The Daily Valet. - 1/22/24, Monday
✔️ Look at That
Monday, January 22nd Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
I'm a big fan of dinner parties. Send along any invites, will you?
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Today’s Big Story
Get Ready to Look Up
NASA says the solar eclipse cutting from Texas to Maine in April 2024 will be way cooler than any before it
Have you heard about the coming solar eclipse? If not, you will. In fact, you're hearing about it now but you're bound to see more—because a really good one is coming up in April, when tens of millions of people in the United States will be able to experience the phenomenon.If this sounds familiar, it's because in 2017, a 70-mile-wide band of the U.S. saw a total solar eclipse, while many other areas saw a partial eclipse. People drove across states and gathered near planetariums just to see those fleeting minutes when, in the middle of the day, the sky went dark. You see, every 18 months or so, the moon completely blocks the sun's light somewhere on Earth to create a total solar eclipse. Sometimes we see it, and sometimes it's someone else's turn.But the total eclipse coming in April will be even cooler than the big one we got back seven years ago, excited NASA scientists told reporters at an American Geophysical Union meeting. “This is going to be the most populated eclipse in the U.S., with 31.5 million people able to just walk outside of their homes and experience this event,” Kelly Korreck, NASA's program manager said.Depending on your location, you'll have about three to four minutes to watch the moon blot out the sun. That peak of the eclipse, called totality, will last slightly longer than the one in 2017 did, experts believe. “In my experience you can't overhype it,” Richard Fienberg, an astronomer and senior advisor at the American Astronomical Society, told Mashable.So make your plans now—maybe you'll need to travel a bit to reach the path of totality. A lot of people will do that, since while the totality phase will last three or four minutes, the greater eclipse event will last some two and a half hours. So maybe make a day of it. Pack a picnic, don't get stuck in post-eclipse traffic. What's the hurry? After all, if you miss this year's eclipse, you'll have to wait a while for a similar event. How long? The next total solar eclipse visible throughout America will be in 2044.
Going, Going, Gone:
Total solar eclipses will someday be impossible. Scientists explain why.
DeSantis Drops Out
The Florida governor ended his struggling presidential bid before New Hampshire and endorsed Donald Trump
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended his Republican presidential campaign on Sunday, ending his 2024 White House bid, leaving just Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as the last major candidates remaining in the race ahead of tomorrow's New Hampshire primary.DeSantis entered the 2024 campaign widely viewed as Trump's most formidable opponent, but early missteps and strategic errors hampered his effort. The Washington Post reports that the once-promising candidate “steadily deflated as he struggled to connect with voters and convince Republicans to swap Donald Trump for a younger, more disciplined champion of his ideas.” Despite all the mud-slinging DeSantis endorsed Trump on his way out.He also jabbed Haley, saying that Trump “has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear—a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.” After hearing about his exit, she told voters in New Hampshire that “we wish him well. Having said that, it's now one fella and one lady left.” Trump, too, was gracious, telling Fox News Digital that he was “Very honored to have his endorsement and I look forward to working together with him to beat Joe Biden.”
Meanwhile:
Nikki Haley has upped her attacks against Trump, days before the New Hampshire primary that could make or break her campaign.
Readers Have Fallen for Romance Books
Romance is now officially the top-selling genre in fiction
Romance novels have always been around. Afer all, Pride & Prejudice or Gone With the Wind, would technically qualify. But really, when you hear the term romance novel, we all think of those old paperbacks featuring a Fabio-esque shirtless man riding a horse in front of a castle you used to see at your aunt's house, right? Turns out, it's not just aunts reading those books late at night.Blame it on Bridgerton or Fifty Shades of Grey, but romance novel sales have doubled since 2020 to become the most-read genre in fiction. According to Vice, several of the most popular, bestselling books of the last two years have been erotic, at least in part. Novels by Colleen Hoover, which are “rich with graphic sex scenes,” have dominated the New York Times bestseller charts with several weeks-long No. 1 spots. That these books are so popular in real life is, unsurprisingly, linked to their popularity online. On Booktok, one of TikTok's largest communities, videos devoted to highlighting “spicy” content like Hoover's are among the highest-viewed on the hashtag.The Financial Times reports that publishers emphasize that the genre has always been popular, a quiet, billion-dollar powerhouse that helps subsidize more prestigious, less profitable kinds of publishing. Fans of romance are ravenous, often consuming multiple books a week. And on Goodreads, romance is not only the largest genre category but, according to our analysis, the most distinct and well-defined. Just how big a business is it? According to the latest sales statistics, the bodice-ripping books generate over $1.44 billion in revenue, with around 40 million books sold last year alone.
Expert Advice:
The New York Times' romance columnist shares four saucy January releases that are getting buzz.
2024 Is the Year of the Dinner Party
Get cooking, but don't sweat the details ... they don't have to be big, fancy affairs
Foodies everywhere are bringing back the dinner party. Maybe it's because restaurant dining has gotten so expensive. Perhaps it's because it's an easy way to show how much you care for friends or simply want to hone your cooking hobby. In any case, get ready to show up at a friends house with a bottle of wine or a dessert, because the invites are coming.Or would you like to throw one yourself? Eater has a whole package on dinner parties, but one of the most interesting pieces is giving permission to serve some store-bought food. “Maybe you build your dinner party around a grocery store rotisserie chicken, or you make the centerpiece and fill it out with prepared sides from the market counter,” writes Jaya Saxena. “Hell, buy the whole thing and just create a beautiful tablescape with it. The point is the care and community that come from serving the people you love, regardless of where the food came from.”Of course, the dinner parties of our parents' generation were more formal affairs. They were a sophisticated way to introduce friends who might get along, or even get together—and a chance to potentially endear your boss to you away from the office and its politics. But these days, they're less fussy and more relaxed. In fact, according to a recent Waitrose Cooking Report, more than a third of the respondents said that “dinner party” was an old-fashioned term. So they're just “having people over for dinner.” According to The Guardian, this coincides with the rise of midweek dinner parties, which have become more popular thanks to an uptick in the number of people working from home.
Conversation Starters:
Axios has tips on how to make the most of your next dinner party, including smart talk starters like, “If you could do any job, no matter how implausible, based on your skill set, what would it be?”
In Other News
Despite the U.S. pushing for two-state solution.
Alabama Plans to Carry Out Its First Nitrogen Gas Execution. How Will It Work and What Are the Risks?
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Shopping
What We’re Buying
A Japanese-inspired jacket
We love these noragi jackets ($180) from Akashi-Kama. A staple of workwear in Japan with an American twist, they're the lovechild of a chore jacket and a cardigan. And they just look right in any situation. For their latest drop, they collaborated with __OnDeck for a limited-edition range made from hi-density Japanese ripstop fabric with 3M reflective cord ties. Cut in a modern, more cropped fit, with a patchwork design, it blends some streetwear influences with a classic style.
Want more?
The five stylish items you should be buying this.
Morning Motto
Dont’ fight it.
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