February 7, 2024

The Appetizer

“Mr. Zuckerberg and certain other members of management participate in various high-risk activities, such as combat sports, extreme sports, and recreational aviation, which carry the risk of serious injury and death.”

• A new risk factor Meta added in its SEC filing.

Now, on to the numbers. Drum roll, please …

• 10:06 p.m.: The time those between 18 and 34 years old went to bed on average in January, compared with 10:18 p.m. last January.
• $382,150: The starting auction price for the napkin that secured Lionel Messi’s move to FC Barcelona when he was 13 years old. The rest is history.
• $9,800: The average ticket price for the upcoming matchup between Kansas City and San Francisco, the most expensive on record.
• 1,907 feet: The height of a proposed Oklahoma City building that, if completed, would be the tallest in the U.S. The height would commemorate the year Oklahoma officially became a state.
• ~40%: The accuracy of Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary’s (yes, that is his full title) winter “forecast” over the past decade, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. This year, he is forecasting an early spring.

Dig In
The Big Game with the Trademarked Name

The results are in… the big football game in Las Vegas will feature a rematch between Kansas City and San Francisco. Kansas City came out on top in 2020; who will it be this time? Interested in attending? Well, tickets cost 1/7th of the U.S. median income in 2023, so how about you sleep on it?

Listen, even if your team isn’t playing, it’s still an unmissable event, considering roughly one-third of the nation’s population tunes in. However, some would argue they watch strictly for the commercials – yes, even the tearjerkers like the Budweiser “puppy Love” ad. I mean with a 30-second slot costing $7 million, advertisers must deliver top-notch content.

Numbers show the game is a major revenue driver, especially for the host city. In 2020, it made an overall economic impact of $570 million.

Now to calm your nerves and to help you sleep better at night, Taylor Swift is capable of making it. I know you are wondering how she will get from Tokyo to Las Vegas in time… let me paint the picture. Time zones, easy as that. Let the best team win!

Weekly Specials

If there’s one thing universally disliked, it’s traffic. The 2023 Traffic index ranked two California cities, along with Washington, D.C., Boston, and Miami, in the top 10 for the time to drive six miles. New York City claimed the top spot, requiring an average of 24 minutes and 50 seconds. No wonder I’m always late!

The Federal Reserve’s approach to interest rates has become something like Groundhog Day — rates have held steady for four straight meetings and are likely to be unchanged for some time. Chair Jerome Powell said “it’s not likely that the committee will reach a level of confidence (to cut rates) by the time of the March meeting.”

Forget the classic sheriff on a horse — imagine one on a buffalo! In Marajo, an island the size of Switzerland located off Brazil’s northern coast, police patrol with 1,800-pound “docile” water buffalos. This island boasts a whopping 600,000 domesticated and wild water buffalos — outnumbering the human population.

A marathon trainee was mistaken for a thief! Why? Because he was running in the dark with a fridge strapped onto his back. Seems suspicious, but no, he’s just a good friend! Mr. Fairbrother. hopes to carry a fridge for the entire London Marathon, supporting his friend with type 1 diabetes. His goal is to raise 10,000 euros for Diabetes UK.

Corporate Lunch

Boeing took full responsibility for the Alaska Airlines door plug incident, stating clearly, “we caused the problem.”

Alphabet (you know them as Google) reported earnings, and a whopping 76% of its revenuewas generated through advertising. That marks $65 billion from ads over 2023, my goodness.

Microsoft reported a solid earnings beat driven by growth in the cloud segment. Management discussed how they now leverage AI at every level of their tech stack to improve productivity.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink has implanted its first chip in a human brain. The device can help a person operate a computer or smartphone by simply thinking.

Tom Brady is merging TB12 with the toughest sounding company ever, Nobull, becoming the No. 2 shareholder in the process. How much of Tom Brady’s diet is powders?

Starbucks has  launched its olive oil-infused Oleato drinks in every location across the U.S. An Oleato caffé latte with oat milk will only run you 330 calories for a grande.

Novo Nordisk hits $500 billion with a B in market value alongside soaring demand for Wegovy and Ozempic. I wonder what this has done to candy sales at checkout lines.

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