Newsletter Dec 30, 2021

If you are hoping for good news on the COVID front, I'm afraid we have bad news -- worldwide outbreaks, testing woes and fear of future variants.

3 things you must know
Markets
DJIA 36,488.63 0.25%
S&P 500 4,793.06 0.14%
Nasdaq Composite 15,766.22 -0.10%
Japan: Nikkei 225 28,886.09 -0.07%
UK: FTSE 100 7,420.69 0.66%
Crude Oil Futures 76.80 0.31%
Gold Futures 1,802.80 -0.17%
Yen 115.04 0.06%
Euro 1.13 -0.07%
* As of market close

Baked Alaska: The latest climate canumdrum

The biggest misconception about global warming is that it only makes the planet hotter. Often that's the case, as in Alaska's summer-like winter, but the effects also include extreme and unprecedented weather patterns, like wildfires in the Arctic Circle and Amazon Rain Forest, mega-storms on the Gulf Coast, or ice storms in Texas -- all of which happened in 2021.

CHECK OUT AN END-OF-THE-YEAR REPORT ON CLIMATE CHANGE



Maxwell guilty on 5 counts of sex trafficking

Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was found guilty Wednesday on five of six counts of sex trafficking and other crimes. A federal jury in New York found Maxwell guilty of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and other crimes, but acquitted her on one count..

FIND OUT HOW MUCH PRISON TIME MAXWELL COULD BE FACING


China's 'snow guns' raise red flags at Games

As Beijing races to the finish line to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, there's a storm brewing behind the scenes over the use of "snow guns" to create the surface needed for multiple events. While artificial snow is not new to the Winter Games, China's use of 300 turbines and mass amounts of water to make it snow in one of the nation's driest regions is a hot topic.

SEE HOW CHINA IS DEALING WITH THE SNOWBALLING SITUATION


Fake flakes

When and where was artificial snow first used for the Winter Games?

Wednesday's answer: Luminar Technologies CEO Austin Russell shares his name with the "Pawn Stars" reality TV flack better known as Chumlee.

Fast Start fever

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