April 24, 2024

The Appetizer

“It was a tremendous sound. It almost hit my son.”

• A Florida homeowner on the moment when a piece a space debris went through his home’s roof.

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

• $78 million: The estimated cost of computing resources needed to train OpenAI’s GPT-4.
• 5.59 inches: The amount of rainfall Dubai received over a period of 24 hours last week. The yearly total average for Dubai is 3.73 inches.
• 3.2%: The International Monetary Fund’s forecast for global GDP growth in 2024 and 2025.
• $2.32 billion: The total value of research and training contracts held between Chinese businesses and almost 200 U.S. colleges and universities between 2012 and 2024, representing around 2,900 contracts.
• 323: The number of drug shortages in the first three months of 2024, surpassing the 2014 high of 320.

Dig In
Cloud Tech

Dubai saw streets transform into rivers following almost six inches of rain within 24 hours. The city typically receives 3.7 inches of rain in a given year, meaning almost two years’ worth of rain fell in just one day.

This has prompted the next episode of Whodunit? Some are pointing the finger at “cloud seeding,” in which drones are sent to release electrical charges into clouds, helping water droplets merge and form precipitation. This has been an important part of the UAE’s mission to solve water shortages. In fact, it performs more than 1,000 hours of cloud seeding annually.

Interestingly, cloud seeding isn’t exclusive to Dubai. It’s also used in Nevada, Colorado, and California to create snow or rain. Recent legislation efforts in Tennessee have tried to prohibit such practices.

The UAE has refuted these allegations and said there were no seeding operations before the storm and that this was just natural rainfall.

Weekly Specials

The Loch Ness monster search continues, and this time, NASA is being called in for backup! Since the first wild adventure back in 1934, folks have reported 1,156 sightings of this mysterious creature in the Scottish Highlands. Witnesses have said it’s large, with a long neck and large humps covering its back. Time to crack this Nessie mystery open!

Crowded buses? Not a blast, especially when tourists squeeze in like sardines. La Salut, a beautiful Barcelona neighborhood that’s home to the famous Park Guell, faces this headache, leaving locals rather upset. The solution? Erase the bus route off Google Maps! And guess what, it actually seems to be working like a charm!

A power forward for the Toronto Raptors was on the receiving end of the ultimate slam dunk – a lifetime ban from the NBA! Why? Turns out, he tried his luck with sports betting, putting down $55,094 on the Raptors to lose, among other claims. Talk about some foul play!

Corporate Lunch

Apple’s entire Mac line will be beefed up with the new M4 chips. We will be able to scroll through our Facebook feed and stream Netflix faster than ever.

PepsiCo products are returning to Carrefour shelves after many negotiations. French gamers can have their Mountain Dew again.

Johnson & Johnson reported a solid bottom line beat for this past quarter. The company benefited from an unexpected spike in demand for medical devices.

Peloton is no longer offering a free tier for its app. Turns out, it was too good, and users wouldn’t upgrade to the paid version.

TGI Fridays is going public via a merger with its UK franchisee. Please don’t change the Sizzling Fridays™ Signature Whiskey-Glazed Flat Iron Steak.

Spotify is going to roll out remixing tools to appeal to the TikTok generation and let users “flex their DJ skills.”

U.S. consumers are taking Alaska Air to court. in an effort to block their merger with Hawaiian Airlines. Who is representing all of us U.S. consumers?

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