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Good morning. We’re three days into a new month, and so far it’s been…
Credit: @CrappyFumes
⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today's newsletter takes 4.59 minutes to read.
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🍩 Daily Sprinkle
“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.”
–Squire Bill Widener (often misattributed to Teddy Roosevelt)
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🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
🔴🔵🟣🏢 Politics in the Workplace: What’s the Move?
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Last Monday, software company Basecamp announced it was banning “societal and political discussions” on the company’s messaging tools.
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After receiving public backlash, Basecamp offered severance packages to all of its 57 employees. Since then, at least 20 of them have posted publicly they intend to resign or have already resigned, many of whom had been with the company for years.
📜 Background: Though small, Basecamp carries a large amount of influence within the tech community – its founders have written several popular books on issues related to company culture, remote work, and collaboration.
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“Today’s social and political waters are especially choppy. Sensitivities are at 11, and every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant. You shouldn’t have to wonder if staying out of it means you’re complicit, or wading into it means you’re a target.
These are difficult enough waters to navigate in life, but significantly more so at work. It’s become too much. It’s a major distraction. It saps our energy, and redirects our dialog towards dark places. It’s not healthy, it hasn’t served us well. And we’re done with it on our company Basecamp account where the work happens.
People can take the conversations with willing co-workers to Signal, Whatsapp, or even a personal Basecamp account, but it can’t happen where the work happens anymore.”
–Basecamp CEO and co-founder Jason Fried in a blog post announcing the changes.
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But Wait, There’s More… According to Platformer, Fried’s post didn’t tell the whole story.
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Some Basecamp employees say the tension arose from internal conversations regarding a list started around 2009 by customer service representatives containing names they found funny.
⏭️ What’s Next?
Basecamp’s decision could pave the way for other companies to follow suit in the future.
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Coinbase announced a similar ban on political discussion last year while simultaneously offering a buyout to all employees.
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The crypto exchange experienced a lower level of attrition compared to Basecamp (~5% of its 1,200 employees).
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📰 Quick Bits
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📝 NASA’s Contract Dispute
NASA has told SpaceX to pause all work under an exclusive $2.9B moon lander contract it granted the company last month (which broke precedent by awarding the contract to a single company instead of two), per Reuters.
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The move comes days after SpaceX’s two competitors for the deal - Blue Origin & Dynetics - both filed protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
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They argue, among other things, NASA’s decision to select only a single winner for the project was high-risk and anti-competitive.
More: Internal NASA documents reveal the agency awarded SpaceX the contract mainly for its cargo capability and cheaper bid price.
Even More: SpaceX is required to halt any work specifically related to the moon lander contract until the GAO makes a ruling, expected August 4 at the latest.
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🇺🇸 White House Restricts Travel from India 🇮🇳
The White House announced it will restrict travel from India starting Tuesday due to the “public health situation” within the country.
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India has the highest rate of new infections in the world, averaging more than 300k cases per day over the past week.
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The country currently accounts for more than one-third of new global cases and reported a record 3,689 deaths on Sunday – though both numbers are likely being undercounted.
More: Australia enacted a similar travel ban for those returning from India.
From the Right
From the Left
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🇪🇺 EU Accuses Apple of Antitrust Violations
The European Commission on Friday charged Apple with violating the EU’s antitrust laws for its App Store policies related to music streaming services directly competing with Apple Music, following an initial complaint from Spotify in 2019. The EC outlined two main concerns:
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Apple forces app developers selling digital content to use its in-house payment system, which charges a 30% commission on all subscriptions.
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Apple prevents app makers from telling users about cheaper ways to pay for subscriptions that don’t involve going through an app.
In a statement, Apple rejected the charges, noting Spotify doesn’t pay Apple for 99% of its subscribers. It also said “no store in the world” allows companies to advertise alternative deals wherein customers can purchase that same product outside the store.
+📺 Another Tech Dispute: Roku pulled the YouTubeTV app from its channel store on Friday after a distribution agreement with Google expired. Roku accused the tech giant of anti-competitive demands.
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DONUT Holes...
📱 TikTok named a new CEO and COO. Read more.
🏠 Houston police responding to reports of a kidnapping Friday discovered more than 90 people crammed into a suburban home; suspected to be a human smuggling operation.
