🐤 A quiet ride

🏦 Markets: January ended on a positive note for the stock market in general with all three indexes closing more than 1% higher for the day. It was enough to mark the S&P 500’s best January since 2019 and the Nasdaq Composite, which was Tuesday’s biggest winner, hasn’t seen a January this good in 22 years.

Some of the optimism on display was related to strong earnings reports by companies including General Motors and Exxon Mobile. The gains were bolstered by positive economic indicators — including expectations that the Federal Reserve will only raise interest rates by another quarter of a point.

🏈 Test results: When San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy was sidelined in the first quarter of the team’s recent NFC championship game, it seemed clear that the Philadelphia Eagles were on their way to clinching a spot in the Super Bowl. Compounding the frustrating timing of his injury, tests on Purdy’s elbow show that he suffered a complete tear of his UCL, which likely means a more prolonged recovery period than teammates, coaches, and fans had hoped. As it stands, he’s likely to be out of commission for six months or more instead of the six weeks that it would’ve taken to come back from a less serious injury. The 49ers indicated that he’ll be getting a second opinion, but it’s obvious that this is troubling news that will probably have a ripple effect well into next season.

🚗 Tesla promises: Electric automaker Tesla has gained significant attention for its Autopilot feature, which has been sold as a self-driving feature that eliminates the need for traditional human interaction. Although CEO Elon Musk has made it clear that the system isn’t quite up to the standards of a truly autonomous vehicle, some regulators nevertheless believe the company has come short of living up to its own hype. Now, the Department of Justice is calling on the company to hand over relevant documents. For its part, the company is vigorously defending itself against a regulatory move it says could seriously damage its profitability. In an official document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, Tesla asserted: “To our knowledge no government agency in any ongoing investigation has concluded that any wrongdoing occurred.”

🍗 Cafeteria crimes: Authorities in Cook County, Illinois, say a former public school official in a Chicago suburb engaged in a brazen embezzlement plot that led to the theft of more than $1.5 million worth of chicken wings from a vendor. Prosecutors say Vera Liddell was working as a school district food services director during the pandemic when students weren’t in class but vendors continued to provide food for meals that kids could pick up and take home. This allegedly provided her with the opportunity to order about 11,000 cases of chicken wings between July 2020 and February 2022 that did not feed district students. In fact, the bone-in wings are not even served at any of the schools. An audit about a year ago determined that the district was far over its annual budget with about half the school year left. Surveillance footage showed Liddell pick up the wings in a district-owned vehicle, but it’s not clear what she did with them after that.

📮 Big problems: Even in the best of times, there are always some concerns that Americans have about the direction of the country. After months of inflation and the threat of a recession, however, this is a period of particularly weighty national problems. According to a recent survey, there’s one issue that towers above the rest for many Americans. Beating out issues like the economy, soaring consumer prices, and an ongoing immigration problem is dissatisfaction with the country’s leaders. Pollsters found that 21% of respondents cited “the government/poor leadership” as the “most important problem facing this country today,” which is a six-point jump compared to the same question asked a year ago. Tied for second place with 16% each were inflation and the economy.

There’s been a lot of news coverage recently about how tech advancements could mean that robots will soon take various jobs currently being performed by humans. One area in which that is already taking place is among cab drivers.

The rise of automated vehicles has created a new industry of so-called robotaxis — and San Francisco, California, is a compelling proving ground to showcase how effective it can be.

A tale of two companies

At the forefront of this movement are two companies: Waymo and Cruise. While they essentially follow the same broad business plan of providing driverless cab rides for folks across the Bay Area, Cruise has taken an early lead over its chief rival.

Cruise has received the authorization necessary to charge riders for an autonomous trip in its vehicles whereas Waymo can only pick up paying fares if there’s a human driver behind the wheel.

Of course, Waymo does still send its cars out without a driver but those rides are free and reserved for employees or their friends and family.

Appealing to the CPUC

The California Public Utilities Commission is responsible for bestowing the authorization necessary to carry passengers in driverless vehicles, so both companies have a clear interest in making their respective cases.

In recent days, Waymo and Cruise have both appeared before the panel to deliver their quarterly numbers, which revealed a sharp uptick in both the total number of passengers and distance traveled.

• Cruise carried 2,783 paid passengers in autonomous vehicles, traveling more than 26,838 miles.
• Waymo took nearly 8,000 passengers more than 410,700 miles, but only 183 trips were in driverless vehicles.
• Cruise’s total was four times higher than the previous quarter and there was only one minor crash reported during the three-month period.

If you’re in the gaming community, you’ve probably heard of the influencer group known as FaZe Clan. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, don’t feel bad … I wasn’t either until I started researching its spectacular loss of clout and value.

A brief history

Dating back to 2010, FaZe Clan rose to prominence on streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube. It grew to include a number of rising e-gaming stars who competed in a range of video games.

Pretty soon, the group’s appeal extended beyond gameplay as fans took an interest in the lives of its members. Their content started to include videos that resembled a reality show, such as footage that showed the influencers inside a common residence known as the Clout House.

Going public

This group of gaming influencers attempted to ride the wave of e-sports popularity all the way to Wall Street riches when it went public last year. There was some initial excitement over the news as celebrities and industry insiders began to tout the potential for growth.

At that time, the company cited its value at a staggering $700 million — but it only took about six months for almost all of that supposed value to evaporate.

As of Jan. 20, the price of one share dipped below $1 and it has only gotten worse since then.

Impending disaster

Much like any other social media influencer, the key to profitability for FaZe Clan was its penchant for selling ads. Its partnerships with cultural icons like Snoop Dogg and Pitbull seemed promising enough, and CEO Lee Trink had a range of lofty ideas that could help the company bring in even more revenue.

So far, it hasn’t paid off — and FaZe Clan is in danger of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

The longer a person goes without working out, the more daunting the thought of restarting the process seems. If that sounds like you, pay attention to some of the facts that experts have to offer about what it means to lose fitness — and more importantly, how to get it back.

Identifying the signs

If it’s been a while since your last vigorous run or strength training workout, you have probably already started to experience some of the telltale signs that you’ve lost some of your fitness. Researchers say that the speed at which people experience this decline accelerates as we age, which means those in their 50s or 60s can’t afford to take as much time off from the gym as folks in their 20s or 30s.

Here are some of the effects of prolonged inactivity:

• Your endurance begins to decrease.
• Your heart pumps less blood through your veins.
• Your supply of oxygenated blood drops.

All of this combines to make that first workout after a long hiatus seem exceptionally difficult. You’ll probably be breathing harder and will likely see your heart rate spike higher than usual.

Don’t give up

Although it might be difficult to reignite your physical fitness, it’s clearly worth the effort. As for how long it will take to make up for lost time, that depends on a few factors.

Those who have a history of working out prior to a period of inactivity appear to have a sort of muscle memory that prevents a full loss of fitness. This makes it easier to get back into shape than someone who has never been active.

Furthermore, the higher the intensity of your workouts, the faster you’ll be able to rebound.

The important takeaway is that you need to get moving, even if it starts out slow.