|
Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. Read on for today's big DONUT announcement...
-
⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s newsletter takes 4.20 minutes to read. (With the 360° view: +3.59 minutes.)
|
|
🍩 Daily Sprinkle
"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive."
–Dalai Lama XIV, (b.1935)
|
|
🔥🤗 A Very DONUT Announcement 🍩🔥
|
 |
It’s A Crazy World Out There…
Image: Giphy
… and we won’t elaborate any further except to say: we could probably all use more smiles and a mental vacation.
Which is exactly why we’re launching a brand-new, 100%-free newsletter: Positive DONUT.
-
Positive DONUT aims to find and elevate the good in the world, as well as provide simple tools to improve our collective mental health.
-
The newsletter includes mantras and mindfulness practices, journaling prompts, exercise and dance videos, music playlists, and more – all things to help bring some joy and community into our day-to-day lives.
We’re all in this crazy world together, after all.
Positive DONUT will hit inboxes for the first time on September 21 (next Tuesday) – and then again every Tuesday afterward.
Sign up here.
|
|
|
👇📰 Quick Bits
|
|
🏘️ As A ‘Matter’ Of Fact…
Image: Sir Apfelot
|
🎁 Starting next year, you'll be able to buy smart home devices - including thermostats, lighting systems, doorbells, and kitchen appliances - that can communicate with each other through a new industry standard called Matter.
|
Many smart home devices can already cooperate with one another as long as they’re within the same ecosystem (e.g., Alexa or Google Assistant).
-
But most users, especially those who have a wide range of devices, require several apps to achieve their ideal settings and level of control.
🌐 What’s the Matter ?... Matter is the name of a unifying connectivity standard supported by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), an industry group that includes Apple, Google, Amazon, and other smart home device makers.
-
Beginning sometime in 2022, CSA companies will start selling Matter-branded products that (ideally) will work together seamlessly and securely, marking the start of a beautiful frenemies relationship between Siri and Alexa.
✋ Yes, but… The general public has been relatively slow in adopting the Internet of Things.
-
According to new research from Parks Associates, just over one-third of U.S. broadband households (36%) have at least one smart home device. That number decreases if you count households without broadband internet.
🔒 Plus, there’s the issue of privacy… Matter is simply a standard for communication between smart home devices, meaning it’s not in charge of protecting any data.
-
"The privacy is really going to come down to the relationship between the vendor and the consumer," CSA President and CEO Tobin Richardson told Axios.
📝 The bottom line… You’ll soon be able to control all your (new) smart home devices from a single app, a perk manufacturers are hoping will increase their relatively low popularity.
|
|
|
🚫🦟 "Mosquitoes, Begone"
Image: Tenor
|
🎁 Over the course of human history, mosquitoes have killed hundreds of millions – if not billions – of humans. Let that sink in for a second...
|
...and then exhale, because it could be all over soon, according to a study published Friday.
-
Researchers at UC San Diego have developed a CRISPR-based molecular genetic control system that alters insect genes to generate flightless female and sterile male mosquitoes.
-
Mosquito fun fact: Females are the killers of the species, meaning they – not the males – are the ones who spread dengue, yellow fever, malaria, Zika, etc. In other words, if you have a mosquito bite, it’s guaranteed to be from a female.
So, in theory, if you could render a female mosquito both sterile and unable to fly, the mosquito population and its transmission of death-causing diseases would dramatically decrease.
📜 But the UC San Diego team wasn’t the first with the idea… Farmers have been sterilizing male insects to protect their crops since at least the 1930s.
-
U.S. farmers in the 1950s began using radiation to sterilize pest species such as the New World Screwworm fly, which is known to destroy livestock.
-
But the chemicals and radiation have an adverse health effect on the insects, rendering them less successful in mating with females, which undercuts the effectiveness of the sterile insect technique.
🔬 Then, innovation struck… And its name was CRISPR, the genome-editing tool, which gave scientists the ability to actually alter the insect’s DNA. Oxitec, a pest-control company, has performed successful field trials with genetically modified mosquitoes in the Cayman Islands and Brazil.
