Chompin' at the bit

Back in grade school there’s no doubt you had one of these classic beauties stashed in your desk. Did you ever actually use it? Sure. Sometimes as a ruler, sometimes as a drumstick, and sometimes you probably gave it a good ol’ chew 🤣

Your teacher might’ve given you grief for chomping away, but it turns out there may be benefits. Chewing on wood helps the brain’s blood supply get pumping, and a new study suggests that it could improve cognition and memory.

Isn’t it good? ;)

(Love nostalgia? Play today’s trivia below for a chance to win a $25 Tim Hortons eGift Card!)

IN THE NEWS

Carney axes the tax (sort of)

According to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is "the same Liberal gang with the same Liberal agenda, the same Liberal results, and the same Liberal promise of the last 10 years.”

The reality is that 18 of Carney’s new 23-member cabinet were not ministers for Justin Trudeau. On top of that, Poilievre may now have to reassess his modes of attack on the new administration, given the suspension of the consumer carbon tax as Carney’s first move in office.

Poilievre was quick to point out the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act remains the law of the land, which means the fuel surcharge could be reintroduced by a new Liberal government should it win the election Carney is expected to call this week.

Still, Poilievre has been demanding a “carbon tax election” for at least a year, and it appears that weapon has now been removed from his arsenal. Gas prices will noticeably drop by over 17 cents on April 1 as a consequence of Carney’s pen stroke.

Should Carney move to ask the governor general for a writ of election this week, Canadians will go to the polls sometime in late April or early May.

CONSUMER

Grocers ramp up ready-made meal offerings

As consumers continue to look for convenience but pull back on discretionary spending, grocery stores are looking to bridge the gap with a larger variety of ready-made meal offerings.

It’s easy to go to a restaurant instead of making dinner, but you have to be willing to pay the price for the convenience. If grocers are offering more than just the standard rotisserie chicken or pasta salad, consumers may find there’s something there for them to satisfy the desire for convenience without breaking the bank.

This trend isn’t particularly new, according to Canada’s top grocers. For example, Jana Sobey, senior vice-president of fresh merchandising at Empire-owned Sobeys, says the store saw ready-made meal sales rise during the period of inflation coming out of the pandemic, but she believes it’s a longer-term pivot, and isn’t going to go away even if prices continue to stabilize.

Tariff uncertainty notwithstanding, prices may not be rising as rapidly as they were two years ago, but they’re still way higher, giving consumers all-the-more reason to look for the middle ground offered by a greater selection of ready-made meals.

MONEY MONDAYS

GST holiday ends, inflation ticks up

Economists polled by Reuters believe the consumer price index likely rose to 2.2% in February in response to the federal GST holiday ending on Feb. 15.

The tax break was implemented on Dec. 15 to give consumers relief during the holiday season, and it resulted in a decline of the CPI that month. However, Benjamin Reitzes, BMO’s managing director of Canadian rates and macro strategist, says that same effect was likely reversed last month.

“That helped pull prices down in December and January and now, it’s going to do the exact opposite in February and March,” he said in an interview.

Some think the effects will be more pronounced, with RBC economists Nathan Janzen and Carrie Freestone expecting inflation rose to 2.5% last month.

Tariff-induced inflation could be combining with the sustained momentum the Canadian economy carried into the year. They said “concerns that intensifying international trade risks will weigh on the economy are overshadowing stronger recent growth data,” with further rate cuts potentially intensifying the pace of inflation that would be induced by prolonged American tariffs on Canadian goods.

The Bank of Canada continues to have the difficult task of trying to keep inflation at bay—usually done by raising interest rates—and propping up consumer demand, which is usually accomplished by lowering them.

HEALTH

How fitness trackers work

Fitness trackers are probably most popular for their ability to measure and analyze a person’s heart rate, but few are aware of the actual technology behind their ability to do this.

Called photoplethysmography (PPG), the technology is used in smart watches and smart rings, and comes down to the simple ability of the device to track light absorption by the body’s tissues and blood cells.

The PPG sensor will detect the changes in blood volume and pressure that occur when the heart muscle contracts (systolic) and when it relaxes (diastolic), allowing it to determine the rate at which the heart is beating, along with several other key pieces of information that allow it to evaluate heart health.

It does this by emitting light beams at a certain wavelength to “see” how much blood is coursing through the veins and arteries. Hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells, absorbs some of this light, so the less light that gets reflected back to the sensor, the higher the volume of blood.

There are impediments to the accuracy of such tools, including the thickness of the skin, how tightly affixed the device is, and heart conditions like arrythmia. Still, these devices can be incredibly important tools for those with health conditions that require constant monitoring.

ODDITIES

Can AI tell time?

The AI race is causing companies to develop the skills of large language models at a rapid pace, with plenty at this point able to complete tasks that would take humans hours, days, or even years in mere seconds or minutes.

However, when it comes to the simple task of looking at a clock and understanding what time it is, a new study found multimodal large language models (MLLM) fall well short of the human mark.

“The ability to interpret and reason about time from visual inputs is critical for many real-world applications—ranging from event scheduling to autonomous systems,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Despite advances in MLLMs, most work has focused on object detection, image captioning, or scene understanding, leaving temporal inference underexplored.”

The researchers at Edinburgh University tested several well-known MLLMs, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and a handful of others, and had them analyze analog clocks to determine the time they displayed. On average, they answered correctly less than 25% of the time.

The researchers said AI will need significant improvements in non-trivial numerical reasoning and visual recognition if the tools are to be further adopted into everyday life.

SPORTS

This is March

March Madness starts this Thursday, and fans are in for a treat. The tournament’s history is full of ups and downs, legendary runs and historic upsets, and is tremendously exciting for its one-and-done knockout rules. 64 teams have a shot at glory, if they can just win their next six games.

Its immense popularity is partly rooted in bracketology. Billions are wagered every year in office pools, online mega pools, and pools between friends, all vying to predict that perfect bracket.

The mythological achievement has never come close to being accomplished. The odds of predicting the outcome of all 63 games are one in 9.2 quintillion. The closest anyone ever got was Gregg Nigl, a neuropsychologist from Columbus, Ohio who correctly predicted the winners of the first 49 games of the 2019 tournament in what was still an outrageous accomplishment.

The NCAA says there are roughly 8.5 upsets every year, though it certainly fluctuates, and sometimes they are humungous. There were a whopping 14 upsets in 2021.

A 16 seed has shocked the world and eliminated a number one seed twice in tournament history, both fairly recently (UMBC over Virginia in 2018, and Farleigh Dickenson over Purdue in 2023).

For sports fans, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Enjoy the ride!

RECREATION

Where’s Staker Paul?

It’s been a while since we caught up with Staker Paul. Last week we sent him to the National Home Show in Toronto to do some sleuthing and find out about a topic many of you have told us you’re interested in. 🕵️

He discovered there are lots of options, plenty of builders, and a variety of structures if you’re in the market for a secondary dwelling unit on your property!

STAKE TRIVIA

Quiz me, I’m Irish!

Happy St. Patrick’s day, Staker! ☘️ 

To celebrate, we’ll be quizzing you on some of Ireland’s finest pop cultural exports with today’s trivia! Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 Tim Hortons eGift Card ;)

Winner will be announced tomorrow afternoon—keep an eye on your inbox!*

Have a great day ahead Staker!

Today’s issue written by Michael Cowan, Joey Cowan, and Maureen Norman.


*SEE FULL STAKE TRIVIA CONTEST RULES HERE.