A new year is finally upon us — which means it’s the perfect time to add some new attitude to your space.
And to help you on your hunt for the perfect home goods to upgrade your space, we’ve pulled together some of the best home deals at your favorite brands.
From new beds and great lighting to spacious storage solutions, our roundup has some epic finds.
You can decorate your bedroom, stock up on some sleek new kitchen appliances or even revamp your outdoor area.
With markdowns as high as 80% off, you’ll have no problem fulfilling all of your home decor resolutions while sticking to your budget.
And these brands offer a range of free or discounted shipping deals that will get your new purchases to you fast and secure.
So take a look through our roundup of the best New Year’s home sales and take on 2021 with a completely refreshed space.
ABC Carpet & Home
ABC Carpet & Home is taking up to 80% off its popular outlet rugs. And you can save $75 for every $500 you spend.
The sale ends on January 6.
AllModern
You can enjoy 40% off furniture, lighting and bedding during AllModern’s end of year deal. Plus, all furniture ships free.
The sale ends on January 5.
Amazon
You can currently enjoy 50% off appliances, electronics and even bedding from top Amazon home good brands. And, as always, Prime members can enjoy fast and free delivery on a large selection of items.
The sale is ongoing.
Brooklinen
If you’re looking for new bedding, then Brooklinen is the place to shop. And now you can even enjoy 25% percent off its best loungewear and 15% off its highly rated bedding.
The sale ends on December 31.
Casper
Save 5% off mattresses and 10% off pillows and duvets for Casper’s end-of-year deal. Whether you’re looking to improve your sleep or add some comfort to your home, this sale is one you can’t miss.
The sale ends on January 4.
Macy’s
Macy’s is doing what it does best — selling great products at amazing prices. For its latest sale, you’ll enjoy 65% off furniture, mattresses and even rugs.
The sale ends on December 31.
Mattress Firm
You can save up to $500 off its best-selling mattresses, bedding and more for its end-of-year sale. And all you have to do is use the code ELEVATE to get the deals.
The sale ends on January 5.
The Container Store
You can enjoy 30% percent off Elfa Storage Solutions as the new year rolls in. The highly rated solutions will make your closet the neatest it has ever been.
The sale ends on February 23.
Walmart
Walmart is offering up to 50% off furniture, appliances and decor during its New Year’s deals. So you’ll have no problem revamping your home for the New Year.
The sale ends on December 31.
Wayfair
Wayfair is bringing in the New Year with its popular End-Of-Year Clearance event. You can enjoy 60% off furniture, home decor and storage solutions. And with a wide variety of popular brands, you’re sure to take your home to top levels.
WOOD COUNTY, W.Va. — Two people were killed in a crash involving two vehicles Wednesday afternoon on Route-14 in Wood County.
Authorities said the wreck in the 6200 block east of Interstate 77 involved a passenger car and pickup truck. Both people in the car died in the crash.
Reports indicate the car took out a tree and gas meter.
The Wood County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the crash.
STOCKHOLM, Dec. 31, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Softwood lumber production in Europe has increased steadily increased over the past five years. Consequently, additional volumes of sawmill by-products, including wood chips, shavings, and sawdust, have become available to other sectors in the forest industry. The added wood fiber supply has predominantly benefitted pulpmills, manufacturers of wood-based panels, and wood pellet producers. Residual chips is typically a preferred lower-cost fiber furnish as compared to costlier small-diameter logs.
Over the past five years, the annual volume of residuals generated from Europe's sawmills has increased to an estimated 17 million m3, resulting in increased chip trade on the continent, particularly in the northern region. Softwood chip trade around the Baltic Sea has gone up by over 80% from 2015 to 2020, with the major shipments being from Russia to Finland, from Norway to Sweden, and from the Baltic States to Denmark and Sweden.
WRI estimates that in 2020 almost 2.6 million m3 of wood chips will be imported by Finnish pulpmills, up from 1.4 million m3 five years earlier. This will make Finland, for the first time, the world's largest importer of softwood chips - surpassing even Japan. Practically all Finland's chip imports have been from Russia and the Baltic States, with the former accounting for the lion's share of the supply. In the first seven months of 2020, Finnish wood chip importation from Russia was 33% higher than during the same period in 2019. According to the Wood Resource Quarterly, the average price for imported Russian wood has been relatively stable and is only slightly higher than the price for domestic pulplogs.
In contrast to recent developments in Finland, wood chip imports to Sweden declined in 2020, ending a six-year upward trend. In 2019, Swedish chip imports reached an all-time high of 1.9 million m3. However, during the first seven months of 2020, import volumes from the major supplying countries of Norway, Estonia, and Latvia fell by 33%, and the total import volume for the year is on the path to be the lowest level in five years. The reduced demand for imported wood chips has resulted from both an increase in domestic residual supply from the sawmill sector and the large volumes of beetle-killed timber in the Central and Southern parts of Sweden, which are flooding the fiber market.