-
Last year, Florida granted Oxitec approval for a similar pilot program in the Keys.
📝 The bottom line: There are two big differences between this latest innovation and Oxitec’s.
-
There are zero adverse health effects to the male mosquitos, who are now able to compete on the same playing field as the non-sterile males. Oxitec introduces an antibiotic protocol that weakens the males.
-
The researchers believe this innovation can be applied to other disease-spreading insect species with a high human body count.
Image: Giphy
|
|
|
🍩 DONUT Holes…
Image: Google Maps
-
☝️ Category 1 Hurricane Nicholas made landfall a few hours ago in Texas and is expected to push east into Louisiana with chances of “life-threatening” flash floods.
-
📽️ Disney will debut the rest of its 2021 films exclusively in theaters.
-
💍 Britney Spears and boyfriend Sam Asghari are engaged; the announcement comes days after her father filed a petition to end the conservatorship agreement that has controlled the singer’s personal decisions and finances since 2009.
-
🏫 Yesterday was the first fully in-person back-to-school day for 1 million pupils in New York City schools.
-
💰 The new NFL season inspired the legal sports betting market's most successful four-day run in history.
-
📧 Intuit purchased email-marketing company Mailchimp for $12 billion.
|
|
|
🔥🍪 Sponsored by Edoughble 💸🔥
|
|
The #1 Reason to Stop Baking
We’re going to ask you a question, and we want you to be honest... Are you terrible at baking ?
-
😵 Maybe treats that were meant to be delightful become inedible.
-
😬 Maybe your friends and family often suggest you should go on a certain show specifically about not-so-great bakers.
Ditch the baking and get to the best part: eating. 🤤🍪 Edoughble is a no-bake cookie dough, meant to be eaten raw.
It’s just like real, delectable cookie dough but with zero threat of illness. Edoughble is made in small batches with all natural non-GMO ingredients. There’s no egg, no flour, and no chemicals. Nailed it ! 🏆
Seriously, don’t ruin the perfectly good cookie dough by baking it. It’s safe, and meant to be eaten raw, topped on ice cream, in between two cookies – the list goes on and on.
Sign up for the Edoughble newsletter today and receive 20% off a build-a-box. Customize your own 2, 4 or 6 pack box with their 14 one-of-a-kind flavors !
Sign up for free and claim your discount.
|
|
|
🔥 The Hot Corner
💬 Heard Through the Grapevine… “Current evidence does not, therefore, appear to show a need for boosting in the general population, in which efficacy against severe disease remains high.” – A group of U.S. and international scientists in a paper published yesterday, arguing against the use of a COVID vaccine booster shot for the general population at this time.
🔢 Stats of the Day: House Democrats on Monday proposed tax increases to help pay for a $3.5 trillion spending plan; the proposal, which may change before Democrats craft the final bill they hope to pass in the coming weeks, would:
-
Increase the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21%.
-
Implement a 3-percentage-point surtax on people making over $5 million.
-
Increase the capital gains tax rate to 25% from 20%.
-
Increase the top marginal tax rate to 39.6% from 37% starting in 2022; that rate would kick in at $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for married couples.
From the Left: CNBC | From the Right: WSJ
📖 Worth Your Time… Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All. Company Documents Reveal a Secret Elite That’s Exempt.
|
|
|
🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
🗳️ Total Recall Day in California
|
Image: Medium
|
🎁 California voters head to the polls today to decide the fate of Gov. Gavin Newsom in the fourth recall election of a governor in U.S. history.
|
📜 Background... Newsom’s opponents, who criticize his handling of homelessness, water policy, undocumented immigrants, and the pandemic, began collecting signatures for a recall petition early last year, eventually surpassing the ~1.5 million number needed to trigger an election (the movement gained steam last November after photos emerged of
Newsom breaking COVID protocols at a luxury restaurant).
-
California’s only other gubernatorial recall election occurred in 2003 when Republican challenger Arnold Schwarzenegger (pictured above) replaced incumbent Democratic Gov. Gray Davis.
