The Daily Valet. - 4/11/22, Monday

✔️ What Can Really Be Done?

April 11, 2022

Monday, April 11th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Call me a snob, but I don’t really want to taste a pixel.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s Big Story

Can War Crimes Be Prosecuted?

The International Criminal Court may offer a path to hold Russia accountable, but it has plenty of limitations

Western leaders seem to be grappling with how far to escalate their military aid to Ukraine as the Russian invasion seems headed for a brutal new turn this week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy kept up his campaign to generate international support and rally his countrymen. “Russia will be even more afraid. Afraid to lose. It will fear that the truth will have to be acknowledged,” Zelenskiy said in a late night video address.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told ABC’s This Week Sunday that U.S. intelligence indicated “there was a plan from the highest levels of the Russian government” for its forces to commit atrocities in Ukraine. In other words, war crimes were part of Putin’s master plan.

It’s worth noting that the head of British intelligence agency GCHQ recently said essentially the same thing. And we’re certainly witnessing it: The bombing of a train station where many were gathered to evacuate. The murder of countless civilians, many with their hands bound.

This is why the International Criminal Court last month launched an investigation into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Ukraine (charges the Kremlin has denied). But it’s not as simple as filing a case at a courthouse. There are practical and political limits to what the ICC can do in any of the crimes it investigates and prosecutes.

According to the New York Times, members of sitting governments and their militaries, no matter how horrifying the evidence is against them, virtually never face international prosecution for their country’s conduct in war. “Trials typically stretch on for years and sometimes end in acquittals: It is hardly brute victor’s justice.”

↦ DiG Deeper: Are the sanctions against Russia working or not? The Intelligencer investigates.

Electric Bills Are Soaring Everywhere

And they could continue to get even higher

It's no secret that costs for utilities are on the rise. As inflation nears 8%, basic services and goods like groceries and utilities are creeping up in cost. But new sanctions against Russia have caused natural gas, oil, coal and uranium prices to soar. Energy services, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, have risen 12.3% year over year, with the cost of natural gas rising 23.8% and electricity increasing by 9%.

Big electric bills are showing up everywhere, from New York to California and everywhere in between. And across the pond, the U.K. will be facing tough choices in the coming months as energy costs for millions of households have risen by 54%. (While inflation is a global phenomenon, it's a bigger issue in Britain because they're more exposed to rising natural gas prices than gas-reliant European neighbors.)

According to U.S. News and World Report, the average homeowner saw their electricity bill climb 4.3% last year, to 13.72 cents per kilowatt-hour. That was the largest jump since 2008. Of course, it isn't just one thing that drives up your electric bill. It's everything from the crisis in Ukraine and regulations to the supply chain to supply and demand.

Which means, prices will likely be holding steady or slowly climbing for the foreseeable future.

↦ FYI: How much can you really save on electricity by unplugging your appliances? Cnet crunched the numbers to find out.

Elon Musk Won’t Join Twitter’s Board

“I believe this is for the best” - Twitter’s CEO

Last week, Tesla CEO and world's richest person Elon Musk disclosed via financial filings that he became Twitter's biggest shareholder. The next day, he and the social media company announced he'd be joining the board.

Twitter's stock jumped 4% the day following the board announcement. According to CNBC, Twitter had its best day on Wall Street since the company's IPO in 2013, skyrocketing more than 27%.

But then, late Sunday night, Twitter's CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted out a statement that Musk's appointment to the board was supposed to become official on Saturday, but ... “Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board … I believe this is for the best,” he added.

This could be because in recent days, Musk had been highly critical of Twitter. He suggested, in a series of tweets Saturday night, drastic changes to the premium Twitter Blue service. He also suggested turning Twitter's San Francisco HQ into a homeless shelter and openly questioned whether the service was dying.

↦ Dig Deeper: Axios examines if this could be a prelude to him walking away, the start of a hostile takeover, or anything in between.

Pixel-Flavored Coke?

The concoction is being touted as the first flavor “born in the metaverse”

What does a pixel taste like? I guess you could lick your screen to find out. Or you could try the new limited-edition flavor from Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Byte's launch—in select Latin American countries last week; in the United States on May 2; and in China on May 23—follows the similarly out-there release earlier this year of Coca-Cola Starlight, which promised us “a taste of outer space.”

Actually, Coke Byte existed online before it did in real life: The product appeared globally in late March on an island in the video game Fortnite, reports CNN. Once customers get their hands on a can of Byte in the real world, they'll be able to play an augmented reality game by scanning the pixelated label with their phones.

But what's it taste like? One lucky (or not so lucky) writer for The Verge got an early taste and said it was bad. Really bad. He said it tasted like a sweeter version of Coke, mixed with Red Bull and maybe some cough medicine. Perhaps that confusing flavor is supposed to conjure up a slightly out of focus pixelated image?

↦ Meanwhile: Now that baseball is back, here is where you can get the cheapest ballpark beer and hot dogs in the country.

In Other News

↦ Scottie Scheffler Wins the Masters, While Tiger Woods Finishes 47th

↦ France’s Macron and Le Pen Head for Cliffhanger April 24 Election Runoff

↦ Nicolas Cage Dared to Host a Reddit AMA Interview, and Here Is What the Internet Got to Ask Him

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

This screen-addicted gorilla

Shirt jackets

SNL’s borderline offensive flower sketch

Want to Stress Less?

Five simple ways to lessen your daily stress

Stress is a fact of modern life, that's pretty much a given. And it's a natural response—your body's reaction to situations when it feels it needs strength, stamina and alertness in order to survive. So any perceived threat to your well-being can induce a stress response.

But too much stress can do a number on a person's body and mind—resulting in everything from headaches and weight gain to hair loss and erectile dysfunction. So the better you can deal with it, the better your health, hair and sex life will be.

The good news is that you do actually have the power to control some of your stress response. We spoke with some experts to get some tried-and-true, scientifically-backed approaches.

So the next time you're feeling overwhelmed, try one of these stress-busters.

↦ Read: Five simple ways to lessen your daily stress.

What We’re Eyeing

Todd Snyder's first spring collection with L.L. Bean is a winner. The whole line smashes Snyder's all-American charm with the rugged icons of legendary Maine outfitter, including anoraks and baggie-style shorts, recycled fleece, and archival L.L. Bean logos from the '80s. You could go climbing in these shorts ($129), as the name suggests—or you could go for a hike, head down to the shore, meet up with friends or just chill at home. It's the built-in stretch webbing belt that does it for us.

↦ Want more? 5 stylish items to buy this week