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IN THIS ISSUE
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Your cellphone options, the Bureau of Burro Management and a heartthrob reincarnated.
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The News Fix
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The field of wireless companies in the United States is narrowing. This week, the Federal Communications Commission released its ruling approving a proposed $26 billion
merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. The union would boost the combined company’s network and market share, bringing it more in line with that of giants AT&T and Verizon.
Supporters say the presence of a third large wireless competitor — especially in smaller markets and rural parts of the country — will
speed the deployment of faster 5G networks. Opponents, including more than a dozen states that have sued to oppose the merger, say the deal could reduce competition and drive up prices for consumers while eliminating jobs as the two carriers consolidate.
For the moment, Sprint and T-Mobile customers probably won’t see
huge changes to their bills or noticeable improvements to their service (5G is still in its infancy, after all).
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Smart in a Shot
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Midcentury Hollywood icon James Dean is returning to the silver screen — more than 60 years after his tragic death — through the magic of computer-generated imagery.
The star was posthumously cast in a movie called “Finding Jack,” which tells the story of military dogs that were abandoned after the Vietnam War. Visual effects artists will use old footage and photos to recreate a full-body version of Dean, who plays a “secondary lead role” in the movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Hollywood has struggled in recent years to get moviegoers to theaters: Many in the business say big-name movie stars no longer draw big audiences, and superhero franchises and horror movie sequels are a better bet.
So why not try casting a movie star from an era when he or she could still draw a crowd — without the complications that actual human actors bring along with them, like scheduling, illnesses and premium paychecks? Maybe Hollywood’s next generation of rebels could all be without physical form.
Photo credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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The Numbers
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The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is working to rein in
a growing population of wild horses on federal lands. Let’s do the numbers.
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| 88,090
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That’s the number of wild horses and burros
roaming free on public land in the United States, as of the most recent count. The number has more than doubled since 2009 when it was 36,940. BLM holds another nearly 50,000 wild horses in corrals and pastures.
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| $81 million
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That’s about how much the feds spent last year on efforts to manage the wild horse population. That included almost $50 million to feed and care for the animals being held at
BLM facilities.
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| $5 billion
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That’s how much the acting head of BLM, William Perry Pendley, said the agency needs over the next 15 years to get the
wild horse population down to the more manageable size of 27,000. That includes more roundups, fertility-control drugs and adoptions.
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| 7,104
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That’s how many horses and burros
were adopted through the BLM’s programs this year, a significant uptick from previous years, but still only a small dent in the total population.
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None of us is as smart as all of us
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| Tell us what’s making you smarter at
smarter@marketplace.org. We'd love to include your recommendation in a future newsletter.
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Sick as a dog
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“Make Me Smart” host Molly Wood recommends this article about a study that found humans could be susceptible to catching norovirus from their dogs. Every year, norovirus is responsible for as many as 21 million cases of stomach flu — in humans — according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of dogs infected … is a bit tougher to hunt down.
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Tragicomedic
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Listener Meaghan W. recommends the podcast “Terrible, Thanks for Asking,” which she describes as “tragic human stories told with a sense of humor.” Host Nora McInerny asks people to share how they are, whether it’s sad, uncomfortable, funny or all of the above.
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The future is now
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| Southern California Public Radio’s Jessica Ogilvie recommends this oral history of the 1982 film “Blade Runner,” which was set in a futuristic Los Angeles in November 2019. “The idea was that there was the 1%, or you were a policeman, or you were a nobody,” art director David L. Snyder said. “It was exactly what it is now.”
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Elevate your understanding of what's trending, breaking and buzzing with Make Me Smart. Because none of us is as smart as all of us.
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