Five Bullets 2.23.24
Nuclear Subs, Odysseus, Scams & more
Good Morning & Happy Friday Everyone!
It’s a cool and wet morning here in New York City. Hard to believe next month is March already! I’m counting down the weeks to March 29 which will be my 100th post here on Substack. I’ve published this newsletter nearly every Friday over the past two years and have greatly enjoyed learning, reading, writing and speaking with you each week.
This week I’ve got a few articles which I found particularly interesting: Charlotte Cowes frightening experience with scammers, a profile of Joel Selvin’s book on the tragic story of drummer Jim Gordon, and an endlessly fascinating (and utterly terrifying) description of nuclear submarines.
What are you reading, hearing, watching, doing this week?
Here’s this week’s Five Bullets:
Article: The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger The Cut’s financial columnist Charlotte Cowes bravely describes her experience with a coercive interrogation-like scam. How could someone willingly empty their bank account for a scammer? Cowes writes, “I have to accept that someone waged psychological warfare on me, and I lost”. I felt a cringing mix of anxiety and ‘it wouldn’t happen to me’ while reading this story but this Cowes shows that it could happen to anyone.
Drums: Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon Drummer Jim Gordon played on dozens of ‘60s and 70’s hits including Eric Clapton’s Layla, Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain and The Incredible Bongo Band’s Apache, sampled on countless hip-hop records. In 1983 Gordon brutally murdered his mother and was imprisoned for 40 years before his death in March 2023. Joel Selvin’s book Drums & Demons describes Gordon’s battle with undiagnosed schizophrenia.
“The combination of the resonance of the drums and the rhythmic entertainment of the groove produces a hypnotic feeling that can lift you out,” Selvin said. “Nothing calms a schizophrenic faster than a Walkman and a pair of headphones. For Jim, the drums provided a place where the voices couldn’t follow.”
Science: In an hour of reading, your eyes make 10,000 coordinated movements!
Space: For the first time since 1972, American-built spacecraft Odysseus landed on the moon last night. The craft, built by Intuitive Machines, landed near the moon’s south pole and delivered NASA’s instruments to the surface as well as a sculpture by artist Jeff Koons. NASA astronauts will land on the moon’s surface in 2026.
Submarines: Life Aboard a Nuclear Submarine. “Wyoming is the most powerful warship ever created…It is the ultimate guarantor of our strategic deterrence.” With conflicts occurring around the globe, the United States employs a secret weapon deep below the ocean’s surface. Adam Ciralsky and photographer Phillip Montgomery were granted unusually liberal access to USS Wyoming - there’s a reason the sub fleet is deemed the Silent Service. The article gives a rundown on the purpose of submarines and how the United States deploys subs as a vital part of our national security.
this is why I love this newsletter - I never would have come across the Vanity Fair article on the Wyoming and would've missed an incredible learning opportunity!
Having not been around for the last mission to the moon but always hearing about it and school and reading books about it, I think it will be really exciting to follow the mission in 2026!