Are you interested in wood products market information from around the world? The Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ) is a 70-page report established in 1988 and has subscribers in over 30 countries. The publication tracksprices for sawlog, pulpwood, lumber & pellets worldwide and reports on trade and wood market developments in most key regions globally. For more insights on the latest international forest product market trends, please go towww.WoodPrices.com
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European trade of wood chips has gone up substantially as sawmills have ramped up production and generated more residual chips - PRNewswire
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Wall Street’s investment firms are burning the midnight oil as we approach the end of 2020, publishing their year-end notes and their New Year prognostications, both for investors’ edification. There is the obvious point: we’re in a moment of rising markets, and investor sentiment is riding high now that the election is settled and COVID vaccines have emergency approval and are getting into the distribution networks.However, the lockdown policies put in place to combat the virus this winter are slowing down the economic recovery. Whether the economy will truly tank or not is yet to be seen.In the meantime, Raymond James strategist Tavis McCourt has published his take on the current situation, and his comments bear consideration. First, McCourt notes the investors are focused on the good news: “[The] equity market is more focused on vaccine deployment and complete re-openings of economies in 2021, and so far, negative data points have been largely brushed aside.”Looking ahead, McCourt writes of the next two years: “We believe the logical outcome of 2021 (and 2022 for that matter) is a likely "return to normalcy" with strong EPS growth offset by lower P/Es barring a change in the vaccine story. We expect cyclical sectors and smaller cap equities to continue to outperform, as is typical in early cycle markets…”The research analysts at Raymond James have been searching the markets for the ‘right’ buys, and their picks bear a closer look. They’ve been tapping high-yielding dividend payers as an investment play of choice.The TipRanks database sheds some additional light on three of JMP’s picks – stocks with dividends yielding 7% or better – and that the investment firm sees with 10% upside or better.New Residential Investment (NRZ)The real estate investment trust (REIT) segment has long been known for its high and reliable dividends, a feature promoted by tax regulations which stipulate that these companies must return a certain proportion of profits directly to investors. Based in New York City, New Residential Investment is typical of its sector. The company’s portfolio includes residential mortgages, mortgage loan servicing rights, and loan origination. NRZ focuses its operations on the residential housing sector.NRZ is a mid-cap company, with a market value of $4.13 billion and a portfolio worth $5.72 billion. The company’s revenues have been rising since the second quarter of 2020, after steep losses during the ‘corona recession’ of Q1. The third quarter earnings, however, came in at 19 cents per share, down from 54 cents in the year-ago quarter. But even with that loss, NRZ took care to maintain the dividend.In fact, it did more than that. The company raised the Q3 dividend, to 15 cents per common share, in a continuation of an interesting story. Back in Q1, the company pared back the common share dividend to 5 cents, in a move to preserve capital during the corona crisis. The company has since raised the dividend by 5 cents in each subsequent quarter, and the Q4 payment, announced in mid-December, is for 20 cents per common share. At that rate, the dividend annualizes to 80 cents and the yield exceeds 7.87%.In addition to raising the dividend, NRZ has also announced a share buyback program totaling $100 million. The repurchase is for preferred stock shares, and goes alongside the existing repurchase policy of common shares.Analyst Stephen Laws, in his coverage of NRZ for Raymond James, writes, “We expect strong origination volumes and attractive gain on sale margins to drive strong near-term results, and we continue to expect a dividend increase in 4Q [...] For 4Q20, we are increasing our core earnings estimate by $0.02 per share to $0.35 per share. For 2021, we are increasing our core earnings estimate by $0.08 per share to $1.31 per share."In line with these comments, Laws rates the stock an Outperform (i.e. Buy). His $11.50 target price implies a one-year upside of 16%. (To watch Laws’ track record, click here)It’s not often that the analysts all agree on a stock, so when it does happen, take note. NRZ’s Strong Buy consensus rating is based on a unanimous 8 Buys. The stock’s $11.36 average price target suggests a 14% and a change from the current share price of $9.93. (See NRZ stock analysis on TipRanks)Fidus Investment Corporation (FDUS)Next up is a business development corporation, Fidus Investment. This company is one of many in the mid-market business financing niche, offering debt solutions and capital access to smaller firms that may not be able to secure lending from the larger markets. Fidus’ portfolio focuses on senior secured debt and mezzanine debt for companies valued between $10 million and $150 million.Fidus has investments in 68 companies with an aggregate value of $697 million. The largest portion of that portfolio, 59%, is second-lien debt, with the rest divided mainly between subordinated debt, first-lien debt, and equity-related securities.The company has seen revenues gain through the second and third quarters of 2020, after negative results in Q1. The third quarter top line came in at ~$21 million, up an impressive 129% sequentially. Since the third quarter, Fidus has declared its dividend for Q4, at 30 cents per common share, the same as the previous two quarter, plus an extra 4-cent special dividend authorized by the Board of Directors. This brings the total payment for the quarter to 34 cents per common share, and puts the yield at 9.5%.Raymond James analyst Robert Dodd likes what he sees in Fidus, especially the dividend prospects. “We continue to see the risk / reward as attractive at current levels - with shares trading below