👋 Hello there,
Welcome to another edition of the Stellar Recap, a weekly newsletter where I share interesting content you may have missed. This issue features 74 bullets.
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📊 Business, Economics & Personal Finance
The company that owns the ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Grace Ocean, and its insurer may face liability claims of up to $4B, according to an analysis by Morningstar DBRS.
Last Mon., marked the 1st day of California’s new min. wage law that requires fast-food companies with 60+ locations nationwide to pay their workers at least $20/hr. A Pizza Hut franchisee said it’s laying off 1K+ delivery drivers because of the law.
The average US worker clocks out at 4:03pm on Fridays (🔒WSJ), which is 1 hr earlier than in 2021.
Cocoa farmers in Ghana and the Ivory Coast receive a fixed price of $1.6K/ton - $1.8K/ton of cocoa, despite global cocoa prices reaching record highs near $10K/ton.
A new study found that ~6 in 10 US jobs in 2018 didn’t exist in 1940. In the first 40 yrs of that ~80-yr period, most of the new jobs included manufacturing and clerical positions that were filled by the middle class. Today, jobs tend to be either highly-paid white-collar roles or lower-wage service jobs.
Forbes’s 2024 annual list of the world’s billionaires showed that there are 2,781 billionaires worth ~$14.2T. That’s 141 more billionaires than in 2023 and their combined worth is up $2T. The top 20 added $700B to their worth. Every billionaire under age 30 inherited their fortune. The US has a record 813 billionaires, more than any country. Jeff Bezos became the 1st American worth >$200B (🔒Forbes), up $85B YoY.
A survey by Northwestern Mutual found that the average American has $88.4K saved toward retirement but thinks they’ll need $1.46M to retire comfortably by age 65. Gen Zers and millennials expect they’ll need $1.63M and $1.65M, respectively. They said $890K and $970K, respectively, 4 yrs ago. Boomers+ expect they’ll need $990K. High-net-worth individuals – people with $1M+ in investable assets – say they'll need ~$4M.
Women held just 11.8% of the 15,000 C-level roles in the S&P Global Market last year (🔒Bloomberg), marking a 0.4% YoY decline. At this rate, gender parity won’t be reached until 2072.
Last Sun., thieves stole $30M in cash from a money storage facility in Los Angeles, completely undetected. It’s one of the largest cash heists in LA’s history.
Massachusetts had the highest median income of all states in 2023 at ~$60.7K. Mississippi had the lowest at $37.5K
Cal-Maine, the largest egg producer in the US, halted all operations at a Texas facility and culled ~4% of its flock, including 1.6M hens, after detecting the bird flu.
The price of agave fell to $0.30/kg in Feb. from $2/kg 18 mo. ago. The number of registered agave growers has quadrupled since 2018 and prices may not bottom out until 2026.
🧘 Health, Healthcare & Safety
Since 2000, the inflation-adjusted price of medical care in the US has risen by ~114%. On average, the annual per-person cost of home care in 2021 was ~$42K (for 30 hrs of weekly care at $27/hr), more than 20% higher than in 2019. The average annual cost of nursing home care is $108K+/yr for a private room, more than 2x the typical annual income for people aged 65+. These healthcare costs could cut into the inheritance that some are expecting.
Texas officials reported the 1st known, human case of bird flu (H5N1) linked to the current outbreak. The person became ill after coming into contact with infected dairy cows.
The latest data from a global survey by the ISAPS showed that the number of nonsurgical cosmetic procedures jumped 57.8% from ~11.9M in 2018 to ~17.6M in 2022. >66% of Botox procedures were on people under age 50 — 24% were ages 18-34.
A new KFF survey found that 1 in 3 LGBT adults in the US said a healthcare provider has disrespected or treated them unfairly, which was 2x the rate of adults who don't identify as LGBT.
Naropa University in Boulder, CO is offering undergrad training in psychedelic therapy. Training on psilocybin and ketamine costs $7.5K and MDMA training costs an additional $4K.
Fill rates for commonly prescribed ADHD drugs in the US have dropped more than 10% in the past 2 yrs due to an ongoing shortage with no clear end in sight.
Brookdale Senior Living used a staffing algorithm that some managers said left facilities dangerously short-handed (🔒WP). Brooksdale is the leading operator of senior homes in the US with 652 facilities.
The FDA cleared the 1st AI-powered tool that predicts sepsis which contributes to at least 350K deaths in the US each year. ~1 in 3 patients who die in the hospital had sepsis during their hospitalization.
🎓 Lifelong Learning
16 eclipses have occurred in the US since 1869. The next solar eclipse that will be visible in the US will move across Alaska in 2033.
The term “Wi-Fi” was coined in 1999 by the same marketing company that came up with the name Prozac. Wi-Fi is a pun on Hi-Fi, which was coined in the 1950s by audio equipment manufacturers as a shortened version of “high fidelity.” There’s no such thing as wireless fidelity.
Of the 1M named insects on the planet, ~400K are beetles. The creatures have existed for ~350M yrs and scientists discover thousands of new species of beetles each year.
An exploration and explanation of LAION-5B, a large image dataset that’s commonly used to train AI image detectors.
