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December 22, 2021
Snap, crackle, and peace: Kellogg's workers ended a 10-week strike after winning concessions from corporate leadership. Unfortunately for its avid cereal consumers, none of those terms involved adding more sugarcoated raisins to Raisin Bran. Either way, Tony the Tiger, it's back to w-w-w-ork!
Legendary DJ David Guetta and Saudi Arabia may seem like a strange match, but read today's Wrap to see how he fits into the country's cultural shift.
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I-Grinch: Grinch Bots Ruin Christmas
Overview
- So-called "Grinch bot" software is buying up the most popular holiday gifts
- People use the bots to scan websites for the hottest products, then buy the available stock in bulk. Some entire businesses operate this way, reselling the merchandise at mark-ups
- Some large retailers, including Target and Walmart, are deploying technology that blocks the bots, which are exacerbating shortages and driving away real customers
- Shopping bots have become an increasingly common and impactful problem. Last year, Walmart blocked 20M bots within 30 minutes of the PlayStation 5's release
DIG DEEPER
Supply chain shortages are combining with bots to create a perfect storm: Adobe Analytics found that out-of-stock messages are now 258% more common than 2 years ago.
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US Population Growth at Record Low
Overview
- The US population grew by .1% in the year leading to July 1, the slowest rate on record
- In total, the country added 393,000 people. 148,000 more people were born than died, and 245,000 more people moved to the US than left it
- This is the first time that migration has driven US population growth more than births
- Population growth had been slowing for years, and that trend has accelerated since 2020. As recently as 2016, the US population grew by 2.3M people
DIG DEEPER
17 states experienced population drops, with New York (-1.7%) leading the pack. Idaho (+2.9%) grew the most. The population grew in the South, while it remained flat in the West and fell in the Midwest and Northeast.
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US to Give Out 500M Tests
Overview
- President Biden announced that the US will distribute 500M free at-home tests, enough for every adult to take 2
- At-home tests, for which a box of 2 costs around $20, have become increasingly scarce. Walgreens and CVS, the 2 largest pharmacy chains, are now limiting the number of tests people can buy
- Americans will be able to order the free tests through a government website. They will begin shipping in January
- Across the country, people are experiencing hours-long waits for tests. Blocks-long queues have been forming in cities like New York, where cases are surging
DIG DEEPER
The federal government will also set up "pop-up" vaccine sites in high-demand spots. The test strategy is a pivot: When asked about mass-testing earlier this month, Biden's press secretary jokingly asked, “Should we just send one to every American?”
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Plane Companies Warn About 5G
Overview
- Boeing and Airbus, the world's 2 largest airplane makers, are calling on governments to delay 5G rollout
- The companies say that 5G service could interfere with cockpit equipment, including radio altitude meters
- In November, AT&T and Verizon delayed the launch of some US services until January 5 because of the concerns. Those companies accuse airlines of fearmongering, saying 5G will not interfere with planes
- US wireless companies say delaying 5G rollout could cost the economy $50B, while airlines say 5G service would interrupt 345,000 flights annually
DIG DEEPER
In a letter to the US government, the heads of Boeing and Airbus said that 5G could have "an enormous negative impact on the aviation industry." United's CEO has said that jets wouldn't be able to use radio altitude meters at 40 of the biggest US airports.
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 What do you think?
Today's Poll:
Are you uneasy at all about the global 5G rollout?
Yes
No
Today's Question:
Who was the most influential person of the year?
Reply to this email with your answers!
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See yesterday's answers below the Wrap!
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 Popcorn
Culture & Sports
- NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league has no plans to pause the season and that we will "have to learn to live with [Covid]"
- "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey is the first song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to hit #1 in 3 different years
- Lights, camera, Keanu: Keanu Reeves says he's talked with Marvel about a potential role in the MCU but hasn't found anything yet
Business
- All McDonald's locations in Japan will only offer French fries in small sizes from Friday through Dec. 30 due to supply shortages
- Cigars Cuban, inflation... not: Cuba now expects 2021 inflation to finish at a whopping ~70%. Officials had hoped for 60%
- House of Payouts: Netflix's co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Reed Hastings are set to take in $40M and $34M in compensation for 2022
Wildcard
- Madagascar's police minister swam 12 hours to shore after his helicopter crashed in the ocean, authorities said. He was one of 2 survivors
- The Secret Service estimate that criminals have stolen ~$100B in Covid relief funds. Only $2.3B has been recovered
- In China, a well-preserved dinosaur embryo was found inside a fossilized egg from 65M+ years ago
- Seconds before a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck northern California, an alert system sent emergency alerts to ~500k phones
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― Roca Wrap
A Newsletter Exclusive
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Sexy B****, Where Them Girls At, God is a DJ: You might think that David Guetta, the DJ behind those songs, would be unwanted in the Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But you’d be wrong: This weekend, for the second year in a row, Guetta headlined the kingdom’s biggest music festival. He’s proof, he says, of how rapidly one of the world’s most conservative countries is changing.
“4 years ago women couldn’t drive, and now they can come to a David Guetta concert and dance, you know it’s a huge evolution,” Guetta, who is French but a resident of the United Arab Emirates, told the Associated Press this weekend. “I was happy to be part of this.”
