Numlock News: December 14, 2021 • Rocket Science, Pickleball, Sargassum
By Walt HickeyPickleballThe fastest-growing sport in the United States is pickleball, the paddle sport that combines ping pong and badminton. Last year around 4.2 million people played the sport, which was up 21 percent over 2019, and as it happens that means the activity has hit the point where decent money is working its way in. One company, the Professional Pickleball Association, hosted 16 tournaments around the country, double the level of 2019, and is fighting with the Association of Pickleball Professionals over control of the sport at a professional level. PPA prize money will hit $2.5 million next year, a fivefold increase compared to 2019. The sport has a magazine, several podcasts, YouTube channels, and loads of books, and presumably will shortly have an official sponsorship from a plaques psoriasis treatment. Industry people are saying the sport’s 21 percent growth likely underestimates the full potential of the game, a sentiment also shared by the organizers of other definitely-still-popular-not-fad sports like Jai alai, roller skating, Jazzersize, tetherball, Zumba, hacky sack, competitive Rubik’s Cube, Jane Fonda's Workout and SlamBall™. Not Exactly Brain SurgeryA new study published in the Christmas issue of the British Medical Journal — the annual fun one — sought to settle once and for all which phrase to describe a simple task is more deserved, “It’s not brain surgery” or “It’s not rocket science.” They did this by administering an intelligence test to 329 aerospace engineers and 72 neurosurgeons. Turns out it’s conditional: the rocket scientists and neurosurgeons are pretty much evenly matched, though the aerospace engineers were better at mental manipulations while the brain surgeons were better at semantic problem solving. That said, no significant difference was found between the aerospace engineers and the control population, while the same held among the neurosurgeons, although they did have a speedier problem solving time that was statistically significant. That said, the paper’s authors contend maybe pedestaling this kind of niche intellect is overall discouraging to people given the results, so I think the obvious compromise is that we all agree to just change to, “Well, it’s not exactly blogging about MoviePass,” to honor the real titans of our day. SmoothingA new executive order signed Monday directs 17 government agencies to modernize the way they offer services, highlighting at least 30 different ways that the feds can reduce friction when interacting with people. This includes things like allowing Americans to renew passports online, allowing victims of a disaster to submit photos by phone, making it easier to file taxes and apply for social security benefits, and making it easier to interact with Recreation.gov. The government also highlighted a plan to modernize the way they handle student aid, which I assume means all people will just automatically receive a letter in the mail the day they turn 17 that says either “go screw” or “Don’t Forget: You’re Here Forever.” TradesA new analysis of 9,000 financial disclosure forms submitted by members of Congress and their staff found 48 members and 182 senior-level staff who violated a federal conflict-of-interest law. It further found 75 members who owned stocks in vaccine makers — many of whom bought and sold them in the early days of the pandemic — as well as 15 members who directly oversee defense policy who also invest directly in military contractors. Seen, Read, HeardThe annual seen/read/heard survey analysis from Morning Consult is out, which looked at which stories Americans actually paid attention to over the preceding 52 weeks. The biggest story of the year — heard by 64 percent of voters — was the $1.9 trillion bill signed in March that sent out $1,400 payments to many people, once and for all proving that you can’t even get two-thirds of people to pay attention to something in exchange for $1,400. Other salient events include the blackouts that stemmed from winter storms in Texas, the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, and the collapse of a condominium in Florida. Besides the cascades of bummers that define a year of news, there were some bright spots, like that time a ship ran aground in the Suez Canal (38 percent heard about it at the time). Eli Yokley and Cameron Easley, Morning Consult SargassumLarge rafts of sargassum seaweed have been washing ashore beaches all along the tropical Atlantic Ocean, and that poses a problem for sea turtles. A team of researchers buried data loggers 15 centimeters deep in the sand under varying levels of seaweed cover to find out how the mire of sargassum affected subterranean temperatures in the depths where turtles lay eggs. In the summer, 15 centimeters of seaweed reduces the average temperature by 0.17 degrees Celsius, but in the fall the seaweed has a blanket effect, and makes the temperature 0.21 degrees Celsius higher than typical. That in turn impacts the development of turtle embryos, which could be an issue if the sargassum onslaught persists. Richard Kemeny, Hakai Magazine AttackedIreland’s Health Service Exchange was hit with a ransomware attack in May that put the entire country’s public heath system at risk. While the hackers initially wanted $20 million, in reaction to the public outcry they caved and gave the decryption key without needing payment. That’s all well and good, but what’s really neat is the HSE and PWC just released a detailed report revealing exactly how the attack happened. An Excel document in a phishing email that had malware infected the first workstation on March 18, and on the 31 the HSE antivirus had found it. However, it was set to monitor mode, so it didn’t block the bad commands. By May 7 the attackers had compromised the servers, over the next five days they’d get six hospitals, and on May 10 the HSE had found it but it was too late. One culprit? The hospital network had over 30,000 Windows 7 workstations deemed end-of-life. Brian Krebs, Krebs On Security 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. 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: Billboard records · Black Friday · Natural Gas · PEDs in Hollywood · Machiavelli for Women · Weather Supercomputers · TKer · Sumo Wrestling · Giant clams · Instagram · Remote Work · Latinos · Vapes · Smoke · Jeopardy! · Mangoes · BBLs · Summer Box Office · Time Use · Shampoo Bars · Wikipedia · Thriving · Comic Rebound · Return of Travel · Sticky Stuff · For-profit Med School · A Good Day · Press Reset · Perverse Incentives · Demon Slayer · Carbon Credits · Money in Politics · Local News ·Oscar Upsets · Sneakers · Post-pandemic Cities · Facebook AI · Fireflies · Vehicle Safety · Climate Codes · Figure Skating · True Believer · Apprentices · Sports Polls · Pipeline · Wattpad · The Nib · Driven2020 Sunday Edition Archive2019 Sunday Edition Archive2018 Sunday Edition ArchiveYou’re a free subscriber to Numlock News. For the full experience, become a paid subscriber. |
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Numlock News: December 13, 2021 • West Side Story, Excel, Wood Pulp
Monday, December 13, 2021
By Walt Hickey Plague On Both Their Houses Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a charming period piece called West Side Story that updates the bard's iconic and
Numlock News: December 10, 2021 • Volcanos, Dinosaurs, Kleptocracy
Friday, December 10, 2021
By Walt Hickey Have a great weekend! Cream Cheese The most important story in the world right now is the national cream cheese shortage, by which I mostly mean the New York City cream cheese shortage,
Numlock News: December 9, 2021 • Horse Races, Camel Pageants, Bass Pro Shops
Thursday, December 9, 2021
By Walt Hickey MLB Major League Baseball and the Players Association have gone to the mattresses, as the two sides have failed to come to a labor agreement and the league locked the players out. At
Numlock News: December 8, 2021 • Daylighting, Traffic, Marijuana Taxes
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
By Walt Hickey Tax-Free In 2018 the city of San Francisco voted to approve a 1 percent to 5 percent tax on cannabis businesses that is set to take effect next year. However, the Board of Supervisors
Numlock News: December 7, 2021 • Run, The Jewels, LA
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
By Walt Hickey Oscars The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reported their annual finances, and following last year's ceremony — which saw record-low viewership, to the point that they
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