L'Empereur Isn't Wearing Any Clothes |
As we all know, L'Empereur is a rich, kingly, soft, washed rind cheese made with pasteurized cow's milk in Canada. It's supple, flexible, and creamy-textured with turnip aromas and a salted butter flavor. In other words? It's a lot like Donald Trump. Meanwhile it appears more than half of Americans believe his royal highness is going to be better for America than Kamala Harris would have been. While I feel you might not be correct, I do wish you all the very best of luck with that. (Gets popcorn). Hey! That guy over there is wearing a terrible suit and nasty orange make-up! —Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor |
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"Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched." — Dan Ives |
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1. Markets Skyrocket Post 2024 Election |
The markets saw massive gains yesterday after the election results, with the Dow climbing more than 1,400 points. I must say, knowing I'd made thousands of dollars on the stock market made the election of a man called the "definition of a fascist" by his former chief of staff slightly easier to take, even if I did spend the whole day feeling like I'd been jumped by the man, personally, in the changing rooms at Bergdorf Goodman.
Drew Pettit, director of U.S. equity strategy at Citigroup, offered insights into the market's behavior.
"Right now, I think the markets are really pricing in the good more than they're pricing in the bad," he said. He highlighted likely deregulation and tax cuts under Trump as positive factors driving the market surge. He also acknowledged potential negatives on the horizon such as Trump's mooted tariffs. Pettit also noted the significant outperformance of small-cap stocks, particularly the Russell 2000. That's because small-cap companies tend to be more U.S.-centric and therefore benefit more from tax cuts and deregulation.
The overall economy remains mixed, he said.
"If you actually look at some of the manufacturing side data...they are really weak. You look at industrial production growth; there hasn't been much volume growth on the manufacturing side, even capital spending maybe outside of some of the infrastructure and chips and so on that's really muddled along," he said.
Sorta like many of us, for the next four years. Read More |
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2. Elemind Wants to Change the Way You Sleep |
30% of Americans report poor sleep, said Meredith Perry, CEO of Elemind Technologies, whose sleep headband thingamajig is leveraging neuroscience to improve matters.
"Sleep is foundational to health. It is truly a pillar of our health and wellness," Perry said. "If you have 18% of the population that needs a chemical to do a very basic natural function, there's something wrong with that picture."
This concern led Perry and her team to develop their groundbreaking device that uses neurostimulation to guide the brain from wakefulness to sleep. "We wanted to come up with a way to use neurostimulation, a non-chemical tool, to mimic the effect of a pharmaceutical drug without a chemical," she said.
The device, a wearable headband, reads brainwaves in real-time and responds with specific sound pulses to disrupt wakeful brain activity. "We're reading the brain and looking for the peak phase of the alpha brainwaves. We will find the peak; we will send a sound pulse, and it's going to disrupt that wave," Perry said.
Clinical trials have shown promising results, with 76% of participants falling asleep 48% faster on average. The device also features a "restart sleep" function for those who wake up in the middle of the night. The Elemind device differs from other wearables by not just tracking data but actively changing the body's state.
Elemind Technologies is currently shipping to beta customers, with broader availability expected in late December. Meanwhile the rest of us can just use Nyquil and Melatonin like normal people. Or, you know: Go out and get really sh*t-faced drunk. Hey, there's an idea! Read More |
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| Would you dive into a VR waterpark? 🌊
Ballast Technologies specializes in virtual reality experiences for waterparks, featuring raft waterslides, snorkeling, and more, available in 45 locations worldwide. |
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3. Judy Garland's Stolen Ruby Slippers to Fetch Over $800K at Auction |
Ever close your eyes, tap your heels together three times, and think to yourself, "I'd rather be somewhere the f**k else?"
I know I do. And on that note, a dramatic piece of Hollywood history has found its way to the auction block as Judy Garland's famed ruby slippers from 'The Wizard of Oz' are set to be auctioned by Heritage Auctions with bids starting at $800,000.
