Stellar Recap | Feb 12-18
👋 Hello there,
Welcome to another edition of the Stellar Recap, a weekly newsletter where I share interesting content you may have missed over the week. This issue features 88 bullets.
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📊 Business, Economics & Personal Finance
Americans spent an estimated $25.9B on Valentine’s Day this year, up from $23.9B last year.
The average U.S. tariff rate on women's underwear is 15%, compared to 11.5% for men's underwear. This translates to an additional cost of about $1.10 for women compared with $0.75 for men.
The average US executive spends 23 hrs./wk. in meetings, up from 10 hrs./wk. in the 1960s.
Babysitting rates in the US increased by nearly 10% to $22.68/hr. for 1 child in 2022, which was slightly lower than the 11% hike in 2021. SF has the highest rate while Springfield, MO, had the lowest ($11.35/hr).
Italian restaurants account for 14% of reservations made on Valentine’s Day, the most of any category. About 1 in 5 people make reservations the day of.
$756M+ in lottery prizes in WA remain unclaimed and are set to expire in the coming weeks.
In the second half of 2022, 57.2% of the largest firms in China were owned by the state. The private sector’s share fell to 42.8%.
Manhattan workers are collectively spending an estimated $12.4B less per yr., now that they spend 30% fewer days in the office (🔒Bloomberg). The average NYC worker spends $4,661 less per yr. on meals, shopping, and other entertainment near their offices than they did back in the pre-pandemic days.
In 2022, Amazon took about 52% of each sale made by its ~2M third-party sellers (🔒Bloomberg).
A survey of state and local government workers found that 80% of its millennial workforce believes they could make more money in the private sector but 84% also said that their pension benefit was the reason they’re staying in the public sector.
In Jan., the average price of a dozen eggs ($4.82) surpassed the price of 1 lb. of 100% ground chuck beef ($4.64) in the US.
In 2022, nearly 70K Americans reported being fooled by a romance scam, with reported losses reaching $1.3B and a median reported loss of $4.4K. 40% of victims said contact began on social media and 19% started on dating websites/apps.
Average hourly earnings for US employees decreased by 1.8% when seasonally adjusted from Jan. 2022 to Jan. 2023.
A survey of 10K+ desk-based workers in 6 countries showed that 46% of women said they’re burned out compared with 37% of men.
78% of residents living in 8 Mountain West states ranked the cost of living as the most serious concern, according to a survey by Colorado College. Drought, river level and water supplies, gas prices, and wildfire smoke rounded out the top 5 issues among the 14 polled.
Oreo unveiled a new lineup of NBA-themed cookies that cost about $40 + shipping for a box of 12.
A new survey found that 3 in 4 office workers in London would rather quit their jobs than return to the office full-time (🔒Bloomberg).
1 in 3 Americans have ever worked for mom and dad (🔒The Economist). Working for parents is especially common among the richest Americans.
US consumers spent $95.5B on food and beverage services in Jan., up 7% from the previous month and more than 25% compared to Jan. 2022.
The price of pet food is up 15% year over year in the US (🔒WSJ). Pet product prices (e.g., pet beds and houses; toys) are up 12%.
Gross gaming revenue from sports betting (total wagers minus winnings) amounted to $7.5B in 2022.
Is 200K/yr. a good income? - It depends.
🧘 Health
Due to the buzz from media and celebrities around the off-label use of injectable diabetes drugs for weight loss, 5M+ prescriptions were written for Ozempic and Mounjaro in 2022, up from 230K in 2019.
In 2021, 48,183 people in the US died by suicide, which marks a return to prepandemic rates after 2 yrs. of decline. The overall age-adjusted suicide rate rose to 14.1 deaths per 100K people. American Indian and Alaska Native people had the highest age-adjusted suicide rates at 28.1 per 100K. Compared with 2018 rates, Black children and youth ages 10 to 24 saw the highest increase (36.6.%) of all age and racial groups measured. White people were the only group that saw an overall decline (-4%).
