00:00It is time for BTW, or BTW, as we call it around the office here.
00:04Some of us do.
00:05I like BTWs.
00:07All right, so we're going to go to a bunch of stories that you might have missed during the week
00:14that we want to focus on,
00:15and our own Lisa Mateo is going to kick it off.
00:17All right, I want to start with one of the most read.
00:18You said BTWs, by the way?
00:19I say BTWs, I do. I know you're out.
00:21I just wanted to get that.
00:23But just to the people at home, BTW, Bloomberg this weekend.
00:26Also, there you go.
00:27All right, let's start with one of the most read on the terminal from this week.
00:31This one's from Bloomberg.
00:32So it says, Oaktree's Howard Marks says, investors are underestimating AI.
00:37So basically, he's a co-founder, right, Oaktree Capital Management.
00:41He sat down with Lisa Bromowitz at the Capital Markets Industry Conference.
00:44So a few things he said that the power that gives AI its importance also gives us this unpredictability.
00:50So you don't know what it will or won't do.
00:54So he was kind of touching upon that.
00:56But I want to point out this thing that he also said is that at last month's announcement of Jack
00:59Dorsey's block about cutting 4,000 jobs.
01:02Cut a lot of jobs.
01:03Yeah, that kind of stood out to him, too, because the power that gives AI importance also gives it that
01:07unpredictability.
01:08So that's what kind of he's talking about there.
01:10But something he also said that really stuck out from this article was that investors are probably better off buying
01:16shares of AI-focused company rather than lending it money.
01:19Interesting.
01:19So that was, like, an interesting twist to what he was saying.
01:22And that's really been the story here.
01:23The concern has been rising about that lending mechanism.
01:26It's kind of circular financing, everyone lending to one another.
01:29But I think, obviously, Howard Marks, eminent and wealthy investor, the latest in the line of folks who are kind
01:35of expressing concern about where all of this is headed and demanding at this point in time.
01:38They want to see something.
01:39They want to see some actual proof that this is leading to productivity gains.
01:42There's also an argument that's gaining stock that a lot of these AI institutions or policies are coming from the
01:47top down, and they're not actually asking the people who do the work where AI could be helpful.
01:51So they're burning money, putting it in the wrong places where there are places that's really effective and places where
01:56it's cheaper and better to just keep your staff.
01:58And worth paying attention?
01:59We talk a lot about Iran.
02:00We have over the last few weeks, of course, and this widening war in the Middle East.
02:03But still, this is very much front of mind for a lot of investors, the impact this is having and
02:07could have going forward.
02:08Most definitely.
02:09Most definitely.
02:10I want to turn to our next one.
02:11Okay, so this is from the Wall Street Journal.
02:13So let's get to this headline.
02:14It's one of the hottest tables in America, and it's a college dining hall.
02:19Okay?
02:19We're talking about, I don't know how your dining halls were in college.
02:22Not good.
02:23Quite good.
02:23I got to say mine is quite good.
02:24That's it, really?
02:25Okay.
02:26This is UMass Amherst.
02:28Okay, this is the one.
02:30It's dining halls have been ranked number one for campus food in the country for nine years, according to the
02:34Princeton Review.
02:36Serves about 30,000 students, but it's not just the students.
02:39The thing about this place, as you're looking at, is that it is open to the public, too.
02:43So adults go there on, like, date nights, and people go there on the normal.
02:48They pay about $12.50 for breakfast.
02:51Come on, guys.
02:51Come on.
02:52The next time you're in the Pioneer Valley.
02:52Amherst is a nice place.
02:54The food there.
02:55I mean, they have, you know, so many different dining halls.
02:58They have different restaurants.
02:59You can get sushi.
03:00You can get any kind of bowl you want.
03:02You can get your pizza.
03:03You can get a Mediterranean station.
03:04And they change the menu all the time.
03:07And this is what people like about it.
03:0930 cafes and markets, too.
03:1030 cafes.
03:12I'm telling you.
03:13It is freshman 15.
03:15Can you not say?
03:16That's a lot of food.
03:19And look, I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but maybe this is why college is getting incredibly
03:23expensive.
03:24Well, their meal plan is about $3,600 for the semester.
03:28All right.
03:29To about $4,200.
03:30I got nothing, then.
03:30I got nothing.
03:31So just goes to show you.
03:32Your food wasn't good at college?
03:35Well, now that we've said where I go to college, I realize I need to die.
03:37It was fine.
03:39There was nothing wrong with it, but it certainly wasn't date night draw.
03:42It was serviceable.
03:44You as an alumna wouldn't go back.
03:45No, it would not be a destination trip to have the salad bar, which is pretty much where
03:50I lived.
03:51Okay.
03:52Have you guys taken a destination trip to the opera?
03:54Have you been to an opera?
03:55Yes.
03:56You have been to the opera?
03:56Yes.
03:57Have you been to, like, a five-hour opera?
04:01Close to.
04:01No.
04:02No, I've done.
04:03I did go to a, a friend gave me tickets to a Wagner opera, and it was, like, four hours.
04:10And I did think I was going to scream inside my head in my very tight dress.
04:13Yes.
04:13Yes.
04:14This is what it's about.
04:15Okay.
04:15So this is from the New York Times.
04:17Okay.
04:17The headline is Baby Carrots, Espresso, Martini's, How New Yorkers Prepared for a Five-Hour Opera.
04:21Okay.
04:22So this is the Metropolitan Opera's new production.
04:25Excuse me if I pronounce this wrong.
04:27Tristan and Und Isola.
04:30I hope I pronounced it right.
04:33But it's getting rave reviews, but it's just too long.
04:36Like, it's nearly four hours, five if you count the intermissions with it.
04:39So what people are doing is they're pre-gaming with energy drinks, with espresso, intermission.
04:44They're downing espresso martinis.
04:46I mean, it's a long time.
04:48I think espresso's traditional, given, you know, Italians and opera and true.
04:53You guys, you know why some of these operas are so long.
04:55Why are they so long?
04:56Okay.
04:56So back in Italy, when this is really popular, it costs more in Venice to heat one of those
05:01big palazos for the night than it did to get box seats at the opera.
05:04So this is one of the things they did as aristocrats.
05:07They would just go to the opera every night.
05:09Like, we'd just, like, go watch TV because it was less expensive and less boring in the
05:13winter to go see an opera than to heat your entire giant leaky mansion.
05:17Are you serious?
05:18Yes.
05:18I'm not kidding.
05:19This is, you can look this up.
05:20City of Falling Angels is a great book about Venice.
05:22It talks about this.
05:23And people are doing this.
05:25People are doing it.
05:25And you know what it is?
05:26Is that they have a special, like, under 40 night.
05:29So people under 40 get discounted tickets.
05:30Well, I'll gladly avail myself of that, everyone watching the show.
05:34Me too.
05:35We can all do that.
05:36We can all go.
05:37Sure.
05:38I was eager to talk more about Timothee Chalamet in the context of this, as I'm sure you were
05:41as well.
05:42Nailed it, Chalamet.
05:44Given that I still can't say that name correctly.
05:46But, I mean, are people going, Lisa?
05:48Yes, there are no.
05:49People are going, and that was packed.
05:50It was a Friday night, and there were a lot of younger people, and they're attracting
05:53this younger audience to the opera, who are staying for five hours throughout the whole
05:57thing.
05:57And evidently putting baby carrots in their pockets, I guess.
06:00Yes, the baby carrots and veggies are key.
06:01That's what you do.
06:01All right.
06:02We'll crudite.
06:02Keep you through.
06:03Crudite to go.
06:04Lisa?
06:04Listen, I think that's great.
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