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January 24, 2022
Hope you had a great weekend! We send our sympathies to Bills nation after that insane OT ending in Kansas City (heart rates are stable again). It capped off a great weekend of eating nachos, watching the NFL Playoffs, and avoiding Jackson Mahomes TikToks. And unlike NFL OT rules, Roca remains unbiased.
Our Wrap takes you to a small island off the coast of West Africa with one of the most bizarre histories: Ascension Island. Good luck trying to visit today.
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LA Train Heists
Overview
- A surge in robberies has hit freight trains in California
- According to Union Pacific, one of the biggest US railroad companies, train robberies are up 160% since December 2020. An average 90 shipping containers are "compromised" daily
- A shortage of security guards has left trains vulnerable to robberies along unprotected tracks
- The problem is most pronounced near Los Angeles, with containers being robbed while in transit to and from the country's busiest port complex. On Friday, California gov. Gavin Newsom said the situation is "like a third world country"
DIG DEEPER
While Union Pacific says just 6 guards are patrolling hundreds of miles between California and Arizona, the problem is particularly acute in the railyards near Los Angeles.
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UK's Ukraine Warning
Overview
- The UK accused Russia of plotting to overthrow the Ukrainian government
- Russia has 100,000+ troops on its border with Ukraine. The US, UK, and others fear Russia is either planning an invasion or plotting an overthrow of the Ukrainian government
- The UK said Russian spies are working with pro-Russia Ukrainian politicians to install a pro-Russia government in Ukraine, where the government is currently pro-US/EU and hostile to Russia
- Russia denied the allegations and called on the UK "to stop its provocative activities"
DIG DEEPER
Last week, the US announced new sanctions on Russia, saying that “Russia has directed its intelligence services to recruit current and former Ukrainian government officials to prepare to take over the government of Ukraine and to control Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with an occupying Russian force.”
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Stowaway Survives
Overview
- Airport police in the Netherlands found a man who had survived after flying from Africa above the wheel of a jet
- The man, whose details are unknown, was on an 11-hour cargo flight from South Africa to the Netherlands via Kenya. He could have boarded in South Africa or Kenya
- "It is quite remarkable that the man is still alive," a police spokesperson said. "This is definitely very unusual that someone was able to survive the cold at such a height — very, very unusual"
- The US government estimates 96 stowaways hid on planes globally between 1947 and 2012. Most died from low temperatures and a lack of oxygen
DIG DEEPER
Stowaways tend to only survive when traveling short distances. Police have said that surviving an Africa-to-Europe flight is remarkable.
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Record Bad Week for the Stock Market
Overview
- Last week was the worst for the global stock market in over a year
- The tech-heavy Nasdaq index fell 7.6%, its biggest drop since the initial pandemic-fueled stock collapse in March 2020. The S&P 500, symbolic of the total US stock market, fell 5.7%
- The FTSE all-world index, which tracks the global market. dropped 4.2%
- The drop is a response to concerns about economic growth and the US central bank (the Fed) suggesting it will raise interest rates to fight inflation. Higher interest rates typically hurt stock prices
DIG DEEPER
Most of the S&P 500 is in "correction" territory, meaning the company's stock is 10%+ below its record high. 30% of the index's companies are down 20%+. Among the hardest hit has been Netflix, which fell 22% Friday on bad subscriber data.
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 What do you think?
Today's Poll:
Which decade had better music?
1970s
1990s
Today's Question:
What song has your favorite lyrics? Why?
Reply to this email with your answers!
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See yesterday's results below the Wrap!
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 Popcorn
Culture & Sports
- Basketball Hall of Famer and prominent Gonzaga alum John Stockton had his season tickets suspended for refusing to wear a mask to games
- Britney and Justin, that you? Kanye West (dang it, *Ye) and his new girlfriend Julia Fox rocked denim outfits on their debut red carpet
- 2 diehard Ana de Armas fans are suing Universal for $5M after renting Yesterday, which showed de Armas in the trailer but cut her scene from the film
Business
- Big Tech blitzkrieg: Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon all announced more acquisitions in 2021 than any other year in the past decade
- Free.... free fallin': Bitcoin is now down nearly 50% from its November high and has reached its lowest point (~$35,000) since July
- Box office superhero: Spider-Man: No Way Home is now the 6th-highest grossing film at the international box office EVER
Wildcard
- WWE owner Vince McMahon still does 3am workouts with his personal trainer after RAW and SmackDown. The billionaire is 76 years old
- A 75-yo Frenchman known for his bizarre stunts was is feared dead after disappearing during his attempt to row across the Atlantic “to laugh at old age”
- Chipotle changed its Twitter display name to "Chicotle" after BTS star Jungkook seemed to call the fast-casual joint "Chicotle"
- No more monkey business! All 100 lab monkeys that escaped from a tractor trailer crash in Pennsylvania have been accounted for
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― Roca Wrap
A Newsletter Exclusive
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On Ascension Day (the Christian holiday marking Jesus’ ascension to heaven) in 1501, Portuguese sailor João da Nova spotted an island while sailing across the Atlantic. He named it Ascension Island but continued on: The uninhabited desert outpost 1,000 miles (1,600 km) west of Africa wasn’t worth claiming for Portugal.
