• The New York Times Buys Wordle The word game, released in October, has millions of daily users. (New York Times) see also I Figured Out Wordle’s Secret: It took me four guesses. (The Atlantic)

• 7 Charts on the Stock Market’s Wild January Volatility leads stocks to their worst start since 2009 (Morningstar)

• Remember the GameStop stock craze? Looks like it’s over The idea that “this time is different” is always a warning to run for the hills. On Wall Street, nothing is new under the sun: The house always wins, in the end. That doesn’t mean that the little guys can’ t also make a profit, but if they think they’re going to take control, they’re asking to be thrashed but good. (Los Angeles Times) see also Buy GameStop, Fight Injustice. Just Don’t Sell. One year in the trenches of the meme stock revolution. (New York Times)

• That Blinking Office Voice Mail? Don’t Worry. Everyone Else Ignores It, Too. Even after some office workers have returned to their desks, the phones still flash with unchecked messages (Wall Street Journal)

• When Will Be a Good Time to Buy a House? There won’t be a perfect moment anytime soon—but that shouldn’t stop you if you’re ready. (The Atlantic) see also The State of Real Estate Why housing probably won’t collapse—or soar a whole lot more. (FI)

• For Chip Industry, Global Supply Crunch Pushes Next Target to $1 Trillion After posting record sales in 2021, semiconductor makers prepare for historic expansion to boost capacity (Wall Street Journal)

• Joe Rogan Takes No Resposbility: I think it’s great that Joe Rogan responded, in a straightforward, everyday manner. But isn’t this the guy who told Aaron Rodgers to take Ivermectin? Isn’t this the same guy who wasn’t vaccinated and said he took a cornucopia of drugs not proven to be effective for Covid and he was cured? (LefsetzLetter) see also It’s going to take a lot more than Neil Young to change Spotify’s mind about Joe Rogan Other musicians aren’t boycotting the music service. Will you? (Recode)

• Gravitational Waves Should Permanently Distort Space-Time The “gravitational memory effect” predicts that a passing gravitational wave should forever alter the structure of space-time. Physicists have linked the phenomenon to fundamental cosmic symmetries and a potential solution to the black hole information paradox. (Quanta)

• How to heal our national exhaustion: Americans have burnout on top of burnout. Now what? (Vox) see also How trauma became the word of the decade: The very real psychiatric term has become so omnipresent in pop culture that some experts worry it’s losing its meaning. (Vox)

• Open letter to Tom Brady: Thank you for taking us on a magical ride Those who do what we do for a living can only get so close to knowing the real answer, so the response would usually be something like this: The way he looks you in the eye when talking to him makes you feel like the most important person ; rare humbleness combined with the most lethal competitive drive and clutch gene. (ESPN)