book, solid forecasted base dividend coverage from NII… We project FDUS solidly over-earning its quarterly base dividend of $0.30 / share through our projection period. As a result, we do project modest supplementals…”Dodd puts an Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating on the stock, and sets a target price of $14. At current levels, that target indicates an upside of 10.5% in the next months. (To watch Dodd’s track record, click here)Wall Street is somewhat more divided on FDUS shares, a circumstance reflected in the Moderate Buy analyst consensus rating. That rating is based on 4 reviews, including 2 Buys and 2 Holds. Shares are priced at $12.66, and the $13.33 average price target suggests a modest 5% upside from current levels. (See FDUS stock analysis on TipRanks)TPG RE Finance Trust (TRTX)Returning to the REIT sector, we look at TPG RE Finance Trust, the real estate financing arm of global asset firm TPG. This REIT, with an $820 million market cap, has built a portfolio of commercial mortgage loans worth an aggregate total of $5.5 billion. The company is a provider for original commercial mortgage loans starting at $50 million, mainly in US primary markets. The largest share of the company’s loans and properties are centered in the East.Like many finance companies, TPG RE Finance saw serious losses in Q1 due to the corona pandemic crisis – but has since recovered to a large extent. Revenues in Q3 hit $48 million, up 9% year-over-year. During the quarter, TPG received loan repayments totaling $199.6 million, a solid result, and when the quarter ended the company had on hand $225.6 million in cash or cash equivalents.The company was able to easily fund its dividend, of 20 cents per common share, in Q3. For Q4, the company has recently declared not just the 20-cent regular payment, but also an 18-cent non-recurring special cash dividend. Taken together, the dividends give a yield of 7.5%, almost 4x higher than the average found among S&P-listed companies.Returning to Raymond James’ REIT expert Stephen Laws, we find that he is bullish on TRTX, too. “TRTX has underperformed since reporting 3Q results, which we believe creates an attractive buying opportunity… We expect core earnings to continue benefiting from LIBOR floors in loans and expect new investments to resume in 1Q21. The company's portfolio has combined retail and hotel exposure of 14%, which is below the sector average of 19%...” To this end, Laws rates TRTX a Strong Buy and his $13 price target suggests ~22% upside in 2021. (To watch Laws’ track record, click here)This stock also holds a Strong Buy rating from the analyst consensus, based on 3 unanimous Buy reviews set in recent weeks. Shares are priced at $10.67 and the average target of $11.00 suggests a modest 3% upside from current levels. (See TRTX stock analysis on TipRanks)To find good ideas for dividend stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
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European trade of wood chips has gone up substantially as sawmills have ramped up production and generated more residual chips - Yahoo Finance
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Their creations of vodka, rum and bourbon are going over well with guests to the store, according to general manager James Muston, who shared about their creation during a recent interview and tour of the facility.
Even if you don't care to drink a drop of liquor, the process behind the making of the product is mesmerizing and mostly viewable through a wall of windows. Starting out with potatoes or grains and introducing Wadena water to the mix is a rudimentary step, but a key part of what makes the product what it is. Business partner Dave Stormoen said Wadena's water is legendary, coming in with what the World Health Organization considers good levels of solids, about 280 parts per million (ppm) of total dissolved solids (TDS). Culligan Water filtration gets it down to 7 ppm TDS, and the distillery cannon filter brings it down to 3 ppm TDS.
"So it doesn't get any cleaner after we get done with it," Stormoen said.
Running everything through copper stills tends to offer a better flavor, too, he said.
Master distiller Matt Aspengren is constantly checking and testing the liquids throughout the process.
"I would say all of our spirits, you could literally just pour over ice," Muston said of their level of smoothness.
The vodka has no aging involved so they are able to move from the distillation to bottling rather quickly. The rum needs more time for the various flavors they add in. They let the rum rest at least a month.
Bourbon is the longest wait. That spirit gets placed in barrels in the basement and needs at least a couple months to rest and take in the flavors. To put some of their Boathouse Bourbon on the shelf they had to curate some bourbon from area distilleries and add their own ingredients to make it uniquely theirs.
They started cooking up their first batches of spirits back in May 2020 and are now ages ahead in understanding how their equipment and ingredients react to variables.
GALLERY:
While spirits remain a central part of the distillery business, Little Round Still also sells merchandise including coasters, apparel, cups and mugs, and more items are being engraved with the business's Kern laser engraver in house.
Not all features of the distillery are able to begin at this time due to the current COVID-19 restrictions put in place by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Alcohol sales at this point are off-sale only. Once able to fully open, guests can take in more of what they have to offer, including using the space for larger group gatherings.
"As soon as the restrictions are removed, the plan is to open up the cocktail room fully with tasting flights, cocktails, everything made with Little Round spirits," Muston said.
Muston comes to the business with a teaching background and a passion for spirits that stems from his parents' vineyard on Lake Marion. He looks forward to the company developing a wide range of spirits on limited release to keep people coming back for more. He sees the tasting room as a spot for the company to allow people to sample new varieties and give their feedback on what works or what needs more work. It's something the 20 distilleries in the state must do to keep on top of the market.
