Brief - The Hustle

NYC’s empire, anti-graffiti bots, and more newsy numbers

Written by Juliet Bennett Rylah | May 20, 2024 12:00:00 AM

156: People who got Minnesota Timberwolves player Naz Reid’s name tattooed on their body after JC Stroebel, an apprentice tattoo artist, said he’d ink the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award winner’s name on “anyone for $20.” Stroebel said he was inspired by Reid’s underdog story — he went undrafted out of college — and his name is also conveniently much shorter than other players. People love a deal, so we suspect there may be even more Minnesotans walking about with Reid tattoos since The Wall Street Journal published its story on the topic.

349.5k: How many millionaires live in New York City, the most of any city in the world, according to investment firm Henley & Partners. The city that never sleeps has seen a 48% uptick over the past decade, which is perhaps unsurprising given that it’s also the city where a studio apartment now costs an average of $3.1k. The San Francisco Bay Area is catching up to NYC, with 305k+ millionaires, and already holds bragging rights of its own: It’s the global leader in billionaires.

40: Number of alleged counterfeits found on eBay by Art Recognition’s AI tech, trained to identify potentially bogus paintings. Among the possible fakes were a $165k Renoir piece and a supposed Monet original going for $599k. Both dupes are now unavailable on eBay, which clarified that it does not allow counterfeits and said that, in 2022, it blocked 88m bogus listings from publication and removed another 1.3m after review.

$815k+: How much Washington state estimates it spent cleaning up graffiti in 2023, including on equipment and labor. That’s why it’s rolling out a $1m program to combat vandalism, which includes testing a drone that will spray fresh paint over graffiti. The drone comes via manufacturer Aquiline, and is a modified version of its ~$30k roof- and window-cleaning bot.