Numlock News: September 7, 2022 • Eternal Orbs, Raccoons, Fliers
By Walt HickeyOrbsReports are brewing of a massive widespread currency crisis in the game Diablo Immortal related to the in-game currency of Eternal Orbs, which can go for $1 for a pack of 60 orbs or $100 for 7,200. The issue is related to players who bought up orbs from third-party resellers, some by the hundreds of thousands, orbs that are obtainable at a steep discount because they’re likely being used to launder stolen credit card information. Blizzard cracked down, and now players who bought secondhand orbs have seen their Eternal Orbs evaporate, which is like the one thing an Eternal Orb is not supposed to do. Some players are in the hole hundreds of thousands of orbs, and players who have accounts loaded up with ill-gotten orbs are trying to sell those accounts to dupes. Players can’t join parties or access the in-game market if they’re in orb debt, and since those orbs were bought at a discount many are staring down the possibility they will have to pay full price just to claw out of this hole. Obviously contending with a classic moral hazard, in-game boss Skarn the Herald of Terror, Lord of Damnation, Chair of the Federal Reserve and God of Retribution has remained notoriously mum on a Troubled Orb Relief Package. CloudyJuul Labs has tentatively agreed to pay $438.5 million to resolve a two-year investigation into marketing and sales practices that 34 states alleged got kids hooked on vaping and reversed decades of youth tobacco use public health gains. The investigation found that Juul represented itself as a smoking cessation device without FDA approval, and the settlement will force Juul to limit its marketing and sales practices. PassengersThis weekend saw 8.76 million air travelers screened in the United States over the long Labor Day weekend, which exceeds the 8.24 million passengers screened over Labor Day weekend of 2019. This is now the first time in the pandemic era that a holiday weekend saw more travel than the same weekend of 2019. The air travel industry is still seeing substantial problems getting flights to locations on time, as the first six months of the year saw 24 percent of domestic flights delayed and 3.2 percent cancelled, but has seen some recovery since mid-August. GamblingThe increasing accessibility of gambling over mobile phones has presented serious issues for problem gamblers attempting to abstain from the habit. Where once someone could merely avoid the physical location of a casino — 20 states now have casinos, up from nine in 2001 — now that sports betting is within any cell phone, it’s causing problems. According to survey data from the National Council on Problem Gambling, young people are now disproportionately gamblers. Last year, 40 percent of people aged 18 to 44 gambled online, nearly double the 21 percent of those aged 45 to 54. MiLBOver 50 percent of minor league baseball players voted to support unionization, according to a letter the Major League Baseball Players Association sent to MLB on Tuesday. The union has now asked for voluntary recognition, which would greenlight the minor leaguers joining MLBPA, or they might choose not to recognize it, which would then lead to a vote held through the National Labor Relations Board. This would increase membership in the MLBPA about fourfold and bring the total number of represented players to about 5,000. As it stands, most minor leaguers make $400 to $700 a week only during the season. RaccoonsThe government is three decades into a plan to vaccinate raccoons from rabies, and decades away from their goal of driving rabies into the sea. Because raccoons are, to get a little technical here with the jargon, a bunch of bitey bastards, they tend to be a conduit for rabies to spread to other, less bitey mammals. Human exposure to rabies is 600 percent higher in areas where both raccoons and bats have rabies compared to areas where just bats carry it. The best way to vaccinate raccoons is to basically take a gusher, except it’s flavored like fish or vanilla, and the goo inside is a rabies vaccine, and then you dump thousands of them from airplanes. When 60 percent of raccoons in an area are vaccinated, the spread stops, and the goal is to eliminate rabies in raccoons by 2063. MacauLong the world’s largest gambling town, Macau is on the decline as a destination and has even ceded the regional title to the Philippines. At least four casino suppliers in Macau are picking up and leaving, as business is beginning to dry up and the market for new slot machines goes down. The government announced a cap of 12,000 gaming machines in the city effective 2023, which would be down from the 2019 count of 17,000 machines in the city. Macau’s August saw revenues at just 9 percent of pre-pandemic levels, while Singapore was up to 70 percent and the Philippines and South Korea were at 75 percent. Slot machines are also a lower draw in Macau at just 5 percent of gaming revenues compared to other gambling centers like Las Vegas, where the one-armed bandits bring in 50 percent of gaming revenue. It’s the big Numlock sale! If you enjoy Numlock, whether you’ve been with us all four years or just recently joined, consider supporting Numlock with a paid subscription. It keeps the lights on, keeps the whole thing ad-free, plus you get to enjoy the delightful Sunday bonus edition. We keep the price just $5 a month normally, but if you buy this week you get it for $2.91 a month for year one. Thanks to the paid subscribers to Numlock News who make this possible. Subscribers guarantee this stays ad-free, and get a special Sunday edition. Consider becoming a full subscriber today. The best way to reach new readers is word of mouth. If you click THIS LINK in your inbox, it’ll create an easy-to-send pre-written email you can just fire off to some friends. Send links to me on Twitter at @WaltHickey or email me with numbers, tips, or feedback at walt@numlock.news. Send corrections or typos to the copy desk at copy@numlock.news. Check out the Numlock Book Club and Numlock award season supplement. 