"I'm just excited to share what we have," Muston said.
What they have seems to be an edge, thanks to nearby natural resources. Clean water and slow growing white oak in this part of the country combine to make Little Round Still spirits unique, according to Muston.
While that white oak may have been abundant at one point, Stormoen knows that they have to do things different to get the most out of the resource. That involves small wafers of white oak that are toasted with a laser engraver. These pieces of wood, called "barrel breakers" are then placed in the alcohol to infuse it with the smoky oak flavor from all sides. Comparatively, whiskey placed in a barrel barely impregnates into the wood. The makers of the product say this offers full flavor with less wood.
The secret behind the oak infused spirits involves wafers of white oak burned with a laser engraver tool. The wood chips, called Barrel Breakers, are said to infuse more oak flavor into the alcohol using less wood, namely the oak barrels they would normally be aged in. Michael Johnson/Pioneer Journal
The potential
There's much to be said about what's happening on the main floor of this place. The lower level is a full footprint of the building that allows for plenty of space for storing the spirits. Upstairs there's plans of using the former J.C. Penney business office as a VIP room; the second level to the rear of the building could be more event space.
Did you know there's a ballroom above the distillery? It's a part of the old Masonic Lodge that was built above the former J.C. Penney store. Michael Johnson/Pioneer Journal
But wait, there's a whole other level above that. This top floor boasts a kitchen and living quarters where Muston said he dreams of having the area open to artists in residency that could create unique art projects together. This floor was the Masonic Lodge, not an uncommon addition to J.C. Penney stores of the time as Mr. Penney was a renowned Mason. It wouldn't be a Masonic Lodge without an immense ballroom that fills out the rest of the upper level. Stepping into this space is like walking into another time and place likely unseen by many now living in Wadena.
"The potential of this space is amazing," Muston said.
ADA compliance is the hurdle they'll have to jump in order to make use of all the extra space.
You'll never drink alone
A highlight for many locals may be just visiting the distillery for the artwork. Displayed on the south wall of the Mural Room is the 52-foot mural itself, displaying 687 faces, many of which you may know. Those visiting are asked to take a picture of yourself pointing out where you are in the painting. This mural found a new home inside the distillery after being removed from the back side of the now remodeled Super One building.
Stormoen jokes that Wadena has the only distillery currently ignoring the large group gathering order as it always has those 687 people inside its walls. It ensures "you'll never drink alone," Stormoen said.
Only months removed from when the small-ball Rockets played no centers, new Houston head coach Stephen Silas says he is open to potentially using two at the same time.
Emerging big man Christian Wood was a revelation on offense during the recent road trip to Portland and Denver, averaging 27 points (55% FG) and eight rebounds per game. Yet, the athletic 25-year-old — who starts at center for the 2020-21 Rockets — struggled at times on defense against bruising, physical bigs Jusuf Nurkic of the Trail Blazers and Nikola Jokic with the Nuggets. Even so, Silas had little choice but to ride it out since backup center DeMarcus Cousins was sidelined in quarantine and third-stringer Bruno Caboclo struggled mightily.
That dynamic could change starting Thursday against Sacramento. Cousins is back with the team after clearing his quarantine. But as Silas sees things, roles will not necessarily be a debate of the athleticism and skill of Wood versus the power and physicality of Cousins. In certain matchups, the Rockets could use both bigs together, since Wood should be agile enough to handle minutes at the power forward spot.
When asked after Wednesday’s team practice whether he was open to playing Wood and Cousins together, Silas responded:
Yeah, I’m definitely open to it. To have DeMarcus, who can hold his own against those guys down low, then we don’t have to get into so many help situations, as we saw in the Denver game against Jokic. We had to help a lot, which opened up all of the things that he does well. He can really pass the ball, find cutters, and then offensive rebounds, because we’re out of position. To have Cousins out there will definitely help our post defense.
But then Christian has the ability as a stretch four — which, I guess all fours maybe are stretch, now. It used to be, there would be the Matt Bullards of the world who were stretch fours. But C-Wood can definitely hold that role and play pick-and-roll, and make it hard on teams to guard.
Wood and Cousins were never simultaneously active in the preseason, with Cousins sitting out the fourth and final game for planned maintenance and Wood missing the first three with a sore elbow. Thus, Silas has yet to have both bigs activated at the same time, which — other than practice time — has prevented any Cousins-Wood experiments.
That changes Thursday night, when Houston will play its first home game of the regular season. Tipoff between the Rockets (0-2) and Kings (3-1) is set for 6 p.m. Central from Toyota Center, with the game televised on AT&T SportsNet Southwest throughout usual Houston markets.
A Japanese university is teaming up with a Japanese logging company to design and launch the world's first Earth-orbiting wooden satellite by 2023, the BBC reports.
Despite being touted as a solution to the space junk problem, the wooden satellite is instead designed to limit the amount of toxic particles released during reentry burn.