🌴 Lifestyle & Travel
The FAA issued a travel alert, stating that travel for the solar eclipse will be the biggest travel week of the year. Most fliers are expected to have taken off on Apr. 4, marking a spike of ~50.7K flights.
The Niagara Falls region of Canada proactively declared a state of emergency (🔒Reuters) to prepare for an expected 1M visitors to visit for the eclipse.
The NYT analyzed the average price of 2-night stay at a Super 8 Hotel along the path of totality (n=~300) and found that ~100 were sold out. ~45% of hotels within 25 mi of the center path of totality still had vacancies (🔒NYT). One Super 8 in Grayville, IL advertised $949/night for a Sun.-Tue. stay. The typical rate is $95/night.
A luxury space tourism company called SpaceVIP is taking reservations for its Stratospheric Dining Experience, which costs $495K for 6 people.
Someone created an app that lets you check if you’re about to fly on a Boeing.
The 20 best breweries to visit in the US, according to Yardbaker.
JetBlue is rolling out dynamic pricing for its checked luggage which will cost $35-$50 depending on peak travel dates and when customers check in a bag. The 1st checked bag remains free on transatlantic flights, except for customers flying with Blue Basic, which now costs $60-$70.
🗳️ Politics, Security & International Affairs
North Korea aired an episode of the BBC’s Garden Secrets from 2010 but blurred the host’s pants. The country has banned jeans since the early 1990s because they’re viewed as a symbol of American imperialism.
AT&T said that 7.6M current customers and 65.4M former customers had their personal info leaked to the dark web ~2 weeks ago. AT&T said the leaked info was from 2019 and earlier and included names, addresses, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers.
6.8% of the 600K+ bridges in the US were considered in "poor" condition in 2023. West Virginia has the greatest share of bridges in poor condition at 19.7% while Georgia has the most bridges in “good condition” at 75%.
The mysterious illness affecting some US officials who were stationed at the American Embassy in Cuba, known as “Havana syndrome,” has been linked to a Russian military assassination unit.
From Oct. 2022 - Sep. 2023, the median wait time to process US visa forms for spouses, dependent children, and parents was 11.8 mo. Fiancé(e)s waited a median of 13.9 mo. Visas for international adoptees took 49.2 mo.
Ukraine lowered its military draft age from 27 to 25, a controversial move that aims to bulk up its troops to fight Russia’s invasion.
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan last week, killing at least 9 people and injuring at least 1K. It was the strongest in 25 yrs. — that one killed >2K people.
⏩ Pop Culture, Art, Sports & Entertainment
NCSU and UConn became the first 2 schools in NCAA history to have both men’s and women’s teams in the Final Four in the same season. Both NCSU teams were knocked out during the final 4. At the time of this writing, UConn’s men’s team was leading Alabama 82 to 67.
Americans watched 731M hrs of Bluey in 2023 (🔒Bloomberg). Bluey books have sold 20M copies and the show’s 2 soundtracks have generated 350M streams. All-in-all, the Bluey brand is valued at $2B. Despite its success, its creator hasn’t committed to another season.
Movie ratings are on average 2%-5% higher while a film is in the theater vs the same period when it’s viewable at home. Snakes on a Plane showed the largest average change in ratings at 32%.
Caitlin Clark was named AP’s Player of the Year in women’s basketball for the 2nd straight year, becoming the 6th player to ever win the award more than once and the 5th to do it in consecutive seasons.
🏡 Real Estate
A home in Aspen, CO is under contract for $110M (🔒WSJ), making it the most expensive sale in the city’s history. The current owner bought the mansion in 2021 for $72.5M.
A Redfin survey showed that 71% of homeowners ages 60+ plan to stay in their current home as they age. The next most common plan is moving to a 55+ community.
$363.3B in property taxes were levied on single-family homes in 2023 in the US, up 6.9% YoY. The average tax on single-family homes increased 4.1% to $4,062, up 3% YoY. Illinois had the highest effective property tax at 1.88% while Hawaii had the lowest at 0.31%. At the metro level, Akron, OH had the highest rate at 2.71% while Daphne-Fairhope, AL had the lowest at 0.27%.
🌎 Society
K-12 school data from 40 states and DC showed that ~26 % of public school students were considered chronically absent last school year (🔒NYT), up from 15% before the pandemic. Chronic absence is typically defined as missing 10%+ of the school year, or ~18 days, for any reason. Rates were particularly high for districts in low-income areas.
The newest data from the NCSES showed that 57.6K people earned a PhD in the US in the 2021-22 academic year, marking 10% YoY increase and the most ever in a single year.
Gen Xers (ages 41-56) had the highest volunteer rate in 2021 at 27.2%.
The number of students enrolled in vocational-focused community colleges rose 16% YoY in the 2022-23 school year (🔒WSJ) compared to 0.8% for 4-year colleges. Construction trades were the most popular, rising 23% YoY.
A new poll from YouGov found that 70% of adults who made a New Year’s resolution said they have mostly or entirely stuck to them. That flies in the face of the 54% of Americans who think that people who made resolutions have mostly or entirely given up on them.
