 44% purer than a decade ago and costs no more. Where that figure comes from, what it means for crack, and why seizures change so little.
All posts
Pervitin: the pharmacy meth that marched to war with the Wehrmacht
Pervitin was pharmacy methamphetamine, and the Wehrmacht took it to Poland and France. What is true, what is myth, and why is meth coming back to Europe?
Brotherhood of Eternal Love: the hippie mafia that tried to buy an island
The Laguna Beach church that distributed Orange Sunshine, paid for Timothy Leary’s prison escape and tried to buy Clipperton Island for an LSD nation.
Clipperton, island of the forgotten: the settlers of Isla de la Pasión
Clipperton Island in the Pacific: a Mexican garrison abandoned during the revolution, a lighthouse keeper who crowned himself king and 11 survivors in 1917.
LSD: the CIA, the army, Tusko the elephant and the return to medicine
What LSD is, who invented it, what the CIA and the army did with it, where it is legal, and what the phase 3 trials of 2026 showed. With the sources attached.
Movin’ on up: getting online research out of the bad neighborhood
Survey farms, bots that pass attention checks and people who say they drive nuclear subs. What online sample looks like in 2026, and what moving up would take.
NFTs were the clumsy artist’s big chance. What happened to them?
What an NFT is, how blockchain works, why people paid millions for pictures in 2021 and what happened to NFTs after the crash. Explained in plain English.
Where does honor end and stupidity begin? How Citroën trolled the Nazis
Citroën boss Pierre-Jules Boulanger built T45 trucks for the Wehrmacht with the oil dipstick mark set too low. Was he a collaborator, a hero or just smart?
The 996 work schedule: what it is, and is a 72-hour week worth it?
The 996 system means working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. Where it came from, what Jack Ma said, why China banned it and why US startups now praise it.
Participation is not engagement: why likes and completes lie
Likes, engagement rate and survey completes measure participation. Real engagement is people giving you time nobody paid for. How to tell the two apart.
Are motivational books worth reading? My short list of the good ones
Which motivational books are worth reading and which should you skip? What research says about affirmations and grit, plus a short list of books that hold up.
Nokia’s 2019 ads treated customers like idiots
In 2019 Nokia pitched its phones as orange juice that gets fresher every day. Behind the baffling ads was a good promise. Why nobody got it, and the lesson.
Submariners in space: why transformations fail with the same crew
Why digital transformations fail: the crew, incentives and tools stay the same and only the label changes. From Kodak to AI task forces, and what works.
Critical thinking: what it is, and why nobody taught you
What is critical thinking? A plain definition, two uncomfortable examples, the questions I use every day, and why schools still struggle to teach it.
You killed market research, and I helped
Market research isn’t dying of AI or small budgets. Researchers, agencies and clients are killing it with cheap sample, long surveys and reports nobody reads.