|
Good morning and welcome to Thursday.
-
⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s newsletter takes an easy, breezy, beautiful 5.17 minutes to read. (With the 360° view: +3.37 minutes.)
|
|
🍩 Daily Sprinkle
"Giving is living. If you stop wanting to give, there's nothing more to live for."
–Audrey Hepburn, (1929–1993)
|
|
👇📰 Quick Bits
|
 |
🎮 Twitch Got Hacked
 Image: Thiago Prudencio/Zuma Press
|
🎁 The Amazon-owned livestreaming platform confirmed it suffered a major data breach yesterday after an anonymous hacker published 125 GB of internal company information.
|
In a post on the online chat forum 4chan (image), the hacker said they were releasing the information to “foster more disruption and competition” in the online video streaming world because Twitch’s community “is a disgusting toxic cesspool.”
-
Twitch currently boasts an average of 2.5+ million viewers at any given time, and more than seven million creators stream on the platform each month according to internal company data.
🤿 A deeper dive… The leaked data reportedly includes the entirety of the platform’s source code, as well as proprietary SDKs, or software development kits, which let developers integrate Twitch into their apps and services.
-
It also includes details of payouts to Twitch streamers from 2019 until now, along with “every other property that Twitch owns.” Several creators independently confirmed the leaked records match their own. (The top 100 highest-paid Twitch streamers.)
-
It’s unclear whether the breach included personal data about Twitch users – but you should probably change your password and enable two-factor authentication just in case.
-
The anonymous hacker labeled their data dump “part one,” suggesting there could be more to come.
💻 Zoom out… Cyberattacks on organizations worldwide are up 40% this year compared with the first 10 months of 2020, according to security firm Check Point Software Technologies.
|
|
|
▶️ NWSL Resumes Play Following Scandal
 Image: Unsplash
|
🎁 The National Women’s Soccer League resumed play yesterday following a four-day hiatus caused by a sexual harassment scandal.
|
📜 The backstory… Last Thursday, The Athletic published a report detailing patterns of sexual misconduct, harassment, and coercion by Paul Riley while he was coach of Western New York and the Portland Thorns. He was subsequently fired.
-
Washington Spirit coach Richie Burke was also fired last week after a Washington Post report revealed he verbally and emotionally abused players. Steve Baldwin, the controlling owner and CEO of the Spirit, resigned Monday.
-
League commissioner Lisa Baird resigned Friday amid growing criticism of the league’s handling of these and other cases of alleged abuse in Salt Lake City, Louisville, and the Seattle area over the past year and a half.
-
All of the weekend’s matches were canceled, “given the gravity of the events of the last week.”
More context: the players are currently negotiating for better pay. The league’s basic structure pays players $22,000–$52,500 this season, and their financially precarious situation has made it more challenging to speak out against abuse, per the WSJ.
📈 Zoom out: League viewership jumped almost 300% last season following partnerships with CBS Sports and Twitch. The league also secured sponsorship deals with Verizon, Procter & Gamble, and Google, and added some serious star power to its ranks – Serena Williams, Natalie Portman, Mia Hamm, and Naomi Osaka are all team owners.
🔎 Zoom back in: FIFA is conducting its own investigation into the allegations against Riley, as will the U.S. Soccer Federation.
+Go deeper: Watch former NWSL players Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim and Team USA star Alex Morgan on Tuesday’s “Today” show.
|
|
|
🍩 DONUT Holes…
 Image: YouTube
-
☝️ Footage from a floating drone inside a hurricane at sea.
-
🛢️ Investigators say a 13-inch split in a pipeline is the source of an oil spill that dumped up to 144,000 gallons of crude in the ocean off the coast of Southern California.
-
🕵️ The Case Breakers, a group of ~40 independent investigators and journalists, say they’ve uncovered the true identity of the Zodiac Killer, who murdered at least five people in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s; they believe the killer was Gary Francis Poste, who died in 2018.
-
📈 GM plans to double revenue by 2030 to $280 billion in a digital push to be seen more like Tesla.
