Taking flight

In 1989 British Airways took the world on a beautiful journey. Who knows if they were actually the world’s favourite airline, but after this brilliant ad, it’s fair to say they had the world’s favourite airline commercial.

It also just so happens that today marks the anniversary of one the world’s most epic flights. After nine days of flying, it was on Dec. 23rd that the Rutan Voyager completed the first ever non-stop trip around the entirety of the earth! 

Talk about roaming around the world ;)

Congratulations to our Day 12 winner Angela St. Clair-Terpstra! That’s a wrap (😉) on our annual 12 Days of Giving promotion. Thanks to all who participated! 🎁 

Today is our final regular newsletter of the year. But not to worry, we’ve put together a look back at the best of 2024 which we’ll be sharing over the holidays. We’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming on Jan. 2 😜

US health care is seeing a burst of new patients using powerful weight loss drugs like Ozempic, also known as GLP-1. Within 15 days of starting GLP-1 prescriptions, doctors are seeing patients return for help with sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, leading to a rise in diagnoses between 2020 and 2024.

Some were avoiding doctors because of stigma of obesity and are now accessing long-delayed preventative care. Dr. Rekha Kumar, a New York endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist, said, "This is a population that previously felt stigmatized by health care providers and often didn't return. Now that they're actually seeing themselves get healthier, asking clinicians questions and engaging more, I do think we're seeing new patients."

Other patients are seeking weight-loss drugs to become eligible for fertility treatment and other procedures. 43 year old Phil, from Chicago, went to his doctor 30 pounds lighter after three months on Ozempic and said his weight loss gave him "the courage to ask" for help regarding other conditions like addiction and mental health.

For some, red wine and headaches go together like rum and eggnog. Scientists have been researching the link between the two for decades and a few usual suspects typically emerge. Some include sulfites, biogenic amines and tannin but not enough credit is given to the flush.

Some people get flushed, red skin when drinking alcohol, followed by a headache. This headache is caused by a delayed metabolic step as the body tries to break down the alcohol.

Metabolizing alcohol takes two steps. First, ethanol is converted to acetaldehyde. Next, "the enzyme ALDH converts the acetaldehyde to acetate. This second step is slower for people who get flushed skin, since their ALDH is not very efficient." They accumulate acetaldehyde and being a "somewhat toxic" compound linked to hangovers, could cause headaches.

A previous study showed quercetin is a good inhibitor of ALDH, found in grape's skin. Further tests confirmed this and although the data on specific wines isn't available, those sensitive to headaches should look for lighter red wines made from grapes that see less sunlight.

For all the times we've wondered when intricate math equations would be used in real life, this article is for us. A Brazilian mathematician has calculated the perfect shape for a beer glass to keep beer as cold as possible.

Cláudio de Castro Pellegrini of the Federal University of São João del-Rei in Brazil developed an equation to determine the best beer glass design, starting with finding "a vessel whose surface area is as small as possible relative to its volume."

The smaller the surface, the less heat gets in from the glass's surroundings, leaving beer cooler for longer. Pellegrini did live-action testing, not just pouring beer into a glass and watching it warm up. In a recent reprint paper, Pellegrini said, “The process is quite straightforward here: a request is made for a beer, the waiter delivers it, it is served, it is consumed. Repeat.”

With some constraints applied and many algebraic calculations, the result: The perfect beer glass is about 19cm high with a narrow bottom and a large opening like a champagne flute.

Las Vegas' Sphere has reportedly made $420.5 million USD in 2024, the most ever in Billboard Boxcar's 50 year history.

Billboard's annual Top Venues list covers venues with a capacity of 15,001 or higher. According to them, the Sphere is the first venue to gross more than $300 million USD. To date, only four performing artists have posted numbers higher than the Sphere's one year number. That was the Rolling Stones in 2006; Ed Sheeran in 2018; Beyoncé in 2023 and Taylor Swift in 2023 and ‘24.

If 2024 was any indication, the Sphere plans to keep on rolling into 2025. Sphere Executive Chairman and CEO James Dolan told Billboard his goal is to present entertainment every day, sometimes multiple events through the day and night, in the new year.

Currently, the Eagles are the resident headliners at the Sphere at least until April and Dolan said their first eight shows brought in $42.2 million USD and sold 131,000 tickets.

Thanks to all the Stakers who have been voting in our 12 Days of Giving Polls! We’ve had a blast seeing the results and reading all your comments 🤗 

The Rutan Voyager completed its journey around the earth in 1986, and while the earth completed its journey around the sun that same year, a lot of great tunes were released.

Think you remember some of the best pop hits from ’86? Find out with today’s trivia ;)

Have a great day ahead Staker!

Trivia courtesy of funtrivia.com. Today’s issue written by Michael Cowan, Joey Cowan, and Maureen Norman.