The Daily Valet. - 7/13/23, Thursday
✔️ Welcome to the New Epoch
Thursday, July 13th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
Is it too early to rewatch 'Succession'?
Today’s Big Story
A New Geologic Epoch
Scientists say they’ve found a site that marks a whole new chapter in Earth’s history
The news reminded me of T.S. Eliot's famous words: “This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.” Not that we're talking about the world ending, but a quiet, humble lake in a Canadian suburb may soon become the symbolic starting point for a radical new chapter in Earth's official history: the Anthropocene, or the age of humans.A group of scientists this week said the best evidence for humanity's overwhelming impact on the planet could be found at Crawford Lake in Milton, Ontario. The lake's finely layered sediments contain a thousand-year record of environmental history, culminating in an explosion of man-made disruption around the middle of the 20th century. That's when scientists say human activities began to leave an indelible imprint on Earth's geologic record.The term Anthropocene (derived from the Greek terms for “human” and “new”) was first proposed in 2000 to reflect how profoundly human activity has altered the world—everything from nuclear weapons tests and fossil fuel combustion to deforestation, species loss and pollution. It's since become a commonly used academic buzzword uniting different fields of study.“When it's 8 billion people all having an impact on the planet, there's bound to be a repercussion,” scientist Colin Waters, chair of the Anthropocene Working Group, told CNN. “We've moved into this new Earth state and that should be defined by a new geological epoch.” The AWG (currently comprised of more than 35 geologists) has been working since 2009 to make the Anthropocene part of Earth's official timeline.According to NPR, this puts the power of humans in a somewhat similar class with the meteorite that crashed into Earth 66 million years ago, killing off dinosaurs and starting the Cenozoic Era, or what is conversationally known as the age of mammals. But not quite. While that meteorite started a whole new era, the working group is proposing that humans only started a new epoch ... which is a much smaller geologic time period. So we got that going for us.
Meanwhile:
An intensifying heat wave just prompted the National Weather Service to issue heat alerts for more than 112 million people.
Biden Vows U.S. and Allies Support For Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine stressed his gratitude for NATO’s military support
Leaders at the two-day NATO summit in Lithuania opened a way to Sweden's accession into the alliance, along with providing new security commitments to Ukraine and made the strongest pledges yet that the country would one day become a member.President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, whose attendance had been in doubt, thanked NATO countries for their new package of security assistance, as well as for the creation of the NATO-Ukraine Council. “We have removed any doubts about whether Ukraine will be in NATO,” he said. “It will be! For the first time, not only do all allies agree on this, but a significant majority in the alliance is vigorously pushing for it.”President Biden said that support for Ukraine “will not waver,” no matter how long the war continued. He added that Putin “thought our unity would shatter at the first testing. He thought democratic leaders would be weak. But he thought wrong.” Some said the NATO summit provided a test of Biden's promise upon taking office that his administration would repair America's international relationships—which could be why he wrapped up his speech by saying “We face a choice between a world defined by coercion and exploitation ... or a world where we recognize that our own success is bound to the success of others ... when others do better, we do better, as well.”
Dig Deeper:
Foreign Affairs looks into the necessity of building a stronger NATO for a more dangerous world.
Sort of like ChatGPT, it pulls information from various websites, rewords it, and puts that text on top of your search results. In the process, it stifles traffic to the rest of the internet ... and might eventually set off a doom loop for the web as we know it.”
- The Atlantic on how Google's new search will eat the internet alive
Americans Are Getting a Raise
Wages are finally rising faster than inflation
For much of the post-pandemic period, U.S. consumers have experienced rapid price increases that could be felt in almost every aspect of life, from food and gas to hotels, airfares and cars. But finally, the price-growth fever appears to be breaking.And that means Americans are getting an indirect raise. Because while paychecks have gotten bigger in the last two years, they weren't enough to keep up with inflation. But now, lower inflation means the average worker is seeing rising purchasing power. Real average hourly earnings are up 1.2% in the 12 months ended in June, the Labor Department said Wednesday following the release of the latest inflation data.For the 80% of U.S. workers in nonsupervisory roles—basically anyone who reports to a manager—the wage growth was even greater: a 2.2% increase year over year, compared to June 2022 when it had declined by 2.7% on an annual basis, reports NBC News. The question now is whether the labor market will be strong enough to keep real wage gains coming. According to Axios, “continued real wage gains depend on which happens faster: falling inflation rates or a softening labor market, leading to smaller raises for workers.”
Emmy Noms and Snubs
Who were the Real Winners and Losers of the 2023 Emmy Nominations?
The nominations for the 75th Emmy Awards were announced on Wednesday, and while it was business as usual, the same can't be said for Hollywood at the moment. Strikes are swirling and as a result, the Emmys ceremony might not even happen in September as originally planned, especially if studios go ahead with an ill-advised plan to avoid bargaining with the WGA until the fall.HBO is clearly the winner. But even by HBO's standards, this was an especially impressive year. It seemed like every character from everyone's favorites, Succession and The White Lotus, was nominated. They dominated with 127 total nominations, including some for The Last of Us and House of the Dragon. It was the first time in three decades that a single network landed four nominations in the Best Drama category.And Ted Lasso, the Apple TV+ awards favorite, notched 21 nominations—the most of any comedy, for its third (and possibly last) season. Still, there were some welcome surprise nominations, especially for under-the-radar gems like Jury Duty, Bad Sisters and The Diplomat. But even in the waning days of peak TV, there were still several shows and performances that were shockingly passed over for recognition: Atlanta was all but passed over? No Abbott Elementary in comedy writing?! Come on.
Meanwhile:
Another strike looms as 160,000 actors plan to join already-striking writers on the picket lines today if current negotiations fail.
In Other News
Millennial and Gen Z homeowners plan to stay put for nearly two decades.
Have you heard about ...
Get Rid of All Sweat Stains
How to fix summer’s most ubiquitous problem
During the dog days of summer, a little sweat is cool. Literally. Sweating is the body's way to regulate heat—dispersing perspiration from millions of sweat glands. It's effective, sure, but that doesn't mean this glaze of natural coolant doesn't mess up some perfectly good clothes from time to time.Depending on the amount you perspire, you could be dealing with some salty stains. Not to mention, some seemingly baked-in odors. But fear not, these items aren't ruined. They just need to be cleaned properly. For the latest in our Summer Survival Guide, we hit up a few experts to see what they recommend.
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What We’re Buying
A Prime Day deal that's still going strong
From now until July 15, Target Deal Days is going strong, featuring the retailer's biggest discounts of the season. We're picking up this great sounding Bluetooth-connected record player.
Get It:
Brighton record player, $99.99 / $80.99 by Victrola
Morning Motto
Only you know what will make you happy.
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