Hello! If you have a mint condition first-gen iPod lying around... it's worth a lot — one just sold for $29k. Today we're exploring:
Canada’s worst wildfire season in recorded history is still ripping through the country, with more than 5,400 fires burning a staggering 13.1 million hectares of Canadian land according to the latest satellite data — an area larger than Portugal, South Korea or the state of Pennsylvania.
Scorched earth
Although it’s common for fires to rage throughout spring and summer in Canada, there’s been a marked difference in the country’s conditions this year that has enabled the fires to burn like never before — as the country’s firefighters grapple with the worst wildfire season on record.
The nation has experienced an unusually hot and dry spell, which has fueled the conditions allowing for fires to spread across the country, while also dealing with a firefighter crew that's thin on the ground. British Columbia, the province with some of the largest fires (like the Donnie Creek fire), has seen the lowest number of recruit applicants in close to a decade, with some firefighter teams experiencing near 50% turnover.
In more typical seasons, according to a spokesperson from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, “fires would flare up in one part of the country, then die down and start in another area”, unlike this bout which has seen blazes span almost coast to coast. Although the current fires are mostly concentrated in western Canada, the season’s widespread nature has seen it far eclipse all others since 2003, even with “many weeks” of burning season still to go.
Unicorns are rare again
Unicorns, once elusive creatures of the startup universe, are again becoming a rarity. According to the latest data from Pitchbook, July saw just 3 new companies reach the $1 billion valuation necessary to join the club — a paltry count in comparison to the astonishing 67 that emerged back in December 2021.
The term "unicorn", artfully coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee in 2013, was originally a perfect moniker. A decade ago, a startup hitting such a milestone in private markets was a true rarity. But, the convergence of ultra-low interest rates, the spread of software into all facets of our lives, and a horde of wannabe entrepreneurs emulating the twenty-something billionaires they saw on the cover of tech magazines, sent unicorn “births” to unprecedented heights. Over 600 companies soared past the billion-dollar mark in 2021 alone — a rate of more than 2 per working day.
Back in my day...
The combination of higher interest rates and tech's "year of efficiency" has forced startups to do more with less. Growth-at-all-costs has become growth-if-it-makes-sense, and once deeply unprofitable companies (such as Uber, Klarna and Stripe) are now touting how prudent they are, forging paths to profitability.
Deep-pocketed investors like pension funds and sovereign wealth funds are cooling on the high-risk, high-reward world of the venture capital market in favor of less risky, more long-term investments. As the funding dries up, unicorn sightings are only going to get rarer — being a charismatic character with a vision to “move fast and break things” isn’t cutting it right now.
If you’re a student still enjoying your break, look away — the sun is setting on summer vacations, with the coming weeks set to be busy with nationwide back to school preparations.
Action stationery
While some students may be dreading the start of school, parents may be feeling a similar way at the prospect of stockpiling supplies. This year, US consumers are set to splurge more than ever on school supplies, with a typical household looking to spend $890 in 2023 — a 3% increase from 2022, but up a huge 28% from the amount spent in 2019 — according to data from the NRF. Clothing and shoes are often the biggest contributors to overall spending, which is predicted to reach $41 billion this year, more than double the total spent in 2007.
Indeed, despite college students typically being broke, the NRF have predicted that even more will be spent this year on provisions for higher education, averaging $1,367 per household. For both college-goers and high-schoolers, the rise in expenditure may be attributed to the evolution of what is considered “essential” supplies for learning. In simple terms, pen and paper have given way to expensive electronics, with more than a third of those surveyed attributing their increased spending to ‘big-ticket’ items, such as computers and tablets.
Dog days are over
Interestingly, some students may have a few more precious vacation days left. Data from 2019 showed that, while nearly half (48%) of all US students returned to school between August 12th-23rd, there were a good portion of pupils (23%) who went back after Labor Day.
• Oppenheimer has now raked in over $550 million in global box office sales, making it the highest grossing movie set during World War 2... though it still lags behind Barbie’s $1 billion+ global bonanza.
• Love travel but hate planes? This man managed to visit 195 countries without taking a single flight.
• McDonald's is trying to fill its booths, as dine-in customers at the fast-food chain now represent less than 10% of visits, down from 25% from before the pandemic.
• Agree to disagree: the topics that America has become increasingly polarized on.
