👋 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 86 bullets.
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📊 Business, Economics & Personal Finance
The USPS increased the price of Forever stamps to $0.68/each. It’s the 5th price increase in 2 yrs.
A LinkedIn survey showed that 85% of US workers are thinking about changing jobs this year (🔒WSJ), up from 67% a year earlier.
As of the end of 2022, there were 18.5B $100 bills in circulation around the world. Of the total value of all existing US currency in circulation, ~80% are $100 bills.
Since the S&P 500 hit its latest low in Oct. 2022, 7 stocks — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla — have collectively risen ~117% (🔒NYT). Over the last 12 mo., their gains have accounted for >60% of the return in the index.
Moody’s analyzed 472M companies and it identified 21M that are likely shell companies. For example, 2.2K companies list a director who is over age 123 (🔒Bloomberg). Some listed directors under age 5. One company reported >$2B in revenue in 2019 despite only having 1 employee. Moody’s suggested that cracking down on these improprieties would help cut into the $1.6T that’s laundered annually.
A 2023 survey of ~19K students enrolled in a 4-yr college in the US found that ~69% rated themselves as either very or extremely proficient in leadership compared with ~37% of employers.
The city of Seattle instituted a hiring freeze to cut costs and offset a looming budget shortfall of $229M. As of Aug. 2023, the city had ~14K active employees, of whom ~6.3K had a base salary of $100K+. Data from Indeed showed that the average salaries for ~2K unfilled positions range from ~$79K/yr to $176K/yr.
The share of US workers who belong to unions fell to 10% in 2023 from 10.1% a year earlier. The private sector held steady at 6%, while the government slipped to 32.5% from 33.1%.
Turkey’s central bank hiked its key interest rate to 45% after inflation increased to ~65% YoY in Dec.
New data from Yelp showed that each month in 2023 set a new all-time high in US business openings.
A Gallup study estimated that unhappy employees cost US companies $1.9T in lost productivity last year (🔒Bloomberg).
The latest data from the BLS showed that 37% of 16-19 yr-olds were employed or seeking employment last year — the highest share since 2009.
The federal government’s 12-week paid parental leave program was used by just 4% of employees over the first 22 mo. of its existence. Of those, 81% took advantage of the full 12 wks.
The University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball coach, Dan Hurley, was the highest-paid employee at UConn in 2023, with a salary of $5.2M. The Head Coach of the women’s basketball team was the 2nd highest at $3.2M.
Of the ~1.1K colleges and universities that have NCAA teams, 396 made at least $10M in 2022. Among those schools, 56 made $100M+.
🧘 Health, Healthcare & Safety
In 2020, the law enforcement fatality rate was 13.4 deaths per 100K officers, which was lower than the rate in fishing and hunting (132.1 deaths per 100K) and logging (91.7 per 100K). Professions with death rates similar to law enforcement included mechanic and repair supervisors (14.4 per 100K) and first-line supervisors of landscaping and groundskeeping workers (15.3 deaths per 100K).
Infants in Cameroon became the first in history to receive the first of dose of GlaxoSmithKline’s new malaria vaccine Mosquirix. The 4-dose vaccine series has been shown to be ~30% effective against malaria and starts to wear off in months. It doesn’t stop transmission, so immunized people should use traditional prevention methods like bed nets.
55% of rural hospitals in the US don’t offer maternity care. 200+ rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies in the past 10 yrs.
~50% of US women age 40+ have dense breast tissue, which increases their risk of breast cancer while also making cancers harder to detect. A mammogram misses cancer in dense breasts in ~50% of cases. Experts disagree on how to communicate these risks.
For the 3rd straight year, breast cancer was the most studied disease in 2023, according to an analysis of >65K trials involving 100M+ patients.
Chinese and US researchers restored hearing to 4 deaf children using a new gene therapy that was first proven to be successful in an 11-yr-old boy last Oct.
A new report showed that the pharmacy in the White House dispensed controlled medications like Ambien and Provigil with very little oversight. Those 2 drugs alone cost the government ~$144.5K between 2017-2019, whereas the generics would have cost ~$2.1K.
An analysis by the GAO found that none of the “best-rated” and “top-selling” prenatal gummy supplements contain iron (even though they claim to). Many also contained high amounts of folic acid, which could potentially pose a risk to babies in the womb.
The Veterans Health Administration added 61K workers in FY 2023, which is a growth of 7% and the fastest rate in 15 yrs.
A new study estimated that for every 4” increase in the front end height of a vehicle, there is a commensurate 28% increase in the risk of death if it strikes a pedestrian.
New findings suggest that, between Jul. 1, 2022 and Jan. 1, 2024, 64.5K+ pregnancies resulted from rape in the 14 states that banned abortion. 45% of those pregnancies were in Texas. The study used data from the CDC and BJS, which doesn’t include state-level data so the researchers made assumptions based on the most recent data on rapes reported to the FBI in 2019.