Researchers at Kyoto University in Japan are partnering with the Japanese company Sumitomo Forestry to develop the world's first Earth-orbiting wooden satellite. The demonstration mission is scheduled to launch in 2023, the BBC reports.
You love badass space stuff. So do we. Let's explore the universe together.
That's nearly all we know about the mission. Neither entity has released specific details about the project, such as how long the mission will last, what they hope to do in orbit, or even the type of wood they'll be testing.
This wouldn't be the first time wood has been lofted into space—NASA's early Ranger program, for example, sent balsawood structures to the moon—but it's certainly not a commonly used material in the aerospace industry. As Popular Science explained in 2014, sending a wooden spacecraft into orbit presents a unique set of challenges:
For starters, the organic matter would contain a fair amount of water. In a vacuum, that water would leak out and evaporate, which could affect the structure—especially in places where screws and brackets were attached. Even if this process unfolded over many weeks or months, the integrity of the spacecraft might be compromised.
It ultimately depends on how (if at all) these scientists plan to treat the wood before it makes its celestial debut. The aim of the mission, Nikkei Asia reports, is to put different wood materials through the ringer and test their mettle against extreme changes in temperature and sunlight.
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The team also hopes to study the growth of treated wood in microgravity in an effort to better inform its practical uses of the material on Earth, but few details are given in the Nikkei Asia report about what these experiments might look like.
There may be some benefits to encasing a payload in a wooden shell. Nikkei Asia also notes that, unlike metal, wood won't block the electromagnetic waves that satellites use to communicate. If so, the scientists may be able to stash the antenna and other pieces of instrumentation inside the exterior wooden structure.
At the very least, it should be an interesting technology demonstration.
What Good Is Wood?
Since the Soviet Union's Sputnik satellite launched in 1957, we've sent more than 10,000 objects into space. Our pace is only increasing as companies like SpaceX's Starlink, Boeing and OneWeb plan to send tens of thousands of satellites into orbit. It's becoming incredibly crowded up there.
As these objects cross paths (and sometimes collide), scientists fear they could generate collisions that send a wave of debris across low-Earth orbit and traps us on our planet. (Who would have thought the final filter would be a literal filter?)
The Sumitomo Forestry and Kyoto University satellite hasbeentouted as a potential solution to the space debris issue. But, as Ars Technica points out, it doesn't matter what a satellite is made of. If it's orbiting Earth, there's a risk it could eventually become a piece of space junk. Constructing a spacecraft out of wood instead of aluminum won't change that.
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There's a chance the new satellite could address one oft-overlooked issue: re-entry smoke particles. As satellites reenter Earth's atmosphere, their exteriors are exposed to extreme temperatures. In some cases, they melt and ultimately become vaporized.
Scientists haven't done much research on what effect burning all that metal has on the composition and chemistry of the atmosphere. "Vaporization equals dust production," Martin Ross, one of the authors of the 2018 Quadrennial Global Ozone Assessment, told Space.com in 2017. "That process isn't well-understood at all."
This seems to be top of mind for JAXA astronaut and Kyoto University professor Takao Doi, who spoke with the BBC about the project:
"We are very concerned with the fact that all the satellites which re-enter the Earth's atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years. Eventually it will affect the environment of the Earth."
Wooden satellites, the team claims, could soon become a more environmentally friendly way to explore the cosmos without generating a haze of hazardous particles. Hypothetically, the wood should burn up on reentry. But what about the metal hardware inside? Again, we'll need more details.
Branching Out
This satellite may be the first wooden satellite designed to orbit Earth, but it isn't the first object made from wood to visit space. NASA's Ranger Program, which was run by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, from 1961 to 1965, broke that barrier first.
For the Ranger 3, 4 and 5 missions, engineers at JPL constructed an impact limiter—a 25-inch-wide globe made from balsawood—designed to protect lunar instruments. According to Scientific American, the engineers placed a seismometer and transmitter in the center of each of the hollowed globes and then filled them with liquid, which would hypothetically act as a stabilizer when the balsawood impactors crash-landed on the moon.
NASA technicians tinkering with the Ranger Block 2 spacecraft, which contained a seismometer encased in a sphere of balsawood.
NASA
Of the three probes that contained the wooden contraption, Ranger 4 was the only one to make it to the lunar surface. And while its 1962 landing on the far side of the moon marked the first time NASA landed on another celestial body, the probe's transmitters shut down and the mission ultimately failed. There's no indication of how the seismometer and its wooden enclosure fared on the lunar surface.
Ranger 3 and Ranger 5, however, missed the moon entirely—by about 22,000 miles and roughly 500 miles, respectively. The two spacecraft and their balsawood-protected seismographs are now trapped in a heliocentric orbit.
More recently, China has experimented with sending wood into space. Several of the country's Fanhui Shi Weixing reconnaissance satellites, which launched from 1969 to 2006, were equipped with a heat shield made from impregnated white oak. (This was apparently a cheaper alternative to the foam tiles that NASA was using at the time.)
