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| | Dose Of News Useful TodayThursday, February 27th |
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| | The Great Debate | Good morning. In honor of the recent debates, we’d like to start one of our own - how do you pronounce the word “GIF?” The age-old (okay, decade-old) argument has been reignited after the brands Jif and Giphy made their opinion known through a limited-edition peanut butter partnership. Here at the DONUT, we believe in the soft “g” pronunciation (“Jif”). Disagree? Hit that reply button. |
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Daily Sprinkle | “Playing it safe is the riskiest choice we can ever make.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach |
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 | Turnin’ It Up | Earlier this month, Antarctica reportedly experienced the hottest day in recorded history, with temps reaching more than 69°F. Recent NASA satellite images during that time highlighted a ~20% reduction in the snow cover of a small Antarctic island over a nine-day period. This seems to be a trend… - Since 1970, temperatures have risen in nearly 98% of major U.S. cities (additionally, 19 of the 20 hottest years on record have occurred since 2001).
- In 2018, the global sea level was at its highest annual reading ever - 3.2 inches above the 1993 average.
- Studies have shown an increase in extreme global weather events like heat waves, droughts, hurricanes, and floods.
But it’s not all gloom & doom... - A recent IEA study found that global CO2 emissions flatlined in 2019 due to an increase in renewable energy use (and a resulting decrease in fossil fuel usage).
- A study published in Nature found that global tree cover has increased by 2.24 million square km (nearly the size of Alaska & Texas combined) over the past 35 years.
- If current trends hold steady, 79% of the Fortune 500 Global will be carbon neutral by 2030.
So… what are people saying? |
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 | Coronavirus Update- World: According to the WHO, the world-at-large reported more new cases yesterday than mainland China for the first time since the outbreak began.
- U.S.: President Trump appointed VP Mike Pence to coordinate the government’s response to the virus, and stressed that the current risk to Americans remains low.
More: A new graphic released by the CDC warns men which styles of facial hair are compatible (or not) with face respirators. | |
Deadly Shooting In MilwaukeeA lone gunman killed five people - and then himself - at a Molson Coors facility in Milwaukee, WI, on Wednesday. The shooter has been identified as a 51-year-old man who worked for the brewery. | |
Trump Campaign & the NYTThe Trump campaign filed a libel lawsuit against the New York Times, alleging the media company knowingly published false and defamatory statements in a March 2019 opinion piece. The piece, titled “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo,” was written by longtime NYT editor Max Frenkel. | |
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 | Make ‘Em Misra-bleAccording to the WSJ (no $ needed), Rajeev Misra - the head of SoftBank’s $100 billion Vision Fund - reportedly funneled millions of dollars into a campaign to sabotage two of his rivals within the company. The tactics allegedly included planting negative news stories about the individuals and attempting to lure one of the executives into a sexual “honey trap.” | |
The Coronavirus EffectMicrosoft shares fell 2% in extended trading Wednesday after the company said it doesn’t plan on its PC unit - which includes Windows and Surface - meeting its quarterly revenue guidance. Microsoft has suffered a disruption in the PC unit’s supply chain due to the coronavirus outbreak. More: Last week, Apple also warned that it would miss its own quarterly revenue guidance due to the virus causing a decrease in both supply and demand. | |
Clear and Present DangerAccording to The Daily Beast, facial recognition startup Clearview AI recently notified its customers of an internal data breach due to a vulnerability the company said it had already fixed. Clearview reportedly disclosed that intruders had gained unauthorized access to its full list of customers, along with limited information on their actions. More: The New York Times previously reported that Clearview AI has scraped more than 3 billion images from websites like Facebook to create its facial recognition database. | |
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 | A Horn is BornOne-horned rhinos have been widely hunted for sport in Africa - as a result, their numbers have plummeted, and the species is now classified as ‘vulnerable.’ The Denver Zoo recently welcomed its first-ever baby one-horned rhino Saturday morning, a result finally achieved after four years and 11 attempts at artificial insemination before a pregnancy. | |
For Love of the GameLast Saturday was a roller coaster of emotions for Sabrina Ionescu. The 22-year-old Oregon basketball star was a featured speaker at her mentor, Kobe Bryant’s LA memorial before suiting up that night for a game against Stanford. Sabrina made basketball history just hours after paying homage to the all-time great when she became the first player in NCAA history to amass 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in a career. | |
Power to the PeopleIn the aftermath of the widespread Australian bushfires, dozens of rural communities were left without power, with local firefighters left dependent on high-polluting and inefficient diesel generators. Australian billionaire couple Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes have donated $12 million towards installing solar-powered microgrids in more than 100 locations across the country, some in as little as two days. | |
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 | It’s A Small World | What is the smallest continent in the world by total land area? A) Antarctica B) Europe C) South America D) Australia | (keep scrolling for the answer) |
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| Dose of Knowledge Answer | D) Australia Spanning a total of nearly 3.5 million square miles, Australia just barely beats out Europe (3.9 million sq. mi) for the title of world’s smallest continent.
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