Get the lights

Do you remember that feeling you had when you heard the unmistakable sound of the A/V trolley? Now that was pure joy. You knew you weren’t getting blockbuster entertainment, but your day instantly got better.

The days of filmstrips and projectors are a far cry from the tech that classrooms have these days. If you ever wanted to experience a treasure trove of past tech though, Tokyo’s got you covered with the museum of defunct technology.

Nothing like the glory days ;)

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

In the early days of the pandemic, the whole world was routinely washing their hands and cleaning surfaces to avoid contracting the virus. Such cleaning routines have subsided for most at this point, but when someone in the house is sick, it’s a good idea to readopt regular surface cleaning.

This is particularly important during cold and flu season, which is being compounded this year by the upward trending spread of RSV and Norovirus, both of which are highly contagious.

So what and how should you be cleaning regularly? When someone in the house isn’t sick, wiping down surfaces with soapy water is probably sufficient. Disinfectant spray like Lysol is more appropriate when there's a known virus hanging around somewhere under your roof.

There’s no need to become the bubble boy; we’ve all been sick at some point, but avoiding more serious illness is certainly ideal as we get older. Wiping down surfaces in the kitchen and bathroom are important, along with all the door handles in the house; it’s almost impossible to describe how many germs can transfer from a person’s hands to a surface they touch. This would include light switches, tables, keys, remote controls, and other electronics.

Bryan Johnson is a 46-year-old centimillionaire singularly focused on de-aging himself. After making his millions as a founder of several tech companies, he founded Blueprint, a company focused on cracking the code of human longevity.

Johnson himself operates as a human test case for the premise that it’s possible to not only slow the aging process, but to reverse it. He’s spent a decade taking over 50 supplements a day to biologically turn his body into that of a teenager.

Unfortunately, at least one of those supplements has not only been failing to assist in his de-aging process, but has possibly been accelerating his aging process.

“Despite the immense potential from pre-clinical trials, my team and I came to the conclusion that the benefits of lifelong dosing of Rapamycin do not justify the hefty side-effects,” he said in a recent post on X.

“With no other underlying causes identified, we suspected Rapamycin, and since dosage adjustments had no effect, we decided to discontinue it entirely. Additionally, on October 27th, a new pre-print indicated that Rapamycin was one of a handful of supposed longevity interventions to cause an increase/acceleration of aging in humans across 16 epigenetic aging clocks.”

New cars are increasingly being designed with electronic door openers rather than the tried-and-true manual handles most auto passengers have used their whole lives. While the electronic designs allow more space for other features and improve aerodynamics on the car’s exterior, they’ve also led to dangerous and potentially fatal outcomes.

For example, a Tesla crash in Toronto last October caused the car to catch fire, taking the lives of four occupants that weren’t able to exit the vehicle because a good Samaritan who stopped to help wasn’t able to open the doors.

These electronic handles require a motor to open the door, and if the car loses power, the door may refuse to open. This isn’t the end of the world under normal circumstances, but in emergency cases like the Toronto Tesla crash, it could be fatal.

“Anyone trapped in a car that has lost power should be able to readily find and use a manual door release, and it should be designed intuitively so that people can get out of the car quickly in an emergency,” says William Wallace, Consumer Reports’ director of safety advocacy.”

Here’s a list of how to open the doors of various newly designed cars when the electronic system fails.

While the British royals may still play a role in the affairs of Canada, Mike and Jamie Jack are considered royalty in an entirely different realm: spicy food.

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, Mike Jack developed an interest in competitive spicy-food-eating in college, starting small with Frank’s and Tabasco Hot Sauce. Years later, he’s come a long way.

“The craziest record that I have is for fastest time to eat 100 Carolina Reaper peppers,” Mike said, referring to one of the 18 Guinness World Records he holds. “I have records for eating a hundred ghost peppers, 50 Carolina Reaper peppers, 25 Carolina Reaper peppers, most ghost peppers eaten in two minutes and yeah, a lot of other crazy spicy stuff.”

How does he do it?

“Eat a lot of food before,” Mike said. “I get pretty full to try to dilute it in my stomach because it’s one thing when it’s pain in your mouth but once it gets to your stomach it’s a whole other issue.”

And of course, he gets inspiration and motivation from his coach and wife, Jamie, who he shares another record with.

“We have a Guinness record for longest habanero kiss,” Jamie said. “So we each ate a habanero pepper and then put our mouths together for 15 minutes.”

Welcome to Stake Trivia 2.0 😎 

To kick things off, we’ll be travelling back to what many believe to be the greatest year for pop culture. Get ready to test your knowledge of the hottest singles from 1984!

Give it a try and earn yourself a chance to win a $25 Amazon eGift Card when you play today’s trivia ;)

Winner will be notified 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.