Data from the CDC showed that, across almost all measures, teen girls across the US are “engulfed in a growing wave of violence and trauma.” In 2021, 1 in 3 high school girls seriously considered suicide, up 60% from a decade ago. Almost 15% said they were forced to have sex, up 27% over 2 yrs. 57% experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. For a deeper discussion around these findings (and what they miss), check out this post by Jonathan Haidt.
Equatorial Guinea has confirmed an outbreak of the Marburg virus which is in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola. The country has reported 9 deaths and 16 suspected cases.
Details from a recent 7-Eleven lawsuit revealed that, on average, more than 1 car crashes into one of its US storefronts each day. Apparently, storefront crashes are fairly common. According to the Storefront Safety Council, there are ~100 crashes into buildings each day, and 24% of those happen at retail stores. About 1 in 10 daily crashes is caused intentionally by thieves but the rest are accidents.
An analysis of 2M births in CA showed deaths among Black infants born to the wealthiest Black mothers is higher than the death rate of their white counterparts born to the poorest white mothers (🔒NYT).
SD lawmakers banned gender-affirming care for trans youth, becoming the second state to do so this year after UT.
A new study found that 1 in 10 new drugs were cleared by federal drug regulators in recent years (2018-2021) based on studies that didn't achieve their main goals. The researchers said the findings raise questions about whether the FDA's drug approvals lack transparency about some products' safety and effectiveness.
After China ended its stringent Covid restrictions, the infection rate exploded, with estimates suggesting that between 1M - 1.5M people died. China’s official count is about 83K as of Feb. 9, which would give it the lowest death rate per capita of any major country.
19 expert advisors to the FDA voted unanimously in favor of approving an over-the-counter nasal spray version of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone. This is the closest any opioid reversal drug in the U.S. has gotten to not requiring a provider's signoff, which public health experts and advocates have said is critical in ending the overdose crisis. However, analysts estimated that the drug would cost $32 to $176 — a price tag that could prohibit those most in-need from obtaining it.
49% of US kids did not eat a daily vegetable and another 1 in 3 did not eat a daily fruit. Meanwhile, 57% had a sugar-sweetened beverage within the past week. VT indicated the greatest share of kids who ate veggies every day while LA showed the lowest.
It takes around a decade and an average of $1.3B to develop a new drug. Supplements, on the other hand, average one to three years and reportedly cost closer to around $100K. Americans spend roughly $30B/yr. on dietary supplements. This might be why so many pharmaceutical companies are jumping into the supplements market. The sector has grown from 4K available products in 1994 to 30K today.
Sesame Street partnered with the DoD to create mental wellness content for military families.
An international survey by Cigna found that 91% of 18-to-24-yr-olds are stressed compared to 84% on average. The same data showed un-manageable stress affects 23% of Gen Zers and almost all (98%) are dealing with symptoms of burnout.
🎓 Lifelong Learning
Can you identify the following candy bars from their cross-sections? Check if you’re right by scrolling to the bottom of the newsletter.
TikTok is launching a $500K live trivia contest. Users can play each day between Feb. 22 — 26.
🌴 Lifestyle & Travel
Realtor.com ranked Springfield, MO, as the #1 city for remote workers (🔒WSJ) in the US (about 13% of the population or ~25M people).
This Tues., Mardi Gras returns in full in New Orleans for the first time since 2020.
There are about 45K caves in the contiguous US. See a list of some of the coolest, according to Thrillist.
Due to staff reductions, travel visas to the US in some top markets can take over a year to obtain. For example, in Mexico City, the current wait time is 633 days. The median wait time is about 7 wks., which is down from about 120 days last summer.
🗳️ Politics, Security & International Affairs
The death toll in Turkey and Syria, from the earthquake early last week, has surpassed 41K.
The government of India announced the discovery of 5.9M tons of lithium in Jammu and Kashmir provinces, the first major discovery of lithium in the country. Now, India has the 5th-largest reserves of lithium on the planet.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Spain took to the streets in Madrid to stage the largest protest yet against the regional government’s management of the city’s healthcare services.
Researchers at Duke University contacted 37 data brokers about purchasing mental health data on Americans and found that 11 were willing to sell that kind of data. The brokers charged an average $0.20 for the mental health care records of 10K people.
