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Keeping Ghost Mail fresh is important. During the week, there's plenty of market news to keep you busy. On the weekend, it's nice to sit back on the couch rather than sit forward in your chair.

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I'm nowhere near cool enough to achieve this alone, so I'm collaborating with Dominique Olivier, founder of human.writer (more on that to come) and creator of the weekly columns that you know and love in Ghost Mail. On that note, her column will be published first in Ghost Mail Weekender before going out in Ghost Mail each Monday. This week, she explains why avocados are easier to sell than alligator pears.

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Having said that, be warned that choosing not to read Ghost Mail Weekender means you'll miss out on nuggets like the option to use horses in Iceland to write your out-of-office emails by walking over a horse-sized keyboard. Yes, you really can outhorse your email (their pun, not ours).

With that, we welcome you to the inaugural edition of Ghost Mail Weekender.

And to those who celebrate - happy Masters Sunday. Get ready for tired eyes in the office tomorrow morning among those who understand that golf is the hardest sport on the planet.

Have a terrific day!

The Finance Ghost (follow on X) | Dominique Olivier (connect on LinkedIn)

TL;DR: In 1925, legendary con man Victor Lustig swindled André Poisson out of today’s equivalent of 4.4 million euros. The scam? Convincing Poisson that his money was buying him ownership of the Eiffel Tower. 

They say there’s a sucker born every minute, which explains why Victor Lustig was able to run his famous Eiffel Tower scam not once, but twice in the same year. It also explains why some people think that winning the Six Nations is more important than the Rugby World Cup.

Posing as a member of government - and using an official government letterhead - Lustig invited some of the city’s most prominent manufacturing businessmen to clandestine meetings in the basement of the upmarket Hotel de Crilion. Here, he would introduce himself as the deputy director general of the ministère de postes et télégraphes, before explaining that the government was planning to sell off the tower as scrap metal.

The Awful Tower

For those of us who know the Eiffel Tower as the tourist magnet that it is today, it seems almost impossible to imagine why anyone would want to tear it down, much less for scrap. But the 1920s were a different time in Paris. By the time Lustig arrived on the scene in 1925, the Eiffel Tower was 38 years old, a relic of a previous World Fair.

Parisians unanimously hated it, with many going so far as to petition the government to get rid of the thing, presumably attracting tourists with croissants and famously friendly French hospitality instead. Ahem. 

Victor had been following the noise about the tower, which had become a rusting eyesore, and had seen speculation in the newspapers about the government wanting to remove the tower. This sparked the idea that culminated in the unfortunate day on which André Poisson (whose surname literally translates to “fish”) was reeled in. After months of sweet talking, Poisson put pen to paper for the tower and even paid a “government bribe” in cash. By the time Poisson realised he’d been snared, Lustig had disappeared into Vienna. 

Poisson was too embarrassed by his faux pas to alert the police, but Lustig’s next victim, who fell for the same scam a little over a month later, was not so shy. Lustig’s actions were reported to the police and the story made newspaper headlines soon thereafter, which is probably the only reason why we know about it today.

Love bites

As for Lustig - he was never apprehended for his Parisian scams. An aggrieved mistress tipped authorities off about one of his counterfeiting scams years later, and he was eventually arrested and sentenced to 20 years in Alcatraz. He served 14 before he passed away behind bars, but not before becoming “suspiciously” friendly with the prison chaplain.

Did Lustig find salvation in prison, or was his conversion part of an escape plan that involved disguising himself as a member of the cloth? Sadly, we’ll never know.

We were inspired by this article in The Hustle that has far more detail on monuments, conmen and how they seem to attract each other.

1. Lancôme Hapta

Senior influencers - aka Granfluencers - are a real thing these days. We’re living longer than ever and wanting to look good while doing it. This has to be the market that Lancome envisioned when they created the Lancôme Hapta, a lipstick holder that uses stabilising tech to allow for the perfect smooth swipe, even when held by shaky hands.

2. Row 7 Seed Company Sweet Garleek

Love cooking, but hate chopping? Then visionary seed company Row 7 has just the thing for you. Their latest hybrid vegetable creation, the Sweet Garleek, is a cross between - you guessed it - a garlic and a leek. Half the chopping, twice the flavour, all packed into one convenient vegetable. 

3. Dyaqua Invisible Solar Roof Tile 

Did you know that solar panels are banned from historical sites and many quaint villages across Europe? It makes sense if you consider how outlandish a modern glass solar panel would look on a roof in Pompeii. Fortunately, Dyaqua has created clay look-alike solar rooftiles that blend in perfectly with their terracotta neighbours. It seems we all have to do our part for Net Zero, even the ruins among us.

4. Shift Robotics Moonwalkers

When you’ve got someplace to be in a hurry and only your feet available to take you there, then it sure helps if you can travel 250% faster than your average walking speed. Shift Robotics Moonwalkers are the way to go if you’d like to involve AI in the way you walk. Personally, I think it might be a while before we see these on the Sea Point Promenade, but they sound useful for getting around an airport.

5. Italian Institute of Technology Edible Rechargeable Battery

An edible battery may sound like a useless idea, but when you realise that swallowed batteries are one of the leading causes of ER admissions for children, the story starts to make a bit more sense. The Italian Institute of Technology hopes that their invention will not only save thousands of children from battery injuries every year, but eventually also find their use in medical devices that are embedded in the body.