The innovative design apparently worked quite well. As the spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere, the 5-inch-thick oak tiles, subjected to temperatures of up to 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit, would become charred. That charcoal would then be whisked away by wind and the charring process would start over again, according to New Scientist. This allegedly helped to safely distribute heat across the spacecraft.
Finally, to mark its 350th anniversary in 2010, the Royal Society sent a slice of wood pulled from Sir Isaac Newton's famed apple tree to space aboard the shuttle Atlantis.
So while this latest endeavor by Japan may not be the most practical, at the very least, it should be a a fascinating attempt to test wood's might in space.
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The Charlotte Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Milwaukee Bucks are among the NBA teams that gave up on Christian Wood in the past five years, but the 6-foot-11 forward never gave up on himself. Right about now, Wood’s ex-girlfriend must be wishing she could say the same.
She walked out on Wood after a disastrous NBA draft, but the Houston Rockets’ rising star is getting the last laugh.
Houston Rockets newcomer Christian Wood has bounced around more than a basketball that Luka Doncic takes on an end-to-end drive for a layup. Undrafted coming out of college, he played in 51 games for four NBA teams over his first four years as a pro.
It began with Wood latching on with the Houston Rockets in the NBA Summer League after he left college in 2015 at the age of 19. The Rockets let him go, but Wood caught on with the Philadelphia 76ers, who used him sparingly in 14 games before cutting the rookie in January 2016. He spent the remainder of the season shuttling between the 76ers and the Delaware 87ers of the NBA Development League.
The following season was a lather/rinse/repeat year for Wood, but this time with the Charlotte Hornets and their Greensboro Swarm affiliate. Again, he got a taste of NBA life, but not enough playing time to make an impact. That was followed by a wasted season trying to hook on in the Chinese Basketball Association.
Wood’s fortunes began to change with the 2018-19 NBA season. After playing sparingly with the Milwaukee Bucks, he joined the New Orleans Pelicans and made the most of his two starts and six other appearances. Playing 24 minutes a night down the stretch, Wood averaged 16.9 points and 7.9 rebounds. He closed the season with career highs of 26 points and 12 rebounds against Golden State.
Christian Wood was now on the verge of making it big in pro basketball.
Coming out of UNLV too soon stymied his development
If he had to do it all over again, Christian Wood might concede that he should have stayed in college another year. Wood was a role player as a UNLV freshman and then averaged 15.7 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks for the Runnin’ Rebels in the 2014-15 season. Had he stayed another season, Wood might have cut two years off the journey that finally took him to a slot in the Detroit Pistons’ rotation last season.
Wood appeared in 62 games in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. Signed off waivers for $1.6 million, he beat out veteran Joe Johnson for a roster spot and stuck with the franchise all year.
The trade of Andre Drummond to the Cleveland Cavaliers opened a starting spot, and Wood produced 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds in 21 minutes a night, shooting 56.7% along the way. He was now in the perfect position to cash in as a free agent.
On Nov. 24, 2020, Wood and the Pistons worked out a sign-and-trade deal. After accepting $41 million – fully guaranteed according to Spotrac.com — over three years, Wood became one of the pieces in the Houston Rockets’ makeover in a swap for Trevor Ariza and incoming rookie Isaiah Stewart.
The Rockets are off to an 0-2 start, but Wood connected for 31 points against Portland in the opener and then 23 vs. Denver. He’s also averaging 8.0 rebounds and has made four of his first seven 3-pointers.
The 2015 NBA draft was the worst night of Christian Wood’s basketball life
Labeled by some as a likely first-round pick shortly after declaring for the 2015 NBA draft as a UNLV sophomore, Christian Wood saw his stock plummet during the spring. On draft night, Wood rented a party suite at a Las Vegas hotel to watch with family and friends. However, picks kept coming and going without his name being called.
By night’s end, Wood was undrafted. Immediately afterward, he was also unattached. His significant other bailed out on him to add insult to injury.
“I lost my girlfriend that night, too,” Wood told The Ringer. “I dropped her off at the airport after the draft and never saw her again.”
It was her loss and not his. The new $41 million contract will bring Wood’s career earnings to a little more than $45 million, which is a fitting reward for a man who persevered after two brutal gut punches on draft night.
The largest product from Cathie Wood’s prominent exchange-traded fund lineup did something unusual on Tuesday -- it posted outflows.
ARK Innovation ETF (
ARKK) had $137 million in outflows on Tuesday, its largest exit on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Drawdowns are far from the norm for the $17.6 billion fund, which hasn’t experienced a daily withdrawal since early November nor a weekly one since February.
Wood, the chief executive officer of Ark Investment Management, has led the actively managed ARKK to a show-stopping year, recently taking the crown as the
largest active product in the $5.4 trillion industry. Her bets on innovative tech companies, including Tesla Inc., fueled massive outperformance and led investors to pour $9.4 billion into the fund. Now as the year ends, some may be booking those gains.
