21 Jump Street Taught Us First…

Image: Tenor

• The investigation also netted nearly $32 million in cash and crypto, 45 firearms, and ~500 pounds of drugs, including an estimated 4 million deadly doses of fentanyl.

📖 The story… This past January, German police shut down the largest dark web drug marketplace (at the time), DarkMarket, nabbing more than 20 of its servers. From that info, info from past busts, and intercepted packages, officials were able to coordinate this most recent bust – which included a few dark-web bigwigs.

🕵️ Zoom out: Law enforcement seems to be changing its strategy – namely, putting more focus on shutting down dark-web vendors instead of the marketplace sites people buy stuff on.

• “Operation Dark HunTor was launched with one clear goal: to hunt down the vendors, buyers, and suppliers who had been hiding on that site and make sure they did not find a new platform,” deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said at a press conference Tuesday.

+What we’re watching: The feds and other international agencies still have data from other big dark-web marketplace busts, so don’t be surprised if more news like this pops up soon.

🎁 A handful of companies reported earnings over the past two days.

Who Am I and What’s My Purpose ?

Pretty heavy topic for this early in the morning, huh. But never fear – it’s okay to not have the answer.

• What’s not okay is failing to try and figure it out. Whoever you are, wherever you are, you have a lot to offer this world and it’s a whole lot better with you in it. 🤗

🛣 Getting started on your journey… Here’s the good news: the hardest part is getting started – and that’s pretty easy. Just set aside a few minutes each day (even five minutes makes a difference) to reflect, journal, and meditate, and stay consistent with it for a week or two.

From there, just go with the flow, baby. Oh, and sign up for The Scribes’ weekly newsletter.

📓 What is The Scribes ?... A small team of passionate entrepreneurs based in New York City, on a mission to design great products, get the world journal-ing, and support others along the way.

• On a weekly basis, they deliver curated journaling prompts, as well as thought-provoking conversations and ideas around 'productivity,' and how to balance that with overall happiness. Pretty cool stuff.
• And here’s the best part: for every journal sold, they give one away to a student in need for free. Through their “Scribes for Students” program, they’ve given away 10,000+ journals to students from NYC to Alabama to Honduras.

So get started on your journaling journey with The Scribes, and rest easy knowing you’re on the path to becoming your best self. Use the code DONUT for 20% off any purchase.

Start writing today.

Image: The Verge

Seventy-five percent of Americans believe climate change is happening, while 10% believe it’s not, the poll found. Another 15% are unsure.

• Of those who believe climate change is happening, 86% believe it’s fully or partially caused by human activities.

Image: AP-NORC/EPIC

☝️ Break it down… A majority of Americans said their views on climate change were influenced by scientists and recent extreme weather events like hurricanes, droughts, heat spells, and wildfires.

• Nearly half of U.S. adults (49%) said they’re more convinced of the science on climate change today than they were five years ago, compared to 13% who say they’re less convinced.

Image: AP-NORC/EPIC

🏛️ What should we do about it ?... Most Americans are in support of Congress passing a bill to ensure more of the nation’s electricity comes from clean energy and less from coal and natural gas.

• Fifty-two percent of U.S. adults said they’d support a carbon fee that increased their monthly energy bills by $1. Support for the fee drops as its cost grows, but nearly 33% of Americans would still support the carbon fee if it meant paying $100 more per month (up from 16% in 2018).

👁️ Looking ahead… President Biden is flying to Glasgow, Scotland, this weekend to attend an annual two-week UN climate summit called COP26.

🤓 See For Yourself

Berna wearing her special eyeglasses; Image: University of Utah

👋 Meet Berna Gómez… The sixty-year-old Spanish native is a former science teacher who had been fully blind for 16 years at the time of the experiments, which were conducted over a period of six months.

👓 How it works: As a first step, neurosurgeons implanted a microelectrode array invented by one of the researchers into Berna’s visual cortex. This records and stimulates the electrical activities of her neurons. 

For the experiment, Berna wore eyeglasses equipped with a miniature video camera and specialized software.

• The visual data collected by the camera was sent to Berna’s brain prosthesis, which then stimulated neurons to create an image.
• She was able to identify lines, shapes, and simple letters, each represented by different patterns of brain stimulation.

🏅 Credit where credit's due... Thanks to her precise descriptions of visual perceptions and importance to the research, Berna ended up being credited as a co-author on the study.

Images: Facebook

When a senior citizen’s electric scooter broke down in the middle of an intense Florida rainstorm, four men jumped out of their car to help get her home.

• The men are all employees at Rebounderz Adventure Parks, and were headed home after a long shift when they noticed the woman stuck on the side of the road.

👉 How it went down: "We were tired, dirty and wanted to get back to the hotel; but, knew without a doubt that regardless of our long day, it certainly wasn't worse than the day this lady was having.”

• The men ended up pushing the woman uphill in the rain for nearly a mile. "We just wanted her to get home safely."

What is the collective noun for bears ?

A) Sloth
B) Herd
C) Whoop
D) Goldilocks

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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A) Sloth

A group of bears is called a sloth or a sleuth.

• The origin of the term is unknown, but it may have come from bears' behavior during hibernation or their habit of appearing like they are constantly searching for something.