A record 21.3M people signed up for health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces during the most recent enrollment period. The largest increases were registered in GOP states.
New data showed that reported measles cases rose >40x in Europe last year (🔒NYT) compared with 2022. ~33% of those cases were in Kazakhstan, where the outbreak is attributed largely to children who missed routine immunizations. For every 1K cases, 1 child may become deaf or intellectually disabled, and 1-3 may die.
New findings showed that babies born to mothers who had Covid during pregnancy had high rates (17%) of respiratory distress at birth or shortly thereafter. The average rate among newborns is ~5%-7%.
🎓 Lifelong Learning
Unveil the mysterious origin of gamma-ray bursts as a Burst Chaser for NASA.
How to create a brag document - to reflect on themes like what’s important to you, what you’re learning, and what you’d like to be doing differently. It can also help with promotions.
A collection of sheet music that assists musicians in learning new songs quickly.
🌴 Lifestyle & Travel
A single-day lift ticket for an adult at Vail, CO, and Park City, UT, cost $299 during the 1st week of Jan. The average price of a ticket was $100 just 6 yrs ago. Despite the rising cost of single-day tickets, American ski resorts saw 65.4M visits in 2022-23.
The James Beard Foundation announced its 2024 semifinalists for the best restaurants in the US. James Beards Awards have been described as the Oscars of American Cuisine.
NYC is the best city in the world in 2024, according to Time Out.
Bookings in Nov. 2023 for 2024 cruises were ~20% higher than bookings in Nov. 2019 for 2020 cruises.
Delta Air Lines is the top airline according to an analysis by WSJ that looked at metrics like delay times, complaints, cancellations, and baggage handling.
🗳️ Politics, Security & International Affairs
Turkish legislators endorsed Sweden’s membership in NATO, lifting a major hurdle to the country’s entry into the military alliance.
A timeline of key events in the run-up to the 2024 election.
The Coast Guard reported a shortfall of 4.8K members in its FY2024 budget request, which is ~10% of its force.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed 144 lawsuits in FY 2023, the highest level since 2019. Most lawsuits were filed under Title VII, which bans employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
The fertility rate in Texas increased for the 1st time in 8 yrs in 2022—the year after the state passed its 6-week abortion ban. The growth (2% overall) was mostly driven by Hispanic women (who saw a 5% increase). The analysis also found that, for the 1st time in 15 yrs, Texas registered an increase in teens' fertility rate (+0.39%) though it has continued to decline nationwide.
The US Supreme Court declined to halt the execution of Alabama death row inmate Kenneth Smith, who was the first person to be put to death using nitrogen gas. Some consider this method torture.
In Nov.-Dec. of 2023, at least 8 US citizens died from suspected overdoses or homicides in Medellín, Colombia (🔒Bloomberg), often after meeting up with local women from dating apps like Tinder or Bumble. Dozens of other male tourists who’ve met with matches reportedly woke up hours later to find that their bank accounts had been emptied and their devices stolen. Sometimes, they’ve been beaten up.
An analysis by FT shows that there’s a growing divide in liberal vs conservative worldviews between young men in women (ages 18-29), with women becoming more liberal and men becoming more conservative (🔒). The largest observed division was in South Korea.
⏩ Pop Culture, Art, Sports & Entertainment
The top baby names that are “at risk of going extinct” are Brooke (for girls) and Julius (for boys).
A new survey of 4K adults found that 3% of baby boomers said they watch anime weekly compared with 42% of Gen Zers and 25% of millennials.
Netflix inked a $5B deal with WWE to broadcast the weekly Monday Night Raw live series for 10 yrs starting Jan. 2025. Related to WWE, founder and former CEO and current executive chairman Vince McMahon was accused of sex trafficking.
Oppenheimer received 13 Oscar nominations, the most of all films. Despite being the top-grossing film of 2023, Barbie received 8 nominations. Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig weren’t nominated for best actress and director, respectively, while Ryan Gosling, who played Ken, was nominated for supporting actor. Fans strongly reacted to this “snub.”
The Chiefs-Bills playoff game broke the record for the most-watched NFL divisional round game of all time, with 56M viewers.
According to a 2022 survey by the Census, 53% of Americans said that they read books. Among those who read books, the most popular genres were novels and short stories (41%) and religious text (40%).
99-yr-old Betty Brussel broke the existing world record in the 400m freestyle, 50m backstroke, and 50m breaststroke in the 100-104-yr-old age class.
Nonconsensual deepfake porn of Taylor Swift went viral on X last week, with one post garnering 45M+ views, 24K reposts, and hundreds of thousands of likes before it was removed. According to 404 Media, the images originated on a Telegram chat that’s dedicated to creating nonconsensual, explicit images of women using GAI. Swifties rallied to block the fake images of Tay Tay.
100 of the world’s cutest photos, chosen by Guardian readers.
