Fidgeting at your desk

Average length of time it takes to sell your house in the current market. Blame the high 30-year mortgage rate, which is around 7%. Not all is lost, though; rates could fall to 6.5% by the end of the year.

How warm, in Fahrenheit, a new smart fabric gets after just 10 minutes in the sun. Specialized nanoparticles absorb sunlight and convert it into heat. Even cooler warmer? It has temperature-responsive dyes, so you’ll know when it’s working.

Of ChatGPT’s mobile users are guys. With 353 million downloads, there’s a serious gender gap in AI. Women are way more skeptical (not me); about 53% won’t let their kids touch AI, compared to 26% of men. Remember, artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

Downloads of LibreOffice since 2011. Wowsie! Last year alone, over 35 million folks downloaded the open-source Microsoft Office competitor. I love free, too!

Views on a fake tweet about Elon Musk. It claims an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hotline got shut down because 90% of calls were about him. Musk is an immigrant from South Africa who became a U.S. citizen. Don’t share if it pops up on your feed.

To build a single Apollo spacesuit. They were made by bra company Playtex, whose engineers know all about stretchy fabric. The result? Some 21 layers of fabric and clever “bellows” joints that let Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin bend their arms and legs. That’s stellar support.

Eighth-graders reading at a basic level. That’s the lowest since federal testing began in 1992. Fourth-graders are doing even worse, at 60% (paywall link). They were kindergarteners when the pandemic hit in 2020 … not a coincidence.

Speed Boom’s Supersonic XB-1 jet reached in tests. It’s the first civilian aircraft to break the sound barrier, aka Mach 1.1. The company has raised $700 million to build a plane that’ll carry 64 passengers at 1,300 mph (Mach 1.7) by 2030. At that speed, you could fly from LA to NYC in about two hours.