Ghost Mail Weekender

Happy Sunday Voornaam,

Remember those two NASA astronauts who were supposed to spend a week on the ISS but got stuck there for nine months? Well, they’re finally back, and no doubt ready for gravity, Netflix, and some fried chicken.
On Tuesday evening, Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore hitched a ride home aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico (or the Gulf of America, if you’re a US federal agency) near Tallahassee. Their journey began on the 6th of June 2024, when they launched to test Boeing’s Starliner. The plan was to dock, evaluate, and head home in 10 days. Starliner, however, had other ideas.
A mix of technical issues and Boeing-flavoured mysteries forced NASA to send the capsule back to Earth without its crew. Instead of heading home, Williams and Wilmore were told, “Surprise! You live here now,” and reassigned as full-time ISS crew members, replacing two other astronauts who were still on the ground.
Their extended stay became political theater, with Elon Musk claiming (sans much evidence) that the pair had been “abandoned” by the Biden administration, while Trump framed a pre-scheduled crew rotation as his personal space rescue mission. You've gotta hand it to the prez - he knows a PR opportunity when he sees one.
As for Boeing’s Starliner, the future is looking wobbly at best. Engineers in New Mexico are still poking at it, trying to figure out what went wrong during its first crewed flight. Ever the optimists, Boeing insists they’re still working on earning a new flight readiness certification. Perhaps its time for Boeing to pivot into products that don't fly, in space or otherwise.
In the meantime, Williams and Wilmore are finally back on solid ground, probably enjoying the simple pleasures of fresh air, real food, and chairs that don’t float away when you try to sit on them.
Musk also features in this week's excellent column by Dominique Olivier. This time, he's on the wrong side of disruption, with the Chinese EV industry causing havoc for him and every other automotive manufacturer as well. But how did the Chinese do it? Dominique digs into the story here>>>
If you're part of the generation that waited in vain for a letter to arrive from Hogwarts, then get ready for a story of how quidditch (well, sort of) has become a sport. Jamaica may have a bobsleigh team, but a plucky group in Uganda chose something even more unusual.
Finally, perhaps influenced by our resident ghost, Dominique's Fast Facts section this week is themed around cats.
Have a lovely Sunday!

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

Temu Teslas no more: how China won the EV race

Harry Potter and the Ugandan matatu

TL;DR: John Ssentamu didn’t expect his life to change one afternoon on a crowded matatu (minibus taxi) in Uganda. But then again, fate works in mysterious ways - and sometimes that mystery involves a borrowed copy of a somewhat unlikely book.
On one fateful day in 2013, the man sitting in front of John Ssentamu in the taxi was reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Intrigued, John found himself reading snippets of the book over the man’s shoulder. By the time it was his turn to disembark, he was hooked on the story. He asked the stranger if he could borrow his copy for the weekend. After devouring the book, John wasn’t just intrigued by the magical world of Hogwarts. No, what really stuck with him was Quidditch - the high-flying, broomstick-riding, adrenaline-fuelled wizard sport. Curiosity got the best of him, so he did what any reasonable person would: he Googled it. And that’s when he had his mind-blown.
Quidditch was real. Not just a book thing. Not just a movie thing. Real, actual people - on this very real, non-magical Earth - were sprinting across fields, gripping broomsticks between their legs, and chasing balls like their lives depended on it. There was even a Quidditch World Cup. And just like that, John had a new mission.
In 2013, he set out to bring Quidditch to Uganda. No magic wands, no enchanted flying brooms, just determination, a solid WiFi connection, and a lot of trial and error. He and his growing team learned the rules the modern way by watching YouTube videos, scouring online articles, and pestering the global Quidditch community with every question imaginable. He even created a Facebook page for Uganda’s first Quidditch team, because, obviously, all great sports movements start with a strong social media presence.
At first, they cobbled together makeshift equipment with whatever they could find. But then, the “Friends of Quidditch” (as John called them) stepped in. These were international supporters who sent proper gear to help the team level up. By 2014, their story had spread across the Quidditch world, and a British player even flew in to coach them. Things were getting serious.
The ultimate dream was getting the Ugandan team to the 2016 Quidditch World Cup in Germany. Getting there, however, was a whole quest in itself. First, they had to convince the International Quidditch Association to approve them. Done. Then, they launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the trip. Success. Next, they tackled the logistical nightmare of getting passports for every player - a task that, in Uganda, is easier said than done. But somehow, against all odds, they pulled it off.
All that remained was one tiny, not-at-all-insignificant detail: visas.
And that’s where things fell apart. Turns out, German visa requirements include proof of a bank account, and in Uganda, where mobile money is king, not everyone had one. The approvals didn’t come through in time, and just like that, their World Cup dreams were grounded.
But John wasn’t about to let a minor setback (like an entire international travel ban) stop him. “This was just a first try,” he said.
And in the meantime? They kept building. Today, Uganda’s Quidditch community is thriving, with 53 players - 36 kids and 17 adults - spread across four districts near Kampala. More importantly, the sport is growing into something bigger than just a game. In Uganda, Quidditch is a rare kind of team sport; one where gender doesn’t matter, where everyone plays together, and where the only thing that counts is your love for the game.
So while they may have missed the 2016 World Cup (and the 2018 one, and - thanks to Covid - the 2020 one) this is just the beginning of the story. And something tells us John Ssentamu isn’t the kind of guy who gives up easily.

Dominique's fast facts: For the cat lovers

An assortment of facts that will only take you five minutes to read.

Housecats share 95.6% of their genetic makeup with tigers.

Cats have 32 muscles in each of their ears, allowing them to swivel their ears to hone in on the exact source of a noise. Additionally, they can rotate their ears to 180 degrees.

Cats are nearsighted, but their peripheral vision and night vision are far superior compared to humans.

The wealthiest cat in the world, Blackie, had a fortune of £7 million or $12.5 million in US dollars. When Blackie’s millionaire owner passed away, the owner refused to acknowledge any human family members in his will and instead gifted his massive fortune to his last surviving cat.

Cats usually sleep around an average of 15 hours per day. This means that a cat spends over 60% of their lives sleeping.

It’s believed that catnip produces an effect similar to LSD or marijuana in cats. The effects of nepetalactone (the chemical in catnip that drives cats crazy) wears off within 15 minutes, and won’t surface again for a few hours, even if your cat remains in sniffing distance.

President Bill Clinton’s cat, Socks, was a media darling during the Clinton administration and was said to receive more letters than the President himself.