Numlock News: May 17, 2023 • The Birds, The Bees, The Vending Machines
By Walt HickeyBeesA new study published in Biology Letters looked at what happens to bumblebees when they’re covered in pollen, an occupational hazard in their field of work. The fuzzy little bees will accumulate packets of pollen on their back legs, and the researchers wanted to figure out what that accumulated insulation did to the bees. They found that for every milligram of pollen carried, the bee’s body temperature rises 0.07 C, with a fully loaded bee running 2 C hotter than one with no pollen. The concern is mostly for the bees as the climate warms, if that’s just a bit too much heat stress for the bumblebees to handle, which could have negative effects for not just the pollinators but also the things they pollinate. North Carolina State University OrganicLast year sales of organic food products in the United States hit $61.67 billion, up 4.3 percent year over year from $59.15 billion, with Certified Organic accounting for 6 percent of total food sales in the U.S. Organic’s doing better in some quarters than others, with organics now 15 percent of all U.S. produce sales as well as 8 percent in dairy and eggs. Outperforming the category as a whole was organic coffee, which grew 7 percent over 2022, as well as organic soft drinks, which grew 14 percent, and organic eggs, up 11 percent. Russell Redman, Winsight Grocery Business Sticking AroundAmerica was once extremely mobile, with people moving between states for work very often. That slowed down over the course of the 20th century for a lot of reasons, but now it could not get much lower. From 1986 to 1997, 29 percent of job seekers relocated for a new position, a figure that fell to 17.8 percent over the period from 1998 to 2007 and seemed to crater out during the pandemic at just 4.1 percent in 2021. While seasonality is potentially a thing, in the first quarter of 2023 just 1.6 percent of people relocated to take a new job, likely due to tight labor market, remote work and people having more choice to take their pick of work without hitching up the wagon and harkening west. Normal Stuff Is Still NormalDespite demonstrations from some of the louder milieu of social media, support for measles, mumps and rubella vaccines for children has remained very steady and very high over the past several years. In 2016, 88 percent of respondents said the benefits outweigh the risks, in 2019 yet again 88 percent of respondents said the benefits outweigh the risks, and after a huge national vaccine campaign on yet another matter entirely, still in March 2023 you bet that 88 percent of respondents think that the benefits of a childhood MMR vaccine yet outweigh the risks. In 2023, 91 percent of respondents said the MMR had medium or high preventative health benefits, well in line with the longtime scientific consensus on the matter. Cary Funk, Alec Tyson, Brian Kennedy and Giancarlo Pasquini, Pew Research Center VendingJapan has a vibrant system of vending machines that offer food, beverages and goods far beyond the more conventional stock found in vending machines in other parts of the world. While online shopping and increased competition from convenience stores has made for a decline in the number of such machines over the past few years, there remain over 4 million in service and there’s evidence that the industry will bounce back. Some machines that sell frozen and chilled food were a big hit during the pandemic, as were machines that sold luxury food. The tech’s come a long way, too, and trends toward contactless payment are favorable. Stephen Mansfield, Nikkei Asia CondorsThere are only around 600 California condors left in the world, the massive scavengers that have rebounded from near extinction — there were at one point less than 30 birds left — to mere brink-of-extinction. The issue now is that a bird flu is ripping through avian populations the world over, and H5N1 has likely killed 21 condors since March, which for most bird populations is a small number but when you’re dealing with a denominator in the hundreds can be a real issue. In light of that, federal officials have given the green light to a bird flu vaccine to be used on the birds, starting with those in captivity and potentially expanding beyond. Emily Anthes, The New York Times HaddockNOAA added haddock in the Gulf of Maine to its overfishing list, which led the New England Fishery Management Council to reduce the catch quota by 84 percent for the current year. Most haddock is imported, and some countries — such as Norway — are also steeply cutting quotas to respond to declining global fish stocks. The haddock catch in the U.S. has fluctuated a lot, down from over 150 million pounds per year in the 1950s to less than a million pounds per year in the 1990s due to overfishing. Lately, the catch has been 12 million to 23 million pounds. Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press 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: Working · Cable · Ringmaster · Hard Seltzer · 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: May 16, 2023 • Coyotes, Rupees, Plastics
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
By Walt Hickey Rupees Russia has become a global pariah economically, as many governments allied or sympathetic to Ukraine are cutting Russia out of global financial networks. One country that's
Numlock News: May 15, 2023 • Saturn, Gold, Giant Clams
Monday, May 15, 2023
By Walt Hickey Hold Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had a remarkable second outing at the box office, with ticket sales declining just 49 percent week over week, the third-best second weekend hold in
Numlock News: May 12, 2023 • ALW, MSG, #GRWM
Friday, May 12, 2023
By Walt Hickey Prep Ladies and gentlemen, it is with utter delight and profound admiration that I can announce the following: A Chinese company did a MoviePass. Offcn is a company that sells test
Numlock News: May 10, 2023 • Stinknet, Something Awful, Manga
Friday, May 12, 2023
By Walt Hickey Something Awful Iconic internet forum Something Awful is scrambling to deal with the announcement that Imgur, the image-hosting site, would begin the process of deleting images from old
Numlock News: May 11, 2023 • Baconator, THC, Cholula
Friday, May 12, 2023
By Walt Hickey Club This weekend American cinemas will serve as the testing ground for the second installment in what may very well be the next MCU, a chance for a burgeoning franchise to demonstrate
You Might Also Like
Framing a Pitch
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Opening Day Edition ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
☕ We’ll be watching you
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Tag Heuer's watchmaking apprenticeship program. March 28, 2024 Retail Brew PRESENTED BY Listrak Hey hey, everyone. It seems people are unsure whether 7-Eleven's hot dog-flavored sparkling water
Inside Spokane’s push to build the next great U.S. tech hub
Thursday, March 28, 2024
New app allows Amazon One palm-tech signup | Women's clothing startup sees pockets of opportunity ADVERTISEMENT GeekWire SPONSOR MESSAGE: The GeekWire Awards return May 9, 2024: Celebrate the
☕ Double or nothing
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Why GroupM is doubling its clients' investment in women's sports. March 28, 2024 Marketing Brew PRESENTED BY Iterable Happy Thursday. In honor of National Gelato Day, Talenti created the
Kahneman Quotes, The Future of Creativity, and the Magic of How I Built This
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Ten stories that have given us creative inspiration this week ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Rejection Dust
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Are you, like Toni Morrison, looking for something more interesting to read? Rejection Dust By Caroline Crampton • 28 Mar 2024 View in browser View in browser The Dust Of God Sam Kriss | Numb At The
🎙️ Meet the Secret Weapon Behind Sci-Fi’s Biggest Franchise
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Plus: A novel anti-aging treatment revitalized mice immune systems — will it work in humans?
Squeezed by African Coups, Biden Cozies Up to the World’s Worst Dictator
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Famous for its repression and torture, Teodoro Obiang's Equatorial Guinea got an aid delivery from US Special Operations forces. Most Read Elon Musk Fought Government Surveillance — While Profiting
Practically-A-Book Review: Rootclaim $100,000 Lab Leak Debate
Thursday, March 28, 2024
I watched 15 hours of COVID origins arguments so you don't have to - but you should! ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
SIROTA’S SIGNALS: This Graph Explains The Discontent
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Plus, a nonprofit health care system secretly becomes a debt collector, regulators may help you find cheaper credit cards, and Big Tech's plan to keep preying on kids. SIROTA'S SIGNALS: This