Despite deep political polarization, Americans share many core beliefs. For example, ~9 in 10 believe that the right to vote, equal protection under the law, and privacy are very important.
The average person in Monaco would have to increase their net worth by 8 digits ($12.9M) to be among the wealthiest 1% in the country —more than any other country analyzed.
Surveys on Americans’ religiosity consistently show that men exhibit lower levels of religious engagement but a recent poll showed that the pattern reversed among gen Z adults. Among gen Zers, more women said they left their religion than their male peers (54% v 46%) and a slightly greater share said they were religiously unaffiliated (39% v 34%).
A Goldman Sachs report estimated that net immigration surged to ~2.5M in 2023, the highest level in at least 20 yrs.
🧪 Science, Climate, Environment & Technology
An IEA report stated that “In 2023, the energy used by desalination services in the Middle East was equivalent to almost half of all energy consumed by the region's residential sector.” IEA wider adoption of membrane-based systems, rather than fossil-intensive thermal methods.
If the AI tech continues to evolve at its current pace, we’ll need a 1T-transistor GPU—a GPU with 10x more devices than its current capacity.
Romania is home to 65% of old-growth forests in Europe and the Foundation Conservation Carpathia bought ~27K hectares of forest to keep it that way. Its goal is to accumulate 200K hectares and create a “European Yellowstone” in Fagaras National Park.
New data showed that there were ~3.8M bee colonies in the US in 2022 (🔒WP), which makes them the fastest-growing livestock. The growth has been driven by small producers, particularly in Texas which produces more bees than the bottom 21 states combined.
OpenAI is allowing a small number of businesses to test a new tool that can clone a human’s voice with a 15-sec. recording.
A new analysis estimated that US landfills are emitting methane at levels at least 40% higher than previously reported. Leaks accounted for 90% of all measured methane emitted from landfills. Landfills account for 14% of US emissions and are the 3rd-largest source of emissions.
A new study found that left-handed people are ~3x more likely to have rare variants in genes for tubulins which are proteins that build long filaments in cells called microtubules. Microtubules could influence handedness because they form hair-like protrusions in cell membranes that can asymmetrically direct fluid flows during embryonic development.
Microsoft is unbundling its Teams collaboration tool from its Office suite, broadening a split that began in the EU last fall and presumably to avoid future antitrust scrutiny. Teams has amassed 320M+ users since it launched in 2016.
The US is responsible for up to 17% of the world’s sulfuryl fluoride emissions and 60%-80% comes from California. Sulfuryl fluoride is primarily used to exterminate the western drywood termite.
A report on the results of the 2023 DEF CON challenge showed that 15.5% of attempts to bypass AI safeguards were successful (i.e., an AI model broke its rules or shared sensitive info it shouldn't). The most successful prompts asked the AI to follow a specific script or to play along with an idea.
A study by Ghostery found that 76% of experienced cybersecurity professionals and 72% of programmers reported using a browser extension that blocks ads, compared to 52% of Americans.
NASA is developing a unified standard of time on the moon called Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), which will help countries, private space companies, and, eventually, celestial industries synchronize.
A new study of DNA contributed by modern Blackfoot people suggests that their lineage split from the major known lineage that led to all other present-day Indigenous people in N. and S. America ~18,000 yrs ago. If the finding holds, it suggests the Blackfoot’s ancestors were among the earliest people in N. America.
Due to record high sea surface temps, a new forecast predicted 23 named storms this year, including 11 hurricanes with 5 of them potentially reaching Category 3+. From 1991-2020, on average, there were 14 named storms, including 7 hurricanes and 3 major. This is the 1st year on record that the average temp. of the North Atlantic Ocean basin failed to fall below 68°F for an entire year.
A new study analyzed performance claims for ChatGPT 4, particularly those claiming that it would score in the 90th percentile on the bar exam. The findings suggest GPT-4 would be in the 62nd percentile and 42nd on essays. Comparing it to only those who passed the exam (i.e. licensed or license-pending attorneys), GPT-4’s performance is estimated to drop to the 48th percentile overall and 15th percentile on essays.
Starting in 2025, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will require grantees to publish all manuscripts as online preprints (i.e., freely available draft manuscripts that haven’t been peer-reviewed). It will also stop paying for open-access fees. Gates-funded authors publish ~4K articles per year, a small fraction of the global total of 2.5M+.
The World Resources Institute’s 2023 survey found that 3.7M hectares of primary tropical forests were lost globally last year, down 9% YoY. That’s still a lot of deforestation though —equivalent to ~10 soccer fields of forest destroyed per 1 min.
A Brother laser printer is the best printer for 2024, according to The Verge.
A Microsoft programmer noticed that a component in the source code of one of the world’s most popular open-source programs (PostgreSQL) was using more processing power than normal and traced it to malicious code that was planted in the latest version. He ultimately prevented an attack that could have affected A LOT of systems globally (🔒NYT). The way that this programmer stopped this attack has been compared to “a bakery worker who smells a freshly baked loaf of bread, senses something is off and correctly deduces that someone has tampered with the entire global yeast supply.”
Wishing you a good week
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