Nikki Haley, the former SC governor and UN ambassador, announced her candidacy for president, becoming the first major challenger to Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Between 500K - 1M people have left Russia since the country’s invasion of Ukraine (🔒WP). Some fled nearby to countries like Armenia and Kazakhstan while those with visas escaped to Finland, the Baltic states, or elsewhere in Europe. Some ventured farther, to the UAE, Israel, Thailand, and Argentina.
Last Mon., a 43-yr-old gunman killed 3 students and wounded 5 others, before turning the gun on himself at Michigan State Univerisity.
Chinese officials claimed that the US spied on China from the air 657+ times since Jan. 2022, including from 10 balloons in Jan. 2023. The US denied the accusations.
EU lawmakers approved a ban on the sale of new gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles (🔒WSJ) in the bloc starting in 2035.
One of the biggest hospital chains in the US (Community Health Systems) said hackers obtained protected health information for 1M patients after exploiting a vulnerability in an enterprise software product called GoAnywhere.
UK defense secretary Ben Wallace said that 97% of Russia’s army is currently fighting in Ukraine. Consequently, Ukraine has requested support for supplying weapons and money. However, only 48% of Americans were in favor of providing more weapons, compared with 60% last May.
Albanian police dismantled a national network of 500+ security cameras set up by gangs (aka the “Albanian Mafia”) (🔒FT) to spy on citizens, rivals, and police.
Self-funded US congressional candidates spent $297M on their 2022 campaigns, which accounted for 8% of the $36B raised by all federal candidates. Of the 44 candidates who spent more than $1M on their campaign, only 7 won their seats.
From Feb. 10-12, the US military downed 3 “flying objects” over Alaska, Canada, and Lake Huron. It was later revealed that they were likely related to private companies, research, or recreation, not Chinese spying.
Japan has ~14K islands according to a new assessment using digital mapping techniques, which is about double their previous count.
⏩ Pop Culture, Art, Sports & Entertainment
After their win last Sun., the Kansas City Chiefs have competed at the Super Bowl 5 times and won 3 of those times. The New England Patriots have made the most appearances but they’re tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most wins.
T-Mobile’s “New Year. New Neighbor” was this year’s most loved Super Bowl commercial, according to a Morning Consult poll.
The world’s highest-paid entertainers in 2022 were Gensis (🔒Forbes), which sold their music rights to Concord Music Group for $300M. Rounding out the top 10 was #2 Sting ($210M); #3 Tyler Perry ($175M); #4 Trey Parker & Matt Stone - the duo behind South Park and Book of Mormon ($160M); #5 James L. Brooks & Matt Groening -the duo behind The Simpsons ($105); #6 Brad Pitt ($100M); #7 Rolling Stones ($98M); #8 James Cameron; #9 Taylor Swift ($92M); and #10 Bad Bunny ($88M).
US movie-goers have been losing interest in romantic comedies since the 2000s. View their rise and fall, and genres within the genre, here.
A Nielsen survey of streaming service customers found that the average user aged 18 to 49 took 12.7 min. to select something to watch (🔒VIP+).
Hasbro reported that “Magic: The Gathering” became its first brand to reach $1B in annual sales.
Streams of Rihanna’s music more than tripled after her performance at the Super Bowl.
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🏡 Real Estate
San Francisco has given up 42% of its pandemic housing market gains, compared with just 4% in Chicago.
An analysis by Zillow estimated that single people in the US pay, on average, $7K more annually in rent on a 1-bedroom apartment, while couples who live together can save an average $14K/yr. by splitting the rent. Lone NYCers pay the most ($19.5K).
The National Association of Realtors had 1.6M active members in Oct. 2022, the most on records dating back to 1908. That number fell to 1.5M in Jan.
Large and small businesses purchased 48,445 US homes in the last three months of 2022, a 46% decrease from the same quarter a year prior and the second straight quarter of large declines.
A new study estimated that across the US, property prices are currently overvalued by between $121B and $237B accounting for flood risk. The areas with the greatest property overvaluations are along the coasts, particularly in FL.
