YOLO for Olo
Plus: Fake students flood community college campuses, Canadians’ referendum on Trump and why Christmas might be wanting this year.
You know those late-night dorm room dialogues—the ones fueled by cheap pizza and cheaper philosophy—where someone inevitably asks if your green might be my purple? Well, some scientists at Berkeley came up with a setup to test the theory that has haunted philosophy majors for decades. They mapped test subjects’ retinas, had them stare into a laser, and explain what they saw: The color olo. Some of the lucky test subjects described an intense euphoria after seeing it.
Now you might think olo is so rarely seen one must jump at the chance when offered. You have to yolo olo. But the chance of seeing olo is so low that even the grad student who worked his entire career working on it was not given a chance to see it… making him feel a little solo.
Welcome to the Gist List — a news roundup, interesting things you should know, and my thoughts leading up to today’s podcast episode.
Here’s what’s on my mind:
🍚 There’s a shortage of all your favorite foods.
🍎 California students who are more artificial than intelligent.
🎅🏻 Sorry, kids—Santa might be late this year.
🇨🇦 Canadians go to the polls today.
🇮🇳🤜🤛🇵🇰 Tensions heat up between India and Pakistan.
The Gist List
Soaring Prices, Empty Shelves as Japan's Rice Crisis Worsens (Washington Post)
It turns out that eggs aren’t the only thing grocery stores are limiting to two per customer, and tariffs aren’t the only thing threatening your appetite for cheap snacks. Japan is in the middle of a rice shortage. But staples are not the only thing in short supply. What else might have you you be hoarding like a prepper?
Chocolate: Worldwide, cocoa farmers are dealing with droughts and low crop yields.
Matcha: Demand is outpacing production for this trendy grassy-tasting powder.
Pistachios: You can blame the popularity of Dubai chocolates for this shortage, causing local chefs, candy makers and influencers to panic.
Does this mean that we have to succumb to the demise of Dubai chocolate? Probably not. Remember the Great Sriracha Crisis of 2020 or the Avocadopocalypse of 2022? Both had us clutching our pearls and our condiments, but they turned out to be more characterized by an uptick in conversation starters like, “hey have you heard about the Sriracha shortage?” than an actual dearth of the substance in question.
As ‘Bot’ Students Continue to Flood In, Community Colleges Struggle to Respond (Voice of San Diego)
Alarming news for California institutions of higher learning. Those packed online classrooms weren’t filled with eager minds thirsting for knowledge. Instead, AI bots posing as students siphoned off financial aid to the tune of an $11 million heist in 2024 alone, with about a quarter of community college applicants turning out to be more artificial than the intelligence. And why community colleges? Their open-door policy, combined with the post-2020 explosion in online learning, has made them a perfect target for AI fraudsters.
Your Christmas Toys Are Going to Be Late This Year (Bloomberg)
Because March through April is when Santa’s workshop (Chengdu campus) starts getting ready for Christmas, the United States’ economic drama might cause some toys to get under the tree late. (No news on the tariff rate for the North Pole, however.) Currently, shippers are diverting exports to Canada, and container bookings from China to the US are down 45% from last year.
Even if President Trump backtracks his threats to Jerome Powell and China, and these shadows remain unaltered by the future, I see vacant store shelves and a new iPhone and a luxury red light face mask without an owner.
What to know about Canada's election and its stakes (Axios)
Canada is heading into elections today to determine its Prime Minister. In one corner, we've got Liberal Mark Carney, who's been warming the PM's chair since March. In the other corner, Conservative Pierre Poilievre—who managed to fumble a 20-point lead faster than the Calgary Stampeders in the 2016 Grey Cup after failing to distance himself from Trump's rather peculiar suggestion that Canada should become the 51st state. At its core, this election is really asking Canadians, “How do you handle a neighbor who keeps trying to annex your house?”
Justin Trudeau is nowhere to be found—much to his party's relief. The Liberals are so eager to distance themselves from the Trudeau era, they're treating his policies and persona like a 2001-era Halloween costume: something that seemed like a good idea at the time but now just makes everyone uncomfortable.
Tensions soar as India weighs how to hit Pakistan (The Economist)
If you thought our border tensions with Canada and Mexico were tense right now, you should take a look at what’s happening with India and Pakistan. On April 22, gunmen opened fire on mostly Hindu tourists and killed 26 people in the Indian region of Jammu & Kashmir. This area is part of the Line of Control, an amorphous ceasefire line established after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. India views it as an international boundary, while Pakistan views it as a “working border.”
Now tensions are heating up as Narendra Modi is vowing to cut off the water supply to Pakistan, and “We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth.” Who “they” are is a lot less clear. India hasn’t presented much evidence as to who executed the attack.
What I’ve Been Reading: How the War Over Trans Athletes Tore a Volleyball Team Apart
This article in the New York Times Magazine might take you an hour to dig into, but it is well worth the read. It details the controversial case of Blaire Fleming, a transgender woman volleyball player at San Jose State University, and how it became a focal point in the debate over trans athletes in women's sports. A hugely controversial subject, but Jason Zengerle fills in more details than the sum total of all other reporting and speculation that came before.
Last Week on The Gist: Alan McPherson
Alan McPherson, author of The Breach: Iran-Contra and the Assault on American Democracy, joined to discuss the Iran-Contra affair and how it plagued both the end of Reagan’s presidency and George H.W. Bush’s, as well as how it ties into today's politics.
There’s more where that came from. Listen to The Gist, and upgrade to Pesca Plus for the ad-free version.
Have a story you want us to talk about or an opinion you want to share? Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com or share your thoughts in the comments. We might give you a shoutout in our next newsletter or on the air.
What about "...making him feel so low."