Boom Lottery

Boom And Bust, All At Once

Ashley Braun | Hakai | 16th August 2023

In the mid 20C, fish meal — the leftovers from processing fish like herring and sardine — performed what felt like miracles. It fattened livestock and fertilised crops at a time when many in Europe and North America were hungry. Demand is rising again now as food prices soar, and whole fish are now being used to make it — fish that would have fed people in South America or West Africa (1,230 words)

The Man Who Won The Lottery 14 Times

Zachary Crockett | The Hustle | 21st July 2023

Rogue economist, or "self-described philosopher-mathematician", used a talent for numbers to turn lottery-winning into a profession. His first jackpot enabled him to flee communist Romania, and he then went into business in the US and Australia. His theory was simple, if logistically challenging: just buy all the combinations, a cost then defrayed by the winnings. It was, then, perfectly legal (2,870 words)