“Given the strong demand in the fourth quarter for ARKK and its hard-to-duplicate returns in 2020, it was inevitable that some investors would want to take profits,” said Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF research for CFRA Research.
The fund lost 4.2% on Tuesday. Another of Wood’s products -- the ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (
ARKG) -- dropped 7.4%, its worst pullback since March, but has yet to face large outflows.
However, the losses have barely made a dent in the funds’ yearly performance, as both still rank in the top 10 ETFs, with ARKK up about 150% and ARKG rising 180%.
This unpretentious suburb in Bergen County offers residents comfortable proximity to Manhattan and reasonably priced homes (some with skyline views).
In Wood-Ridge, N.J., residents are accustomed to clarifying where they live. “People don’t always get what you mean when you say ‘Wood-Ridge,’” said Melanie Nicoletti, a former Brooklynite. “Ridgewood and Woodbridge” — higher profile addresses in the Garden State — “they get.”
But it was the hyphenated borough in southern Bergen County where Ms. Nicoletti and her husband, Michael, now 38 and 39, landed in 2014, after feeling the sticker shock of New York City housing prices. Wanting brand-new construction, Ms. Nicoletti, a bookkeeper, and Mr. Nicoletti, an electrician, paid $408,000 for a tri-level, two-bedroom townhouse in Liberty Square, part of Wesmont Station, a transit village on a 150-acre former industrial site in the northwest corner of mile-square Wood-Ridge.
N.Y.
PA.
NEW JERSEY
BERGEN
COUNTY
Wood-Ridge
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York
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MAIN AVE.
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airport
ATLANTIC
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Hasbrouck
Heights
HIGHLAND AVE.
Wood-Ridge
N.J.
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VALLEY BLVD.
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17
Carlstadt
1/4 mile
“We bought off a brochure — it was nothing but dirt when we first visited,” said Ms. Nicoletti, adding that she and her husband, who work in Manhattan, were especially pleased by the prospect of a quick walk to a train station.
Now parents of a 2-year-old, the couple have watched a neighborhood rise around them, in an unpretentious middle-class suburb 12 miles from Times Square. “We’re not too close to the city,” Ms. Nicoletti said, “but not that far where you can’t reach anything.”
Wesmont Station has boosted Wood-Ridge’s population to close to 10,000 (from 7,600 in 2010), many of the newcomers arriving from New York City and urban environments in New Jersey. A mix of townhouses, condominiums, apartments and greenery on pedestrian-friendly streets, the transit village currently has 1,050 homes, about half of them rentals. The site, which underwent an environmental cleanup, gained its first piece, the 406-unit Avalon at Wesmont Station apartment complex with ground-floor retail, in 2012. The train station opened in 2016. Another 500 homes are expected upon the neighborhood’s completion in 2024.
Wesmont Station townhouses, like these on Truman Drive, are a short walk from the community’s train station.Laura Moss for The New York Times
“Wesmont has changed Wood-Ridge’s dynamic — the town’s a lot more diverse now,” said Robert Riccardella, a 30-year resident who downsized to a Wesmont Station townhouse from a colonial a few blocks away. Mr. Riccardella, a former borough councilman and a member of the New Jersey State Parole Board, said most of his new neighbors are professionals who commute to the city — or they did, before the pandemic thinned the crowds at the rail station. At 64, he added, “I’m one of the older ones down here.”
Word of mouth brought Suren Chaturvedula, now 36, and his wife, Manasa, 35, to Wood-Ridge in 2016. Mr. Chaturvedula, a data engineer, and Ms. Chaturvedula, a software engineer, had been paying $3,200 a month for a one-bedroom in a Jersey City high-rise. For $616,000, they bought a new four-bedroom townhouse in Liberty Square, at Wesmont Station, after deciding that similar townhouses on New Jersey’s Gold Coast were at an age when renovation would be necessary.
“Initially, it didn’t feel like we were part of Wood-Ridge,” Mr. Chaturvedula said of living in the transit village, which is connected to the rest of Wood-Ridge by two residential streets. “But then they started having festivals right on our street, literally outside our door.”
The boroughwide events, complete with food trucks and music, are meant to draw Wesmont Station’s millennials and empty nesters into the local scene. (In 2020, the events were canceled because of the pandemic.)
449 WINDSOR ROAD | A five-bedroom house with three full bathrooms and two half bathrooms, built in 1930 on 0.11 acres, listed for $639,999. 201-939-0500Laura Moss for The New York Times
What You’ll Find
Bordering six other municipalities, Wood-Ridge sits on a ridge two miles from Teterboro Airport and three miles from the Meadowlands. Route 17, a state highway, runs along the eastern edge.
The borough’s overall appearance is tidy and manicured, thanks to tax revenue from Wesmont Station. “We’ve invested the tax revenue in the rest of the town,” said Paul A. Sarlo, the mayor since 2000. “Every road has been repaved and every sidewalk replaced in the past 15 years, and the street sweepers go out every day.”
