Numlock News: February 11, 2021 • Ozone, Urdu, Impostors
By Walt HickeyCarsThis week the U.S. International Trade Commission threw a wrench into the electrification goals of several U.S. car companies when it weighed in on a dispute between two South Korean battery manufacturers. LG Chem alleges SK Innovation hired away talent and stole trade secrets, and then attempted to cover it up. The ITC agreed with them, so SK Innovation is now forbidden from importing materials for facilities it’s trying to build in Georgia that would produce batteries for electric vehicles for the next 10 years. The $2.6 billion investment would have produced batteries for Volkswagen and Ford, which was planning to use the facility to produce batteries for their forthcoming electric F-150. That in particular is a problem, because the Biden administration wants to acquire electric American cars for federal use, and an electric F-150 would cover a whole lot of bases. Biden has 60 days to veto the decision, but it’s a rarely used veto. Alexander C. Kaufman, HuffPost CustomsIn 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection scanned the faces of 23 million people at various ports of entry, which is 4 million more people than in 2019. Interestingly, all that effort and privacy concessions amounted to practically nothing: the system caught exactly zero people in airports who were pretending to be someone they were not. Since the annual release of tracking statistics began in 2018, the agency has conceded it has only caught seven imposters attempting to enter the United States through an airport using facial recognition tech, which is like “a couple rookie hours of Among Us” numbers, not “global panopticon security omni-state” numbers. DamsThere are an estimated 19,000 large dams — that is, dams higher than 49 feet, the kind that can do some serious damage in the event of a break — that are over 50 years old, which is the typical lifespan of a dam before it needs to be removed or substantially repaired. Not every country has the same dam problems: U.S. dams are on average 65 years old, which is older than China’s 46 years old and India’s 42 years old, but damn near sprightly compared to Britain, where the average dam is 106 years old, and Japan, where the average dam is 111 years old. It’s estimated that by 2050, most people on earth will live downstream from a dam built before 2000. Fred Pearce, Yale Environment 360 SemaglutideA drug from Novo Nordisk that’s marketed as a Type 2 diabetes treatment has significant promise as an anti-obesity medication, according to the results of a clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Over 2,000 participants injected either a placebo or semaglutide for 68 weeks, and while the placebo group lost on average 2.4 percent of their body weight over the period, those on semaglutide lost 14.9 percent, which is fairly wild. Over a third of those receiving semaglutide lost over 20 percent of their weight, and symptoms of diabetes or pre-diabetes improved. For comparison, five available anti-obesity drugs have side effects that cause issues, and the best of them — phentermine — is linked to 7.5 percent weight loss on average, though can only be taken for a short time. Gina Kolata, The New York Times Valentine’s DayLots of people are unhappy at the lack of a new injection of monetary stimulus into the economy, but absolutely nobody is more frustrated than jewelers, who would have made a killing if the stimmy dropped pre-Valentine’s day, which it will not. The National Retail Federation expects Americans to spend $21.8 billion for Valentine’s Day, down 20 percent from last year, with the average shopper spending $165 on gifts and celebrations. In particular the jewelry category will be in free fall compared to last year, with sales projected to fall 30 percent year-over-year, behind only restaurants. UrduUrdu is a language spoken by 170 million people in South Asia and around the world, written in an alphabet that stems from Arabic. When written it’s incredibly complex, and technology companies have left it behind because it’s difficult to properly express through a keypad. People have tried for decades to get Urdu compatible with keyboards; in 1980, a printer in Karachi wrote every letter combination he could come up with, which amounted to 20,000. The nature of the written language makes it really hard to get into keys, but many are working at it. Urdu is really just one of the largest languages being left out of the digital record — of 7,000 languages around the world, only 5 percent were becoming fully functional online as of 2013. OzoneTwo new studies published in Nature found that global emissions of CFC-11, which is a key driver of ozone-layer depletion, fell to 52,000 metric tons in 2019, about the 2008-2012 average, which indicates that a worrisome spike in emissions of the chemical was brought under control. In 2018 and 2019, China cranked up its enforcement of CFC emissions, and that appears to have done the trick: about 60 percent of the decline in CFC-11 came from reduced emissions from eastern China after 2017. It’s almost like a prompt and direct response to emissions problems can have significant and immediate effects! 