🐤 Stuck in the house

⚖️ Trump jury: Although Donald Trump has tried multiple times to delay the start of his hush-money trial, it got underway this week in Manhattan when jury selection began on Monday. But the process soon stalled when more than half of the first group of prospective jurors were dismissed after indicating that they could not be impartial in the highly politicized case. About two hours into the selection process, there had still been no jurors chosen and court was adjourned, marking the first official day in a criminal trial against a former president.

📺 A big plus: The streaming wars continue to rage as platforms jockey for a bigger piece of the market. And Disney Plus is making its bid with a redesigned app that includes some features that could resonate with fans of specific studios and franchises. One notable addition to the service is the development of so-called “always-on” channels, similar to those offered by the free TV app Pluto. Subscribers could soon watch channels dedicated to “Star Wars” or “Marvel” content, as well as classic Disney animation or cartoons from the Pixar studio.

🚢 Bridge update: The collision that resulted in the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge has sparked confusion and speculation regarding how a cargo ship lost power and struck one of the bridge’s structural supports. New details have emerged about the barge, named the Dali, which was reportedly experiencing electrical issues before it emerged from the port on March 26 loaded with containers on its way to Sri Lanka. A source indicated that its refrigerated containers triggered alarms set to go off when there is insufficient power.

🥽 Head of the class: Virtual reality headsets are becoming more common these days, with the Meta Quest becoming one of the segment’s most notable products. But the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has some controversial ideas about when and where its device should be used. Specifically, Meta released a blog post touting a forthcoming product to be used in coordination with the VR headset aimed at classroom instruction. The name and full scope of this product hasn’t been revealed, but more details are expected later this year.

🏦 Markets: There’s plenty of economic news this week to impact the direction of the stock market, but the Wall Street week started with an eye toward the Middle East.

Days after Iran launched a missile and drone attack on Israel, investors were wary about the possibility of a counterattack and what that might mean for the global economy.

The three major indexes tumbled as news from the region trickled in throughout the day.

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Whether you’re in the market for real estate or not, you’ve certainly heard some of the complaints from folks who are shopping around for a home. Mortgage rates are at heights we haven’t seen in a long time and home values have soared in recent years, meaning that the once-ubiquitous aspect of the American dream is slipping out of the grasp of many working-class families.

But there’s another side to this coin. Homeowners with low fixed-rate mortgages say it just doesn’t make sense to sell, even if they want to.

The pandemic divide

Like many complexities at play in the current economy, COVID-19 is a contributing factor. Stimulus money was flowing freely during the pandemic and rock-bottom mortgage rates were widely available. Now, many of the people who took advantage of the opportunity to buy are having second thoughts.

And data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency has puts the situation in stark focus:

• Roughly 1.3 million fewer homes were sold nationwide between spring 2022 and the end of 2023.
• About 70% of mortgage holders had a rate more than 3 points lower than the average current market rate.
• At no time between 1998 and 2020 did more than 40% of locked-in rates undercut the market by more than 1 point.

Inflation complications

Now that we live in an era of rapidly increasing prices (and rates), those with sub-3% fixed rates are in great shape, at least on paper. It’s an asset that currently translates to roughly $50,000 — or more than $500 a month — based on current trends.

But it’s also trapping those borrowers in homes, jobs, and communities that they might otherwise want to leave.

So whether buying a home, selling one, or both is on your agenda, you’re not alone if you’re feeling stuck.

It was a tale of two legends during the 88th Masters Tournament on Sunday.

On one hand, Tiger Woods struggled to even make it to his latest tournament and finished with a disappointing 16-over-par after 72 holes.

On the other hand, Scottie Scheffler (who wasn’t even born when Woods won his first Masters way back in 1997) dominated the tournament and cemented his status as among the best to ever play the sport.

A monumental moment

No one was surprised to see Scheffler win his second consecutive Masters. And it wasn’t a big shock that he became just the second player to win the Masters and The Players Championship in the same season.

Naturally, Woods was the first.

But he did it in a way that even other golfing greats had to admire.

Max Homa, who fell seven shots behind Scheffler in the tournament, remarked: “It’s really impressive. You just know that he’s going to be there and he’s going to play well.”

Scheffler’s athletic 6-foot-3 frame cast an unmistakable shadow over the Masters as he made his nearly flawless shots look simple.

His personal priorities

Winning was obviously the 26-year-old’s goal on Sunday — as he confessed to his friends on the morning of the tournament.

“I told them, I wish I didn’t want to win as badly as I did or as badly as I do,” he said. “I think it would make the mornings easier.”

But winning, or even playing, isn’t everything to Scheffler, whose family (his first child is on the way) and faith keep him grounded.

“My identity is secure already,” he said after his big win. “I get to come out here and compete, have fun, enjoy it, and then at the end of the day — win or lose — my identity is secure.”

It’s a trope as old as popular music itself. One generation maintains a connection to the music of its collective youth while eschewing the next generation’s tunes as objectively worse.

And while that’s clearly still an issue as Gen Z artists start to take over the Billboard charts, there’s a little more to it … as a team of Innsbruck University have recently revealed.

All about the lyrics

Regardless of the genre, most songs have typically involved verses, choruses, and refrains in some fairly structured pattern. And the words themselves often told a relatable story or reflected a familiar emotion. But as a new Scientific Reports study shows, lyrics have evolved significantly over the past several decades to the point that many modern songs bear little resemblance to those from not that long ago.

“Just as literature can be considered a portrayal of society, lyrics also provide a reflection of a society’s shifting norms, emotions, and values over time,” the researchers concluded.

That can be seen in the fact that modern-day lyrics are not only simpler and more repetitive, but also more emotional and personal.

Exploring the data

Researchers took a scientific approach to analyzing the lyrics from popular songs from various genres.

Some of the most notable evidence presented in the study included an increased use of personal pronouns — particularly within the genres of rap and pop music — than in lyrics from previous decades.

Depictions of strong emotion were more prevalent in country and R&B songs than they were in similar genres years ago. And across the board, negative emotions were more common while positive emotions declined.

And with social media dictating the next big thing in music at a faster pace than ever before, we can expect these changes to continue for the foreseeable future.