Then in 1725, a Dutchman was shipped there as punishment for homosexuality. Alone in the heat, he drank turtle blood to survive and documented his trials in a journal, which British sailors found a year later. The sailors never found the man, but named his journal Sodomy Punish'd and published it back home. Like the Portuguese, they didn’t claim the island.
Nearly a century later, though, things changed: In 1807, Britain made abolishing the slave trade state policy, and the island became a strategic spot for the naval Squadron tasked with attacking slave ships crossing the Atlantic. The UK was also wary of Napoleon, who was in exile at the next closest island. So in 1815, Britain claimed Ascension.
Several decades later, Charles Darwin visited. He described the island as a place where “nothing grows,” and with a botanist friend proposed planting trees on all the high points to trap moisture beneath the canopy and allow vegetation to thrive. For years after, trees were imported from Europe, Africa, and South America. Eventually, trees covered the island.
In the ensuing decades, the UK used the island for various purposes: Ecological research, astronomical observation, trans-continental communication. In World War 2, it became a strategic military asset. In the 1960s, the BBC arrived and established transmitters to broadcast to South America and Africa.
The US got involved around then: NASA opened a base in 1967 and the runway was transformed into the world’s longest, capable of landing a space shuttle. The US airbase expanded its military presence in the following decades, establishing a permanent base on the island.
Since then, Ascension has been of significant military importance to the US and UK. The US uses it as an airbase and NASA and Space Force now use it as a “deep space surveillance” point. It also hosts a UK airbase and intelligence outpost.
Given the security, it’s not an easy place to visit: Commercial airlines can’t fly there and visitors can only enter with special permission. There is one scheduled flight off the island every 2 weeks; it goes to another island, from which travelers must charter a flight to South Africa, and from there to their destination.
Today, the island government says there is no permanent population: Just 800 temporary residents split across 2 towns and the military outposts. The government website calls it “a tight community where you see the same faces week in and week out.” “There are no traffic jams, no long commutes to work and everyone greets each other when out and about with a friendly wave.”
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If you have thoughts, let us know at Max@RocaNews.com!
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 Games
Mondays are painful. So we plan to add to that by giving you 2 math problems...
- Pamela is 54 years old and her mother is 80, how many years ago was Pamela’s mother 3 times her age?
- 9 - 3 / (1 / 3) + 1
Find out the answer at the bottom of Roca Clubhouse.
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 Roca Clubhouse
Yesterday's Poll:
Better movie genre: Right-side up or up-side down?
Right-side up: 47.1%
Up-side down: 52.9%
Yesterday's Question:
Just 20 Questions!
General Feedback:
Shay from NYC: "The poll is tricky, regular cups with no handles I will put face down but some coffee cups are made to be stackable and therefore I place them right side up. I have half and half in my cupboard."
Nadia from Arizona: "What kind of animal would let a cup sit upright in a cupboard. I can’t even think about that!"
Brianna from Long Beach: "As a University of Arizona grad, I was thoroughly triggered by the subject of today's current! LOL Bear Down for life!!"
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20 Questions: 1-5
Every Friday, we ask the Roca Riders 20 questions and feature a few of our favorite answers. Last Friday, however, we asked you to rate the below on a scale of 1 - 10. Here are the average ratings....
1. Venmo as a social media feed
2.3
2. Blocking your ex on IG/FB (or Venmo)
6.5
3. Comment sections
7.3
4. YouTube dropping the dislike counter
1.8
5. Squid Game
7.4
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Games Answer(s):
1) 41 years ago when Pamela was 13 and her mother 39 2) 1
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― Final Thoughts
"I'm sorry brother. Just Terrible."
The way Max T was consoling Max F after last night's Bills game, you'd think something much worse had happened than a bunch of grown men losing a ball game. But the fact is that few things sting as badly as your team losing a close game, and last night's defeat – one of the most brutal in recent memory – was a painful way to start out a week.
Yet we also drew inspiration from the game: The competition between the Bills and Chiefs showed 2 masters of their craft – Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes – performing at their best. It inspired us to build the best news company we can, one that is as focused on delivering enjoyable, unbiased news as Mahomes and Allen were on their final touchdown drives. Loaded up on buffalo wings and celery, we returned to our apartments, yes – sad, but also more fired up than ever to build the news company of the future.
Have a great week, riders.
-Max and Max
Today's Instagram Wrap is on Karex, the kings of condoms.
Thanks for reading! See you again tomorrow!
As always, send thoughts and feedback to Max@Rocanews.com |
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