🤔 How does it work ?... California voters will fill out a ballot featuring just two questions: 1) Should Gov. Newsom be recalled ? and 2) Which of the 46 other candidates – not including Newsom – should be the new governor ?
-
If more than half of voters choose “No” on the first question, Newsom will remain in office. If a majority votes “Yes,” Newsom will be replaced by the candidate who receives the most votes in the second question (no majority required).
Image: FiveThirtyEight
☝️ What do the polls say ?... According to the most recent polling data from FiveThirtyEight, Gov. Newsom appears to be on track to defeat the recall.
-
But the site is quick to note their model should not be considered a forecast of what will happen since this election is particularly challenging to poll accurately (as it’s hard to estimate who’s likely to vote).
-
In other words, don’t be surprised if the result ends up differently.
Image: RealClearPolitics
The frontrunner to replace Gov. Newsom - should he be voted out of office - is Republican Larry Elder, host of the nationally syndicated “Larry Elder Show” on talk radio.
👁️ Looking ahead… Polls close at 8 p.m. PT tonight. There's a chance results will be available before tomorrow morning, depending on how close the race ends up.
-
If Newsom is voted out of office, the new governor will replace him by late October.
|
|
|
🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
|
💘 Laser Tag
Image: LuckyStep/Shutterstock
|
🎁 The Pentagon recently developed a laser that can identify people from up to 200 meters away based on their unique heartbeat signature.
|
Every human being’s heartbeat is different, similar to fingerprints or irises.
-
Unlike most external features, an individual’s cardiac signature remains constant and cannot be altered or disguised - save for a major cardiac event - making it perfect for identifying those who wish to remain hidden.
The Pentagon’s latest device, called Jetson, uses a technique known as laser vibrometry to detect surface movement on a person’s clothing caused by their heartbeat.
-
The data is fed through an algorithm that can purportedly identify the target’s unique heartbeat with more than 95% accuracy under good conditions.
-
Jetson can work through typical clothing like a shirt or jacket, but is stymied by thicker layers such as a winter coat.
In practice, it’s likely the device will be used in combination with facial recognition or other identification methods.
Keep reading.
|
|
|
🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
🐕 Marley & Me
|
Image: GoFundMe
A 7-year-old Labrador Retriever named Marley is being hailed as a hero after saving his owner from the fangs of a rattlesnake.
-
Teenager Alex Loredo was headed to the outdoor laundry room at his family’s home in San Diego when he heard a rattling underneath a nearby table – the rattlesnake was ready to strike.
"Before I could even turn, Marley had run out the door, pushed me out of the way, and gotten in between the snake and me," Alex told NBC San Diego, adding the snake bit Marley twice before slithering away.
-
After several doses of antivenom and two days in an animal hospital, the brave dog returned home to fully recover.
Keep reading.
|
|
|
💡 Dose of Knowledge
⛈️ Taken By Storm
|
What’s the difference between a hurricane and a typhoon ?
A) Typhoons are stronger than hurricanes
B) Typhoons happen over land; hurricanes over water
C) Hurricanes are stronger than typhoons
D) Nothing except their geographic location
|
(keep scrolling for the answer) |
|
|
🍩 Share The DONUT
|
Access exclusive rewards and even an all-expenses-paid round trip to Austin, TX, just for sharing this newsletter. 
Simply:
1. Copy your unique referral link.👇
2. Post said link on social media, drop it in your group chat, beam it into outer space, etc.
3. Watch the rewards roll in.
|
|
|
|
Ambassador Rewards and Progress → |
|
💡 Dose of Knowledge Answer
|
|
D) Nothing except their geographic location
A typhoon and a hurricane are the same type weather phenomenon, called a tropical cyclone, describing a rotating system of storms over warm ocean water.
-
The only difference is that hurricane refers to storms in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the central and eastern Pacific.
-
In the northwestern Pacific, they’re called typhoons; in the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean, they’re called tropical cyclones.
|
|
|
|