-
🇸🇪🇩🇰 Sweden & Denmark paused the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for people born in 1991 or later due to concerns about rare side effects like myocarditis; according to the Swedish health agency, there’s a clear connection between increased diagnoses of myocarditis and pericarditis among young people who had received the Moderna vaccine — especially the second shot.
-
🦟 The WHO approved the first-ever malaria vaccine, which is also the first-ever vaccine against a parasitic disease.
-
⚖️ A federal judge temporarily suspended Texas' fetal heartbeat abortion law, granting an emergency request from the DOJ; the ruling is likely to be challenged. (From the Left | From the Right)
|
|
|
🔥💸 Sponsored by KING KANINE 🐕🐩
|
|
Who doesn’t love a hot dog, dog? 🌭🐶
Sweet Franklin is a front legged amputee with incredible resilience. After his surgery his will to move was so strong, that Dogs, Rock & Roll knew they had to get him a set of wheels.
His happy spirit has never faltered for one second despite his limitations. 🥺
 Image: Dogs, Rock & Roll
We can’t wait to see Franklin on the go in his new wheelchair !
If you want to help more animals like Franklin get their wheels turning, you just have to spoil your own furbaby.
Head over to KING KANINE to purchase anything, and a percentage of your transaction will go to Dogs, Rock & Roll. They’re a registered 501c3 nonprofit that helps mobility challenged dogs, like Franklin, get the resources they need.
Plus, use code “DONUT15” at checkout for 15% off anything in-store.
Explore KING KANINE today
|
|
|
🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
🇨🇳🇹🇼 China & Taiwan Aren’t Getting Along
|
 Image: Council on Foreign Relations
|
🎁 Taiwanese Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said yesterday that tensions with China are at their worst in 40 years. Beijing sent a combined 145 military jets into Taiwan's air defense zone over four consecutive days beginning October 1st (already the year’s highest monthly total).
|
Chiu also said China’s People’s Liberation Army would be able to launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan with minimal losses by 2025.
📜 Background… Taiwan and China split during a civil war in 1949 that didn’t end until 1991. At the heart of the divide between the two nations is that the Chinese government sees Taiwan as a breakaway province that will, eventually, be part of the country again.
-
Many Taiwanese people disagree, thinking of themselves as a separate nation – regardless of whether their independence is ever officially declared.
-
Cross-strait tensions have escalated since the 2016 election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who has refused to accept becoming part of China under its “one country, two systems” policy (which currently applies to Hong Kong & Macau).
💰 Let’s talk trade… Taiwan last month applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) one week after China submitted its own application to join the trade group. The 11-nation pact offers exclusive agreements between its members on market access, movement of labor, and government procurement.
-
Entry to the CPTPP is contingent on approval from all of its existing members – so if China joins the trade group first, it could block Taiwan from also doing so.
📝 The bottom line: Chinese President Xi Jinping this summer pledged to bring about a “complete reunification” with Taiwan – and now, according to Taiwanese officials, the threat of invasion is more serious than ever.
+In other China news… This week, senior administration officials said President Biden won’t immediately lift Trump-era tariffs on Chinese goods and plans to hold Beijing to the terms of the Phase One trade deal orchestrated by the previous administration.
|
|
|
🐻 Question: What Bear is Fattest ?
 Image: Giphy
False – That title goes to 480 Otis, a brown bear who was crowned Fat Bear Week 2021 champion after voting in the week-long competition ended Monday.
-
Fact – Bears eat salmon. A LOT of salmon, it turns out. 👇
 Images: N. Boak/National Park Service
📅 Fat Bear Week ?... It’s an annual March Madness-style competition pitting 12 large, salmon-chomping bears against one another for the internet crown of “Fattest Bear.” It’s put on in Alaska by the Katmai National Park and Preserve, Explore.org, and the Katmai Conservancy, as a way to highlight the park's natural beauty and to share the story of its large brown bear population.
🗳️ Zoom out: Fat Bear Week grew out of a single-day promotion in 2014 that was expanded to a full week the following year. This year’s competition saw nearly 800,000 votes – up from 55,000 votes cast in 2018.