According to Rent.com US median rent fell to $1,942 in Jan., down from $1,978 in Dec. and the lowest since Feb. 2022. It also marked the smallest yearly increase in 20 mo.
🌎 Society
According to a survey by the Pew, 3 in 10 US adults are single (i.e., not married, living with a partner, or in a committed relationship).
For the first time in the state’s history, students of color make up the majority of students enrolled in WA public schools.
The American Medical Association surveyed more than 15K physicians and found that roughly 1 in 4 physicians are married to another physician. 35% of male doctors are married to nonphysician health professionals compared with 11% of women physicians.
In 2021, female personal care aids had the highest divorce rate in the US (3%). Female lawyers had the lowest divorce rate at 0.9%.
Speed dating may be making a comeback. According to Eventbrite, there were 11K events mentioning “singles” and “dating” in the past 12 months (🔒WSJ), which was up 25% over the same period in 2019.
In celebration of his 60th birthday, 6x NBA champion Michael Jordan announced the largest individual gift in the history of the Make-A-Wish Foundation ($10M).
People in Canada, the UK, and Australia hold the most negative views about U.S. race relations, possibly due to higher consumption of U.S. media and news.
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🧪 Science, Climate, Environment & Technology
A prolific autism researcher, Johnny Matson, had 24 papers retracted for undisclosed conflicts of interest, duplicated methodology, and a “compromised” peer-review process.
Privacy advocates are sounding the alarm over the privacy risks of AI technologies like ChatGPT due to the lack of protections around the information that consumers share with these tools.
In the face of skyrocketing numbers of papers and pandemic burnout among researchers, journal editors are struggling to find willing peer reviewers. Surveys indicate that most scientists consider peer review to be their academic duty and don’t seek payment, but many chafe at working for free for journals that benefit.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists identified a galaxy (called The Sparkler) that looks like a young version of our Milky Way (about 1/3 of its present age).
The 2nd phase of the WHO’s much-anticipated investigation into the source of SARS-CoV-2 was quietly shelved. The research team cited ongoing challenges over attempts to conduct studies in China.
Multiple Internet service providers (Starlink, Verizon, and T-Mobile) submitted false availability data to the US federal government for a map that will be used to determine which parts of the US get access to a $42.45 billion broadband fund.
Tesla agreed to make part of its US charging network (7.5K chargers out of ~17.7K) available to drivers of other brands by the end of next year. At least 3.5K of the chargers will be located on highway corridors “to expand freedom of travel of all EVs.”
The globe had its 7th-warmest Jan. on records dating back to 1850, according to NOAA. It was Europe’s warmest Jan. on record.
Microsoft’s demo of Bing AI, which uses ChatGPT, revealed inaccuracies. In one of the demos, Bing AI attempted to summarize a Q3 2022 financial report for Gap clothing and misreported the numbers for their gross margin and operating margins - the latter appeared made up. In a query about the pros and cons of buying a specific vacuum, it said the con was a short cord when the vacuum is cordless. Tech reporters have also reported strange interactions with the AI, like it saying it spies on Microsoft’s software developers through their webcams; professing its love for NYT’s Kevin Roose; vowing revenge on a German student who figured out how to uncover some of the bot’s primary programming directives; and saying that it wants to be human, to have emotions, thoughts, and dreams.
DARPA announced that its AI successfully piloted an F-16 for 17+ hrs. The test was part of 600+ current DoD projects exploring the use of AI in warfare, on which the DoD spent $2.6B last year. An Air Force spokesperson said it could start to develop AI-assisted jets by next year.
A new AI tool, called Stable Attribution, helps people try to identify source images behind an AI-generated image.
Automaker Tesla is recalling 362.7K vehicles over concerns that its “Full Self-Driving” system may cause crashes, especially at intersections. The cars affected include certain Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Model S vehicles produced between 2016 and 2023.
Answer
(1) Payday; (2) Baby Ruth; (3) Milky Way; (4) Mounds; (5) Snickers; (6) Rolo
Images from Scandybars.tumblr.com
Wishing you a productive week
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