Today’s Topics: We All Need Connection | Cisco 2911 Routers | GameStopification of the Market | News to Start Your Day
Happy Thursday! We’re almost there!
January 28th is International Lego Day! (This should be a holiday…at least I think it should be!) Check out these crazy Lego creations! They are nuts!
Yesterday I wrote about how we attempt to maintain good relationships and personal connections with those on our team. In that same vein, I was thinking about how thankful I am for the special friendships in my life. You know these types right? The ones where you just click, it doesn’t matter how often you see each other or what happens between you, there’s a bond that somehow knitted you together. I also shared that I was struggling to feel myself the past few weeks. This week I had one of “those” friends reach out for a chat. We are in different stages of our life, yet we discovered we are struggling with some of the same challenges. (Nothing new under the sun and all that.) It’d been months since we last spoke, but I was on her mind and she was on mine. I’m so thankful she sent that text to ask if I could chat.
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. – Ecclesiastes 1:9
(Disclaimer: the next part of this writing speaks of death, including death by suicide.)
Several years ago I had one of the most loss-filled weeks of my life. A great friend of mine took her own life, a day before her 39th birthday. It was devastating for so many. I knew she was struggling, and we had been in touch about what was going on with her. However, the day before she passed away, I ignored a prompting to go see her. I had the opportunity, and I chose to do something else with that time. I will always regret not seeing her again. Two days after she passed away, another dear friend lost her battle with ovarian cancer. Two weekends before this friend passed we were going to see her when I suddenly realized I didn’t feel 100%. I took my temperature and had a low-grade fever. She was weak and I didn’t want to give her anything else to struggle through. We most definitely thought she had weeks longer to live and that we’d have another opportunity to see her, but we didn’t.
That week of loss taught me many things, but one of the biggest lessons is to leave margin in your life for friendship, for connection. Pray for your friends, think about them, and when you feel prompted to reach out, do it. I haven’t let the regret and disappointing circumstance from that time fester into something unhealthy, but I hope I always remember to lean into those who mean something in my life.
We all need connection with others, whether it be friendship, love, companionship, or something else. Certainly, in these socially distanced, high-stress days we live in, we won’t regret sending that text or making that phone call. I cannot think of a time when I have regretted spending quality time with those I love.
Chat with you tomorrow,
Christin
Product Spotlights & Updates:
Today we are featuring the Cisco 2911 Integrated Services Router, CISCO2911/K9. This Integrated Services Router features embedded hardware encryption acceleration, voice and video-capable digital signal processor (DSP) slots, optional firewall, intrusion prevention, call processing, voicemail, and application services.
Here’s a rundown of the interfaces on the ISR:
- 3 Integrated 10/100/1000
- 1 Service Module Slot
- 4 Enhanced High-Speed WAN Interface Card (EHWIC) Slots
- 2 Onboard Digital Signal Processor Slots (PVDM)
- 2 USB Type-A
- 1 USB Type-B
- All of our refurbished routers come with an accessory kit including the rack mount kit, power cord, and console cable!
As you already know, our products come with our Advance Replacement Lifetime Warranty and ship out same day for all orders received before 8PM!
GameStopification of the Markets – Toby Howel, Writer @ MorningBrew.com
Over the past week, the business world’s attention has been hijacked wholesale by an army of amateur traders looking to make fools of the traditional finance industry. Yesterday brought more absurdity:
After a 135% gain, GameStop stock closed at $348/share. One week ago it was at $43 and last summer it was at $4.
AMC Entertainment shares exploded 301%. No, people aren’t going to the movies more often.
The run-up in GameStop was so dramatic that short-seller Citron Research, which bet on the stock to drop, was forced to close out most of its position “at a loss of 100%,” according to managing partner Andrew Left.
Let’s get deep
There’s a general feeling that the GameStop saga speaks to something larger about the nature of financial markets, and even our culture. To try to make sense of it all, we’ve distilled some of the most popular theories that…try to make sense of it all.
- The “stick it to the man” theory: This theory suggests that these traders are motivated primarily by their disdain for “suits,” the longtime wardens of Wall Street, who, Redditors argue, exploited the little guy to get filthy rich. As Bloomberg’s John Authers writes, “The people investing today are driven by righteous anger, about generational injustice, about what they see as the corruption and unfairness of the way banks were bailed out in 2008 without having to pay legal penalties later, and about lacerating poverty and inequality.”
- The “everyone’s super bored” theory: Without much else to do during the pandemic, people have turned to the stock market as a form of entertainment…and to make a lot of money. Last summer, individual investors accounted for roughly 20% of stock market activity on average, up from 10% in 2019.
You can read the rest of this article at MorningBrew.com.
Today’s News to Start Your Day:
- As of this morning, in the US, there are 9,783,776 active COVID cases, 15,944,697 have recovered and there have been 439,528 deaths.
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday announced that the company will no longer recommend civic and political groups to its users. Additionally, Zuckerberg said that the company is now considering steps to reduce the amount of political content that users see in their News Feed.
- When geologists go on research trips, they’re normally looking to observe specific rocks, minerals, and fossils. What this Californian scientist wasn’t expecting was to open up a volcanic rock in Brazil—only to find inside an uncanny resemblance to the Cookie Monster. From the outside, the rock looks pretty ordinary–it’s plain brown, and shaped like an egg. On the inside? It’s a glorious cream and blue, and looks just about ready to growl “nom-nom-nom-nom”.
- Since vaccine distribution began in the U.S. on Dec. 14, more than 24 million doses have been administered, reaching 6.2% of the total U.S. population, according to federal data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. is currently administering around 1 million shots a day.
- President Joe Biden signed executive orders to transform the nation’s heavily fossil-fuel powered economy into a clean-burning one, pausing oil and gas leasing on federal land and targeting subsidies for those industries. The directives aim to conserve 30 percent of the country’s lands and waters in the next 10 years, double the nation’s offshore wind energy, and move to an all-electric federal vehicle fleet, among other changes.
- President Biden will sign an executive action Thursday that is designed to expand access to health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. The president’s memorandum instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to open a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act through HealthCare.gov, the federally run health insurance marketplace. The enrollment period will run Feb. 15 to May 15.