⚾ “Torpedo” Bats Are Taking Over The 2025 MLB Season

In today’s newsletter we discuss how “Torpedo” bats are taking over the 2025 MLB season, Tesla delivers 13% less vehicles, tiny nuclear batteries are a thing now, Val “Iceman” Kilmer passes away at 65 from pneumonia, Circle files for an IPO, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT grew paid subscribers by 30% in the last 3 months.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

⚾ “Torpedo” Bats Are Taking Over The 2025 MLB Season

What are “torpedo” bats, and why is everyone in baseball talking about them these days?

The baseball world is literally buzzing about this new style of bats nicknamed the “torpedo” bat, and they’ve made a big splash with the opening of the 2025 MLB season. These bats feature a distinct shape, with a much thicker barrel that extends further down the bat before tapering more abruptly towards the handle. This gives them an appearance that seems to remind people of a torpedo, thus the name.

This unique design isn’t just for looks though. The way the bat is cut alters the bat’s weight distribution and enlarges the hitting area known in baseball as the “sweet spot.” This allows hitters to make better contact, more often, and with more power.

The New York Yankees are one of the biggest early adopters of these new “torpodeo” bats, and their use of the bats has coincided with a significant power surge and early wins in the 2025 MLB season.

So even if you couldn’t care less about baseball like me, you can still hang with the cool kids around the watercooler and talk about the new “torpedo” bats that are taking over Major League Baseball this season.

🔌 Business

Tesla just reported they delivered 336,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2025, representing a huge 13% drop from the previous year. Now people are debating what’s behind this massive drop in deliveries.

Hmmm, I wonder if the public’s love affair with Elon Musk has soured as a result of his involvement in the Trump administration’s DOGE?

It’s true that Tesla’s model line up has grown stale, and is in need of updating, and recalls of their most recent Cybertruck certainly aren’t helping ease consumer’s minds or convince them to go out and buy a new Tesla.

There are those on Wall Street that believe Elon Musk’s association with Donald Trump administration, and his related public discourse, are negatively impacting Tesla’s brand image and consumer sentiment. Investors just wish Elon Musk would leave Washington D.C. and get back to focusing on running his companies. And I think the rest of us can agree no one cares about Elon Musk’s mission to repopulate the Earth all by himself.

When a company has a leader who has a cult-like following of admirers, like Elon Musk, then their actions and political leanings can have consequences, and those actions have consequences. That’s only one of the reasons we’re seeing Tesla’s sales falling worldwide.

🪦 Entertainment

I woke up this morning to the sad news that actor, writer, producer, Iceman, Batman, and artist Val Kilmer has passed away at the age of 65 from pneumonia. I could go on listing all of the amazing movies he’s starred in, but for me I’ll always remember him as Iceman in both Top Gun movies. Rest in peace Iceman.

🔋 Tech

Imagine a power source so long-lasting and compact that it could keep on powering small medical devices in your body. Now open your eyes! Introducing the BV100, a coin-sized nuclear battery from Betavolt that is revolutionizing the world of medical devices.

Why does this battery last so long? This nuclear powered battery works by harnessing the stable decay of nickel-63, and uses energy efficient diamond semiconductors to deliver a consistent 3V output for an insane 50 years! This battery isn’t just an advancement; it’s a leap into a future where power is as enduring as the technology it fuels.

Now if only they could make a battery out of this stuff to power my TV’s remote which always seems to have a dead battery.

🪙 Crypto

Circle, the creator of the stablecoin USDC, has filed for an IPO, signaling a significant move as the cryptocurrency sector increasingly integrates with traditional financial markets. This IPO, to be traded under the ticker symbol “CRCL” on the New York Stock Exchange, marks a renewed effort by Circle to become a publicly traded company, following a previously abandoned SPAC merger back in 2021-2022. The filing comes amidst a complex economic landscape, with the company showcasing substantial revenue growth, even as net income has seen fluctuations. The market’s reception of Circle’s IPO is expected to be closely watched, as it could set a precedent for other crypto-related firms seeking to enter public markets, and also gauge investor confidence in the stablecoin sector.

🤖 AI

The rapid growth of OpenAI’s ChatGPT continues to make waves in the tech industry, along with a surge in new revenue. ChatGPT’s paid user base has experienced a remarkable 30% increase in just 3 months. This surge in sales puts a spotlight on the growing demand by consumers for advanced AI capabilities.

Between OpenAI just closing the largest private tech funding deal on record, $40 billion dollars, to value the company at $300 billion dollars, or their sales increasing 30% in the last 3 months, we haven’t seen these kinds of headlines since the late ‘90s dot com era.

Estimates now suggest that ChatGPT is generating around $415 million dollars in monthly revenue.

It’s also important to point out that even though ChatGPT has had an increase in paid subscribers, their percentage of paying users relative to their overall user base (i.e. free users) indicates that while paying users are increasing, the free user base is also growing very rapidly. More free users equals more costs that need to be offset by paying subscribers. At the end of the day more users of any kind are good, but a 30% increase in paid users doesn’t directly translate to the company generating a profit from those users.

As long as VCs and sovereign wealth funds continue to believe in and invest in OpenAI, then we’ll see more headlines of insane fund raises, which will beget more crazy headlines of surging paid subscribers. The investments in OpenAI will likely continue until, like what happened with the dot com boom, the music stops.

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irl Media NEWSLETTER is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.