January 14, 2022

Happy Friday, Roca Riders. Today in 1973, 1B+ people from 40+ countries tuned in for Elvis Presley's "Aloha from Hawaii" concert. Fast forward to the present, and we give you another music headline: "Baby Shark" just became the first video *ever* to hit 10B views on YouTube. Darwin... you lied to us.

Huge thank you for all the great responses this week. No newsletter on Monday (happy MLK Day!) and 20 Questions answers to Max@RocaNews.com!

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― Key Stories

Monsters' Drink

Overview

Monster Beverage announced a $330M acquisition of craft-beer and hard-seltzer company CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective
The energy drink company is the latest soft-drink company to move into alcohol
Last week, Coca-Cola announced it will launch Fresca cocktails. Pepsi is soon launching alcoholic Mountain Dew, and Anheuser-Busch is launching Bud Light hard soda later this month
Monster stock (MNST) is the best-performing US stock of the century, according to Bloomberg. It is up 107,060% over the last 20 years

DIG DEEPER
$10,000 invested in Monster's 1995 IPO would be worth $30M today. Its share price has gone from $.10 to $94 this century.

Supreme Court Blocks Mandate

Overview

The US Supreme Court blocked the Biden admin's order that companies with 100+ employees require their workers be vaxxed
The mandate would have been the biggest in the US, impacting 84M+ workers
The court's 6 conservative justices agreed on the decision, saying the admin didn't have the power to impose the mandate. The 3 liberal justices dissented
The court did allow a mandate for healthcare providers to stay in place, though, if the providers participate in government healthcare programs. That mandate impacts 10M healthcare workers

DIG DEEPER
President Biden is asking employers to enact mandates voluntarily: "It is now up to States and individual employers to determine whether to make their workplaces as safe as possible for employees" and consumers.

Prince Andrew Loses His Titles

Overview

The Queen stripped Prince Andrew (the Duke of York) of all his honorary military and royal titles
Andrew, a close acquaintance of the late Jeffrey Epstein, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 17-yo girl. This week, a judge ruled that the case against him can proceed. Andrew is the Queen's second son; he denies all charges
150+ veterans had asked the Queen to strip Andrew of his honorary military positions, saying he dishonored the military. The Queen oversees the armed forces
The change means Andrew can no longer use the "His Royal Highness" title, with which he was born

DIG DEEPER
Andrew is said to be the Queen's favorite son. Royal watchers say the move indicates she has lost patience with him at last.

US/Russia Talks "Unsuccessful"

Overview

Russia said that talks with the US and NATO were "unsuccessful" after hitting a "dead end"
A Russian government spokesperson said Russia would continue negotiations if NATO would roll back its expansion. NATO, a US-led military alliance, has added a number of Russia's neighbors since the Soviet Union collapsed, which Russia calls provocative
Russia has 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, sparking fears of a war
Ukraine is not part of NATO, but Russia wants a guarantee that NATO will not admit it. NATO is not willing to make that promise

DIG DEEPER
“The risk of war in [North America or Europe] is greater than ever before in the last 30 years,” said Poland's foreign minister. NATO countries accuse Russia of using its troop build-up for blackmail.

What do you think?

Today's Poll:
What would you rather listen to for 2 hours straight: Gangnam Style or Baby Shark?
Gangnam Style
Baby Shark

Today's Question:
Just 20 Qs!

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's answers below 20Q!

Popcorn

Culture & Sports

Top TikTok stars Charli D'Amelio, Dixie D'Amelio, and Addison Rae out-earned many S&P 500 CEOs this past year
Yep, civilization might be ending: "Baby Shark" just became the first video to hit 10B views on YouTube. Sorry to even bring it up...
Take a... what? A former NFL linebacker has a suggestion for Bills QB Josh Allen: Take a Viagra before his game. He said that players in his era did just that before cold games

Business

Built Ford Rich: Ford's market cap (stock market value) topped $100B for the first time Thursday as the carmaker doubles down on EVs
Delta's CEO predicts that his airline will return to profitability in March after a rough couple of omicron-inflicted months to start 2022
Crypto Jack: Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's payments company Block (formerly Square) is going to start mining for bitcoin

Wildcard

Pure Michigan: Strong winds sculpted some breathtakingly beautiful sand sculptures on a Lake Michigan beach last weekend
3 different Pennsylvania gamblers turned $0.50 into over $130,000 with a 6-leg "first basket scorer" parlay on FanDuel
But not everyone has been so lucky... YouTuber Logan Paul confirmed that the "first-edition Pokémon cards" he bought were fake
Nic Cage, don't steal it: One of the earliest editions of the Declaration of Independence (6 copies are extant) is going on sale later this year

Missed a Wrap this week? We've got you covered! Find them here

― Roca 20 Questions!

