Numlock News: April 11, 2025 • Butterflies, Zenith, Adam Sandler

By Walt Hickey

Have a great weekend!

Roll The Dice

A man who attempted to cash in 389 chips from the defunct Playboy Hotel and Casino with the New Jersey Unclaimed Property Administration has lost his case in court against the UPA. His quest to redeem the $59,500 that the chips were worth has come to an end. The Playboy Casino operated from 1981 to 1984, and when it closed, the casino transferred money to the UPA to handle such situations. These chips were bought at an online auction, and the ruling comes as a result of how the chips were originally obtained, which was a sophisticated strategy known as “stealing them.” The former employee took some boxes of unused chips in 1990 and put them in a bank deposit box, which were then confiscated by the bank when the box was forgotten about. The bank then sent the chips to an auction house, where this guy bought them. Since the chips had not been obtained through normal casino operations, they’re just a charming collector’s item. Fear not; a worthless, looted poker chip from the defunct Atlantic City Playboy Casino has been my longstanding pitch for the new Great Seal of the state of New Jersey.

The Associated Press

Josh

Josh Cellars, which produces the omnipresent Josh wine, has become a massive producer ever since going national around the early 2010s. After hitching their wagon to the mighty Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, business has grown production from 1 million cases in 2016 to 7.5 million cases today across 23 different varieties of Josh. At Total Wine and More, it’s the bestselling table wine brand under 20 bucks, and has become a blueprint for how the alcohol business can squeeze a fun brand with a charming story into a massive liquid juggernaut that dominates the industry.

Lettie Teague, The Wall Street Journal

Swallowtails

While the image of a butterfly’s wings causing a hurricane thousands of miles away is a potent metaphor for the wide-ranging ramifications of small actions, scientists have now identified what must be the first butterfly that actively roots for the hurricanes to devastate its environment, the Schaus’ swallowtail. A 36-year dataset has confirmed the unexpected: the butterfly, which lives on the island of Elliott Key, Florida, and is seriously endangered, does pretty great after storms ravage its habitat. The population hit an all-time low of 56 individuals in 2007, but as of 2021, there are about 4,400 of them. The butterfly’s boosts in population spiked shortly after 1992, 2005 and 2017, which incidentally is when Andrew, Wilma and Irma battered the region. Scientists attribute the phenomenon to gaps in the tree canopy that let light hit the forest floor and allow understory plants to bloom, feeding the caterpillars and butterflies.

Marina Wang, bioGraphic

Midlevels

In 2010, there were over 40 movies at the domestic box office that grossed between $50 million and $100 million, a level that fell to just 17 movies as the bottom fell out of middle-class movies. This era saw major shifts such as the demise of the rom-com, the death of the theatrically-distributed studio comedy and a gravitation toward mega-hits that can sustain a studio despite the feast-or-famine nature of the business. One issue i that movie stars have elected to just take money from the streaming services, and the kind of talent that used to get butts in seats is content to cater to the couch: since 2019, 8 of 9 Adam Sandler movies were streaming, as were 6 of 8 Jamie Foxx movies, as well as all 7 of Tyler Perry’s movies and all 5 of Eddie Murphy’s movies. One solution? For the kind of rom-com or comedy that those guys made their names in, charging Avengers ticket prices might be working against their medium.

Entertainment Strategy Guy, The Ankler

Skin In The Game

“Skin substitutes” are an interesting innovation in medicine, with some research suggesting that the patches (which are made out of dried bits of placenta) help wounds heal. That said, the market has been flooded with expensive and unstudied versions that have been making a killing by billing Medicare. This is thanks to a bug that allows doctors can buy at a discount but bill Medicare for the full sticker price. In April 2023, Medicare began paying $6,497 per square inch of a bandage called Zenith, which held until 6 months later, when that fell to $2,746. However, this is only because the same company released a new product, Impax, for $6,490 per square inch. As early as 2019, spending was (for Medicare at least) mostly marginal, but stood at $10 billion last year, double the level of the previous year. Medicare now spends money on the bandages than they do on anesthesia, CT scans and ambulance rides.

Sarah Kliff and Katie Thomas, The New York Times

Momentum

A new study from the NYU Marron Institute Transit Costs Project outlined several strategies that can seriously increase the speed of American passenger rail, targeting middle-distance Amtrak hauls that could speed travel by 30 percent. This is enough to make rail competitive with flying in many parts of the more densely populated parts of the country. One issue is how much time is lost at stops, owing to diesel locomotives (which accelerate more slowly than electric locomotives) and low-level boarding platforms (requiring steep stairs, which can be challenging for lots of passengers and necessitate a slower stop). These issues add a 4 to 5 minute penalty per stop. Adding high-level, ADA-accessible boarding platforms alone would do wonders, and electrifying the trains would double the acceleration twofold.

Benjamin Schneider, Bloomberg

Fish

Many of the drugs and pharmaceuticals consumed by humans are not processed by our bodies, and enter waterways by means of the restroom. This is why we have found amounts of caffeine, antidepressants, antibiotics and so on in aquatic habitats. To find out what happens to a fish that is on a dose of benzos, researchers just dosed them with some benzos, giving 730 Atlantic salmon in Sweden a dose of clobazam and then tried to figure out how they got through a dam. Incidentally, they did great: the fish on anti-anxiety meds went through two hydropower dams faster, with more drugged fish reaching the sea, overcoming the obstacle quicker. Perhaps there is a metaphor in this.

Benji Jones, Vox

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.

---

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.

Previous Sunday subscriber editions: MCU · Fanfiction · User Magazine · Reentry · Panda Dunks · Net Zero · Spiraled · On The Edge · Luggage · The Editors · Can’t Get Much Higher · Solitaire ·

Posting Nexus · Memorabilia · Drainage Tile · Desert Surfing · Music · Congestion Pricing · Underwater Sound · Hunts Point · Queer Olympics · Energy Drinks · Baseball Movies · Trillion Trees · Risk Aversion ·

Packaging · Ice Cores · Stadium Names · Uncertain · Green Homes · Political Future · UFOs · Antarctica Comms · Rot Economy · The Internationalists · Video Game Funding · BYD · Disney Channel Original Movie · Talon Mine · Our Moon · Rock Salt · Wind Techs

Sunday Edition Archives: 2022 · 2021 · 2020 · 2019 · 2018