Numlock News

Photo by Florian Wehde on Unsplash By Walt Hickey This week, I spoke to Chris Dalla Riva about his new story on the decreasing size of Broadway orchestras published on his newsletter Can’t Get Much Higher. Here’s what I wrote about it: Broadway’s orchestras have shrunk and scaled back over the past several decades, a new analysis found.

By Walt Hickey Revolution Wind is up and running off the coast of New England, with the Ørsted offshore wind farm now the largest in New England. The wind farm is off the coast of Rhode Island, has 65 turbines, can generate 704 megawatts and could power 350,000 homes. Despite facing challenges from the federal government, wind power hit an all-time peak in New England at 2,400 megawatts last Friday.

By Walt Hickey The annual report from the Association of Japanese Animations puts the overseas market for anime at 2.54 trillion yen (US$16.1 billion), which is now considerably larger than the Japanese domestic market for anime of 1.91 trillion yen (US$12.1 billion). The international market first passed the domestic market in 2020, and since 2023, the global business has pulled up and away compared to the more modest growth of domestic sales.

By Walt Hickey Many Nigerians skip the grid and generate their own power at home, but rising fuel costs and surging imports have made solar equipment an increasingly popular option, with the tech showing up on wedding registries. Equipment needed to keep a three-person home powered costs $4,500, which will pay for itself in about 16 months; that said, that’s seven times the price of a new petroleum generator, even if the $200 a month in fuel costs will end up costing more in the long run.

By Walt Hickey China is the top producer of tunnel-digging equipment, with state media saying that the country’s global share of the business is around 70 percent of the market, led by top producer China Railway Engineering Equipment Group. The tunnel-boring machines have recently come under export controls.

By Walt Hickey Studios didn’t release any major new movies this past weekend because they got spooked by Halloween falling on a Saturday and outcompeting a new release. The surprise winner of the weekend was You Can See Everything, which has hit No. 1 at the box office for the first time in its third week, a relatively rare feat, making $10.6 million, narrowly beating Clayface with $10.4 million.

By Walt Hickey A quick election-week detour! A few months ago I talked a little about some bigger picture stuff I’m working on with this post: People seemed to enjoy that, so here’s another look at what I’m into. Simon Forman was an astrologer and physician in early modern London.

By Walt Hickey Have a great weekend! In a thrilling finish, the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series, providing the first World Series victory in the history of the team. It was a matchup that proved decisively that teams in smaller markets and spending well below the league average on payroll can still compete without arbitrary rules reining in player compensation.

By Walt Hickey In an exciting moment for nominative determinism, a cruise ship called the Odyssey has encountered a desperate situation stemming from mishaps and mistakes of its pilot, causing terrible problems for those onboard with little hope that it will complete the journey. The 642-foot cruise ship sold passengers on a years-long voyage around the world, with passengers paying Florida-based Villa Vie Residences $100,000 and up for a cabin.

By Walt Hickey Crab traps are typically dropped from fishing boats, suspended from buoys, and then hours later dragged up by boats that hunt them. Ropeless traps promise to both catch the crabs but also avoid trapping the whales that have been snared by conventional traps, though their implementation can be controversial.