T.C. Sottek

I actually like the Truck Simulator series, but there’s something very funny about a landlocked state in the Great Plains region becoming a notable video game expansion. Even the developer, SCS, had to upsell the region in its announcement, noting the state’s “unfortunate reputation of being a rather arid place.” You won’t hear a complaint from me, though; I love any US state that has national parks. Sorry, Delaware.

All I want for Christmas this year is, apparently, this off-road Porsche 911 Dakar. But I absolutely do not want to see the detailing and maintenance bill from after this incredible video was shot. Maybe I’ll just ask for an Xbox instead.

I absolutely love this story today on The Verge from Jessica Lucas, about ragebait food videos on TikTok. I’ve spent many, many hours curating my TikTok experience to show me mostly quality food content — and yet I can’t escape viral recipe trolling. If you don’t know what we’re talking about: sit back, relax, and enjoy your Thanksgiving. (But you know you want to click.)

Business Insider reports that an “anti-woke” bank from the likes of Peter Thiel and right-wing talking head Candace Owens has crashed and burned just 3 months after launching. At some point, you have to wonder whether these culture war business grifts will run out of gullible investors.

I hope all of you are with the human beings you care about most over the next few days. I’ve gotten at least a dozen pitches for the metaverse over the past 24 hours and it’s put a fine point on the fact that a fancy headset will never replace genuine connection. Let’s toast to a better future — which won’t require having computers strapped to our faces.

As reporters we don’t usually tell people to stop saying things in public — especially when it comes to potentially-fraudulent former billionaires. But perhaps we can all agree to offer some sympathy for defense attorneys across the world who must have incredible heartburn as they watch SBF take every opportunity to gift material to future prosecutors. Anyway, see you all at the Dealbook Summit!

Watching Adi, Nilay, and Alex run around haplessly in Mark Zuckerberg’s failscape while being chased by a bunch of children is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a Verge video. I seriously can’t believe this thing shipped in its current state.

The Markup team brought us this thoroughly-reported story on tax preparers using the Meta Pixel to quietly send users’ sensitive financial information to Facebook, which we’ve co-published this morning. If you prepare your taxes online, you’ll want to take a look.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis means good news for a First Amendment that is under siege. Chief US District Judge Mark Walker issued a withering takedown of DeSantis’ “Stop W.O.K.E. Act”, calling it “positively dystopian”, and a “cornerstone of its own Ministry of Truth.”

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced yesterday that his office is opening an investigation into the company after the disastrous Taylor Swift launch. Good job, Swifties.