TODAY’S BLOG — New Music Friday: “My Head and My Heart” by Ava Max … A layman’s terms explanation of what’s happening with this whole Reddit stock market situation … The disproportionately popular Super Bowl foods in every state … Warning: Beware of the viral trend of putting male genitalia enhancement cream on your lips …
Contests on The Morning Crave…
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7:20am Fact or Fiction Friday (Amigos)
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8:20am Survey Says?! (Raising Canes Box Combo Meal AND Kearney Cinema 8 Movie Pass)
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8:30am HITS 106 Social Zone Contest (Girl Scout Cookies)
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9:30am Club KQ (Kearney Cinema 8 Movie Pass)
New Music Friday: “My Head and My Heart” by Ava Max
Listen on-air at 6:40am, 7:40am, and 8:40am on HITS 106!
Story Tyme on The Morning Crave…
Story 1: A Layman’s Terms Explanation of What’s Happening with This Whole Reddit Stock Market Situation
Have you heard about this crazy stock market situation involving Reddit, Gamestop, hedge funds? Here’s your plain English summary of what’s happening, even if you don’t really know the stock market or investing.
- There’s a stock term called “shorting.” That’s where you’re predicting the price of a stock will go down, instead of up. If it does, you get to pocket the difference. So if you short a stock when it’s $10 and get out when it’s $7, you make $3.
- BUT . . . if you short a stock and it goes up, you have to cover the difference. So if that $10 stock goes to $15 and you decide you can’t wait for it to potentially go down again, you need to buy the stock back and cover the $5.
- Now onto Reddit. There’s a group on there called Wall Street Bets, where amateur investors share stock tips and talk about their day trading successes and failures. And they usually do it through lots of memes and emojis.
- A few weeks ago, someone on Reddit noticed a hedge fund called Melvin Capital had taken a HUGE short position on the video game store chain GameStop. But there were some indications that GameStop WASN’T in that bad of shape.
- So . . . the group on Wall Street Bets all decided to buy GameStop stock, driving the price up, and really screwing over that hedge fund that had shorted it. Because now, the hedge fund would have to cover the difference.
- And it was QUITE a difference. As this GameStop thing really got a lot of momentum and the stock price skyrocketed, the hedge fund wound up losing more than $13.1 BILLION on their short position . . . which was more than their fund was worth.
- As you might imagine, very serious professional investors and hedge funds were REALLY upset that a group of random people on the Internet managed to make THAT big of an impact on the market.
- One billionaire hedge fund owner had an interview on CNBC where he called it a, quote, “way of attacking wealthy people and I think it’s inappropriate.”
- So they started throwing their weight against it. They want new legislation that would make it illegal to do what the Wall Street Bets group did . . . which, I guess, is just talking about stocks on the Internet?
- Of course, everyone can see through that: Major banks and hedge funds have done all sorts of horrible things manipulating the stock market, and received bailouts when things backfired, like in 2008. THAT’S never provoked real legislation.
Also, even now, two other hedge funds stepped in and propped up Melvin Capital with billions after they got crushed in this GameStop deal.
- And that’s not all. The Wall Street Bets group started buying OTHER stock that the hedge funds were shorting, like AMC Theaters and Nokia, and several apps like the popular trading app Robinhood BANNED them from buying those stocks.
- That was interpreted as a direct attack on regular, or “retail,” investors . . . especially since hedge funds could still trade those stocks while regular people were banned.
- Strangely enough, both parties in Congress are calling B.S. on the hedge fund and elite investors’ reaction to this. But will that strong bipartisan sentiment hold up, especially with trillions of dollars and the richest people in the country involved?
- So what happens next? GameStop and the other “meme stocks” lost a lot of value yesterday as the apps banned amateur investors from trading it. Congress will most likely get involved in this in some way.
But will this lead to a permanent shift in the way the stock market works, with collections of amateur investors teaming up? Or will the Wall Street powers find a way to stop it?
All historical evidence points to the latter . . . but times are certainly changing.
Story 2: Here’s the Disproportionately Popular Super Bowl Food in Every State
This year may have way fewer Super Bowl parties than in previous years . . . but don’t worry, you can still eat your way through the game.
Google just released a map showing the most disproportionately popular Super Bowl food in every state from last year’s game.
Two foods were number one in six different states: Cake and seven-layer dip.
A few other foods were the most popular in five states: Chili . . . buffalo chicken dip . . . and spinach artichoke dip.
Some states’ disproportionately popular Super Bowl food were way more unique, though. Louisiana’s was taco soup . . . Hawaii’s was the very specific chicken club ranch roll-ups . . . and Alaska’s was paleo salmon cakes.
Nebraska . . . spinach artichoke dip.
Go here for more.
Go here for a map.
Story 3: Warning: Beware of the Viral Trend of Putting Male Genitalia Enhancement Cream on Your Lips
Why does the world make me say these things I really shouldn’t ever have to say?
A guy named Jerry Maldonado recently posted a video on TikTok that showed him trying out a new technique to get plumper lips . . . he smeared on a cream that’s designed to help men get ENGORGED. Yes, down below.
He left the erectile cream on his lips for eight minutes, until it started “burning really bad.” When he wiped the cream off his lips . . . yeah, they were puffed up. And he said, quote, “I kinda like it, I’m not gonna lie.”
The video has gotten more than 3.5 million views. But now, doctors are warning people NOT to do it.
One British doctor said, quote, “Putting erection cream on your lips in a bid for a fuller pout is utterly ridiculous and can be extremely dangerous . . . [you] could suffer an allergic reaction such as stinging, soreness, blisters, and uncomfortable swelling.
“Other side effects from the absorption of the cream as it goes into the body can create headaches, blood pressure problems, and even possible heart problems.”
BTW – In the video, he says he was inspired by a movie but can’t remember the name. The movie is called “A Nice Girl Like You”, and it came out last year.
@jerrybmaldonado If you know what movie I’m talking about please tell me because I want to watch it again #beauty #lips
Survey Says: Win a Raising Canes Box Combo Meal AND a Kearney Cinema 8 Movie Pass!
Would you be terrified to get in a car with 16-year-old you driving? 53% of people surveyed said WHAT?
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The Moore Yooou Knoooow: Random Facts to Feed Your Brain!
- George Lucas’s original title for “Star Wars” was “The Journal of the Whills”. Then he changed it to “Adventures of the Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga 1: The Star Wars”. Fortunately he shortened it.
- If you’re over 45, the world population has doubled in your lifetime.
- The word “Ouija” is trademarked by Hasbro.
- With inflation, the value of a dollar is almost exactly HALF what it was in 1990. In other words, it takes $200 today to buy what it cost $100 to buy back then.
- Terrell Owens is the only player in NFL history who scored a touchdown against all 32 teams. In fact, he scored at least two touchdowns against all of them during his career as a wide receiver with five different teams.
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