Numlock News: March 15, 2023 • George Lucas, Taylor Swift, Metallica
By Walt HickeyPressedVinyl sales have grown for the past 16 years, up 17 percent year over year to $1.2 billion in 2022, outselling CDs on a unit basis to become the single most popular format of physical media as of last year. The band Metallica is a pretty big player in vinyl, pressing 902,500 pieces of vinyl for 620,000 packages last year alone, and holding as the sixth-bestselling act on vinyl in the United States with 387,000 albums sold last year alone. Therefore, it makes some sense that Metallica decided to seize the means of production, and has purchased Furnace Record Pressing, a 70,000-square-foot vinyl pressing plant in Alexandria, Virginia. Besides guaranteeing a reliable supply of vinyl for the band — the market has been somewhat spotty amid supply chain challenges — it also buys them in directly to one of the most booming parts of the music industry. Jem Aswad, Variety and Robert Levine, Billboard BogeyThe USGA is introducing a proposal for a Model Local Rule that would create a different set of rules when it comes to golf balls for the professionals versus amateur golfers. Under a set of prescribed test conditions called the Overall Distance Standard, USGA-approved balls can only fly 317 yards when hit between 120 miles per hour at 2,520 RPMs and 10 degrees of launch. The new proposed rule would change the conditions of that test, making it 127 mph clubhead speed, 2,220 RPMs of spin and 11 degrees of launch. The resulting ball that would qualify would, in effect, be slightly deader, and go 5 percent less far under the same swing conditions. The intention is to make a ball that won’t make current golf courses completely obsolete for pros that are hitting further and further thanks to the inexorable forward march of club quality and athletics. What’s expected now is a review period in which every possible entity with skin in the game gets extremely mad, so, look out for that one. Dylan Dethier and Jonathan Wall, Golf Magazine NewspapersThere are currently 24 prison-based newspapers in 12 states, according to a newly-launched directory from the Prison Journalism Project. The first newspaper produced solely by incarcerated people emerged in 1887 with The Prison Mirror in Minnesota, and since then several publications have emerged, including established publications like the San Quentin News, to serve the millions of people in the United States who are incarcerated. The number of prison newspapers peaked at 250 publications in 1959, decreasing to around six active publications by 1998, and then rebounding to the two dozen today. SandwichesSandwiches are a major element of the American diet, and have an unexpectedly substantial impact on the aggregated nutrition of the country. Part of that is simply that sandwiches have gotten substantially larger over time, with a typical turkey sandwich in the 1980s containing 320 calories, up to 820 calories today. As a result, an analysis of federal nutritional survey data found that sandwiches alone are responsible for about a fifth of the daily sodium intake, 19 percent of saturated fat calories, and 7 percent of daily added sugars. If only we as a society knew this sooner, however we were so bogged down in heady questions of “is a hot dog a sandwich” that we were helpless to finish research. Andrea Petersen, The Wall Street Journal SwiftiesJust ahead of her national tour kickoff, a new study sought to discern who precisely makes up the coalition of people who are fans of Taylor Swift, finding that 53 percent of Americans identify as a fan of Taylor Swift while 16 percent of Americans identified as an “avid fan” of Taylor Swift. The demographics are clear: overwhelmingly millennial (45 percent of adult fans in that demo), largely suburban (53 percent of respondents), pretty evenly split on gender (52 percent women), solidly left-of-center (55 percent Democrats, 23 percent Republicans) and rather white (74 percent). According to avid fans, a plurality holds that her best work is 1989, followed by her debut Taylor Swift and then Fearless and Red. Ellyn Briggs and Saleah Blancaflor, Morning Consult DisproportionateMany U.S. police departments maintain a social media presence, and many of these law enforcement organizations use these pages to post images of people they have arrested and list the charges against them in an attempt to juice engagement. An analysis of 14,000 Facebook pages maintained by law enforcement agencies found that they consistently overreported crimes by suspects who were Black, who represented just 20 percent of those arrested but accounted for 32 percent of the posts. Americans in general reliably overestimate the percentage of crimes committed by minority groups, and this could be either a reflection of that bias or indeed one of the causes of it. Maggie Koerth, FiveThirtyEight Lucas MuseumGeorge Lucas, the most successful indie film director in America, has long sought to build a museum housing his vast personal archives and collections of art. After years of development, construction on the $1 billion museum is finally underway, with a projected opening of 2025. That’s seven years after ground was first broken and several years more after the original intended opening in 2021. The museum, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, will hold 100,000 paintings, photographs and comic books, as well as two 299-seat theaters. Rather than mere memorabilia, it’ll contain Lucas’ collections of Norman Rockwell and Robert Crumb art as well as the works of several other artists. Lucas is, in fact, a gigantic Norman Rockwell geek, which is oddly hilarious, answering the question of “the dude who make a movie everyone else geeks out about, what does he geek out about?” Adam Nagourney, The New York Times 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. 