🍗 Oh My, Chicken Thighs

Wingstop launched Thighstop yesterday, a virtual restaurant focused on chicken thighs, amidst a nationwide chicken wing shortage,

• The Big Picture: During the pandemic, when restaurants closed their indoor dining areas and focused on delivery service, sales of chicken wings soared. Demand for the product, combined with supply chain constraints, drove wing prices up.

From the WSJ: “The food sector is seeing a version of what supply-chain experts call the bullwhip effect, where companies that have pulled back their operations seek to rapidly scale up on signs of improving demand, leaving suppliers scrambling to keep up.”

💬 Quote of the Day:

"The people's food situation is now getting tense as the agricultural sector failed to fulfil its grain production plan due to the damage by typhoon last year."

–North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, during a central committee meeting last Tuesday, per Reuters ($). (From the Left | From the Right)

Hundreds defied COVID recommendations and visited Stonehenge for the summer solstice.

In a unanimous decision on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled the NCAA can’t restrict educational benefits provided by universities to student-athletes.

🤿 A deeper dive…
The court decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, upheld lower court rulings that found the NCAA was violating antitrust law by limiting schools from competing for player talent by offering better benefits.

• From the WSJ: “The decision doesn’t open up a world of direct, unlimited pay for college athletes, an issue that wasn’t before the court. Instead, the justices said the NCAA must allow colleges to recruit athletes by offering them additional compensation and benefits, as long as they are tied to education.”

📸 The Big Picture:

An NCAA statement on the high court’s ruling said it remains “committed to working with Congress to chart a path forward, which is a point the Supreme Court expressly stated in its ruling.”

• To date, 19 states have passed legislation banning any restrictions on college athletes profiting off their own name, image, and likeness (NIL).
• Seven state laws are set to take effect this year (AL, FL, GA, MS, NM, & TX on July 1; AZ on July 23).
• The NCAA has also pledged to approve its own proposed NIL legislation before July 1.

Under the NIL laws passed to this point - but not yet enacted - college athletes would be able to earn money in a variety of ways, including social media (through sponsored posts or advertisements), autograph sales, YouTube channels, private training lessons, merchandise, endorsement deals, and more.

Image: TODAY

Sam Schmidt was one of the most successful indie race car drivers of the 1990s. Heading into the 2000 season, he was projected to be one of the top racers.

• That all came to a crashing halt after a pre-season training accident left Sam completely paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Undeterred by the accident, Sam went on to start his own racing team, become the founder of a fitness center in Las Vegas, and collaborate with tech company Arrow to design a custom-built Corvette allowing him to drive using only mouth and head movements.

• Most recently, Sam enlisted Arrow’s help to develop an exoskeleton that would allow the 56-year-old to walk again, with a goal of dancing at the upcoming wedding of his daughter (who had never seen her dad walk before).

Keep reading.

🏁 Start Your Engines…

Image: Airspeeder

On Thursday, British manufacturer Alauda Aeronautics revealed it had successfully performed the maiden flight of the Alauda Mk3 – an electric flying race car slated to serve as the cornerstone of Airspeeder, a new flying motorsport series.

• The vehicle, which can ascend to over 1,500 feet in altitude and accelerate from zero to 62 MPH in 2.8 seconds, was piloted remotely but is equipped with a seat and controls for an onboard pilot.

With the successful flight of the Alauda Mk3, Airspeeder, which bills itself as “the world’s first racing series for electric flying cars,” announced plans to hold a three-race Grand Prix featuring the vehicles before the end of the year.

Keep reading.

What is rubber’s natural color?

A) Black
B) White
C) Blue
D) Green

(keep scrolling for the answer)

Access exclusive rewards and even an all-expenses-paid round trip to Austin, TX, just for sharing this newsletter.

Simply:

1. Copy your unique referral link.👇
2. Drop said link in the family group chat, share it with a neighbor, rent a doughnut costume and stand at a busy intersection with a sign, etc.
3. Watch the rewards roll in.

No link found!

B) White

Natural rubber is white – or, at least it appears whitish (image). Although an incredibly useful and versatile material, natural rubber is not terribly tough in its natural state.

• For it to endure the heavy-duty wear of daily use on, say, a car tire, it needs added filler.
• When you see black rubber on car tires or encasing wires, it’s because a manufactured soot called carbon black was mixed in.

This makes the material tougher, heat-resistant, and longer-lasting.