The Daily Valet. - 7/12/22, Tuesday

✔️ This Is Something We've Never Seen

July 12, 2022

Tuesday, July 12th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

If you need me, I’ll be over here, reading ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.’

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

A Deeper View of Space

NASA’s new telescope offers a look at ancient galaxies, while ushering in a new age for astronomy

On Monday President Biden unveiled the first full-color image from the James Webb Space Telescope, showcasing thousands of galaxies. It’s a view back in time and beyond our comprehension. “Some of these distant galaxies and star clusters have never been seen before,” CNN’s Ashley Strickland explains. “The galaxy cluster is shown as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago.”

The picture is JWST’s first shot at what astronomers call a deep-field image—when the telescope takes a long look at a tiny patch of space, collecting dim light and revealing extremely distant objects. As seen through the instrument’s sharp, infrared eye, that little patch is populated by swirling, glowing galaxies, some of which existed more than 13 billion years ago, reports National Geographic.

We couldn’t see these galaxies before now partially because of the expansion of the universe: the further away an object is, the faster it is moving away from us and the redder its light appears because of that motion. JWST’s predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, made huge improvements over ground-based telescopes, but was still somewhat limited.

Marina Koren of The Atlantic said the dazzling image released on Monday is what astronomers have been waiting for—“sparkly and beautiful, a great choice for a computer background. It is also, more important, an entirely new view of the universe.” She added, “scientists are giddy, eager to dive into the data behind the pretty pictures.”

The Webb—which launched last Christmas and orbits the sun roughly a million miles from Earth—promises to study planets that orbit distant stars, looking for signs of possible habitability, such as the presence of an atmosphere similar to Earth’s.

Monday’s announcement and image was basically a teaser for the telescope’s big cosmic slide show coming this morning, when scientists reveal what the Webb has been looking at for the past six months. According to NASA, the first batch will reveal the fine details of star formation, an exoplanet’s atmosphere, a cluster of galaxies and a planetary nebula.

↦ Dig Deeper: It took decades to get the telescope into space, and one report found 344 separate things that could have go wrong to potentially derail the entire project.

Save the Sequoias

Fire in Yosemite threatens grove of giant trees first protected by Abraham Lincoln

Firefighters working to protect a grove of giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park gained some ground Monday. The Washburn Fire, which has burned more than 2,300 acres and doubled in size since sparking July 7, is now 25% contained, according to the National Park Service.

The blaze is affecting the southern end of the Northern California park, which includes Mariposa Grove, home to hundreds of mature sequoia trees and Yosemite's largest collection of giant sequoias. The oldest among them is the Grizzly Giant, which is taller than a 20-story building and about 3,000 years old.

In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation safeguarding the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley for “public use, resort, and recreation,” and the Los Angeles Times notes this was “the first time that the federal government set aside scenic natural areas to be protected for the benefit of future generations.”

But the park and the firefighters on the ground are doing as much as possible to protect the trees. “The combination of the removal of the hazard fuels and the prescribed burning that we've done, with the temporary sprinkler system that is in place, we are confident that's giving those giant sequoias the best protection available,” one park ranger with Yosemite Fire, told CNN on Monday.

↦ FYI: The giant sequoia and redwood are closely related but not the exact same kind of tree. The National Park Service explains the differences.

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Make Yourself Comfortable

Here’s how much it takes to be considered ‘financially comfortable’ across the U.S.

Somewhere between living paycheck-to-paycheck and flying private, is the simple goal of being “financially comfortable.” Americans think that threshold is having a net worth of $774,000, a recent survey finds. Sounds pretty comfy, right?

Of course, the amount changes depending on which city you live in. You'll need a net worth over $1 million to be considered financially comfortable by your peers in coastal cities with a high cost of living like San Francisco or New York, according to Charles Schwab's annual Modern Wealth Survey.

To help put things into perspective, the Federal Reserve's most recent data [PDF] shows that the median net worth per American household in 2019 was $121,700.

And while most desired net worths were hovering around a million bucks, there were some outliers. Those surveyed in three out of the 12 largest metro areas (Atlanta, Phoenix and Denver) said their goal was actually less than what was considered the $774K national average.

↦ FYI: Net worth is a measure of the value of the assets a person or corporation owns, minus the liabilities they owe.

It’s Suddenly Hard to Get a Table

The market for must-have reservations is now tougher than ever

Perhaps you've run into this problem, trying to plan a dinner, but reservations have been hard to come by in a lot of cities. The good news is that this proves that consumers are going back to restaurants. The bad news is, well, no tables available.

As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, Resy saw its busiest month ever this April, Tock has experienced record-breaking traffic, and OpenTable reported fewer walk-ins at restaurants in 2022 than in 2019. And according to data from Yelp, searches for reservations in the first quarter of 2022 were up 107% compared to the same period in 2021, and interest in indoor seating is significantly outpacing outdoor dining.

Social media (as it's wont to do) is making things worse. Eater says that in the age of FOMO and posting everything we do, see and eat on social media, the hot table is a particular kind of social currency, one that signifies not only being in the know about where to go but also having the privilege of accessing those spaces.

Of course, there are some ways around this if you really, really want to dine somewhere. Go at less desirable times. The business lunch is all but extinct, so you could try hitting a spot for a midday meal. And some restaurants are staying open later for night owls on the hunt for good food in a stylish environment. Honestly, I'd have a better time tucked into a nice booth with a midnight snack than at a crowded club, so I get it.

↦ Go Old School: Not seeing open tables on a restaurant’s online reservation portal? Try calling. You could get on a waiting list not offered online.

In Other News

↦ U.S. Renewable Energy Hit Record 28% … What’s Driving the Change?

↦ The 17th-Century Spanish Galleon That Inspired ‘The Goonies’ May Have Washed Ashore in Oregon

↦ Traveling Internationally? Don’t Overpay to Use Your Phone.

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Smoked onion dip

Japanese sunscreen

‘Like’ inflation

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