The Daily Valet. - 2/4/22, Friday

✔️ Are You Ready?

Friday, February 4th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

I’m stoked to get another Olympics right after the Summer Games.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

The Olympics Kick Off Today

Beijing offers new sports, controversies and robots, all within a strict COVID bubble

Tonight, the world will come together for the 24th Winter Olympics in Beijing. While some competitions got underway already, the Opening Ceremony will air this morning live (with an enhanced rebroadcast in primetime).

Beijing organizers announced last month that only “selected” Chinese residents will be permitted at Olympic events because of the pandemic, with no tickets sold to the public or to foreign visitors. That means the stands will be largely empty for the second straight Olympics after fans were barred from attending events last summer in Tokyo.

There will be a record 109 sporting events this year—with seven new events in snowboarding, bobsled and skiing. And thanks to new events with mixed gender teams, these Winter Games offer a greater balance between men’s and women’s events than ever before.

But this isn’t an Olympics without controversy either. There’s the diplomatic boycott to protest Chinese human rights abuses. India announced last night it will not attend the opening ceremony after being offended by one of the torchbearers. There are cyber-security fears and free speech concerns. And don’t forget about the hyper-strict ‘bio-secure bubble,’ in order to prevent COVID infection from spreading like wildfire in between events.

But on the bright side, all 13 competition venues will be powered with renewable energy for the first time at an Olympic Games. Solar and wind will be the primary energy sources, and natural CO2 refrigeration systems will be used at four ice venues—the first time this low-climate-impact technology will be used in China and at the Winter Games.

Technology has always been a hallmark of the Olympics, but this year it’s particularly vital. Meals are being served by robots. The smart beds in the athlete’s village can monitor breathing and heart rate and report any changes in vitals. And for the first time in Olympic history, 100% of the snow blanketing the ski and snowboarding events will be made by an army of snow machines.

↦ Meanwhile: Peacock is promising to get streaming right this time. Every Olympic event covered by NBC Sports will also be streamed live on its platform and available for later on-demand viewing.

Meta Loses $240 Billion in a Day

Facebook just had its worst day ever on Wall Street

Through all of the challenges Facebook has faced (and there have been many) ... one thing has been constant: People have kept signing up and logging on. But that changed in the last few months of 2021, when the world's biggest social network lost daily users for the first time ever.

On Thursday, Facebook's parent company Meta had had its worst day ever on Wall Street. Disillusioned investors sliced its market value by 26%—costing the company about $240 billion. Insider reports it was the largest one-day wipeout in U.S. corporate history.

The record-shattering stock drop capped a crazy tech earnings season that left two seemingly contradictory takeaways according to the Wall Street Journal: Tech firms now sit at the economy's core, yet they also can still be risky bets.

And this bad news comes at a pivotal moment for the company—literally. It recently changed its name to Meta to focus on the metaverse. But Axios reports it also faces inevitable generational shifts, as younger users flock to newer rivals like TikTok. In the past it was able to buy rivals, such as Instagram, but that path is likely blocked amid greater regulatory scrutiny.

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NASA Is Retiring the Space Station

But the ISS will have a spectacular ending and a watery grave

NASA is plotting out the final days of the International Space Station. The ISS—first crewed in 2000—will be extended for use until 2030 (a full 15 years beyond its initial life expectancy). Then, NASA will abandon it and crash it into the ocean.

The space agency made the official announcement that it will direct the decommissioned ISS toward a region in the Pacific Ocean called the South Pacific Oceanic Uninhabited Area—specifically around Point Nemo—in early 2031, when it will reenter the atmosphere and crash into the water.

“Things get old in space. Things start to show their age. There have been some cracks discovered that were letting air out, causing leaks. That sort of stuff happens,” Mike Wall, a senior space writer for Space.com, told NPR. I guess it couldn't stay in orbit 250 miles above us forever.

NASA is now looking to the growing commercial space industry to build the next space station. Working with private sector space companies will not only save NASA vital money, but Wall also noted that it will free up resources to focus on more challenging goals, like sending people to Mars.