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. Previous Sunday subscriber editions: Enhanced Geothermal · Hoop Muses · Subsea Cables · Wrestling · Tabletop Renaissance · BTS · Baby Boom · Levees · Misdirection · Public Domain 2022 · NIMBY · Undersea Life · Bob vs Bob · Instant Delivery Curse · 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 ·Sunday Edition Archives: 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018You're currently a free subscriber to Numlock News. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
Key phrases
Older messages
Numlock News: March 16, 2023 • Sauron, Kraken, The New York Yankees
Thursday, March 16, 2023
By Walt Hickey Yankees Delta Airlines charges about $9 per flight for in-flight WiFi, a fact that affects many people who are not Major League Baseball players, a field in which it's generally
Numlock News: March 14, 2023 • Galactic Starcruiser, Lions, Alpine Skiing
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
By Walt Hickey Skip Ahead Dish Network introduced a feature called AutoHop, which allowed users to skip commercials from DVR content. This feature led to a lawsuit first launched in 2014 from Salt Lake
Numlock News: March 13, 2023 • Oscars, Orcas, Mysteries
Monday, March 13, 2023
By Walt Hickey Welcome back! Wine The swift panic-induced bank run on Silicon Valley Bank obviously presents problems for many of its core customers in the startup technology business, but one other
Numlock News: March 10, 2023 • Volcano, Hockey Pads, Second Avenue
Friday, March 10, 2023
By Walt Hickey Have an amazing weekend! Enjoy the Academy Awards, and be sure to check out Numlock Awards for forecasts and to catch up on more stories from me about the show. Full River Red The
Numlock News: March 9, 2023 • Camden, Geothermal, Raccacoonie
Thursday, March 9, 2023
By Walt Hickey Props A24 held a charity auction selling off props and costumes from Everything Everywhere All at Once, which is in pole position to win Best Picture at the Oscars this coming Sunday.
You Might Also Like
EU tells Meta it can't paywall privacy [Fri Apr 19 2024]
Friday, April 19, 2024
Hi The Register Subscriber | Log in The Register {* Daily Headlines *} 19 April 2024 facebook EU tells Meta it can't paywall privacy Platforms should not confront users with 'binary choice'
What A Day: Fury selection
Friday, April 19, 2024
Lawyers in Trump's Manhattan hush money trial have assembled a jury. God help them. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
🛑 Stop, collaborate, and listen to the sound of yourself clicking these sweet links
Friday, April 19, 2024
Fun stuff to click on, watch, and read from CreativeMornings HQ. April 18, 2024 Open in new tab Did a friend forward this? Subscribe today. Speech bubble logo with the words, CreativeMornings "If
My Relentless Journey to Find the Perfect White Tee
Friday, April 19, 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. My
How To Profit From The Upcoming Bitcoin Halving
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Exclusive offer to join Forbes Crypto Advisor View in browser Did you attend Decoding Bitcoin Halving 2024? Now's your chance to ACT on the insights! The clock is ticking. Tomorrow, April 19,
Why Are Republicans Suddenly Sounding So Pro-Choice?
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Columns and commentary on news, politics, business, and technology from the Intelligencer team. Intelligencer life after roe Why Are Republicans Suddenly Sounding So Pro-Choice? Maybe it's because
All printers suck
Thursday, April 18, 2024
But this one sucks the least ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Friday Briefing: India’s election begins
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Also, new Western sanctions on Iran, and China's sinking cities. View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story Ad Morning Briefing: Asia Pacific Edition April 19, 2024 Author Headshot
Johnson Comes Around
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Ukraine Aid, Jury Doody ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
A potential ‘slam the brakes’ moment for climate tech | Shein popping up in Seattle
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Wizards of the Coast president resigns | NanoString to be acquired for $392M ADVERTISEMENT GeekWire SPONSOR MESSAGE: Science Firsthand: Learn how Bristol Myers Squibb unlocked the potential of CAR T