By Walt Hickey

Trial of the Century

A long national nightmare draws to a close as finally a conflict that has cleaved the nation in twain, has pitted brother against brother, has severed the very fibers of our collective humanity, all ends at long, long last. Yes, the two dudes who sued Universal Pictures in 2022 arguing that Ana de Armas appeared in the trailer but was cut from the movie Yesterday have settled with the studio, bringing a fascinating yet quixotic suit to a conclusion. Incidentally, everybody is mad. The men argued that they were cheated out of $3.99 each, and despite initial backing from a judge to proceed, their massive class-action suit was slashed to possible remuneration of $7.98 each. Then, Universal argued that with $672,000 in legal fees, they wanted $472,000 in restitution, but the judge knocked it down to $126,705. What happened next between the parties is a mystery, but they settled this week.

Gene Maddaus, Variety

Saint Helena

The island of Saint Helena is 1,800 kilometers off the coast of West Africa, and has a unique and irreplaceable cloud forest ecosystem. After 500 years of forestry, farming and livestock, the ecosystem has been altered permanently, with multiple extinctions, two-thirds of the island now eroded, and one of the most destructive plant pathogens in existence — Phytophthora — emerging to wipe out much of the biodiversity that remains. There are 47 species of trees on the island that exist nowhere else on Earth, and they have no resistance to Phytophthora, which is better known for other work such as the Irish potato famine, and why all the bananas are dying.

Kevin Gepford, Hakai Magazine

Ports

Hong Kong, once one of the top three busiest container ports in the world, has fallen out of the top 10 in terms of container traffic for the first time in the history of container shipping. It saw traffic fall 14.1 percent last year, the latest in seven years of decline, surpassed finally by Dubai, which has for the first time in five years made the top 10. Other ports that saw declines include New York and New Jersey (down 17.7 percent), Los Angeles (down 13 percent), Long Beach (down 12 percent) and Savannah (down 16 percent). Gainers include Qinzhou in China (up 13.1 percent), Mundra in India (11.2 percent) and Tanger Med in Morocco, which was up 13.4 percent.

Gavin van Marle, gCaptain

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said — “27 seasons and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And Coyote lip, and sneer of cold flat ice,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
Meruelo mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Howler, Mascot of the Arizona Coyotes;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. In the Tempe
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Neil Paine, Neil’s Substack

Tourism

Japan was visited by 3.08 million tourists in March, up 11.6 percent compared to the same month of 2019, a new record that beats the previous monthly peak of 3 million visitors set in July of 2019. The biggest source of tourism was South Korea, which saw 663,100 tourists visit Japan, followed by Taiwan with 484,400 visitors. China saw 452,400 visit Japan, which was down 35 percent compared to March 2019, while Korea and Taiwan tourism was up 13 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Overall, spending per visitor is up 41.6 percent compared to the same period of 2019.

Satsuki Kaneko, Nikkei Asia

Canned

Canned wine has become a $235.7 million business as of 2021, but an issue lurks for the otherwise remarkable business: While the global market is projected to rise to $571.8 million by 2028, sometimes the can smells like crap. The “rotten egg” smell is a known issue among the wine crowd, but a new project published in the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture found that production of hydrogen sulfide can be cut by keeping sulfur dioxide to a minimum.

Pete O’Connell, Vinepair

Moons

NASA will send an eight-rotor drone to Titan, the moon of Saturn, with a target of a 2028 launch and a 2034 arrival. Titan’s days are 16 Earth days in length, and while the planet has a dense atmosphere — four times that of Earth — the hope is that the drone will cover 108 miles over the course of 32 months, at a cost of $3.35 billion.

Jess Weatherbed, The Verge

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