June 1, 2022

Unlike the Roca Treasure Hunt, some searches can take you to a bad place. If you type in "I might be a..." on Google, one of the top suggestions is "...a werewolf." Before you know it, you're on a blog telling you that a unibrow and craving for meat are the telltale signs! Crazy stuff but now that we're on the subject.... does anyone else have a unibrow and craving for meat?

PSA: Many of you have asked how to use your unique link to refer friends and receive credit. All you have to do is: 1) Send the above link to friends (also in the "Spread the Wave" section); 2) They enter their emails on that page; 3) You receive credit and will be eligible to win prizes + get the bonus clue! Also, if you forward the newsletter to a friend and they sign up via the below "Sign up" button, you will receive credit.

Now, in today's news:

• 1B meth tablets seized in Asia
• Treasure Hunt Clue 2
• Thomas Edison murder conspiracy

 Key Stories

Asia's Meth Boom

1B tablets of methamphetamine were seized in Asia in 2021, according to a new UN report

• The figure is 7x the amount seized 10 years ago. The UN called the increase “staggering”
• The center of Asian meth production is Southeast Asia, which contains 680M people in 11 countries. Production is concentrated in an area known as the Golden Triangle, which contains 3 countries: Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar 
• Until recently, the region was known for producing opium, from which heroin is derived. Meth has since taken over as the region’s main drug

• Not to be forgotten in the drug trade is North Korea, which has long been accused of facilitating meth production. Last year, one defector told the BBC that he had helped set up industrial-grade meth factories

EU's Toughest Sanctions Yet

The UK and EU banned European companies from insuring Russian oil shipments. The sanction is seen as the countries’ toughest yet on Russia

• Hepatitis A is a contagious virus, which, in severe cases, can cause liver disease. The current outbreak has hospitalized 12+ people
• Most of the patients reported eating FreshKampo or H-E-B brand organic strawberries, which had been sold by stores including Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Safeway, and Aldi between March 5 and April 25
• This outbreak appears unrelated to another hepatitis outbreak, which has sickened 200+ children and whose cause is unknown

• To date, Russia has been able to replace oil buyers who have turned away from Russian oil –including the US and many European countries – with other countries, including China and India. This insurance ban will make it harder for Russia to export oil at all

Canada Proposes Gun Ban

Canada PM Justin Trudeau proposed a “national freeze” on handgun sales and mandatory buybacks of “military-style assault weapons”

• “It will be illegal to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns,” he said. “We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action firmly and rapidly it gets worse”
• Canada already had stricter gun laws than the US: Gun purchases require training, background checks, and a license. All guns there must be registered
• After a 2020 shooting killed 22 Canadians, Trudeau's cabinet banned 1,500 types of rifles

• The proposal also bans stalkers or domestic abusers from possessing guns, limit magazines to 5 rounds, and bans some toy guns, including airsoft rifles

Top Gun Cruises

Top Gun: Maverick had the biggest Memorial Day-weekend opening in Hollywood history

• Between Friday and Monday, Top Gun brought in $160.5M in the US and Canada. The prior film to hold the Memorial Day record was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which earned $153M in 2007
• Paramount said the audience was mainly older men: 60% of viewers were male, and 55% were over 35
• The older male demographic had formerly been slow to return to movie theaters. Hollywood hopes Top Gun’s success will break the trend

• The first person to send a Google Street View screenshot of the correct place wins $2,000, second wins $300, third wins $200 
• 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 June 6
• Full rules are at the bottom of this email!

• Game of Phones: Supreme Court officials are asking clerks for their phone records and to sign affidavits amid the leaked draft investigation
• Stream on: Obi-Wan Kenobi recorded the best premiere in Disney+ history, while Season 4 of Stranger Things set records for Netflix
• Breaking Good: Canada will decriminalize possession of cocaine and opioids in British Columbia to reduce the stigma of seeking help

 What do you think?

See yesterday's results below the Wrap!

 Roca Wrap

In 1888, a Frenchman named Louis Le Prince shocked the world: He had created the first moving picture. 

While visiting family in England, he asked them to walk in front of a device he had invented. He turned it on and for 2 seconds it captured their movements. The clip became the world’s first movie.
 
Those 2 seconds were the conclusion of a 4 year race to be the first to figure out motion pictures. To celebrate, Le Prince was set to hold a public screening of his invention in New York in 1890. But he never would. 

On September 16, 1890, he boarded a train from Dijon, France, to Paris, and was never seen again.  
 
Less than a year later, another man filed a patent for a very similar device: Thomas Edison. Edison was one of the world’s most well-known inventors, having nearly 80 patents that included the phonograph, telephone, and electric lightbulb. His newest patent was for a machine he called a Kinetoscope – “pure motion recorded and reproduced.”
 
When Le Prince’s wife Lizzie heard the news, she said she immediately recognized the machine Edison was describing: “It was my husband’s invention of moving pictures!” She wondered: Did Edison kill his rival to take credit for the first motion picture?
 
Edison’s original designs for a motion picture machine were very different from the one he patented. To Lizzie, the patented one sounded more similar to her husband’s with every reported detail, from the design to the method of filming, to the film material itself. The Le Prince family sued for infringement, and Lizzie accused Edison of murder.
 
Edison denied any wrongdoing, and after a series of court rulings, walked away with the patent. Despite Lizzie’s accusation, no evidence of wrongdoing was ever uncovered. Conspiracies emerged about Le Prince: He was in severe debt; did he commit suicide? He was owed large sums by his brother; did his brother kill him?
 
Le Prince’s body has never been found, although some say a photograph of a drowned man pulled from the Seine river in 1890 – discovered in police archives in 2003 – bore a strong resemblance to him. Having disappeared without credit for the Kinetoscope, Le Prince disappeared from view.

 Roca Clubhouse

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