SortStack #598 — 2028-01-28

By price · Order from cheapest to most expensive.

1. A full tank of gas for a midsize car in the US $45

   About half the pump price of US gasoline is the crude oil itself — refining, distribution, and taxes split the rest.

2. A pair of Apple AirPods Pro $249

   AirPods alone generate more revenue than Spotify, Twitter, and Shopify each did when analysts ran the comparison — earbuds as a Fortune 500-scale business.

3. The cheapest new car sold in America, a Nissan Versa $17K

   The sub-$20,000 new car is nearly extinct in the US — in 2019 there were over a dozen models under that line; now essentially one remains.

4. New Kim, the world's most expensive racing pigeon $1.9M

   A Chinese buyer won the 2020 auction for the Belgian hen. Pigeon racing's huge prize purses in China have turned top breeding birds into seven-figure assets.

5. The James Webb Space Telescope $10B

   Webb's mirror is coated with about 48 grams of gold — roughly a golf ball's worth — spread across 18 hexagonal segments.

6. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the US Navy's newest aircraft carrier $13B

   It launches jets with electromagnetic catapults instead of steam, and its two reactors are designed to run 25 years without refueling.

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