Numlock News: October 28, 2026 • Opera, Candada, Labubu

Oct 28, 2026

By Walt Hickey

Ropeless

Crab traps are typically dropped from fishing boats, suspended from buoys, and then hours later dragged up by boats that hunt them. Ropeless traps promise to both catch the crabs but also avoid trapping the whales that have been snared by conventional traps, though their implementation can be controversial. Box crabs are not often the target of anglers — Dungeness crabs are far eaasier to catch given their habitats in the intertidal zone — but the 600 meter deep crustaceans are viable targets thanks to new approaches where gear can be sunk down with ropeless, pop-up systems. One of interest — $1,500 per unit boxes from Sub Sea Sonics and Guardian Ropeless — smashes rival systems on price, which can reach $8,000 per system.

Madeline Ostrander, bioGraphic

But It Might Work For Us

High school graduation rates peaked in 2025 at 3.9 million, and smaller colleges are attempting to attract these matriculants by starting football teams. In the last decade, 62 four-year college football programs have been added or restarted and, given three shut downs and three closures on net, 56 football program have kicked off. Will it work for them? Who knows. High school graduates are projected to fall to 3.4 million by 2041. A recent study from the University of Georgia of 36 colleges that added football programs found that, besides a one-year jump in male enrollment due to obtaining a football team, when factoring in the cost of running the program, tuition revenue per student in fact did not increase.

Eric Olson, The Associated Press

Cars

There was once a time in this country where you could turn on an NFL game and — presumably after spending a suitable amount of time saluting the flag — watch an honest-to-god automobile commercial to split up the action. That time has come to an end, according to new data, which found that in 2026 automobile advertiser share of overall U.S. ad spending has fallen to 8.9 percent of the pie, down from 11 percent as recently as 2023, and down from a recent high of 14.8 percent in 2013.

Patrick Coffee, The Wall Street Journal

Horror

Horror become an increasingly important pillar of the American box office, with 18.2 percent of box office revenues this year deriving from horror films, up from 15.8 percent a year ago, and 9.5 percent five years back. Not only is horror doing superb at the box office, but once again it’s prestigious, with Oscars recognition and critical recognition across the board.

Tiana McGee, Anurag Rao and Travis Hartman, Reuters

Canadian

A new study analyzed how Canada speaks compared to a large-scale study conducted by McGill in 1972. Some things remain the same: Canada still calls it icing, not frosting, says “different than” rather than “different from,” spells it “travelled” not “traveled,” and calls it “defence” and not “defense.” That said, some things have changed since ‘72: 84 percent spell it “color” now, compared to 35 percent in ‘72, and it’s now decisively “snuck” and not “sneaked,” “dove” and not “dived,” and centre and not center. That said, some things remain the same since ‘72; it wasn’t addressed in the survey, but I must surmise that “The Leafs are a disgrace this year” probably sounds about the same?

Charles Boberg, Claire Henderson and Jackson Mundie, Cambridge University Press

Opera

Opera is in a state of flux, as regional opera houses attempt to find ways to connect with a new generation of audiences and national houses try to balance budgets in an industry that defies simple categorization and accounting. In New York, the Met costs about $326 million as of 2025 to operate, which is substantially more than the $70 million made from box office and tours. In London, the $73 million box office isn’t remotely close to the $125 million spent on performance. Most companies rely on contributions from individuals or governments who support the work, but the money comes from very different places depending on which side of the Atlantic you reside. In Europe, 68 percent of the income of repertoire company income came from governments, compared to 2 percent in the United States.

Elias Leight, The Wall Street Journal

Labubu

It was impossible to see coming. Financial markets have been rattled in light of the news that Pop Mart’s Labubu brand has seen sales fall calamitously. American sales of the toy fad have fallen by 70 percent to 75 percent, in Asia-Pacific outside of China sales are down 65 percent to 70 percent, and in Europe they’re down 50 percent to 55 percent. Sales in China, thank god have held; according to the report they’re down by a reasonable 5 percent to 10 percent at physical stores, even if they’re down 45 percent to 50 percent over online channels. Who could have possibly seen this pullback coming, a pullback that incidentally resembles nearly identically what happened to Furby, Tamogathchi, Beanie Banies, Funko Pops, and countless other direct examples of this exact situation.

Wataru Suzuki, Nikkei Asia

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Numlock News is written each day by Walt Hickey. Email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news. Every post is entirely by a human; send corrections or typos to the copy desk at copy@numlock.news. If you enjoy Numlock, tell a friend, word of mouth is the only way that independent publications like this one grow.

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