Numlock News: June 7, 2024 • Deer, Bikes, Dating Apps
By Walt Hickey
Have a great weekend!
Camp
Packing lists for weeks-long camps are getting comprehensive, and parents shelling out thousands of dollars for sleepaway camp are often coming to the conclusion that shelling out a couple hundred to just get the whole camp trunk squared away by the professionals is worth the expense. For instance, a prepared bundle of toiletries from Camp Kits can run $98 to $185, prep services can run $125 per hour to pack the trunk, and a “camp appointment” at the children’s boutique Denny’s in New York can average $1,500 to $2,000 to take care of a fully loaded, thoroughly labeled camp wardrobe. Dealing with the laundry upon return home can also be outsourced, with First Class Laundry Services in West Palm Beach offering a pick-up and drop-off service for $225 per trunk to extract any camp funk.
Tara Weiss, The Wall Street Journal
Deer 255
Researchers and fans are mourning the death of Deer 255, a mule dear who famously carried out an annual 240-mile migration from southern Wyoming to central Idaho, tracked over the course of 3,300 miles since 2016 with a GPS collar. Deer 255 was legendary for her massive journeys. According to the collar data, she passed away in the Red Desert of Wyoming, and the cause is believed to be by a mountain lion. For years — 10 years and 10 months — Deer 255 articulated the divisions of the West, from highways to fences and more.
Michelle Nijhuis, High Country News
Yuntai
Yuntai Waterfall is a 312-meter waterfall in China’s central Henan province in the Yuntai Mountain Geopark, which sees millions of visitors per year. Well, things are not exactly as they seem, as during the dry season the falls are supplemented by a pipe pumping water over the edge, a finding that has infuriated tourists. A clip showing the origin of the water of China’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall has been shared extensively.
Marriage
Tokyo is trying to create new couples with a dating app, as the actual numbers are rough. Last year there were 474,717 marriages, down from 504,930 in 2022, and the number of births declined by 43,000. Japan is in trouble for a couple of reasons, but the main one is that the labor crisis within the country is unable to sustain workers from other countries.
Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press
Bikes
The United States has lost its entire ability to produce bicycles, a process that took only 30 years. The U.S. now imports 97 percent of bicycles purchased from China, and re-shoring bicycle manufacturing is a new priority in Congress. A new bill will suspend tariffs on bike components for 10 years, as well as offer loans for manufacturers for new equipment.
Windows
China detests the American tech industry, except for Windows, which is generally considered to be great. It’s hard to get an estimate, but in general Microsoft’s market share is considered to be as high as 80 percent. Naturally, lots of that is temporary, but the local hopes — say, an operating system called OpenKylin — ain’t exactly closing the deal.
Russell Brandom, Rest of World
With Cat-Like Tread
Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear agency, made an arrangement with a Chinese company to establish an arctic container shipping route. Rosatom has cut a deal with Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co., Ltd. to make a joint venture with 12 voyages planned in 2024, and ultimately the hope is to move 50 million tonnes of cargo per year.
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That Verge article seems to be conflating China and Taiwan when talking about bike manufacturing. Most of the quality bikes sold in the US have been made in Taiwan for a long time and that's definitely less of a problem than if 97% of bikes are made in the PRC.