The auction comes after a colorful past, involving a theft by a former mobster and a lengthy FBI investigation. The slippers will be available for bidding through Heritage Auctions until December 7, with the current highest bid already reaching $812,000.
These iconic shoes were stolen in 2005 by Terry Jon Martin, an "ex-mobster" (is one ever really an ex-mobster?) who mistakenly believed the slippers were embedded with real rubies, due to their million-dollar insurance valuation. Martin aimed to make "one last score" when he took the slippers from the Judy Garland Museum. It wasn't until 2018, a full lucky 13 years later, that the FBI successfully recovered the shoes, now estimated to be worth $3.5 million. The dramatic theft and the subsequent recovery have only added to the lore of these cinematic treasures.
The slippers, originally purchased by collector Michael Shaw in 1970, have been an emblematic part of film history since they debuted in the 1939 screen classic. They're "red silk faille heels adorned with hand-sequined silk georgette, with the uppers and heels covered in sequins," according to the auction house. The material value of the shoes is less than a hundred bucks, but the dream value is rather more than that.
Each shoe's bow features hand-cut buckram cloth adorned with rhinestones and beads. Their auction not only offers a chance to own a piece of Hollywood history but also celebrates the enduring legacy of 'The Wizard of Oz' and its cultural impact. Imagine that a powerful, sinister presence lurking behind a curtain was controlling everything… Read More |
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4. Tesla Shares Soar 14% as Trump Win Is Seen to Boost Elon Musk |
Tesla's shares surged by 14% as Donald Trump's presidential victory is expected to favorably impact the electric vehicle giant and its CEO, Elon "Elon Musk" Musk. The boost comes amid predictions that Trump's administration policies might inhibit subsidies for alternative energy, impacting Tesla's smaller rivals the hardest.
Analysts believe that Trump's proposed extensive tariffs on Chinese imports could shield Tesla from the competitive pressure of lower-cost Chinese electric vehicles (EVs). "Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched," said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, highlighting a potential competitive edge for Tesla in a market landscape altered by reduced EV subsidies and higher tariffs on Chinese products.
While Tesla's stock soared, other EV makers felt the strain with notable declines: Nio dropped by 5%, Rivian by 9%, and Lucid Group nearly 8%. Currently, Tesla dominates the U.S. market, holding a substantial 48.9% market share as of mid-2024.
Despite these gains, it's been a tumultuous year for Tesla, with a dip in sales and profits over the first half of the year, though profits rose by 17.3% in the third quarter. Additionally, the U.S. government has opened an investigation into Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" system after several crash incidents, potentially dampening the sentiment around its technological advancements. Expect that investigation to be closed forever on January 7th, 2025, of course. Read More |
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5. How will a Second Trump Term Impact the Housing Market? |
Mortgage rates rose dramatically yesterday after Trump's victory, despite the Federal Reserve's recent interest rate cuts. The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage surged 9 basis points Wednesday to 7.13%.
"It's a strange dynamic. Generally, mortgage rates move in tandem...with the Federal Reserve policy," said Jeff Ostrowski, a mortgage and housing analyst at Bankrate.
"The combination of Donald Trump moving back into the White House and Republicans gaining control of the Senate...has been pushing rates up," he said.
Everyone is expecting significant tax cuts and increased federal deficits under a second Trump administration, leading to higher treasury yields and, consequently, higher mortgage rates.
"The story keeps changing. The information keeps changing," Ostrowski said. He now predicts that mortgage rates are unlikely to return to pandemic-era lows, suggesting that Americans will need to adapt to this new reality. Trump had promised 3% mortgage rates if elected. Then again, he said he wouldn't have time to go golfing if he was elected president in 2016 and in fact, found time to go golfing 250 times over the four years. #Priorities
While the rising mortgage rates pose challenges for prospective homebuyers, Ostrowski highlights a silver lining for existing homeowners: the substantial equity they have accumulated in recent years. "American homeowners are sitting on a lot of housing wealth, and they're doing pretty well," he says.
See? Everything is fine! Read More |
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