The Daily Valet. - 9/29/21, Wednesday

✔️ Big News

September 29, 2021

Wednesday, September 29th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Rarely is a letter from the IRS ever good news.

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today’s edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

Amazon Introduces Astro

The long-awaited home robot is here to follow you around

Amazon’s autonomous flying drone is ready for takeoff. The Ring Always Home Cam is a flying drone and security camera that can patrol your home while you’re away. It was officially announced last year, but never released. Unitl now.

It’s just one of the new robots Amazon is rolling out to the world. The company’s big fall hardware event on Tuesday delivered a huge influx products—a $59 smart thermostat, a new fitness tracker, a wall-mounted smart display and a bunch of new smart home cameras—just to name a few.

But the big thing people were talking about was actually quite compact: After years of rumors and speculations, Amazon finally unveiled Astro, its adorable-looking household robot with a display and wheels.

CNET says it could be the robot we’ve been waiting for. While it sounds like basically an Alexa on wheels, it can do a wide variety of things you might want from a home robot.

It can map out your floor plan and obey commands to go to a specific room. It can recognize faces and deliver items to a specific person. It can play music and answer questions like any Echo smart display. It can be used for video calls, always keeping you in frame by literally following your movements. It can roam around your house when you aren’t home or help observe elderly relatives and connect them with services in an emergency.

But it doesn’t clean up after you. It can’t climb stairs or go outside of your home. That’s part of the reason why it’s releasing it with a limited, invite-only system before launching it to the public. The Verge also points out that people need to be comfortable with it in their home—Astro’s current design isn’t a huge leap from a robot vacuum, but add a bunch of R2-D2-like grabber arms and the ability to open doors and people might start getting uncomfortable.

↦ FYI: Amazon is allowing a limited number of early customers to request to purchase the robot for $999.99.

A Shocking Volcanic Eruption Continues

Lava burns through an island in the Atlantic, the eruptions keep coming

After nearly two weeks, the volcano erupting on a Spanish Island near Morocco is showing no signs of stopping. Lava and smoke continued to spill out onto La Palma in the Canary Islands, destroying homes and infrastructure as it reached the Atlantic Ocean late on Tuesday evening.

Officials said the lava flowing into the sea could trigger explosions and clouds of toxic gases. The local emergency service urged those outdoors to immediately find a safe place to shelter.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano last erupted in 1971, though that event was less significant than the current eruptions. It really says something that despite all the wild natural disasters we've seen lately, some can still really shock you.

National Geographic called the gruesome sight spectacular: “Vertiginous fountains of lava almost 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit screamed skyward, reaching heights of up to 5,000 feet—nearly twice that of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper. Below, braided rivers of molten rock poured from the fissures like blood from open wounds.”

↦ Meanwhile: Today's kids will live through three times as many climate disasters as their grandparents.

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When the weather turns, you need protection. Nothing is more comfortable, or reliable than a waxed jacket.

An IRS Headache

Stimulus payments triggered millions of IRS ‘math error’ notices

Millions of Americans have gotten a scary, confusing letter from the Internal Revenue Service in 2021 saying that they owe more taxes. Making matters worse, the bulk of the letters are about stimulus payments designed to lessen the blow of the pandemic.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the tax agency has sent out some 11 million “math error” notifications to taxpayers, more than five times as many as they sent in 2019 and more than 14 times as many as last year.

Oddly, despite their name, math-error notices aren't just about arithmetic. Instead, they are tax adjustments for a variety of issues detected by IRS computers during return processing. They're not an audit either—the IRS isn't asking to review your financial information for your filing.

If there is a tax balance due, CNBC says recipients may have limited time to respond before the collections process begins, and it can be difficult to reach the IRS. The IRS received more than 167 million phone calls during the 2021 filing season, but only 7% of taxpayers reached an agent.

↦ Got a Letter? You've probably got a few questions. And the IRS doesn't make answers easy to find. Fortune has a guide for what you need to know.

Vegan Bloodbath

Eleven Madison Park took a risk with a menu that’s entirely plant-based

Last year, one of New York City's buzziest three-Michelin-Star restaurants announced its menu would become entirely plant-based. Eleven Madison Park's chef and owner Daniel Humm said at the time, “The current food system is simply not sustainable, in so many ways.”

It was a big risk, of course. And the swap has come at a price almost as hefty as its $355 tasting menu, according to New York Times reviewer Pete Wells, who said, “almost none of the main ingredients taste quite like themselves ... some are so obviously standing in for meat or fish that you almost feel sorry for them … in tonight's performance, the role of the duck will be played by a beet, doing things no root vegetable should be asked to do.”

For years, Humm attracted diners from around the globe for his dry-aged duck breast—so elegant “it was as if the restaurant had hired a professional jeweler to bedazzle the bird's exterior with peppercorns and lavender,” reports Eater. The veggies just don't seem to cut it.

But matters of taste are subjective. The Financial Times review was a tad more optimistic: “It tastes like a perfect duck tenderloin, but not. Like a ballpark hot dog with all the fixings, but not. Like a dense umami-like beet. And also like nothing I've ever tasted.” But is that what you want when you're splurging on a meal? Time will tell.

↦ FYI: The restaurant is not 100% vegan, as it allows milk and honey for tea, and private dining room guests can still get beef.

In Other News

↦ U.S. Government Will Run Out of Money by October 18, Treasury Secretary Says

↦ Why the Hardest Workers Often Go Unnoticed

↦ Jeopardy! Ratings Up Amid Host Controversy

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Small penis fall?

Lime Skittles

Pink velvet Bond

Partner

The Old School Remedy for Bad Weather

Why waxed cotton will never let you down

Invented in a Scottish mill that wove sails for the British clipper fleet back in the 1850s, waxed cotton canvas was developed to waterproof a mariner's clothing and gear. Which is how the legendary British brands like Barbour and Belstaff got the idea to start fortifying their outerwear with a wax coating to combat wet, rainy conditions.

Over the decades, the multi-step process has been refined, yielding jackets that are lighter and more breathable, but still impervious to inclement weather (not to mention road burn and other potential hazards). But thankfully, the protective coating still develops that distinctive worn-in patina after some thorough wearing. They're the ideal outerwear for transitional weather, when the coated cotton shell provides an equal amount of warmth, breathability and protection from precipitation.

Flint and Tinder raised the comfort levels on the classic waxed jacket by cutting theirs from Martexin 7 oz. sailcloth and lining it all the way with a soft, insulating flannel—even down the sleeves. It's so popular, the jacket now comes in nine different colors and holds the record as Huckberry's best-selling jacket of all time. Unlike most of the other waxed jackets on the market, this one is soft right out of the box. But then it molds to your body and gets even softer.

And that's not the only jacket they offer. There are a slew of outerwear options, all benefitting from that proactive waxy layer. Herewith, just a few of our favorites from Huckberry's fall lineup.

Flint and Tinder Flannel-Lined Waxed Trucker Jacket

Flannel-lined waxed Trucker jacket, $268 by Flint and Tinder

Waxed Station jacket, $228 / $147.98 by Proof

Flint and Tinder Flannel-Lined Hudson Jacket

Flannel-lined waxed Hudson jacket, $298 by Flint and Tinder

↦ Want More? See all waxed jackets at Huckberry

5 Discounted Home Essentials

↑ One of Breville's best-rated brewers ($419.93 / $239.95) allows you to brew third wave specialty coffee at home, automatically—and keep it piping hot without damaging the flavor. Preset modes include Gold, Fast, Strong, Iced, Cold Brew and My Brew, all so you can experience your favorite coffee at its best.

↦ Want More? 5 discounted home essentials