Numlock News: December 12, 2023 • Chuck E. Cheese, Sludge, Ice
By Walt HickeyWhile my book is going to be 20 percent off at Hachette for just a little while more, the next day or two is going to be the last time they can confirm pre-Christmas delivery. Get in an order now, You Are What You Watch makes a great gift for any pop culture, data or movie fan. AnimatronicsChuck E. Cheese is killing off the last of its animatronic band, citing evidence that kids aged 2 to 4 are terrified of these golems and that while some adults may be nostalgic for the band, it’s literally impossible for a kid in their target demo of 2 to 12 to feel nostalgia for them. As it stands, only about two dozen out of roughly 400 Chuck E. Cheeses still have an animatronic band of larger-than-life vermin who play music during shows in the arcade. Not even the success of the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise was enough to goose even a bit of ironic interest in the dead-eyed band. The restaurant has doomed one facility — in Northridge, California — to have a so-called permanent residency for Munch’s Make Believe Band. BridgeA new bridge in New Jersey is poised to have a devastating impact on that state’s economically critical sludge industry. A $2.1 billion rail bridge across the Hackensack River will open in 2026, but the 50-foot-tall span presents a massive problem for the barges that transport 1.2 million gallons of sewage, sludge and human waste that traverse the section of river, as the span will be too low for the barges to get under. The current system — the Portal Bridge, which is just 23 feet above the water but swings to allow the sludge vessels through — sees 450 trains per day, but malfunctions frequently. A sludge transport moved by a 49-foot barge won’t be able to clear the new bridge, which will force the sewage to move to its destination over the roads of New Jersey rather than its waterways. Or, you know, a slightly smaller boat, that too. Paul Berger, The Wall Street Journal IceAs more and more bars aim for the high-end space, supplying them with ice has become a highly demanded business. If bars are regularly pouring servings of high-end liquor that can sell for lots of money per glass, they’re often also investing in that kind of crystal clear ice that can take days to produce, and oftentimes outsourcing the production of it to a facility that operates at scale and delivers it hundreds of pounds at a time. King Cube in Atlanta, for instance, supplies 60 different bars in the area with high-end, clear ice cubes, spheres and other shapes, and in a given week produces over 9,000 pounds of ice to supply those bars. This is good news, because as we all know the single most inconsistent device in any restaurant is usually the ice machine, a contraption generally believed to be haunted, cursed or to possess a mind of its own, and whose dark task is best left to a professional anyway. TitlesA combined Disney+ and Hulu library would contain 9,578 content pieces, according to a new analysis from Ampere Analytics, just behind Amazon Prime Video’s 10,892 titles and slightly more than Netflix’s 8,391 titles. Hulu is bringing 7,250 titles and Disney+ 2,525, but there is some overlap there. All told, the combination of Hulu and Disney+ is good for 33 out of the top 100 performing streaming video on-demand titles as of the third quarter of this year, which would give the combined library a plurality. That beats out the 29 titles in the top 100 from Netflix and the 18 titles in the top 100 on Max. Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter TaxesTwo prominent New York City landlords have successfully skirted $327 million in property taxes this year, and a new bill in the assembly would seek to address that. Both are among the top 10 landowners in the entire city and have been on massive splurges buying up properties up and down the island of Manhattan. The tax break arrangement is nearly 200 years old, and exists because these incredibly lucrative real estate investment groups also incidentally operate a pair of schools, institutions that go by “Columbia” and “New York University.” Because of the funds’ side hustle in education, the landlords get cushy tax breaks, and the proposal would set a threshold of $100 million for the real estate tax exemption, with the proceeds going to the 25 campuses of the CUNY system, which serves 225,000 students. Matthew Haag and Meredith Kolodner, The New York Times BasaltThe mineral basalt, when added to farm land, can make soil less acidic. Crushed basalt is also being considered for its potential climate advantages, as basalt dust reacts with carbon dioxide in the air to form bicarbonate, a mineral that locks carbon away and eventually makes its way into the ocean where it’s sequestered long-term. A company called Lithos Carbon just scored $57.1 million in financing from investors who are interested in whether or not its crushed basalt strategy can actually sustainably remove carbon from the atmosphere. Lithos aims to remove 154,000 tons of CO2 using crushed basalt by 2028, and to ensure that the ledger makes sense, they’ll use the money to closely monitor thousands of acres of farmland to confirm the basalt strategy is working out. SpiritualAll told, 58 percent of Americans consider themselves “religious,” and 70 percent of Americans consider themselves “spiritual,” and because there’s a pretty large but not total overlap there, a new survey found that 22 percent of Americans consider themselves “spiritual, but not religious.” This is an interesting slice of the American population: They’re more likely to say that animals other than humans have a soul compared to those who are both religious and spiritual (78 percent versus 56 percent) as well as more likely to say that parts of nature, places like graveyards, and objects like jewels or stones can have spirits or spiritual energies. They’re much less likely to believe in the God of the Bible (just 20 percent do) and much more likely to back a more ambiguous higher power or force in the universe (73 percent), and often have a more negative view of organized religion. 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: Comics Data · Extremely Online · Kevin Perjurer · Kia Theft Spree · Right to Repair · Chicken Sandwich Wars · Industry of AI · Four-day Work Week · AI Ed Tech · Audio · Garbage Intelligence · Meteorites · Overwatch League · Jam Bands · Fanatics · Eleven-ThirtyEight · Boardwalk Games · Summer Movies · Boys Weekend · Psychedelics ·Country Radio · Zelda · Coyotes · Beer · Nuclear · NASCAR · Seaweed · Working · Cable · Ringmaster · Hard SeltzerSunday Edition Archives: 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018You're currently a free subscriber to Numlock News. 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Numlock News: December 11, 2023 • Crusty, Ghibli, Gyro
Monday, December 11, 2023
By Walt Hickey Welcome back! Ghibli Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron won the American box office for the first weekend in the auteur's long career, with its $12.8 million opening bringing
Numlock News: December 8, 2023 • Rockets, Reactors, Christmas Trees
Friday, December 8, 2023
By Walt Hickey Have a great weekend. Thank you to everyone who reviewed my book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble this week, it really is a huge help! It takes just a moment and it helps so much. Videos
Numlock News: December 7, 2023 • Telescope, Lucky Strike, Globetrotters
Thursday, December 7, 2023
By Walt Hickey They're Toast(ed) British American Tobacco, which makes Lucky Strike, announced that it will take an impairment on the value of its American tobacco brands acquired through its
Numlock News: December 6, 2023 • Chipmunks, Lorcana, Diamond Dust
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
By Walt Hickey Thanks so much to the folks leaving reviews for my book. If you liked my book, it would be amazing if you could leave a review for it on Amazon. Right before the holidays is when the
Numlock News: December 5, 2023 • Hockey, Fluffy, Chips
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
By Walt Hickey If you liked my book, it would be amazing if you could leave a review for it on Amazon. Right before the holidays is when the volume of reviews gets really important for the visibility
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