Hold your applause

You probably felt torn when you first saw The Clapper. Did you need it? No. But you wanted it anyway, and couldn’t get the jingle out of your head. So long as you didn’t have a dog that set it off by barking, they actually were pretty…handy 😉

Like the inventor of The Clapper, you likely remember having some aha moments, even if they didn’t launch businesses. As it turns out, we’re way more likely to remember learning through a eureka-like moment than lessons intentionally learned. 

Nothing like a lightbulb going off ;)

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

WEEKLY POLL

Here’s what you said

IN THE NEWS

Rising steel and aluminum tariffs to lift grocery prices

Most Americans intuitively understand that if oil prices rise, so will prices for nearly everything else. The same tends to apply to other major commodities as well, albeit to a lesser extent. Those include steel and aluminum, and prices for both may be about to skyrocket with President Donald Trump’s Friday announcement that he’s doubling tariffs on each to 50%.

Both steel and aluminum have been targets of President Trump’s tariff policy since the beginning of his crusade to charge foreign businesses for access to the American market. Both are also ubiquitous products, often unnoticed until they’re unavailable or cost more.

Grocery items rely heavily on aluminum and steel for packaging, for example, which would mean if they’re actually tariffed at 50%, there’d be no way to avoid grocery prices rising considerably as well.

“It plays into the hands of China and other foreign canned food producers, which are more than happy to undercut American farmers and food producers,” insists Can Manufacturers Institute president Robert Budway. “Doubling the steel tariff will further increase the cost of canned goods at the grocery store.”

While some big businesses are able to frontload their inventory orders ahead of such tariffs kicking in, small businesses have no such recourse, which could lead not only to a tariff-induced price spike, but also one caused by a drop in supply as smaller players are forced out of business.

TRAVEL TUESDAYS

Summer deals galore

Typically by this time of the year most cheap deals for airfare from major North American cities to major European destinations have dried up, if you’re looking to book roundtrip flights for peak summer travel season.

That’s not so much the case this year, according to travel agents and travel data firms like Cirium, who’ve found global economic uncertainty and the likelihood of a global slowdown are causing demand for airfare to wither. This has led to a widened “Goldilocks window” for deals on trans-Atlantic flights.

For example, according to travel agent Katy Nastro of airfare-tracking site Going, mid-July roundtrip airfare from New York to Dublin was coming in at US$392 on Aer Lingus as recently as last week. Similar deals are available on Air Transat from Toronto to Dublin and back. A Los Angeles to Paris roundtrip cost just $579. The deals are there!

Overall, according to Hopper’s 2025 International Travel Guide, roundtrip airfare between the U.S. and Europe is averaging $817 this summer, down 10% from a year ago. That number tends to drop when flying on weekdays instead of weekends, and on the fringes of peak season instead of right in the middle.

SCIENCE

Snoozing versus simply waking up later

Some people just need another five minutes. If your “chronotype” lands you in the category of “night owl,” you’re probably one of these people, and if your job or home life require you to be up at an exact time each day, your propensity to hit the snooze likely leaves you a little grumpy in the morning.

Research suggests those who are more likely to hit the snooze instead of just waking up later in the first place may lose out on up to a full night’s worth of sleep each month, with the average snooze time per sleep totalling 11 minutes.

“That first alarm may interrupt vital stages of sleep, and anything that you might be able to get after hitting the snooze alarm is probably going to be low quality and fragmented sleep,” says sleep scientist Dr. Rebecca Robbins, an associate scientist for the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Instead, some recommend arranging your sleep routine so that, if you do have to wake up and actually get up at a certain time, go to bed a little bit earlier so that you can jump out of bed at that first alarm instead of snoozing for 10 or 11 minutes.

CURIOSITIES

Demand soars for 5,000-year-old bread

In September of last year, archeologists discovered a loaf of bread that had been shockingly-well-preserved underneath what was once a house at an excavation site in what’s now Eskisehir, Turkey.

The entirety of the site is a Bronze Age settlement called Kulluoba Hoyuk, and the loaf of bread has been on display at the Eskisehir Archeological Museum since late March.

Between then and now, archeologists and local officials have been working to recreate the bread recipe, which they were able to identify based on how incredibly well the pancake-like loaf of bread was preserved.

According to those officials, the recipe included “coarsely ground emmer flour—an ancient wheat variety—along with lentil seeds and a plant leaf used as a natural leavening agent.”

The Halk Ekmek bakery in Eskisehir was tasked with recreating it, subbing in Kavilca wheat for the no-longer-available emmer seeds.

The bakery is now selling 300 loaves of this bread per day, and has also learned something from the Ancients who invented it. The crops the bread was originally made from were drought-resistant, allowing growers and bakers at the time to rely on its availability, regardless of seasonal weather patterns.

Ancient wisdom strikes again…

ENTERTAINMENT

Mark Hamill lays Luke Skywalker to rest

While the prodigal Jedi Luke Skywalker may have died on screen eight years ago near the end of The Last Jedi (sorry…spoiler alert!), nothing ever really has to be over in the universe of George Lucas’ Star Wars.

However, Mark Hamill put to rest any possibility of appearing once again as the child of Anakin Skywalker (sorry…spoiler alert again) during an interview with ComicBook for his upcoming film, Life of Chuck.

During the interview, he thanked George Lucas for “letting me be a part of [Star Wars] back in the humble days when he called it ‘the most expensive low-budget movie ever made.’ We never expected it to become a permanent franchise and a part of pop culture like that. But my deal is, I had my time.”

It’s quite incredible to hear the star of Star Wars suggest the franchise wouldn’t do so well, given it’s by far the most successful movie franchise in history, with nine feature-length films under its belt chronicling the main saga—not to mention dozens of TV and film spinoffs.

The Force remains strong, though, and will be wielded by next-generation Jedi in future films, including 2027’s Starfighter, featuring Ryan Gosling, and the eventual next iteration of the main saga including our current Jedi heroine, Rey.

STAKE TRIVIA

The music is working

Today’s a good one folks, it’s National Leave the Office Early Day! 😂 

Whether you work an office job or not, this one’s for all the workers out there—we’re looking at work themed songs with today’s trivia! Complete the game and earn a $25 Amazon eGift Card ;)

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.