All wrapped up

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Winter blends of gas available early to combat supply crisis; €1 homes on the market in Sicily; and why people say “Roger that.”

Let’s get into it!

Naro may not be a Sicilian destination like Palermo or Catania, but it’s sure looking attractive for many these days, given that it’s the latest Italian township making efforts to lure new residents by listing homes for just €1.

Located on the southwest of Sicily in the Agrigento province, the medieval town has obviously been around for quite some time, but wear and tear, depopulation, and just the passage of time have rendered lots of it unliveable.

As many of its neighbors have discovered, recruiting aspiring homeowners to restore the place of their choosing has proven to be a successful revitalization plan. After all, if all you have to spend to get the home is €1, you’ve got plenty left over for renovations.

There are certain costs the buyer is actually required to cover, but to be frank, some of the available properties are run down enough that anyone interested in buying one would have to also be planning on restoring it.

Naro has some pretty cool time capsules. Its Golden Gate—known locally as Porta d’Oro—is one of what was once a group of seven gates providing access to the city as far back as the 1200s.

Every now and then, consumers decide to go in a different direction, and are heading there en masse, often before they even realize it. Whoever finds out which direction that is first ends up winning, and more often than not, that’s Coca-Cola.

When did dirty soda become so popular? It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment, but the moment the trend became irreversible was probably when Coke identified it, fired up its secret innovation labs at an anonymous Atlanta office park a few miles from its global headquarters, and got to work.

Dirty sodas have taken over fast food joints, movie theaters, convenience stores, and are making their way to arenas and stadiums. Colors, creams, flavored fruit juices—these are the staples of the dirty soda, and Coke is all over them.

“It’s our job to ensure that we’re providing unique experiences and beverages because it’s not a bonus now with consumers—it’s the norm, they expect it,” said Megan Tallman, Coke’s vice president of dispensed equipment and innovation for its North American business.

“When you think about Gen Z, they are okay paying $10 for a drink that is craveable and that they can show on their Instagram or on TikTok, which is helping our customers drive margin and also beverage attachment.”

Stake featured a story yesterday on the communication skill known as “looping,” which is used to help people establish understanding in a potentially confusing situation.

When the understanding has been established, however, and one just needs confirmation of that, the solution is a lot simpler.

“Roger that”—or simply “Roger”—is a phrase used today both colloquially and officially to affirm understanding.

Its origins can be traced to 1941 U.S. radio communications during the Second World War, when phonetic alphabets became vitally important for clarity when communicating coded military matters.

A phonetic alphabet uses words to represent letters—words that are very hard to confuse for different ones. You’ve probably heard the phrase “Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot,” which is a clever way of expressing the acronym each word’s initials form when placed together.

For the longest time, Roger acted for the letter “R” in the phonetic alphabet, and the phrase “Roger that” was referring to the first letter of the word “received,” as in “(message) received.”

Today, it’s basically transcended the phonetic alphabet and acts as its own phrase, while the phonetic alphabet now uses “Romeo,” rather than “Roger.”

For bonus points, next time you hear someone say “copy that,” you can tell them with utmost confidence that they are misusing the phrase, replacing the correct word “Roger” with the incorrect word, “copy.”

Triumph’s Rock & Roll Machine Reloaded Tour is indeed reloading for a second North American leg, with presale tickets set to go on sale this morning at 10 a.m. ET.

The public sale begins on Thursday morning, with the band scheduled to depart for 16 new dates beginning on Nov. 17 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The tour in celebration of Triumph’s 50 years in the business has been a resounding success so far. Though bassist Mike Levine hasn’t been able to perform due to health issues, he’s reportedly been heavily involved with the reunion regardless.

He helped frontman/guitarist Rik Emmett and drummer/singer Gil Moore hook up with Todd Kerns and Brent Fitz, two “Conspirators” who respectively play bass and drums with Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.

Phil X (who’s played with Bon Jovi since Ritchie Sambora’s departure) has also been a staple piece of the super-charged version of the lineup, helping the first leg of the tour feature near-capacity crowds at nearly every venue.

"It does not get any better than this for me in this life,” Emmett said at a June show in Detroit. This is a great, great gift to get as a senior citizen. You guys, us guys, this is the magic power of music."

You’re in the right place

Based on the title alone, a show like WKRP became synonymous with Cincinnati. Do you know the cities in which these other shows were set though? Find out, with today’s trivia 😏