Good morning. Hey, what’s that over there —----> BOO!👻

Classic Friday the 13th spooks right there.

But seriously, Friday the 13th is powerful! There are a few origin stories – including the number becoming unlucky because Judas was the 13th guest at the Last Supper – but honestly, we think it’s much simpler than that. The vibes around the number 13 are just off. Something about it, all prime and boastful. Like, maybe if you’d just chill for a little bit, 13, we wouldn’t have to ostracize you like this.

In fact, there’s an entire phobia specifically about being afraid of the number 13: Triskaidekaphobia. Even that name is freaky!

You know who gets the short end of the stick though is Friday. That day did nothing wrong, but for some reason it gets lumped in with that saucy freak thirteen.

Other numbers that have phobias named after them include 4 (tetraphobia), 17 (heptadecaphobia), 39 (triakontenneaphobia), and 616 (hexakosioihekkaidekaphobia).

But hey, enough numbers. THE NEWS.

P.S. We’ll be off Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day; see you back here bright and early on Tuesday.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.65 minutes to read.

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

–Christoper Robin to Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne | 1882-1956)

Over the past two months, US-based media website CNET has quietly published dozens of finance articles written by an AI, per a new report from Futurism citing social media posts by online marketer Gael Breton.

🤔 What’s going on?... Breton found that CNET has produced more than 70 AI-written posts since November 11 under the byline ‘CNET Money Staff,’ which the outlet had identified as “AI content… generated using automation technology” in a since-deleted bio page on its website.

Then yesterday, the site posted a new author bio page – called ‘CNET Money’ – that says articles written under this byline are “created using an AI engine and reviewed, fact-checked and edited by our editorial staff.” CNET has yet to respond to multiple publications’ requests for comment.

📸 Big picture: A handful of US organizations are currently working on AI systems that can understand, interpret, and generate human-like text. The most notable example is probably OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which gained 1 million users within a week of its Nov. 30 launch – but similar tech has also been developed by Microsoft, Amazon, Stanford, and Google.

• These AI chatbots can be prompted to do everything from pen essays, to write and debug code, to negotiate with companies for lower bills.
• And like Buzz Lightyear, the list could keep going for infinity and beyond. Its use cases are basically limitless – if you can dream up a prompt, AI chatbots can carry it out.

😬 And on that note… Some critics have voiced concerns that AI chatbots could be used by bad actors to carry out crimes, with potential queries like “how to design a weapon” or “how to assemble homemade explosives”. Or even something a little less tangible, but still malicious in nature. A Check Point Research report published last week found ChatGPT is currently being used to create phishing emails and code basic malware programs.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, AI chatbots will ultimately have a ____ impact on society.

Good

Mostly good

Neutral/zero-sum

Mostly bad

Bad

Unsure/other

🇸🇪 The largest deposit of rare earth elements in European history has been discovered in Sweden. Yesterday, Swedish state-owned mining company LKAB announced the discovery of a deposit of rare earth oxides – from which rare earth elements are extracted – exceeding 1.1 million tons. Rare earth elements are used in a wide range of products, including solar panels, EV batteries/motors, smartphone touchscreens, and wind turbines. No rare earth elements are currently mined in Europe, with China providing ~98% of the EU’s entire supply (some 17,600 tons/year).

☢️ The UN is deploying international inspectors to all of Ukraine’s nuclear plants, per the WSJ. The head of the UN’s atomic energy agency will visit the country next week to post inspectors at four Ukrainian-controlled nuclear plants, where they’ll monitor safety and ensure materials aren’t diverted to military use amid the threat of a new Russian offensive. Fun fact that's actually pretty morbid: Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is the first conflict in history to see the capture, occupation, and attempted theft of nuclear-power plants, the Journal reports.

🌊🌡️ The amount of heat energy contained in the top layer of the world’s oceans is now at record levels. That’s according to a report published yesterday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which found the world’s oceans absorbed 9 zetajoules of energy in 2022. For context, the entire globe consumes roughly one-half of a zetajoule each year. Previous research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found more than 93% of the excess heat energy from climate change is absorbed by the world’s oceans.

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The Consumer Price Index (CPI), America’s most widely-used measure of inflation, is channeling Fall Out Boy and going down, down from an earlier round.

According to Labor Department figures released yesterday, inflation rose 6.5% in December from the same month a year ago. That’s down from 7.1% in November, and the index’s lowest annual figure since October 2021.

🔢 By the numbers… On a month-to-month basis, the CPI declined 0.1% in December, driven mainly by price decreases for fuel oil (-16.6%), all types of gasoline (-9.4%), and used vehicles (-2.5%).

• The core index – which excludes often-volatile food and energy prices – rose 0.3% month over month, up from 0.2% in November.
• On a yearly basis, core inflation increased 5.7% in December, down from a 40-year high previously set in September (+6.6%).

