| | Dose Of News Useful Today Wednesday August 28th | | | | Rush Hour
| Good morning. Hope you’re powering through the week like the man who paddleboarded about 2,500 miles (and around a hurricane), traveling from California to Hawaii in 76 days. | | | Daily Sprinkle | “If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?”
-George Carlin | | |  | The Opioid Situation | An Oklahoma judge ruled Monday that drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson played a role in causing the opioid crisis through misleading marketing and promoting, and ordered the company to pay $572 million in damages. The state’s attorney general was seeking more than $17 billion to fund an abatement plan to address the crisis over the next 30 years. Purdue Pharma, another pharmaceutical company that is being accused of fueling the opioid crisis, said Tuesday that it would pay between $10 and $12 billion to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits brought by cities, counties, and states. By the numbers
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 400,000 people died from opioid overdose between 1999 and 2017, with six times as many deaths in 2017 compared to 1999. In Oklahoma, opioid overdose has been responsible for 6,000 deaths since 2000, according to the state’s lawyers. So what happens next? | | | | | | Share Today's Dose of Discussion | | |  | G7 offer refusedBrazil rejected millions of dollars from G7 countries to help fight the record number of fires burning in the Amazon. The country’s president said the solution should come from within the region. | | Abortion law haltedA federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked part of a new Missouri abortion law until a lawsuit that alleges it is unconstitutional is settled. The blocked provision would have made an abortion after 8 weeks of gestation illegal. | | Rebel outreachThe US is planning to initiate talks with Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis are backed by Iran and have been engaged in a four-year war against pro-government forces, which are backed by Saudi Arabia with support from the US, the UK, and France. | | | | | |  | Wild rideFormer Google autonomous driving engineer Anthony Levandowski was indicted yesterday for theft of trade secrets. The suit centers on his exit from Waymo, Google’s autonomous tech division, after which he founded self driving truck company Otto that was later sold to Uber. | | TechCrunch → | Rush HourCostco opened its first store in China yesterday. The store was forced to close early due to the thousands of people that flocked to the store, causing traffic jams and a three hour wait to park. | | CNBC → | Up in smokeAccording to the WSJ, tobacco giants Philip Morris International and Altria are in advanced talks to merge amid declining cigarette sales. The combined company would be worth ~$200 billion. | | Wall Street Journal → | Tour de FinanceInteractive fitness platform Peloton filed for IPO yesterday. The company boasts over 1.4 million members, and a loss of ~$200 million on sales of $915 million. | | Fortune → | | | | |  | The team, the team, the teamBooker T. Washington once said, “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else” - the Lyon College football team exemplified that quote after offensive coordinator Kris Sweet was diagnosed with cancer this past July. He began chemo-therapy earlier this month to combat the disease, and lost his hair as a result. Yesterday, in a show of solidarity, the entire football team shaved their heads to support their coach. | | ABC 7 News → | Always preparedIf there was such a thing as the Wildfire Fighting Badge, one Oregon Boy Scouts troop would definitely deserve it. While in the midst of a 25-mile backpacking trip, Troop 50 stumbled upon a 200 square foot campfire burning a bush, pine needles laying on the ground and other dry debris around the area. In the middle of the wilderness with no one around for miles, the group leapt into action - they scratched a line around the fire to stop it from spreading further, then got to work extinguishing the fire. Over the next two hours, the troop poured between 150-200 gallons on the fire and diligently ensured there were no additional hot spots. Since the fire was quickly spreading before the boys arrived, the US Forest Service estimated that if it wasn’t extinguished, the fire could have morphed into something much larger than 200 square feet and done some significant damage. That’s definitely badge worthy. | | NBC Portland → | | | | |  | Energy on the brain | via BrainFacts 43% of a baby’s daily energy requirement is brain related… what is it for adults? A) 10%
B) 35%
C) 60%
D) 20% | (keep scrolling for the answer) | | | | |  | Get Your FREE Stuff | Step 1. Click the share button below | Step 2. Share the DONUT with friends | Step 3. Cash in on tons of rewards | |  | | | | | | | Dose of Knowledge Answer | D) 20% The energy output is related to the brain’s primary function — processing and transmitting information through electrical signals, which is a very energy consuming process. | | We use a rating system powered by MediaBias/FactCheck. These ratings are SUBJECTIVE & should be treated as such. Learn more. | | | |
