May 9, 2022

Today's newsletter stars a rare hybrid monkey, novel ET communications, and a pricey painting that was once swapped for a few grilled cheeses. On the latter story, you can decide who the real winner was. Sure, a $27,000 painting sounds nice but...  American cheese... buttery toast... tummy grumbling...

― Key Stories

Hybrid Monkey Discovered
Overview

• Researchers in Malaysia have identified a new, rare form of hybrid monkey
• The scientists believe the hybrid is the offspring of a male proboscis monkey — known for its large nose and human-like face — and a female silvery lutung
• The monkeys are distantly related. While closely related monkeys do occasionally mate and produce offspring, it's unusual for ones not of the same genus, like these, to do so
• Deforestation may be causing the proboscis monkey to move into and dominate lutung groups, creating the hybrid

Roe Protests Continue
Overview

• Protests took place outside the homes of 2 Supreme Court justices, days after their addresses were leaked
• The justices — conservatives Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts — live near each other in Maryland
• Police broke up the protests. The Court will not disclose the justices’ security arrangements
• The Biden admin said it doesn't “have an official US govt. position on where people protest”; the top Democratic senator on the judiciary committee, which oversees Supreme Court nominations, said protesting outside justices’ homes is “demeaning and adolescent”

ET, You Up?
Overview

• A group of scientists has proposed an update to the message NASA beams out to communicate with alien life
• In 1974, an interstellar radio message containing a stick-figure drawing of a human, the numbers 1-10, the chemical composition of DNA, and other basic information was sent into space
• Scientists have proposed an update to the message
• The new message would contain representations of humans, DNA, Earth's location, and more. It would be formatted in a binary system that the scientists hope would be understandable anywhere in the universe

Taliban Bring Back the Burqa
Overview

• Afghanistan’s Taliban government mandated that all women must cover themselves from head to toe
• “Those women who are not too old or young must cover their face, except the eyes,” a government official said. “For all dignified Afghan women wearing hijab is necessary and the best is the burqa which is part of our tradition and is respectful”
• The burqa is a full-body veil with a net covering the eyes that leaves only the hands and feet exposed
• While the burqa is common outside of major Afghan cities, many women in the cities only wear headscarves

See yesterday's results below the Wrap!

 Popcorn

Culture & Sports

• Never tell me the odds: Saturday's Kentucky Derby champ Rich Strike faced 80-1 odds, making him the 2nd most improbable winner ever
• Marvel's Doctor Strange 2 raked in $450M worldwide at the box office this weekend, the 2nd biggest debut of the pandemic era
• Coup d'baseball: The Los Angeles Dodgers are in talks to play in Paris in the summer of 2025. The MLB wants to expand its global footprint 

• When in Rome: Rome is banning picnics to prevent its wild boar population from infecting people with African swine fever
• Road to Atlantis? Scientists identified what looks like a road on the ocean floor. It is assumed to be an example of volcanic geology
• Tiger who? An 82-yo golfer sank 2 hole-in-ones in a single round, per Golf Week. The remarkable feat took place at a golf club in Naples, FL
• A painting that a Canadian couple acquired at the cost of a few grilled cheeses in the 70s is expected to fetch $27,000 at auction this month

― Roca Wrap

A Newsletter Exclusive

Northern Ireland – a region of the UK – went to the polls on Thursday, and the result was historic: For the first time, a party committed to unifying Ireland and Northern Ireland won the most seats. 
 
That party, Sinn Féin – Gaelic for “We Ourselves” – has been controversial since it formed in 1905 to unify Irish nationalist political factions who opposed English rule of Ireland. Its name indicated its belief: Only we, the Irish, should rule Ireland.
 
The English had ruled parts of Ireland since the 12th century, and dominated it since the 16th, when King Henry VIII sought to expand England’s control. Henry, who converted from Catholicism to Protestantism during his reign, also sought to impose Protestantism across Ireland, which was overwhelmingly Catholic. 

Religious and political conflicts dominated Ireland over the next few centuries: On one side were the Catholic Irish, who opposed English governance; on the other were the Protestant English, who wanted to retain control of Ireland. 
 
England continued to govern Ireland into the 20th century, at the start of which Sinn Féin emerged from an alliance of political groups who wanted Irish independence. 

Most of Ireland became independent in 1921, after a group called the Irish Republican Army (IRA) fought a war of independence against the British. The war ended with the partition of Ireland: 6 predominantly Protestant counties in the north would become Northern Ireland and remain under British rule; the remaining 26 counties in the south would become independent Ireland.
 
The IRA continued to fight after partition, hoping to unite Ireland and Northern Ireland, where it alleged British authorities were oppressing the Catholic minority. This battle continued for decades, culminating in a period known as “The Troubles”: Between 1968 and 1998, conflict between Irish nationalists and English loyalists killed about 3,500 people in northern Ireland. 

The IRA are believed responsible for about half of those deaths, including around 600 civilians. Ireland declared the IRA an illegal organization; England deemed them terrorists. 

Throughout that period, Sinn Féin was seen widely as the political wing of the IRA, although the party always denied the link. Sinn Féin’s leaders eventually helped negotiate an end to the Troubles and install a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland that helped bring peace to the territory.

Sinn Féin’s alleged IRA associations led many to shun it on both sides of the border. For decades, though, the party has tried to revamp its image, focusing on concerns like housing and healthcare rather than Irish unity. 

Those efforts paid off last week, when for the first time, Sinn Féin captured the largest number of seats in Northern Ireland’s government. To this date, the largest party has always been pro-English.
 
Sinn Féin’s victory does not guarantee a change to Northern Ireland’s status any time soon. Unification would require agreement from the UK and Ireland, and power in the government remains divided between pro-unification and pro-British parties. 
 
Sinn Féin’s leader said the party’s immediate focus is improving the economy and living standards. Even so, she said unification remains a party goal that she’s ready to start talking about.

 Games

1. "We've got to hold on to what we've got. It doesn't make a difference if we ____ __ __ ___"
2. "______ ____ is not my lover. She's just a girl who claims that I am the one"
3. "She's got _ _____ that it seems to me reminds me of childhood memories"
4. "I'm never gonna dance again. Guilty feet have ___ __ _______"

 Roca Clubhouse
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― Final Thoughts