Numlock News: November 15, 2022 • Beer, Christmas Trees, Magic: The Gathering
By Walt HickeyBudweiserBudweiser is a major sponsor of the World Cup, shelling out $75 million to bag sales exclusivity at the FIFA event, as well as getting it an excellent advertising platform for the beer company. The issue, though, is that the World Cup is in Qatar, and senior members of the royal family there recently demanded that alcohol sales be relegated to less conspicuous locations. Obviously, the $75 million is intended to garner conspicuousness, so the brewer isn’t exactly thrilled. Tariq Panja, The New York Times RatsA new study found that rats displayed an innate sense of rhythm, with researchers finding that rats bobbed their heads in synchrony with the beat, particularly when it was 120-140 beats per minute. The 20 rats listened to excerpts of "Sonata for two pianos (K.448)" by Mozart at multiple different speeds, as well as “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen, “Beat It” by Michael Jackson and “Sugar” by Maroon 5. The implications of this research are obvious: It’s time to do another Ratatouille but set in the music world; I’m thinking Rat-Tár-touille or something. Private EquityOver the past 10 years, private equity has plowed $1 trillion into 8,000 transactions in the health care space. That’s been accelerating: In 2021 alone, $206 billion was put into 1,428 transactions, and the trend doesn’t appear to be losing steam. The issue that some are raising is that the cost-cutting headcount-slashing profit-driven nature of private equity management is perhaps not ideal in an industry where human life is literally on the line. After all, an investigation found that companies owned by private equity interests have paid fines of $500 million and faced 34 lawsuits filed under the False Claims Act since 2014. Fred Schulte, Kaiser Health News TreesAbout 30,000 hectares of Canada are devoted exclusively to Christmas tree farming, but changes in the climate and conditions have put the industry at risk. As of 2021, there were 20 million fewer Christmas trees being grown in Canada than there were in 2011. The cause is unexpected droughts and extreme weather; trees on farms are unprotected compared to trees in the forest, and as a result when the increasingly common freak storm hits Canada’s tree-growing regions it can make the trees more threadbare and windswept. Black LotusA Bank of America analyst is warning Hasbro to stop pumping out Magic: The Gathering cards at the current accelerated clip, because it’s devaluing the business as a whole and could be teeing it up for a crash. Magic: The Gathering is responsible for 35 percent of Hasbro’s annual earnings, and as a result the Wizards of the Coast division has stepped on the gas when it comes to minting new box sets, expansion sets and supplemental sets. In 2022, Wizards has released 39 Magic sets, up from just 15 in 2019. The analyst has also highlighted the $999 Magic 30th Anniversary set in particular, which gets a buyer just four packs of cards but includes reprints of the most valuable cards in the history of the game. DesalinationThe median Californian uses 48 gallons of water per day, well below the average American household’s water usage of 88 gallons per day. It’s still not enough, and the state of California is looking into desalination, where sea water is turned into drinkable water, as a possible solution to its water problems. The state has 23 groundwater desalination plants that clean 140,000 acre-feet of water annually, but the state’s proposed plan is to increase that production by 60 percent by 2040 with an additional 84,000 acre-feet per year. It’s also got 12 seawater desalination plants that produce 89,000 acre-feet of water per year, but the state has had difficulty getting new plants approved. ElectricityMuch of the challenge of electrifying vehicles like trucks isn’t necessarily the electricity, as even under best-case scenarios electrifying vehicles won’t have a massive dent on electricity demand. The acute problem is how to deliver that to them, as a new truck recharging station might require a connection to the grid that can handle 5 megawatts, which could take years to build and cost tens of millions of dollars. In 2030, a highway plaza charging stop will require about the same amount of electricity as an outdoor sports stadium, and by 2035 could require as much electricity as a small town. 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: Monopoly · Twitter · Crypto · Rotoscope · Heat Pumps · The Ruck · Tabletop · Mexican Beer · The Chaos Machine · [CENSORED] · Podcast Industrialization · Fantasy Shows · Law Dork · Chinese Box Office · Box Office Recovery · 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 ·2020 Sunday Edition Archive2019 Sunday Edition Archive2018 Sunday Edition ArchiveYou're currently a free subscriber to Numlock News. 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Numlock News: November 14, 2022 • Hot Air Balloons, Spacecraft, Mammoths
Monday, November 14, 2022
By Walt Hickey Welcome back! Wakanda Forever Black Panther: Wakanda Forever nailed sky-high expectations at the box office this weekend, opening to $180 million domestically and $150 million overseas
Numlock News: November 11, 2022 • Luck, Thundercat, Greenwash
Friday, November 11, 2022
By Walt Hickey Have a great weekend! BPM Record labels are constantly trying to keep pace with TikTok and cash in on the explosive popularity it can bring to music, even releasing new iterations of
Numlock News: November 9, 2022 • Music, Splatoon, Tár
Thursday, November 10, 2022
By Walt Hickey Music Record labels are gunning for TikTok hard, trying to get the application to increase the amount paid out to artists when their songs are used on the platform. On YouTube, for
Numlock News: November 10, 2022 • Key Change, Wakanda, Sharks
Thursday, November 10, 2022
By Walt Hickey Election Next week representatives from over 180 nations will vote on 52 items at the conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (
Numlock News: November 8, 2022 • Superyachts, Loot, Wire Fraud
Tuesday, November 8, 2022
By Walt Hickey Solved Last week a 32-year-old Georgia man pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud after stealing a quantity of bitcoin from the Silk Road a decade ago. The amount of cryptocurrency —
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