Riders: You know you've made it to Friday when you see that picture above. "20 Questions." It's like seeing the Golden Arches on a great cross-country road-trip, or a lighthouse after years stranded at sea. At least, that's how it is for us. We hope you agree.

As always, answer as many of the below as you want and send replies to Max@RocaNews.com. Have a rockin' weekend!

1. How do you pronounce gyro?
2. Who won the war of 1812?
3. A piece of advice for the Roca team?
4. Best Pixar character?
5. What was the worst thing you did as a kid?
6. How many days after the sell-by date will you drink milk?
7. What's the coolest kind of hobby someone could have?
8. Least cool?
9. Are you handy? (Good with power tools etc.)
10. One thing you would add to your apartment/home if you were able?
11. Favorite podcast for road trips?
12. Favorite movie soundtrack?
13. Go-karting or mini golf?
14. Best concession stand food?
15. How do you feel about the month of January?
16. An unpopular food opinion you have?
17. Most valuable thing you learned during middle school?
18. A paranoid thought you have frequently?
19. Dumbest mainstream conspiracy theory? Why?
20. Best restaurant name you've ever seen?

Send your answers to Max@RocaNews.com! Have a great weekend!

Games

Name the home country of each artist. Sorry, we can't include Mr. Worldwide on this one (too easy, all 195 would be correct).

Ed Sheeran
Shakira
David Guetta
Camila Cabello

Find out the answer(s) at the bottom of Roca Clubhouse.

Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Would you rather be Instagram famous or infomercial famous?

Instagram famous: 59.8%
Infomercial famous: 40.2%

Yesterday's Question:

If at all, where have you noticed inflation the most?

Mark from Ohio: "The grocery store. In Northwest Ohio, the price of a lb. of ground beef has nearly doubled in the last year. Fortunately, wine prices have remained steady, so all is not lost."

Toby from Maine: "Five Guys double bacon cheeseburger"

Elisha from Pennsylvania: "Rent and food and candy. A Snickers at the store used to be $1.09 now it's $1.19. Apparently that's where I draw the line because I refuse to pay that much for a smaller Snickers."

General Feedback:

Julie from Ohio: "Love the newsletter and Instagram feed! Must admit I laughed out loud when I read Piel Island’s “population is estimated at 10 people.” Must be hard to count them all! Keep up the great work!"

Laura from Brooklyn: "You should have hats! you can call the Roca (re)Caps!"

Games Answer(s):

1) United Kingdom 2) Colombia 3) France 4) Cuba

― Final Thoughts

We know that things can get grim in January, which experts consider the worst month of the year (not actually), so we want to leave you with this uplifting message: You could spend your entire life searching for a news source that doesn't make you want to bury yourself underground like a badger.

But you all are lucky – and have managed to find it already, in 2022. Think of those poor Millennials who won't sign up for the Rundown until 2083, when their robot caregiver does it for them. You have saved yourselves a lot of heartache, and for that, you deserve a great weekend.

Enjoy it!

-Max and Max

Thanks for reading! Enjoy the weekend!
As always, send thoughts and feedback to Max@Rocanews.com

Written by Max Frost and Max Towey | Graphics by Billy Carney

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RocaNews - 🌊 Monster Goes Loko

― Key Stories

Monsters' Drink

Overview

Supreme Court Blocks Mandate

Prince Andrew Loses His Titles

US/Russia Talks "Unsuccessful"

What do you think?

See yesterday's answers below 20Q!

― Roca 20 Questions!

Games

Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Yesterday's Question:

General Feedback:

― Final Thoughts

Older messages

🌊 "Bueller... Bueller..."

🌊 Pig-Heart Man

A Message from the Roca Team

🌊 Badger Finds Treasure

🌊 America Loses its Dad

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RocaNews - 🌊 Monster Goes Loko

― Key Stories

Monsters' Drink Overview

Supreme Court Blocks Mandate

Prince Andrew Loses His Titles

US/Russia Talks "Unsuccessful"

What do you think?

See yesterday's answers below 20Q!

― Roca 20 Questions!

Games

Roca Clubhouse Yesterday's Poll:

Yesterday's Question:

General Feedback:

― Final Thoughts

Older messages

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Monsters' Drink

Overview

Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll: