Over the rainbow

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today: The U.N. downgrades the global economic forecast; There’s a new bourbon champ in town; Say goodbye to the Google search bar; and Billy Joel says not so fast to a biopic…🤬

Let’s get into it!

The London Spirits Competition officially announced its 2026 winners, and the Straight Bourbon of the Year went to a timeless classic.

Maker’s Mark, with its red wax bottle top, always gets the job done when you can get your hands on it, but the Cask Strength blend packs a bigger wallop.

The Cask Strength blend officially took home the top prize, scoring 96 of 100 possible points in a runaway victory that earned it a double gold medal and timeless glory.

Initially introduced in 2014, Maker’s Mark Cask Strength came exclusively in 375 millilitre bottles until the distillery recently began offering the standard bottle of 750 ml.

It’s made with 70% corn, 16% soft red wheat, and 14% malted barley, and typically bottled between 107 and 114 proof, giving it a noticeably heavier bite than traditional Maker’s Mark, which is bottled at 90 proof.

The bottle typically retails for $45, giving bourbon lovers a great bang and bite for their buck.

Google announced the other day that AI mode will soon be the default function when users access the Google Search page, allowing for the use of photos, videos, files, and even full tabs as search inputs.

“Now, we’re entering the next chapter of Google Search, where incredible AI features aren’t just in Search; Google Search is AI Search through and through,” Elizabeth Reid, head of Search at Google, said at the company’s annual I/O conference. “We’re entering the era of search agents now.”

Using text in a search query will still yield mostly the same results page (visually speaking). However, following up on the search via the AI summary question box will automatically launch the page into AI mode.

“This is the biggest upgrade to our iconic search box since its debut over 25 years ago, and is starting to roll out today,” Reid said.

Other updates include the launch of Search embedded AI agents, which the user can assign to handle tasks 24/7 in the background, such as apartment/house hunting or stock watching. The agents will notify the user when an apartment that fits the details they’re looking for becomes available, or the stock moves in a meaningful way.

Archeologists worked with construction workers at the site of what’s soon-to-be an administrative building in Paderborn, Germany in search of artifacts they believed to buried deep within the site.

They found what was once a latrine underneath the building, and in it, “an exceptionally well-preserved notebook” they believe was once used for note-taking by what was likely a very wealthy resident of the area at the time. Literacy wasn’t easy to come by in 13th century Germany, nor were silk-based sheets of toilet paper, which they also found.

The 4×3 leather binding and 3.2×2.2 inch wood backing housed the notebook that was only about ten pages in length, but contained double-sided wax paper with 18 layers that could be smudged and freshened up for reuse multiple times.

“I only had to clean the outside of the book, as the inner pages were so tightly bound that there was no dirt on them,” archaeological conservator Susanne Bretzel of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association said in a press statement. “The wood also hadn’t warped, so the wax is still intact and the writing itself is easily legible.”

What the notebook actually says isn’t fully clear, but it was written in Latin—another indication its owner was very wealthy, and likely some sort of regal merchant or aristocrat.

The Piano Man has spoken out about plans to make a biopic about his life from the perspective of his original manager, Irwin Mazur.

According to Variety, John Ottman will direct Billy & Me. It’s based on Mazur’s life story, along with the life story of drummer Jon Small, who played with Billy in the 1960s group The Hassles, and with the metal group the two formed called Atilla.

The fact that Mazur and Small are featured suggests the film will cover the affair Billy had with Small’s wife, that ultimately blew up their professional relationship. Small’s wife left him for Billy, which led to such intense guilt that Joel attempted to take his own life.

"I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker,” he said in his own recent documentary, And So It Goes.

Joel hasn’t signed off on the Ottman film, and released a statement via a representative.

“Since 2021, the parties involved have been officially notified that they do not possess Billy Joel’s life rights and will not be able to secure the music rights required for this project.

"Billy Joel has not authorized or supported this project in any capacity, and any attempt to move forward without it would be both legally and professionally misguided.”

Guess the lyric 🎵 

Sing it loud, sing it proud—it’s another round of guess the lyric for today’s trivia! 🎤