-
The event’s impact goes beyond just clout. Last year, a Katmai Conservancy fundraising project named after Otis raised more than $230,000 for research, education, and bear-protection projects.
+Fun fact: Bears can lose a third of their weight during their winter hibernation, which apparently does NOT mean sleeping for months on end. 🤯 Learn more about hibernation.
+For fun: Rewatch “The Office” opener we're referencing.
|
|
|
📣🗣💬 This Week's Poll Responses
Yes – We asked those who voted yes how much they would forgive: 👇
“Tuition costs have grown through the years and there have been no agencies, private or federal that have monitored those rising costs. The U.S. government has made a giant push for people to attend college without ever realizing or thinking of the negative financial impact it can have on those that decide to go that route. It’s the government's responsibility to take some of the blame for the financial crisis.”
No – “Education can be seen as an investment or as an indulgence. Government forgiveness of student debt creates an incentive for people to treat education as an indulgence. It also disproportionately benefits those who choose to irresponsibly not pay off their loans, and punishes people who are diligent in their loan payments, or who choose to refinance under private lenders for lower interest rates.”
Unsure/Other – “Some students have private loans. Some families have saved for college. I think a college tax credit would be a better solution to cover all possible areas.”
+Note on Sample Size: We received 2,488 responses. 👏🥳 Some may have been lightly edited for grammar or clarity.
|
|
|
🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
|
🚀☄️ Playing DARTs With The Cosmos
 Image: NASA/Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
|
🎁 NASA has set a launch date for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which will evaluate the agency’s ability to change the trajectory of a theoretical asteroid heading for Earth.
|
🤔 How does it work ?... The DART mission involves launching a custom spacecraft towards a binary asteroid called Didymos.... and then smashing them together.
-
The spacecraft will almost reach 15,000 miles per hour before smashing into Didymos’ secondary body, which is ~525 feet in length.
-
This collision should change the asteroid’s speed by a mere fraction of a percent, but that should be enough to alter its orbital period by several minutes – enough to be observed and measured from Earth.
Knowing exactly how much the period is affected will help NASA plan any future asteroid-deflection missions.
👁️ Looking ahead… The mission's launch window begins November 24.
-
After the craft is launched into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, it will take over a year of cruise time to reach Didymos. The final intercept is projected to occur in late September 2022.
|
|
|
🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
🚘 A Car-dian Angel
|
Image: Facebook
Kyrie Anderson was on her way to her shift at the hospital when she realized her car battery was dead and the key fob wouldn’t work.
-
When a stranger stopped to help and neither of them could get the car open, they called roadside assistance, which would take at least 45 minutes to arrive.
💭 As she recalls… “I was already late. I'm standing there... in scrubs, and the man says ‘so, you're a nurse?’”
-
Upon learning her occupation, the man offered to lend Kyrie his car, simply saying he had nothing to do that day and could wait there for the locksmith.
📝 The bottom line: “I've never had this amount of generosity bestowed upon me before from an absolute stranger,” shared Kyrie. “I hope I'm able to pay that forward someday.”
|
|
|
💡 Dose of Knowledge
📽 Marvel Mania
|
Not including any upcoming films, how many movies are in the Marvel Cinematic Universe ?
A) 15
B) 20
C) 25
D) 30
|
(keep scrolling for the answer) |
|
|
🍩 Share this newsletter, earn rewards
|
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 in the networking Slack channel, add it to your Linktree, send it to your penpal, etc.
3. Watch the rewards roll in.
|
|
|
|
Ambassador Rewards and Progress → |
|
💡 Dose of Knowledge Answer
|
|
C) 25
The Marvel Cinematic Universe refers only to films produced by Marvel Studios based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics (meaning films like Venom, Deadpool, & X-Men aren't included).
-
The MCU also contains four TV shows and nine additional upcoming films, beginning with Eternals on November 5 and Spider-Man: No Way Home on December 17. (The full list.)
|
|
|
|
