The Daily Valet. - 4/14/22, Thursday

✔️ Eggs on the Brain

April 14, 2022

Thursday, April 14th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

How early is too early to eat a Reese’s peanut butter egg?

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

Eggs on the Brain

Just before Easter, it seems everyone’s talking about eggs

Next week, the White House Easter Egg Roll will be held for the first time in two years. A tradition that started in 1878, the Egg Roll was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. A North Carolina farm donated 18,000 eggs for the event (held on April 18).

It took five days to hard boil them all, and 14,000 were dyed in five different colors while 4,000 were left undyed so children can decorate the eggs themselves during the event.

If you haven’t gotten eggs for your own Easter celebration yet, you might be shocked at how much a dozen will cost you. A deadly and highly infectious avian flu is forcing American farmers to kill millions of egg-laying hens, reducing the country’s egg supply and driving up prices.

Cartons of Grade As are already costing retailers (and consumers) double of what they cost last month. And data analysts predict wholesale prices will be up 30-40% by the summer. Of course, it’s not just eggs. Poultry, along with several other grocery categories will be rising.

And if you’re worried about your own health, don’t be. Though the flu is deadly for poultry, it is ‘primarily an animal health issue,” according to the CDC, which added that it believes “the risk to the general public’s health from current H5N1 bird flu viruses is low.”

Of course, this time of year, there’s only one egg on my mind and it’s covered in chocolate and filled with Reese’s peanut butter. And I’m not the only one. The melt-in-your-mouth candy egg was just named one of the favorites of the season (falling just behind that gruesome, yolky Cadbury egg). Instacart tallied up the top 10 most popular Easter candies in the country and broke it down by state. It’s interesting to see what’s popular where ... but one thing is clear, chocolate eggs are the favorite.

↦ FYI: Are expensive eggs actually “better” for you? Yes and no. There are some benefits, but paying more does not necessarily mean you are getting a more nutritious egg.

CDC Extends Mask Mandate for Travel

You’ll need to mask up for airplanes and public transit at least until next month

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday it was extending the nationwide mask requirement for passengers on planes and public transportation through May 3—citing the need to assess the impact of a new subvariant that's responsible for 85% of new COVID-19 infections.

At the moment, the CDC's outbreak severity map shows most counties in green (indicating they have a low community burden of infections). But within the last month, a handful of counties have changed color to yellow or orange, indicating medium or high COVID-19 levels.

But Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA head, told Face the Nation on Sunday that the nation is likely “dramatically undercounting cases” with many Americans taking at-home tests—since the results are hardly ever reported to public health agencies.

A poll in mid-March by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that Americans are evenly divided over keeping the mask rule for transportation. 51% wanted the mandate to expire and 48% said it should remain in place—essentially a tie, given the poll's margin of error. Me? I'll happily be wearing a mask anytime I'm squeezed elbow to elbow with strangers inside, but I'm also confident enough to remove my mask just long enough to eat some Biscoff cookies.

↦ Dig Deeper: New COVID cases are on the rise, yet few precautions have come back. NBC News looks into if they ever could come back.

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Western Leaders Pledge More Military Support

It includes weapons and fuel as Russia prepares to launch an eastern offensive

The U.S. and European Union have pledged a combined $1.3 billion more in military aid for Ukraine. President Biden announced assistance on Wednesday, expanding the scope of the systems provided to include heavy artillery ahead of a wider Russian assault.

Yesterday, the Pentagon hosted the CEOs of the military's eight largest prime contractors to figure out how to arm Ukraine soldiers faster, according to a readout of the classified meeting obtained by CNN.

The new package includes 11 Mi-17 helicopters that had been earmarked for Afghanistan before the U.S.-backed government collapsed last year. It also includes 18 155mm howitzers, along with 40,000 artillery rounds, counter-artillery radars, 200 armored personnel carriers and 300 additional Switchblade drones. According to Reuters, this was the first time howitzer cannons have been provided to Ukraine by the United States.

Meanwhile, the war has heightened security fears throughout the world, pushing even formally nonaligned countries toward the Western alliance. Both Sweden and Finland are now even closer to joining NATO. Just another example of the counterproductive results of Putin's aggression. Instead of crushing Ukrainian nationalism, he has enhanced it. Instead of weakening the trans-Atlantic alliance, he has solidified it.

↦ FYI: These images of Zelenskyy show the physical toll that trauma and stress can have on the body.

Are You ‘Hesidating’?

Apparently, dating ambivalently is more dangerous than it sounds

The collective mood throughout the pandemic could summed up as “uncertainty,” so it's no wonder this is seeping into our love lives. An estimated 70% of singles are unsure if they want a relationship or a casual fling, according to a survey from dating app Plenty of Fish.

Pandemic-spurred uncertainty along with low energy likely heightened some people's tendencies towards what the app has dubbed as “hesidating.”

“The last two years halted socializing in a major way, so it makes sense that people may not want to throw themselves into dating, which can require a lot of emotional energy,” one therapist told InStyle. But that fear can prevent a connection from becoming deeper or serious altogether.

There's also an idea that people are falling into two camps—accelerating and hesitating. It taps into the well-known psychological framework for understanding decision-making: maximizers vs satisficers. Basically, maximizers take a while to make decisions by doing lots of research to find the best outcome whereas satisficers want to make decisions quickly and go with their gut. Are maximizers hesitating while satisficers are the ones accelerating by getting engaged and buying a house mid-pandemic?

↦ Warning Sign: How can you tell is someone's hesidating? Insider found that if you hit it off and they express they want to see you again, but never follow through and always leave it to you ... beware.

In Other News

↦ Suspect in Brooklyn Subway Shooting, Frank James, Is Now in Custody

↦ TikTok Is Testing a Dislike Button for Comments

↦ Does Traveling to Every Country Count If You Don’t Post on the Internet?

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

This luxe space balloon

Illegal Cheetos?

Prison Blues

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