2022 Sunday subscriber editions: Giant Hornets · Graphic Novels · Infotainment · Nuclear Energy · Fast Fashion · Salty · Twitter Friction · Fangirls · Air Quality · Non-Colonial AI · The Reckoning · Hippos · Fixing Baseball · Booze Trials · Oprahdemics · Losing It · Sustainable Cities · F1 · Coughgeist · Black Panther ·Car Dealerships · Black-Footed Ferret · Oil to Clothing · Just Like Us · How To Read This Chart · Pharma waste · Arcade Games · Blood in the Garden · Trading Cards · College Football2020 Sunday Edition Archive2019 Sunday Edition Archive2018 Sunday Edition ArchiveYou’re a free subscriber to Numlock News. For the full experience, become a paid subscriber. |
Older messages
Numlock News: September 6, 2022 • Jaws, Lux, Floppy Disks
Tuesday, September 6, 2022
By Walt Hickey Welcome back! Numlock's annual sale is on! It's the best deal I do. Upgrade to a paid subscription, start getting the Sunday edition, support an indie and save some money today:
Numlock News: September 2, 2022 • Pheromones, Butter, Pantolambda
Friday, September 2, 2022
By Walt Hickey Have a great weekend! We're off on Monday in observation of Labor Day. Also, the huge annual Numlock Back-To-School sale kicks off soon! Pheromones Pests eat a fifth of the
Numlock News: September 1, 2022 • Albedo, Bubbles, Smuggle
Thursday, September 1, 2022
By Walt Hickey Instagram A massive scheme took in cash in exchange to get verified accounts for people on Instagram. The hustle was clever, and exploited the service's granting of verified accounts
Numlock News: August 31, 2022 • Theme Parks, Zombie Ice, Cyberspace
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
By Walt Hickey No Longer Defunct Lands The theme park business is humming right now, with the major American theme park companies posting revenue figures that put even pre-pandemic hauls to shame.
Numlock News: August 30, 2022 • Sage, Spice, Seals
Tuesday, August 30, 2022
By Walt Hickey A New Season The world has changed. I see it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it: Starbucks is
You Might Also Like
☕️ Floppy-haired fraudster
Friday, March 29, 2024
SBF is sentenced to 25 years... March 29, 2024 View Online | Sign Up | Shop Morning Brew PRESENTED BY Impact.com Good morning. Today marks one year since Evan Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American Wall
AI hallucinates software packages and devs download them – even if potentially poisoned with malware [Fri Mar 29 2024]
Friday, March 29, 2024
Hi The Register Subscriber | Log in The Register {* Daily Headlines *} 29 March 2024 Illustration of someone in a hoodie looking at a bench with a cloud over it AI hallucinates software packages and
What A Day: Clown by law
Friday, March 29, 2024
Trump's lawyers are having another rough one. And the mainstream media could learn a lesson from the legal world about handling corruption. Thursday, March 28, 2024 BY CROOKED MEDIA —Steve Bannon,
🌶️ Is it getting hot in here?
Friday, March 29, 2024
Introducing our theme for April plus fun stuff to read, watch, and click on. March 28, 2024 Open in new tab Did a friend forward this? Subscribe today! April's Theme is SPICY It was chosen by our
What 58 Famous People Smell Like
Friday, March 29, 2024
Here's what you missed on the Strategist. The Strategist Every product is independently selected by editors. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. What
Trump Would Need New Tactics to Steal the 2024 Election
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Columns and commentary on news, politics, business, and technology from the Intelligencer team. Intelligencer early and often Trump Would Need New Tactics to Steal the 2024 Election Many avenues Trump
Let’s go fast
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Plus: The worst cleaning tool we've ever tried ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Friday Briefing: Sam Bankman-Fried gets 25 years
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Plus, three video game adventures for the weekend. View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story Ad Morning Briefing: Asia Pacific Edition March 29, 2024 Author Headshot By Justin Porter
Elevate Your Events: Exclusive Discount Inside!
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Explore the future of events at #NWES2024, April 3-4 in Seattle! GeekWire is pleased to present this message to our Pacific NW readers. Explore the future of events at #NWES2024, April 3-4 in Seattle!
Framing a Pitch
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Opening Day Edition ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