The windfall has also allowed the borough to build a 12-acre, artificial-turf sports complex at Wesmont Station (the soccer field is open and the ball fields will be ready this year) and made it possible for the school district to add a third building by buying a closed Catholic school.
In contrast to the transit village, the rest of the housing stock in Wood-Ridge is mostly single-family and from the early- and mid-20th century. Homes and lots are modest in size. Because of the topography and a tree cover that is sparser than in other suburbs, some properties enjoy Manhattan views. Particularly charming are the Tudor-style homes in Sunshine City, a Depression-era development that fueled the borough’s first growth spurt.
19 TRUMAN DRIVE | A four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom townhouse, built in 2015, listed for $619,900. 201-660-9933Laura Moss for The New York Times
As construction continues at Wesmont Village, some borough homeowners have taken a cue. “A lot of people here have been motivated to polish up and renovate,” said Jason Mabel, a resident since 2014. “You’re seeing houses coming down and new ones going up, and Capes being turned into colonials.”
Mr. Mabel, 40, a sales manager, and his wife, Michele, 41, a special-education teacher, added two bedrooms and two bathrooms to their 1920s three-bedroom colonial, which they bought for $375,000. Formerly renters in Little Falls, N.J., they chose Wood-Ridge for its walkability and proximity to New York City, as well as the promise of the new sports complex, which they expect their three sons to use.
“Wood-Ridge has rapidly moved away from being an old, small town,” Mr. Mabel said.
345 COLUMBIA BOULEVARD | A three-bedroom, one-and-half-bathroom house, built in 1941 on 0.20 acres, listed for $599,900. 201-939-7500Laura Moss for The New York Times
What You’ll Pay
Wood-Ridge property values have risen as a result of Wesmont Station and the new train station, said Susan LeConte, president and chief executive of LeConte Realty in neighboring Hasbrouck Heights.
“It’s a great town for commuters because you can get anywhere pretty easily by train, bus or highway,” Ms. LeConte said. She noted that the Wesmont train station, one of two in the borough, is walkable for many on the west side, “and I’ve had builders tell me they’re looking specifically in that area.”
On Dec. 23, the New Jersey Multiple Listing Service’s website showed 10 single-family houses on the market, priced from $410,000 to $639,999, and 12 townhouse and condominiums, from $234,900 to $699,900. Of the latter, all but the three least expensive were at Wesmont Station. As for new and future construction at Wesmont Station, prices at the Wright Place development are generally in the $600,000s; at the Link at Wesmont Station development, they are in the $400,000s.
From Jan. 1 through Nov. 30, 2020, 73 single-family houses in Wood-Ridge sold at a median price of $465,000, and 36 townhouses and condominiums sold at a median of $441,000, according to the listing service.
In 2019, Wood-Ridge’s annual average property tax bill was $9,735, 19 percent below the Bergen County average. Buyers of new homes at Wesmont Station receive a five-year tax abatement.
255 INNES ROAD | A two-bedroom, one-bathroom house, built in 1930 on 0.10 acres, listed for $410,000. 201-288-0004Laura Moss for The New York Times
The Vibe
Home to an eclectic dining scene, Wood-Ridge cracked NJ.com’s 2019 list of “great N.J. food towns that no one knows about.” About half of the storefronts in the tiny Valley Boulevard business district are restaurants or food purveyors, including a juicery, a gelateria, a Thai spot, a kebab house and an empanada shop. Hackensack Avenue has another cluster: Justin’s Ristorante II and Martini Grill, both Italian; Sparta Taverna, serving Greek food; and Buffalo’s, for chicken wings.
The Schools
Wood-Ridge’s 1,200 public school students attend Catherine E. Doyle Elementary through third grade, Wood-Ridge Intermediate School (the former Catholic school) for fourth through sixth grade and Wood-Ridge Junior-Senior High School from seventh grade on. Average SAT scores in 2018-19 were 512 in reading and writing and 499 in math, versus 539 and 541 statewide.
The district’s ethnic and racial composition is roughly 61 percent white, 26 percent Hispanic, 7 percent Asian and 4 percent Black.
The European-style Mills Bakery is a century-old institution on Valley Boulevard.Laura Moss for The New York Times
The Commute
From either train station — Wesmont on New Jersey Transit’s Bergen Line or Wood-Ridge on the Pascack Valley Line — passengers reach Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan in 30 to 40 minutes. From Wesmont, which has plentiful parking, the fare is $6.75 one way or $184 monthly; from the Wood-Ridge station, in the sliver of the borough east of Route 17, the fare is $5.50 one way or $170 monthly.
New Jersey Transit buses stop on Valley Boulevard. The 35-minute ride to the Port Authority terminal costs $4.50 or $148 monthly.
The History
Wood-Ridge punched above its weight during the Second World War. The sprawling Curtiss-Wright Corporation plant manufactured engines for fighter-bombers and, at the height of production, employed 20,000 men and women around the clock. A bronze statue of Rosie the Riveter stands at the gateway to the Wesmont Station homes now occupying the site. The neighborhood’s street names — Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Truman — continue the wartime theme.
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