Snack attack

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today: Deficit soars to five-year high, inflation stays put at 4.7%; why humans foolishly choose to live like birds ; and you won’t believe how much McDonald’s knows about you…

But first, our weekly poll!

Birds are often beautiful creatures, and the sight of anything flying is likely of particular interest to humans, because it’s something we can’t naturally do ourselves.

Do we subconsciously emulate birds because we think it will enable us to fly? Doubtful, but even if that were the case, it would remain a foolish idea.

You’re probably wondering just how exactly we emulate birds in any way, and the answer lies in the tendency many people have to burn the candle at both ends, living exhausted and on the edge as their default state of being.

Birds don’t choose to live like this; it’s just in their nature, quite possibly more as a curse than a blessing. Being able to fly probably isn’t as special when it’s something you can just naturally do.

On the other hand, consider what’s required to be able to fly. Birds have to be relatively small and have a rapid metabolism. This means they’re constantly teetering between fully energized and on the verge of collapsing. Hummingbirds shed 10% of their bodyweight almost every night, and if they don’t immediately refuel in the morning, they’ll die.

Human beings have the luxury of pretending we’re okay even when we’re running on empty; birds do not. What would a bird say to someone who glamorizes living on the edge?

A study conducted by researchers at McGill University looked into the theory that aspen trees can contain forest fires. The theory has long been held by Indigenous peoples and foresters, but the researchers—led by PhD graduate, Flavie Pelletier—wanted to provide scientific proof.

Pelletier is a remote sensing specialist by trade, providing her access to the satellite imagery and data that she was able to use to analyze forest fires across Canada over time.

“I had mapped a lot of fires, especially after the 2023 fire year, and the Canadian Forest Service recently came out with a data set of dominant tree species across Canada,” she said. “So, I basically combined my fire maps with this new data to see which tree species were inside the burn perimeters, but more importantly, which were along the burn perimeters.”

Specifically, she found aspen trees were frequently found on the perimeters of fires rather than inside them, and clusters in particular were more instrumental in suppression.

“There’s high moisture content in aspen leaves, as well as the understory around it,” she said. “They also produce sap instead of the more flammable resin produced by conifers, and their leaves usually start pretty high up, so if there’s a ground fire, it will be harder for aspen to catch.”

The Hamburglar isn’t out to steal burgers today so much as he’s out to collect every possible piece of data on each and every McDonald’s customer.

Wired reporter Reece Rogers did a little digging, and he was able to access the dossier on himself through the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). After requesting his file, the fast food chain presented him with a 515-page report detailing and predicting his future behaviour: how often he’d likely visit McDonald’s, which ones he’d be most likely to visit and when, what he’d most likely order, etc.

The CCPA allows consumers to request such files, and also allows them to request they be destroyed or kept from being sold.

Upon obtaining his file, Rogers also discovered McDonald’s kept records of his past purchases, his loyalty points, offers he’d been sent, how he responded to each offer; the report even documented each time he scanned a code earned from McDonald’s’ annual Monopoly promotion.

Are companies actively referring to such data when you approach them as a potential repeat customer? It’s not like there’s some guy pulling your file when you walk in the door, but yes, digital automations are activated in response to any past customer, driven strongly—if not solely—by data collected through digital apps and loyalty programs.

Living Colour’s debut album Vivid perhaps would have flown under the radar, but when its second single hit the airwaves in mid-1988, there was no turning back.

In a genre dominated by white guys from the suburbs who migrated towards coastal inner cities to get their start, fans at the time likely would have been surprised to find out the otherworldly shredding they were hearing on the radio was coming from four black guys from Brooklyn.

Cult of Personality pierced several social blockades on its way into the Billboard Top 40, and its staying power has proven equally as strong as some of the biggest radio hits you can think of from the 1980s.

It’s probably more popular today than it’s been at any point since debuting, and certainly contains increasingly relevant social commentary.

"We all write about the things we observe and not in a therapeutic way, but in a way to give voice to something that would not normally get that kind of treatment," Frontman Corey Glover told UCR.

Quizmaster’s choice

It’s Friday, Staker, and you know what that means. The questions are all random, but they’re all relevant for those born in the ’60s—it’s time for another round of à la carte, with today’s trivia! 😎