🐤 Welcome aboard

🏦 Markets: Wednesday started out promising enough on Wednesday, but the early optimism soon faded in light of St. Louis Fed President James Bullard’s endorsement of additional interest rate increases.

There was some good economic news in the producer-price analysis, though, which showed that supplier prices were only up 6.2% in December compared to the same month one year earlier.

In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin’s value dipped below $21,000 with losses topping 2% and Ethereum fared even worse, dropping 3% on Wednesday.

🚜 Low-speed chase: Police officers must be prepared for anything, but they were caught off guard this week when a suspect took off down a North Carolina road in a stolen tractor. The ensuing chase lasted more than an hour and hit speeds of a blistering 20 miles per hour. Officers in Boone were first alerted to the situation after receiving reports of an individual driving “erratically” in a parking lot — and the suspect went on to collide with a church, multiple vehicles, and a dumpster on his lawless journey. When he got close to a school, however, pursuing officers took decisive action by shooting out the tractor’s tires. The suspect emerged with a knife and police used a stun gun to detain him. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

💸 What the Zelle? A number of Bank of America customers who also use the mobile app Zelle said they saw unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts this week. A short time later, Bank of America confirmed that it has fixed the problem. For its part, Zelle pointed a finger at the bank and confirmed that transactions on its platform “outside of Bank of America are not impacted.” Nevertheless, Zelle has been on the receiving end of criticism from the likes of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who tweeted that both the app and Bank of America “are apparently failing customers again.”

📱 The naked truth: Amid ongoing pressure from a loose affiliation of activists representing the “free the nipple” movement, Meta has altered its prohibition of uncovered breasts in Facebook and Instagram posts. The company’s oversight board offered an olive branch to those who believe all nipples should be allowed, but it doesn’t go far enough for many critics of the prohibition. Only transgender and non-binary users will be able to post their breasts, meaning that photos of topless women who were born female and identify as such will still be taken down. Of course, it’s not entirely clear how users will be able to prove that they fall into one of the protected categories and Meta explained that it will use “human reviewers” to make the final call. The board confirmed this isn’t a final decision and that there will be “additional nipple-related exceptions based on contexts of protest, birth-giving, and breastfeeding which it did not examine here, but also must be assessed.”

⚡ Breaking free: Russia’s ongoing invasion of neighboring Ukraine has created a serious crisis across much of Europe, where nations have depended on Russian energy sources for many years. Confronted with threats of insufficient supply and possible blackouts, however, Germany took the necessary steps to divest itself from Russia and find new sources of energy. According to German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, his country “is still dependent on energy imports, but today, not from Russian imports but from global markets.” This marks a significant shift for a country that recently received about half of its gas from Russia.

In the golden age of airline travel, the job of a flight attendant was often held up as a glamorous profession. Nowadays, however, the unwashed masses are crammed into jets day in and day out as flight attendants serve as the first line of defense against all types of possible midair disruptions.

As a result, they must be prepared for just about anything — and their training covers a wide range of potential issues.

Six hard weeks of school

United Airlines’ training program is representative of the modern industry and includes a series of tests, drills, and seminars that spans six weeks at a massive facility in Houston, Texas.

According to airline executive Michielle Sego-Johnson, the carrier expects to add about 4,000 new flight attendants this year, just a small fraction of the 69,000 people who apply annually.

In order to join that elite group, applicants must excel in a range of disciplines, including:

• Typical tasks like opening jet doors and serving refreshments to guests
• Staying calm and in control during an emergency water landing
• De-escalating situations involving an unruly passenger

There have been many recent cases of upset passengers causing a scene during a flight — and training includes role-playing exercises designed to prepare newbies for such issues.

Is it worth the hassle?

Becoming a flight attendant requires hard work and an ability to react quickly to a range of situations. Nevertheless, thousands of people are competing to fill positions that were left vacant due to pandemic-related layoffs and resignations.

Former firefighter Kylie Streck is one of them, explaining that she thinks she’s ready for the challenge.

"You're going to be a firefighter, you're going to be a healthcare responder,” she said. “You get to be in customer service and you get to travel the world.”

I’m not going to pretend I’m an expert in the paranormal realm or the afterlife. But there have been countless accounts throughout history regarding haunted houses — and not all that many definitive explanations.

So if you’re concerned about some weird stuff happening in your home, you should probably listen to someone like Craig Weiler. Not only does he work for a site called Paranormal Daily News, but his day job is that of a general building contractor. Wearing both hats, he sought to provide some possible explanations for three of the most common characteristics of a “haunted house.”

Flickering Lights

If there are some electric anomalies that cause lights to randomly turn off and you’ve been chalking it up to an apparition, Weiler advises that it’s probably due to a thermal sensor that automatically shuts them off at a certain temperature. You can check by turning the lights off for a while and allowing them to cool down and seeing if they turn off after they have a chance to heat up again.

Unexplained Creaks

Strange noises are often attributed to visiting spirits, but Weiler said there’s usually a much less spooky explanation. For example, a nail pop can occur in bent or warped wood and produce a quite loud sound that comes out of nowhere. Although it can happen at any time, such pops are most common following an abrupt temperature change.

Opening doors

Some homes have a specific door or two that just refuses to stay shut. It might open without warning, which seems like a sure sign of a ghost. According to Weiler, however, the likeliest cause is a gap in the door frame that prevents it from latching securely. An uneven foundation or other issues can cause unlatched doors to open on their own.

Who says the fast food industry doesn’t pay? For Josiah Vargas, a recent trip to a local McDonald’s netted him a fat stash of cash.

He provided a recap of the incident in a TikTok post, explaining that he received his order along with a bag filled with “a couple thousands dollars.”

So what’s going on?

Apparently, it wasn’t a case of an especially generous cashier or a reward for being the millionth customer. Instead, Vargas surmised that someone had inadvertently handed him the restaurant’s cash deposit.

“What’s in this bag?” he asked. “Their f***ing deposits!”

Being the upstanding citizen he is, Vargas returned to the business and handed the bag back to the staff … but not before a moment of introspection as he stepped out of his car.

“Why would you guys do this to me?” he asked himself rhetorically. “Do you know how bad I want this money?”

A hug and a promise

After returning the cash, Vargas provided a follow-up video explaining how staff members reacted.

“They were just all hugging me and thanking me and crying, and I get free McDonald’s for a month, I guess,” he said, adding that he also got a $200 reward.

When he went back to the same location, however, he said that the workers didn’t seem to remember him or their promise.

“They put my name down and my number, and I had to pay for my two McChickens and a Sprite, which is fine,” he said. “I’m not too worried about it.”

It was clear from the responses to his videos that a lot of people wouldn’t have been so virtuous. Others applauded his instinct, including one user who wrote: “Someone kept their job because you did the right thing good on you man.”