Noah Brier | April 19, 2025
The Saturday Selection, Vol. 50
On New Jersey Russian spies, beige billionaires, and life after banking.
Every day, WITI’s group chats buzz with fresh links. As part of our Saturday send for paid readers, we round up 11 of the best. But hey, it’s our 50th edition—here’s 15.
It’s WITI, on the weekend.
Why are these interesting?
Nine Electric, Intoxicating Hours Inside Bogotá’s Wildest Party (Eater)
Like a Cheesecake Factory crossed with a nightclub on steroids, but with absolutely fantastic Colombian food. (This is from 2018, but I’ve always wanted to go.)
Maybe You, Too, Are The “Man on the Clapham Omnibus” (Wikipedia)
Turns out the British courts have a go-to term for a “hypothetical ordinary and reasonable person.”
A New Holy Trinity of Watch Brands for the Non-Billionaires (Bloomberg)
In Tudor, Grand Seiko, and Nomos, Gary Shteyngart finds belief.
Is There Life After Banking? (Financial Times)
I’ve spent decades working towards the moment when I’d retire from my high-powered job in finance. Now what?
1,900-Year-Old Papyrus Proves Ancient Romans Had Tax-Evasion Schemes (New York Times)
If caught, penalties ranged from permanent exile to hard labor in the salt mines, or damnatio ad bestias, a public execution in which the condemned were devoured by wild animals.