May 24, 2022

Happy Day 2 of the Roca Treasure Hunt. On Day 1, you treasure hunted at a pace that would’ve made Indiana Jones tap out. Remember, you get one guess for the week. We’re not reading any answers until this weekend. Last but not least, welcome to our thousands of new subscribers. Let’s ride!

Keep inviting new friends (so they can witness your win) with your unique link. If you get 2 friends to sign up, you unlock a bonus clue on Thursday. 

In today's edition:

• US cars... older than ever!
• Clue 2 in the Treasure Hunt
• Arby's fancy new menu item 

 Key Stories

Maldives Turn Water Into... Land

The Maldives, an island country in the Indian Ocean, will create 480 acres (194 hectares) of new land using sand from the ocean

• The Maldives are vulnerable to rising sea levels: 80% of its islands are within a meter of sea level
• To protect coastal areas and grow the economy, the government will spend $147M to collect sand from the ocean and expand its land territory. The new land will contain at least 3 resorts
• Environmentalists say the project could destroy aquatic life, but a Maldives official said the country needs “enough land for the next 50 to 100 years”

• While environmentalists warned of the project's impact, those who support it say it's the best option for preserving people's land and livelihoods

DC Sues Zuckerberg

Washington DC’s attorney general sued Mark Zuckerberg

• The suit alleges that Zuckerberg allowed policies that gave a consulting firm the personal data of US voters
• “This unprecedented security breach exposed tens  of millions of Americans’ personal information,” a statement said, “and Mr. Zuckerberg’s policies enabled a multi-year effort to mislead users about the extent of Facebook’s wrongful conduct”
• In a statement, the attorney general claimed the suit “sends a message that corporate leaders, including CEOs, will be held accountable for their actions”

• The lawsuit focuses around Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm alleged to have used personal Facebook data for election marketing in 2016. “The evidence shows Mr. Zuckerberg was personally involved in Facebook’s failure to protect the privacy and data of its users leading directly to the Cambridge Analytica incident,” the suit reads.

Biden: US Will Defend Taiwan

President Biden pledged that the US would militarily defend Taiwan if China invaded

• President Biden was asked on Monday if he would be willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan. “Yes. That’s the commitment we made,” he said
• Taiwan has governed itself since the 1940s, when it separated from China’s communist gov’t. China has vowed to take it back — by force, if necessary
• Biden said that “the idea that [Taiwan] could be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not… appropriate. It will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine"

• The long-time US policy toward Taiwan has been known as "strategic ambiguity." The US arms Taiwan, but is unclear about whether it would protect it during an invasion. President Biden's statement suggests that may be changing, although a subsequent White House statement said that US policy had not changed

US Cars Going Gray

In 2021, the average car on US roads was 12.2 years old — older than ever before

• Average car ages have increased for 5 straight years, driven by improved quality and durability. In the last year, shortages and higher vehicle prices have also encouraged people to keep their old vehicles
• The old cars are good news for service shops, where the average revenue-per-service hit $514 in April, up from $394 in 2018
• Electric vehicles buck the trend: The average EV in 2021 was 3.8 years old, down from 3.9 years old in 2020

• Shortages have caused car prices to surge: In January 2022 versus April 2021, the average 2021 model-year vehicle sold for 26% more – $48,765 versus $38,585.

• The first person to send a Google Street View screenshot of the correct place wins $5,000, second wins $3,000, third wins $2,000 
• No in-person photos will be accepted. This is an entirely virtual game
• You have only 1 guess and it can not be changed
• You can guess at any time by replying to a newsletter, which goes out at 11:00 AM ET daily 
• Winners will be announced on May 31
• Full rules are at the bottom of this email!

• Venti exit: After 15 years in Russia, Starbucks is the latest US chain to announce it's leaving. It promised to pay 6 months' wages
• Promise the moon: Japan and the US jointly announced that they want to put the first Japanese person on the moon by the end of the decade
• Chump change: The world's 50 wealthiest people have lost more than half a trillion dollars this year, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index

 What do you think?

See yesterday's results below the Wrap!

 Roca Wrap

India’s North Sentinel Island is one of the most remote places on Earth. Totally unexplored, its people, the Sentinelese, frequently attack those who land on it. No one can speak their language, and they have never left the island.

But Josh Allen Chau wanted to visit.

As a kid, Chau loved survival stories and hiking. His favorite books included Hatchet, about a kid stranded in Alaska, and Robinson Crusoe, about a castaway who spent 28 years on a remote tropical island. Chau first learned of the Sentinelese as a teen.

He was also deeply religious, having grown up in an evangelical family in Washington State, and became increasingly committed to spreading Christianity after 2016, when he joined a missionary group called All Nations, which sends missionaries around the world.

One of the group’s leaders described Chau as a “soft-spoken, very gentle young man,” with a “radical call” to find “unreached groups.” He was most interested in the Sentinelese: “You could see that every decision he has made, every step he has taken since then was driven by his desire to be among the North Sentinelese people.”

In 2018, Chau left for India, telling All Nations that he planned to spend years living among the Sentinelese, converting them and learning their language. On October 16, he arrived on a nearby island. He spent nearly a month there, scuba diving and plotting how to reach North Sentinel, which the Indian government bans people from visiting.

Eventually, Chau paid some fishermen to bring him to the island at night. According to his journal, which his family gave the Washington Post, women on the shore began “looing and chattering,” and men faced him with bows and arrows. “My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you,” he said, before departing.

He returned the next day with gifts; the Sentinelese responded by shouting. He then sang hymns, which silenced the islanders. After a child shot an arrow at him – which pierced his bible – he kayaked away.

“Lord, is this island Satan’s last stronghold,” he wrote in his diary. “Watching the sunset and it’s beautiful — crying a bit…wondering if it will be the last sunset I see”

Fishermen brought Chau back to North Sentinel in the morning. When they returned to pick him up a day later, they saw the islanders dragging his body on the beach.

Chau’s death sparked widespread criticism about extreme missionary movements. “John is gone because the Western ideology overpowered my influence,” his father said, with others saying that “hell-based ethics” brought Chau’s demise.

Yet others defended him: “His motivation was love for the [Sentinelese] people,” one friend told the Guardian. “If you believe in heaven and hell, then what he did was the most loving thing anyone could do.”

Chau’s body was never recovered, and North Sentinel Island remains as undiscovered as before. 

 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Yesterday's Question:

Spread the Wave!

 Final Thoughts