Numlock News: April 1, 2025 • Panama, NHL, Do Not Eat

By Walt Hickey

Reminder: Today is the worst day on the internet. Beware of what you see! Fear not, Numlock is functioning as normal.

NHL

The National Hockey League has cut a new 12-year deal with Rogers Communications, which oversees the sport’s distribution in Canada and is one of the most important markets for hockey in the world. The deal is for US$7.7 billion (CA$11 billion), with the per-year averages coming in at double the league’s current agreement. One fascinating issue with this rights package is the fluctuation of the Canadian dollar against the American dollar. Depending on the exchange rate, this may have big impacts on the business. Take, for instance, the current 12-year deal with Rogers, which was signed in 2013 and was then worth US$4.9 billion (or CA$5.2 billion). Based on today’s rates, the Rogers deal would only be worth US$3.64 billion. Hey, at least there’s nothing extremely stupid coming across the transom that could cause USD-CAD exchange rates to go haywire, right?

Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico

DO NOT EAT

The small packets of silica you might find in a package of chips or an online order — the ones enticingly sprawled with “DO NOT EAT” — contain a fascinating bit of chemistry, as the silica within is just silicon dioxide, basically the same stuff as sand or glass. However, under an electron microscope, the silica gel bead reveals its amazing secret with a surface covered in tiny canyons 2.5 nanometers across. While glass has a density of 2,500 kilograms per cubic meter and quartz has a density of 2,650 kilograms per cubic meter, silica gel has just 700 kilograms per cubic meter because it is full of voids and has way more surface area than the little sphereule might imply. A gram of silica gel might have an internal surface area of up to 800 square meters (that’s two basketball courts), which allows it to condense 40 percent of its weight in water in those pores.

Spencer Wright, Scope of Work

Novels

English-language translations of Japanese novels are doing really well in Britain, with Japanese literature accounting for 40 percent of all top-selling translated literature in the United Kingdom. Butter by Asako Yuzuki sold 280,000 copies in the U.K., more than the 270,000 copies it sold domestically in Japan when it was released in 2017. Part of that may be the U.K.’s general increase of interest in Japan: a record 437,000 Britons visited Japan last year and double the figure of a decade ago.

Kohei Onishi, Nikkei Asia

Flag of Convenience

Panama has the largest ship registry of any country by ship count, with over 8,700 vessels flying the flag of Panama. Those vessels constitute about 15 percent of the global merchant fleet tonnage, and most of them are also a load of crap. The custom at sea is that ships fly all sorts of flags regardless of where their owner is based or where they were built, often flying flags of convenience to pick their favorite maritime regulator. In the case of Panama, it’s probably just to get the job done quickly as registration can be completed online and the country has a favorable tax situation. This becomes a more serious issue when, say, Russia attempts to evade sanctions by flying relevant ships under the Panamanian flag. This is one reason that the Panama Maritime Authority deregistered 107 vessels. It has also put into motion the deregistration of another 18 vessels due to international sanctions violations as the country attempts to push back on its maritime reputation.

Mike Schuler, gCaptain

Ketchup

Coyote vs. Acme, the film shelved by Warner Bros. as a tax write-off, has been sold to Ketchup Entertainment in a deal that was said to be about $50 million. The movie, which was once mothballed by capricious executives in an attempt to exploit the United States tax code, is about Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme Corporation and features Will Forte and John Cena. Ketchup had previously released the Looney Tunes movie The Day the Earth Blew Up. For the first time in the history of the studio, Warner Bros. executives had proven completely incapable of making money off the Looney Tunes.

Adam Chitwood, The Wrap

Gin

Gin is having a moment in India, with the gin market projected to rise from $1.7 billion in 2025 to $2.9 billion in 2032, riding a wave of interest from younger drinkers in a relatively new drinking culture. The market is also tapping into the growth in local distilleries and artisanal gin that use the ample local flavors to produce a unique spirit. Gin originated in the Netherlands as a medicinal beverage produced from distilled juniper berries and made its way to India by way of the British, who needed something to mix with their malaria medication. Imported dark spirits like whiskey still dominate the market, but the local gin scene is quickly developing. Indian gins tend to use local botanicals beyond just juniper, including not just Himalayan juniper berries but also turmeric, cardamom, saffron and more.

Kalpana Sunder, Nikkei Asia

Collagen

The triple-helix macromolecule collagen is important for mechanically supporting cells and tissues in our bodies and tends to account for 15 percent to 20 percent of our protein. What’s a bit odd about collagen is its instability at body temperature — in 2002, researchers discovered that in humans, collagen has an unfolding point at just below 37C, which is our average body temperature — and a new study revels that clusters of sulfur-bearing amino acids are needed to help collagen keep its form. What’s especially odd is that collagen’s melting point scales with the temperature of the animal it is in: for fish, for instance, it’s much lower than human collagen.

Rachel Berkowitz, Science

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