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. Go to swag.numlock.news to claim some free merch when you invite someone. 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. 2021 Sunday subscriber editions: Sports Polls · Pipeline · Wattpad · The Nib · Driven 2020 Sunday editions: 2020 · Sibling Rivalries · Crosswords · Bleak Friday · Prop 22 · NCAA · Guitars Fumble Dimension · Parametric Press · The Mouse · Subprime Attention Crisis · Factory Farms · Streaming Summer · Dynamite · One Billion Americans · Defector · Seams of the Grid · Bodies of Work · Working in Public · Rest of WorldWorst Quarter ·Larger Than Life · Streaming · Wildlife Crime · Climate Solutions · Blue Skies · UV2020 Sunday Edition Archive2019 Sunday Edition Archive2018 Sunday Edition ArchiveYou’re on the free list for Numlock News. For the full experience, become a paying subscriber. |
Older messages
Numlock News: February 12, 2021 • Amsterdam, Fjord, Ghost Kitchen
Saturday, February 13, 2021
By Walt Hickey Have a great weekend! We're off Monday in observation of Presidents' Day. See you Tuesday! Ghost Kitchens Ghost kitchens are haunting popular food ordering apps. Essentially they
Numlock News: February 8, 2021 • Sushi, Vanilla, Melee
Monday, February 8, 2021
By Walt Hickey Welcome back! Vanilla Over 100 proposed class-action lawsuits in federal courts are honing in on one of the most common and pernicious frauds perpetrated on the American public, an
Numlock News: February 5, 2021 • Seals, Bills, Advice
Friday, February 5, 2021
By Walt Hickey Have a great weekend! Loose Seals New research finds that seals in the Southern Ocean have significantly more nuanced ways of communicating than particularly understood, thanks to the
Numlock News: February 4, 2021 • Wings, Whales, Manks
Thursday, February 4, 2021
By Walt Hickey Globes Yesterday the Golden Globe nominations came out, and while I am on record calling them paperweights, this year is probably one in which to pay closer attention to them given the
Numlock News: February 3, 2021 • Rhinos, Dave Thomas Circle, Help
Wednesday, February 3, 2021
By Walt Hickey Amazon In the biggest Amazon news of the day, the Federal Trade Commission ordered that Amazon must pay $61719583 to Amazon Flex drivers after stealing a third of the drivers' tips
You Might Also Like
AI chatbots keep failing every accuracy test thrown at them
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
PLUS: Why Substack's new subscriber milestone is so significant ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Everything We’ve Written About That’s on Sale at Nordstrom
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Plus: Actually cute plus-size maternity clothes. The Strategist Every product is independently selected by editors. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission.
What A Day: Bad Car-ma
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Elon Musk's politics are sparking a major Tesla backlash, ironically thanks to Trump. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Rohingya refugees just lost half of their food aid. Now what?
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
An interview with Free Rohingya Coalition what happened last week in Asia, Africa and the Americas Hey, this is Sham Jaff, a freelance journalist focused on Asia, Africa and the Americas and your very
Shayne Coplan’s Big Bet Is Paying Off
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
March 11, 2025 THE MONEY GAME Shayne Coplan's Big Bet Is Paying Off By Jen Wieczner Photo: Dina Litovsky At 6 am on Wednesday, November 13, eight FBI agents in black windbreakers burst through the
We need your input.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Share your insights & receive a 70% off forever.
We Talkin’ About Practice?
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Nobody Told Me There'd Be Days Like These ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Seattle startup takes eco-friendly aim at recycling clothing
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Read AI rolls out enterprise search tool | Hard time for hardware ADVERTISEMENT GeekWire SPONSOR MESSAGE: A limited number of table sponsorships are available at the 2025 GeekWire Awards: Secure your
☕ The beauty of it all
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
A conversation with Ulta Beauty's CMO. March 11, 2025 View Online | Sign Up Marketing Brew Presented By Iterable It's Tuesday. Count Kathy Hochul as an ad buyer. The governor of New York is
🤔 What’s in your wallet? A scam.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Plus, a new streaming deal is the latest gift to Trump from the billionaire CEO and his company — which profits off government contracts. Forward this email to others so they can sign up 🔥 Today on