In partnership with
The Post-Workout Recovery Secret You’re Sleeping On
You’ve dialed in your workouts, nutrition, and hydration. But if progress still feels slow, there’s one recovery factor often overlooked: sleep.
Muscles repair and rebuild while you sleep. Less sleep means less time to recover.
If getting enough rest is a challenge, CBDistillery offers targeted support your sleep solutions.
Their gummies and tinctures combine non-intoxicating CBD with CBN, a cannabinoid commonly used to promote better sleep.
In a 2021 CBDistillery study, participants reported sleeping longer on average after using CBD and CBN together.
Right now, readers can save 25% on sleep solutions with code SLEEPMORE at checkout.
FROM THE DESK
Three weeks before baby formula disappeared from shelves in 2022, the freight data showed a sharp decline in refrigerated container shipments from the Midwest. The recall was announced. Production stopped. But the shortage wasn't visible at retail for weeks because existing inventory masked it. The data showed it before the shelves did. This week, we learn to read that data.
Here's what I've got today.
THE BRIEF
Real-Time Supply Chain Monitoring for Regular People
We covered economic indicators in Issue 75. This week goes deeper into the supply chain specifically: the data that tells you whether goods are moving normally or whether disruptions are building, weeks before they affect your grocery store.
Freight rates signal demand and congestion. The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) tracks global container shipping rates. When rates spike, it means demand exceeds capacity, which means delays and price increases are coming. The FBX is published weekly and free to check at freightos.com.
Port congestion data shows bottlenecks. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handle roughly 40% of US container imports. When vessel wait times increase or container dwell times extend beyond normal (2 to 3 days), goods are backing up. Both ports publish monthly statistics. Marine Traffic shows vessel positions in real time, letting you see anchorage congestion visually.
Trucking data completes the domestic picture. FreightWaves publishes market data on trucking capacity, rates, and tender rejections (when carriers decline loads because they're too busy). High rejection rates mean the trucking network is strained, which delays delivery of everything from food to building materials.
The NY Fed Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, which we've tracked throughout this newsletter, synthesizes multiple indicators into one number. But understanding the components gives you earlier warning and more specific insight.
The practical workflow: check FBX shipping rates monthly, scan port congestion data quarterly, and monitor the NY Fed index monthly. When two or more of these trend upward simultaneously, supply disruptions are building. That's your signal to accelerate pantry stocking on items that depend on imports or long-distance shipping.
ONE THING THIS WEEK
Check the current Freightos Baltic Index at freightos.com.
Note the current rate and compare it to 6 months ago. If it's rising, shipping costs are increasing, which means consumer prices follow within weeks. If it's stable, supply chains are healthy.
ON THE RADAR
New research sampling 14 California dairy farms confirmed H5N1 avian influenza in the air of milking parlors — detected in cows' exhaled breath, in bulk milk, and in wastewater. More than 1,000 U.S. dairy farms have active outbreaks; over 180 million poultry have been infected nationwide. The CDC has confirmed 71 human cases and 2 deaths in the U.S., almost all among farm workers. The supply chain implication: the same fragile egg and dairy infrastructure that caused the 2025 price crisis remains acutely vulnerable to another outbreak surge.
LESSON FROM: FERNANDO "FERFAL" AGUIRRE
FerFAL watched Argentina's supply chains break in slow motion during the 2001 collapse. In Bugging Out and Relocating, he documents how import restrictions, currency controls, and transportation disruptions created rolling shortages that affected different products at different times. His observation: the people who monitored trade and logistics data spotted shortages weeks before casual consumers noticed.
His modern advice for Americans: you don't need to understand global logistics. You need to understand direction and rate of change. Is shipping getting more expensive or less? Are ports getting more congested or less? Is the NY Fed index rising or falling? These three questions, answered monthly with free data, give you a meaningful information advantage.
Bugging Out and Relocating is available at Amazon.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
A Parcel Bomb Detonated in Monaco — Suspect Still at Large in France
On Sunday evening in Monaco — one of the world's most surveilled jurisdictions — someone left a package at the entrance of a residential building on Rue Révérend Père Louis Frolla. The bomb, packed with buckshot and bolts, detonated shortly before 9 p.m. A couple in their 50s suffered life-threatening wounds; a 13-year-old nearby was less seriously hurt. The apparent target: Vadym Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian-born oligarch who was seriously injured in what Monaco's prosecutor is now calling an attempted assassination.
The suspect fled on foot across the border into France — captured on surveillance cameras. As of this writing, they remain at large. It is the first attack of this kind in Monaco's recorded history.
The preparedness lesson: explosive devices don't require sophistication, just proximity. The USPS Postal Inspection Service's warning signs are worth memorizing: unexpected package, no return address, excessive postage, unusual weight or rigidity, oily stains, protruding wires. If something appears at your door and feels wrong, do not open it. Back away, keep others back, call 911. You don't need to diagnose it. You need distance.
WHAT I'M TESTING
Supply Chain Dashboard (Browser Bookmark Folder)
I added a "Supply Chain" bookmark folder with: Freightos Baltic Index, Port of Los Angeles statistics, NY Fed Supply Chain Index, FreightWaves SONAR (free tier), and Marine Traffic port view. Monthly check: 10 minutes. The data paints a clear picture of whether goods are flowing normally or stress is building. Free.
Budget alternative: Just bookmark the NY Fed Supply Chain Index. One number, once a month. It synthesizes the rest.
OVERRATED / UNDERRATED
Overrated: "Supply chain collapse" headlines. The internet declares supply chain collapse every time shipping rates tick up. Real data shows that most rate increases are temporary and resolve within quarters. Use data, not headlines, to assess conditions.
Underrated: Marine Traffic's port view. Watching vessel anchorage in real time at major ports gives you a visceral, visual understanding of congestion that numbers alone don't convey. Dozens of ships anchored outside a port is information you can see.
THE LINK DUMP
Freightos.com — Global shipping rate index, free weekly updates.
Port of Los Angeles — Container throughput and vessel data.
NY Fed Supply Chain Index — Monthly composite supply chain pressure indicator.
FreightWaves — Trucking and logistics market data.
MarineTraffic.com — Real-time global vessel tracking.
COMING UP
Powdered milk, eggs, and butter. Dairy without a fridge, and how to make stored food taste like home cooking.
PS: The baby formula data was visible in freight reports three weeks before the shortage hit stores. Three weeks of lead time. That's the difference between calmly stocking up and standing in a panicked line. Data is the earliest warning system available, and it's free. New channels only tell you after the fact.
THE READY BRIEF is published for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing here is professional legal, medical, financial, or tactical advice. Preparedness looks different for every household — use your own judgment, consult qualified professionals when the stakes are high, and adapt what you read here to your actual situation.
Signed World Cup Jerseys. One Given Away Daily. Free.
Kalshi is giving away a signed, authenticated jersey from a World Cup legend every day through July 7. Ochoa, Modrić, Falcao, Varane, and more. Grand prize: Messi's game-worn 800th-goal jersey. Enter free in the Kalshi app and check in daily to stack your entries.
Free to enter. App required. No purchase necessary. 18+, U.S. only (excl. NY & FL).
1,000,000 Men Use This. You Probably Know One.
Most men don't think about their skin until eye bags, dark spots, and wrinkles show up at once. Particle Face Cream is a groundbreaking men's formula that fights all three, while also restoring firmness and hydrating deeply. No complicated routine. Trusted by over a million men. 30-day money-back guarantee. 20% off with code BH20.