↦ FYI: In a 24-hour period, the station orbits Earth 16 times, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets.

A Weekend Pairing

Pam & Tommy + a Margaladaoma Cocktail

Are you watching Pam & Tommy? The new Hulu miniseries revisits the sordid and ultimately tragic chapter in the lives of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee—stars of the first major celebrity sex tape and victims of revenge porn decades before the term was even coined.

CNN's Brian Lowry says once you get past the astonishing makeup and prosthetics, the show “essentially functions as two miniseries in one, the first devoted to the central couple, and the latter to the hapless guy who turned them into a pioneering Internet sensation.” The AV Club says Lily James, Sebastian Stan and Seth Rogen all give great performances but if there's one thing that Pam & Tommy gets right, it's '90s nostalgia. But just know, several reviews have mentioned that it's hard to avoid feeling queasy while watching though.

↦ Your Pairing:What do you get when you cross a Margarita, a Paloma and a Michelada? This rich, refreshing umami-forward drink. It’s chaotic yet pleasurable. Which makes it a perfect pairing, right?

In Other News

↦ ISIS Leader Dead After U.S. Commandos Raid House in Syria

↦ Here’s Why Your Tax Return May Be Flagged by the IRS

↦ “My WHOOP Stats After a Night of Drinking Are Astonishingly Bad”

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Floyd’s Sonos stands

This bizarre crypto ad

Safe travel destinations

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A Performance Brand Taking on Climate Change

LifeLabs is a first of its kind in comfort and performance

“The effects of climate change are real ... our world is warming at an alarming rate and we're all feeling the dramatic effects this has on our planet,“ says Dr. Yi Cui, a Stanford professor and founder of LifeLabs. And while we all know that this is a huge issue, he says the mission of LifeLabs is to show people that collectively, small individual choices can still make an impact.

You see, by making smart choices about what we wear and how we live, we can reduce our own personal energy usage. Dr. Yi was awarded a grant from the Department of Energy to uncover how to use textiles to reduce energy usage. After six years of research, the team developed two unique technologies: CoolLife and WarmLife. By regulating the temperature of your skin, CoolLife and WarmLife reduce the need for wasteful ambient heating and cooling indoors. Believe it or not, the average American spends more than 90% of their time indoors. Which means, when you wear LifeLabs, you can adjust your inefficient HVAC system up or down, saving both money and the planet.

Here's how they work: CoolLife lowers your body temperature up to 2°C in a warming world. It's the world's first “thermally transparent” fabric which allows all of your skin's heat to escape. That means you're able to stay cooler, drier and more comfortable naturally. WarmLife will keep you 10°C warmer with 30% less material. It uses a metallic nano-coating that actually reflects your radiant body heat back onto the skin. That means you can stay toasty with less weight, fewer materials and less impact on the planet. LifeLabs truly is the future of fabric.

MegaWarm Jacket, $699

WarmLife Jacket, $199

CoolLife Pant, $79

CoolLife Tee, $49

CoolLife Short, $49

CoolLife Sleepwear, $99

↦ Explore: LifeLabs' full collection

Deal: Now through February 14th, the brand is discounting their sleepwear. Get 25% off any sleep item. And when you buy one set, you get 50% off a second set w/code LOVELABS50.

20 Under $20

We've rounded up a few items that are budget approved and they're all under $20 bucks.

↦ Browse: 20 under $20

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Don’t Just Give a Gift

Solstice organic chemise, $48 by Coyuchi

Anyone can give a gift. Buy something and toss a bow on it ... you know the routine. But the best gifts say something about the giver and the recipient. It should be thoughtful—designed to delight or offer a helpful solution. Maybe it's an upgrade on something she uses daily. Maybe it's a piece of jewelry or lingerie that you know she'll love but wouldn't splurge on for herself. This is your opportunity to give her something that makes her world a little better each day. Herewith, a few well-curated selections from the Huckberry team.