📸 Big picture: The CPI has now fallen for six straight months, down from a 40-year high of 9.1% in June. But as any chimp with a calculator could tell you, there’s still a gap between the current inflation reading (6.5%) and the 2% target the Fed is shooting for.

And you know what that means: more interest rate hikes are probably coming. Following the conclusion of its next meeting on February 1, the central bank’s policy-making committee is widely expected to raise baseline interest rates for the 8th straight time.

💬 Quoted…​​ “Possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents.”

Yesterday, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former US attorney Robert Hur as a special counsel to investigate classified documents discovered in two places:

1. At a D.C. office used by President Joe Biden during the years after his vice presidency, but before his return to the White House.
2. Biden’s Delaware home.

Dive deeper: From the Left | From the Center | From the Right

📨 Stat of the Day: $150 = the amount it costs per year to become a “founding” member of FTX founder and alleged fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried’s new Substack account; SBF made his first (free) post yesterday. As of late last night, it had garnered 145 likes.

🤯 Did You Know?... While typing on Apple/Android mobile phones, you can slide on the spacebar to move the cursor.

📖 Worth a Read: China’s version of Starlink is government-backed — and has global ambitions → (Rest of World)

• ☝️ Brady Feigl, meet Brady Feigl. Two Minor League Baseball pitchers with the exact same name, height, and hair color recently took a DNA test to find out if they’re actually related after being confused for one another for years. (Spoiler alert: they aren’t related… SOMEhow.)

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💰 The US federal budget deficit was $1.4 trillion for 2022, down from $2.6 trillion for 2021, per Treasury Department figures released yesterday; the overall national debt topped $31 trillion for the first time ever last year.
• 🛏🛀 Bed Bath & Beyond’s stock has increased more than 200% since Monday; the retailer warned it may have to file for bankruptcy last week.
• ✈️ The 30-year-old FAA software that caused 10,000+ canceled and delayed flights on Wednesday is at least six years away from being upgraded, a senior gov’t official said yesterday. (Background)

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈🏀 The NFL playoffs kick off tomorrow; Full bracket and game times here; Atlanta was picked as the neutral site for a possible Bills v. Chiefs AFC championship, the NFL announced yesterday. | LeBron James and Kevin Durant topped the fan NBA All-Star voting numbers, which were released yesterday.
• 📺 Warner Bros. Discovery is upping the price of its ad-free version of HBOMax by $1 to $15.99, the company announced yesterday.
• 👸🏼🎀 Mattel launched a new, taller Barbie made specifically for kids as young as three.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖🌳 Mercedes is now the first automaker to offer certified Level 3 self-driving tech in the US; Level 3 autonomous-driving tech can, on suitable highway sections, offer to take over driving completely – leaving the driver free to watch a movie, FaceTime a bestie, etc. | Swiss climate tech startup Climeworks says it's become the first to commercially demonstrate the removal and underground storage of CO2 from the open air.
• 🪐 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently discovered its first exoplanet, which clocks in at 99% of the Earth’s diameter; this is separate from the Earth-sized exoplanet NASA discovered earlier this week living within a star’s habitable zone 100 light-years away.
• 🌸 The largest-known flower preserved in amber is between 34 million and 38 million years old, according to a new peer-reviewed study published yesterday in Scientific Reports.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 📝📉 The US cancer mortality rate has dropped by an estimated 33% over since 1991, averting 3.8 million deaths, per a new report from the American Cancer Society.
• 🌪️ A severe weather outbreak spawned more than two dozen tornadoes across the Southeast US yesterday, resulting in at least six deaths in Alabama.
• ♨️ The chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission clarified on Wednesday that the federal government isn’t looking to ban gas stoves, after another commission member recently floated the idea; separately, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul this week proposed banning gas stoves in all new buildings statewide.

CLICKBAIT

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A whale-watching group in California had the ultimate surprise on their safari tour. 

While admiring a female gray whale from their small boat, the group was shocked when they witnessed the birth of her calf right before their eyes.

🐋🍼 Proud mom... While teaching the newborn to swim, the mother whale brought the baby directly up to the boat, almost appearing to show off her baby to the tour. 

• "It was just incredible that this would happen," said the boat's captain. " I've never seen anything like this, nor did I ever expect to see anything like this."

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Tomato sauce
• Salt & pepper
• Garlic powder
• Dried cumin
• Cayenne pepper
• Chicken
• Vegetable oil
• Yellow onion
• Red & green peppers
• Long-grain rice
• Garlic
• Chicken stock

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Pancetta
• Onion
• Arborio
• White wine
• Chicken broth
• Parmesan cheese
• Butter
• Peas
• Basil pesto

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Taco meat
• Grand size flour tortillas
• Sour cream
• Shredded lettuce
• Diced tomato
• Shredded cheese
• Nacho cheese

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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☝️ Recipe #1: Arroz con pollo

✌️ Recipe #2: Oven baked risotto

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Homemade Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme