The man who repossesses multimillion-dollar airplanes When banks need to repossess a jet from a bankrupt company or a loan-defaulting mafioso, they call Ken Hill, one of America’s only airplane repo men.
The father of the modern frozen food industry How one man’s curiosity and relentless experimentalism forever changed the way Americans eat food.
What data on 40m rides tell us about how people tip Uber drivers Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images To tip, or not to tip — that is the question. In a new NBER working paper, researchers analyzed more than 40m Uber trips during a 4-week span in 2017 and looked at how much riders tipped, and how these tips varied based on a multitude of […]
How one man went from a life prison sentence to a $100k+ engineering job In 1996, Zachary Moore committed a murder. Today, he’s a computer engineer at a Silicon Valley tech firm. Here’s how he got there.
The local TV star who rigged the lottery In 1980, a church leader and trusted newsman exploited flaws in the Pennsylvania state lottery — and nearly got away with it.
The mannequin queen: How one woman built a business out of retailers’ trash When big retail chains want to get rid of their mannequins, they call Judi Townsend, America’s premier ‘mannequin broker.’
The man who built his own Lamborghini When Mike Vetter’s dream of owning a Lamborghini didn’t come to fruition, he built one himself. Now he earns a living making his own supercars.
Is the era of the $100+ graphing calculator coming to an end? Texas Instruments has enjoyed a near-monopoly on graphing calculators for nearly three decades. But new technology may be threatening the company’s empire.
Why is movie theater popcorn so outrageously expensive? Yes, $7 popcorn is a ripoff. But it’s also the lifeblood of most movie theaters’ business model.
The epic, decades-long battle between Ford and a small-time inventor 50 years ago, Ford stole a patented design for a new type of windshield wiper. But they picked the wrong inventor to screw with.
Inside Shake Shack’s secret ‘Innovation Kitchen’ How one of the world’s fastest-growing burger chains has found success — by thinking small and acting like a start-up.
The worst sales promotion in history 27 years ago, Hoover offered two free international flights with any £100 purchase. Today, it’s remembered as the worst sales promotion in history.