🚫 The State Department denied reports from Iranian state TV that said the U.S. had agreed to release four Iranian prisoners and $7B in frozen assets in exchange for the release of four American and British prisoners. (From the Left | From the Right)
💉 More than 103M Americans have “completed a vaccination regimen,” per Bloomberg’s tracker.
🏈 The NFL Draft concluded this weekend with Tampa Bay’s selection of Houston linebacker Grant Stuard, making him “Mr. Irrelevant” (the title given to the final pick of the draft). See who your team chose.
🇺🇸 Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Friday said he does not support making D.C. the 51st state, effectively ending the legislation’s chances in the Senate. (From the Left | From the Right | Background from the DONUT)
🚢 A suspected smuggling boat capsized off the coast of San Diego yesterday morning, killing at least three people and injuring 27 others.
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📸 The Weekend in Pics…
Images: Left - Michael Clevenger and O'Neil Arnold/Courier Journal; Right – Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal
An announced crowd of more than 51,000 saw Medina Spirit win the 147th Kentucky Derby on Saturday, giving trainer Bob Baffert a record 7th victory (holding trophy; right).
Images: Left - LiveAction via Reuters; Right - AFP
A Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool was postponed yesterday after Man U fans stormed Old Trafford pitch in protest of the team’s owners, the Glazer family.
Image: Bill Ingalls/NASA
Per the NYT ($): “Half a year ago, a SpaceX rocket lifted off with four astronauts — three from NASA, one from Japan’s space agency — sitting inside one of the company’s Crew Dragon capsules. On Sunday, the same capsule, named ‘Resilience,’ safely returned to Earth, just before 3 a.m. Eastern time.”
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Fun Fact: The last time NASA astronauts splashed down at night was in 1968, when the three astronauts of Apollo 8, the first to orbit the moon, returned to Earth.
+Bonus: NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter beamed back photos of its first four otherworldly flights.
📅 The Week Ahead...
Monday: Trial between Apple & Epic Games begins; Day after 10-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death
Tuesday: May the Fourth (a.k.a. Star Wars Day)
Wednesday: Cinco de Mayo; Sec. of State Antony Blinken heads to Ukraine
Thursday: National Day of Reason
Friday: April jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
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🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
🛹 She Was A Skater Girl…
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"When Paige was about 2, she picked up an old skateboard in the garage and started standing up on it.... it started there."
Images: CNN
Most people would expect a normal six-year-old to be playing with her kindergarten friends in the sandbox or on the playground – but not Paige Tobin. This little daredevil prefers to be shredding at the skatepark, where she soars down 12-foot ramps with ease.
Paige has already won multiple 1st-place awards and gained sponsorships from notable skating brands for her skills (including S1 Helmets, Pride Socks, & Fringe Skateboards).
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The young Aussie plans to embark on a North American tour this summer in hopes of meeting the one and only Tony Hawk.
What keeps the six-year-old coming back to the ramp? “It makes me happy.”
Read more.
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🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
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Image: Twitter
The U.S. Army recently unveiled a new night vision technology called the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular (ENVG-B).
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The biggest issue with traditional night vision tech is that it creates images lacking contrast, which can be muddled by obstructions like dust or smoke.
The new ENVG-B goggles feature improved image contrast, a thermal imager that can see through tiny particles in the air, and augmented reality features that can outline objects in the user’s field of vision (i.e, ‘Envoy intuition’ for you Altered Carbon fans).
Read more.
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💡 Dose of Knowledge
🚘 Role Model
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What famous modeling agency shares its name with a top U.S. automotive manufacturer?
A) Chrysler
B) Chevrolet
C) Ford
D) Fiat
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(keep scrolling for the answer) |
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🤑🍩 Refer friends, family, and coworkers to the DONUT, earn rewards
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Exclusive merch – and even a mini-vacation – is at your fingertips. Simply:
1. Copy your unique referral link below.
2. Post said link in your company's Slack channel, drop it in the group chat, sneak it into the next bachelorette party's shirt design, etc.
3. Watch the rewards roll in.
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Ambassador Rewards and Progress → |
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💡 Dose of Knowledge Answer
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C) Ford
Ford Models, one of America’s top modeling agencies, was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford.
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