🏡 Real Estate
A report by RentCafe estimated that 55K+ apartments are being created from underused office space, which is 4x the number of conversions in 2021.
Investors purchased 570K single-family homes in the US in 2023 (🔒WSJ), down from 802K in 2022.
US home sellers made a $121K profit on the typical sale in 2023, which was equivalent to a ~57% return on investment. The largest decrease in ROI among US metros with a population of 200K+ was in Port St. Lucie, FL (down from 104.5% in 2022 to 82.7% in 2023).
An analysis of the 100 largest US cities found that Fort Wayne, IN is the most affordable city for Gen Zers to buy a home (🔒NYT) while Newark is the least affordable.
A new study found that a record 50% of US renters paid 30%+ of their income on rent and utilities. ~Half of those renters paid 50%+ of their income.
Real estate research firm Trepp estimated that $350B+ in apartment building bank loans will mature between 2023 and 2027. For building owners who got their ~3% loan in 2021, refinancing at today's rates of ~6% will drastically change the cost of owning the building.
Existing home sales in the US fell 19% YoY in 2023 to 4.09M (🔒WSJ), which was the lowest level in ~30 yrs. Meanwhile, new single-family home sales rose 8%.
The median price of a home in the Hamptons rose to a record $1.85M in Q4 2023, up 45% YoY. ~20% of sales closed at $5M+.
>50% of all home purchases in South Florida’s largest cities and towns were completed in cash in Q4 2023, including 68% of condos in Delray Beach; 96% of homes in Tony Palm Beach; 51% of homes in Fort Lauderdale; and 60% of homes in Boca Raton. The average all-cash rate in the US was 34%. At the same time, home sales in South Florida fell by double digits.
The number of people who own a home in the US grew by 10M between 2015-2022, driven partly by a sharp rise in ownership among middle-income households headed by people <45 yrs-old.
89% of people in the US with a mortgage have an interest rate that’s <6%, down from a record 93% in 2022 - partly because some homeowners are opting to bite the bullet and give up their low rate in order to move.
🌎 Society
Millennials may or may not be the unluckiest generation, but no one should say they’ve had it easy.
~12% of people in the US trucking industry were women in 2023, a 55% increase over 2018.
A recent survey by the Pew showed that 28% of US adults are religiously unaffiliated. Among this group, 17% are atheists, 20% are agnostics, and 63% are “nothing in particular.”
69% of adult children (ages 18-34) in the US said they’re fine with their parents’ level of involvement in their day-to-day lives. 22% said their parents aren’t involved enough while 9% said they’re too involved. Moms are in more frequent contact with their young adult children than dads. 77% of parents say their relationship with their young adult children is excellent or very good. Moms rate the relationship more highly than dads.
Ukranian-born Carolina Shiino was crowned Miss Japan last week, sparking a debate over what it means to be Japanese.
Yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. A recent study estimated that 245K Jewish Holocaust survivors are still alive and residing in 90+ countries.
🧪 Science, Climate, Environment & Technology
A new study found that for every 1K bears in an area, the frequency of sightings of Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or yeti — increased by ~4%.
For the first time since 1803, 2 cicada groups known as Brood XIX (aka the Great Southern Brood) and Brood XIII (aka Northern Illinois Brood) are set to appear at the same time (🔒NYT), in what is known as a dual emergence. It will be another 221 yrs before this happens again.
A new study suggests that, of all jobs that require human vision, only 23% can be automated by AI in a financially feasible way.
A new theory suggests that chatbots and large language models are more than “stochastic parrots” and may understand text.
A survey by Commonwealth Fund found that ~80% of clinicians said it's important for their hospital to minimize its environmental impact. Health care accounts for 8.5% of US greenhouse gas emissions, with hospitals responsible for 36% of that total.
Researchers produced a knot made up of only 54 atoms, which is the smallest knot ever documented. It was accidentally created while the researchers were attempting to create metal acetylides. The previous record for the smallest knot was 69 atoms.
A new analysis of ancient DNA from a 2K-yr-old burial site in Brazil showed that the family of microorganisms that causes syphilis and other “treponemal” diseases could have diversified 14K yrs ago, which is 10K yrs earlier than previously thought. Modern strains likely evolved in the past 3K yrs.
Scientific sleuths contacted publishers and editors in 2020 about ~300 journal articles that were possibly fabricated or contained other ethical issues. As of Apr. 2023, 121 were retracted, 3 were corrected, and 12 were labeled with editorial expressions of concern. 107 haven’t been looked at by their respective journals.
A new study analyzed ~7.4K product review searches on Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo over a year and found that the majority of high-ranking reviews in result pages of commercial search engines are affiliate marketing, which means those reviews aren’t authentic and some are outright spam.
A new study found that aircraft-based measurements of emissions from the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada, exceeded industry-reported values by 1900%-6300%+.
Wishing you a good week
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