It’s difficult to overstate the change to which Guetta was referring. Riyadh, the Saudi capital where the concert took place, has long been known as one of Saudi’s and the world’s most conservative cities. It was home to a plaza nicknamed “chop chop square” that for decades hosted public executions every Friday.
The square has since become a tourist attraction, just 34 miles from the venue where David Guetta, Rick Ross, and Tiesto performed this weekend. When that music festival, MDLBEAST, launched, it was one of the first times in the country’s history that men and women could dance together in public.
The man driving that change is Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, known as MBS. MBS is son and heir to Saudi’s King Salman. In 2018, MBS began a push to modernize the country.
At the time, movie theaters had been banned for 35 years. The country didn’t allow women to drive or dance, nor did it allow foreign tourists. It was illegal for non-related co-ed couples to socialize, and marauding religious police punished those they suspected of inappropriate behavior (which could include walking a dog in public or owning a barbie doll).
“What happened in the last 30 years is not Saudi Arabia,” MBS said in 2017. In 1979, the country moved toward a harder form of Islam and, “We didn’t know how to deal with it. And the problem spread all over the world. Now is the time to get rid of it.”
“We are simply reverting to what we followed – a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions. 70% of the Saudis are younger than 30, honestly we won’t waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts, we will destroy them now and immediately,” he said.
In the last 3 years, nearly all the above laws have been reduced or lifted. The country is spending billions to attract foreign tourists and opening hundreds of movie screens a year. The government has stripped most powers from the religious police, allowed women to drive and travel without male permission, and permitted co-ed couples to socialize in public.
None of this to say that MBS believes in democracy: The CIA believes he personally ordered the killing of activist and journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally murdered in a Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018. Political freedoms don’t exist, and he’s jailed opponents and activists. He’s also overseen the country’s brutal military intervention in the neighboring war-torn country of Yemen.
Nor is the country socially free: Women still require male permission to marry and live alone, people who are gay and transgender face the death penalty, and the criticism of Islam is punishable by death.
Given all the above, David Guetta’s performance wasn’t free from criticism. Yet he defended it: “I don’t play for politicians, I play for people, and you know if I’m not able to, if I would need to be playing only in countries where I’m totally agreeing with the leaders…I would probably stay home.”
He added, “Of course there’s more things to be done to improve the country but I think they are opening and really going to the right direction.”
If you have thoughts, let us know at Max@RocaNews.com and don't forget to share this Wrap with family and friends by using this link here!
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 Games
What is the largest city (by population) in the following countries?
- Russia
- Canada
- Nigeria
- India
Find out the answer at the bottom of Roca Clubhouse.
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 Roca Clubhouse
Yesterday's Poll:
Are you cursing more now than before the pandemic?
Yes: 47.3%
No: 52.7%
Yesterday's Question:
What's the best angry/insulting phrase that isn't a curse word?
Houston from Nashville: "You’re about as useful as a screen door on a submarine"
Tyler from Oakland: "Obsolete farm equipment"
Brandon from Chicago: "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!:"
Laura from Birmingham: "Bless your heart"
General Feedback:
Matt from New Jersey: "The whole "renaming quidditch to distance from JK Rowling" is hilarious to me...you wouldn't have the sport without her..."
Jennafer wrote: "Missed opportunity for today's poll: "hell yes" or "goodness no" LOL...Thanks for your newsletter. Aside from word of mouth, Roca is the only news source I consume as everything else is too stressful for me. Glad to have digestible news bullet points so I'm not completely out of touch with our society."
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20 Questions: 11-15
Every Friday, we ask the Roca Riders 20 questions and feature a few of our favorite answers.
11. Sport you wish you were better at?
"Curling"
"Quidditch"
"Literally any of them"
12. Best wedding dance song?
"September by Earth Wind and Fire"
"Uptown Funk"
"Ice Ice Baby"
13. Your favorite song with non-English lyrics?
"Gangnam Style"
"La Vie en Rose"
“'Sukiyaki' by Kyu Sakamoto"
14. Best Christmas song?
"Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses !!"
"It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas - Michael Bublé cover. More like anything off his Christmas album. Any other answer is incorrect"
"The Chipmunk Song and I will die on that hill"
15. Favorite TV show right now?
"Succession"
"Yellowstone"
"The greatest show now and forever is Seinfeld"
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Games Answer(s):
1. Moscow 2. Toronto 3. Lagos 4. Mumbai
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― Final Thoughts
Talk about a day full of news! And we couldn't even fit half the stories we wanted to.
Yesterday, we received the 3rd-most responses we ever have to a Current. They were all to that question, "What's the best angry/insulting phrase that isn't a curse word?"
We loved reading your feedback, until we realized all the insults were directed at us. If one more person tells us that our father was a hamster or that our mother smelled of elderberries, we may break down.
Happy hump day, Riders!
-Max and Max
Today's Instagram Wrap is on the founding of Chipotle. Its creator was a trained chef who needed money for a nicer restaurant. He started Chipotle to get there.
Thanks for reading! See you again soon!
As always, send thoughts and feedback to Max@Rocanews.com |
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