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Good morning and welcome to Friday.
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⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s newsletter takes 4.82 minutes to read. (With the 360° view: +3.46 minutes.)
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🍩 Daily Sprinkle
“Whatever you are, try to be a good one.”
–William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), not Abraham Lincoln.
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👇📰 Quick Bits
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QUICK: What Media Company Is Fighting the Most Active Libel Suits ?
 Image: Gfycat
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🎁 No, it’s not Fox News, CNN, MSNBC – or any other news organization. It’s Netflix, per the Hollywood Reporter.
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🤔 Why it’s a big deal: When it comes to the great ongoing online content debate, people typically think of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and how that applies to Twitter, Meta, Google, etc. – but similar to social media giants, Netflix is walking the line between online distributor (i.e, platform) and publisher.
⚖️ What’s going on ?... Quick definition: Libel, also called defamation, is the oral or written communication of a false statement about another that unjustly harms their reputation. It’s illegal in the U.S. but notoriously hard to prove.
Netflix is leaning into nonfiction related content – think Making A Murderer, When They See Us, Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, Operation Varsity Blues, Tiger King, etc. – and with the foray into nonfiction content comes libel suits from its subjects.
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What makes the situation interesting is that Netflix is being sued for libel in documentaries it distributes, but didn’t have a hand in creating. To use an analogy, think of a movie theater being sued for a documentary it shows on its screens.
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As of yet, the company hasn’t used Section 230, which provides immunity for internet platforms with respect to third-party content, as part of its defense – but it feasibly could as these cases head to trial (Netflix declined to comment on the matter).
📝 Bottom line: The platform vs. publisher vs. something else debate continues to play out as lawmakers increasingly discuss regulating tech giants – and while it’s only a rumble right now, don’t be surprised if the discussion starts to extend to streaming platforms, too.
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🍄 Are Magic Mushrooms Really Magic ?
 Image: Shutterstock
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🎁 The results from the largest-ever study focused on psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, were published Tuesday, showing the drug proved highly effective as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression – with a few caveats.
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🔢 By the numbers… Overall, 29.1% of patients in the highest-dose group (50 mg) were in remission three weeks after treatment, compared to 7.6% of those in the control group (1 mg; essentially a placebo).
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The highest-dose group also experienced an average reduction on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (a commonly-used measure of clinical depression) that was 6.6 points greater than those who took 1 mg.
✋ Yes, but… The findings have yet to be peer-reviewed or published in any scientific journal and research into psychedelics has historically been limited – meaning, scientists still aren’t sure exactly how they work in the brain or their long-term effects.
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In addition, the company behind the study – pharmaceutical firm COMPASS Pathways – saw its stock fall more than 22% in the hours after making the results public.
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Experts said the dip was most likely linked to side effects data showing 12 out of the 233 patients reported severe adverse events that emerged after starting treatment, including suicidal behavior and self-injury.
🇺🇸 Zoom out: Psychedelics have been a trending topic among scientists and politicians in recent months.
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Oregon became the first state to fully legalize psilocybin in November 2020. A host of large U.S. cities have passed legislation decriminalizing the drug – including Denver, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Ann Arbor, & D.C. – but there’s still no real movement at the federal level.
+Elsewhere: UK PM Boris Johnson this week said he’ll examine the latest advice on legalizing psilocybin at the request of lawmakers.
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🔥👚Sponsored by Sub_Urban Riot
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How to Get Cozy This Cuffing Season
Winter hasn’t officially started yet, but… let’s be real. It’s basically here.
Though if we can’t all agree on that, we should be able to agree on this: Cuffing season is here.
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Get cozy (and sexy) this cuffing season with Sub_Urban Riot.
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🗣👂 Dose of Discussion
💵 Universal Basic Income in America
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 Image: Shutterstock
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🎁 Low- and middle-income parents in Alaska receiving "no-strings-attached" cash were more likely to spend that money on "education, clothing, recreation, and electronic purchases" for their kids, according to new research published in the peer-reviewed journal Social Forces.
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Study author Mariana Amorim, a sociologist at Washington State University, said the results “contradict current policy discourses implying that lower-income parents cannot be trusted to spend cash transfers in ways that benefit children.”
📜 Background: The Alaska Permanent Fund was established in 1976 to pay out dividends based on state oil revenues to residents who swear to having “the intent to remain an Alaska resident indefinitely.”
- Between 1996 and 2015, each Alaskan – regardless of age or income – received an average of $1,812 per year. The Wazzu researchers believe it’s the closest thing to universal basic income (UBI) that exists in the U.S.
🇺🇸 Zoom out… Since the first UBI program began in Stockton, CA, in 2019, roughly 40 U.S. cities have considered similar plans for residents who qualify under specific criteria (spawning an organization called Mayors for a Guaranteed Income):
- LA is in the process of carrying out what will be the largest guaranteed income pilot program in the U.S., providing ~3,000 families in poverty with $1,000 a month for a year (applicants are chosen at random).
- Chicago lawmakers last month approved a budget for 2022 including $31.5 million for a UBI program that sends $500 per month to 5,000 adults who make less than $35,000 per year (also chosen at random).
- Atlanta is launching a privately-funded program that, in its first phase, would provide as many as 300 low-income Black women with $800 per month for two years with no strings attached. Lawmakers are also considering a separate program that uses public funds to pay residents aged 18+ who earn up to 200% of the federal poverty level.
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🎶 Finish the Lyrics: "All I Want…
... FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOUUUUUUU."
Sorry, we got a little carried away. But we’re around halfway through November and it’s about time to revive the age-old debate: how early is too early for holiday music ?
🔢 By the numbers… According to a Bustle poll from 2017:
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26% say November 1.
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9% say December 1.
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12% say “Always.”
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52% say after Thanksgiving.
📝 Takeaway: After Thanksgiving may be what the world wants – but you do you, booboo.
+Worth a peek: NBC News put together a series of charts spanning 2005 to 2021 that show when Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” is played throughout the year.
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🔥 The Hot Corner
💬 Heard Through the Grapevine… "I don't think my father wanted people to know his child was a complainer, so that [it was created as a game for bored neighborhood kids] became the story... it just started because I was being a sh*tty little kid." – Frank Pritchard, son of pickleball inventor (and former Lieutenant Governor of Washington) Joel Pritchard, on the origins of the sport.
🔢 Stat of the Day: According to Front Office Sports, Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke offered $100 million to settle the ongoing St. Louis relocation lawsuit but was rebuffed by the plaintiffs. (Background from the DONUT.)
📖 Worth a Read… Do Women Still Want to Go to the Movies?
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🍩 DONUT Holes
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☝️ EV owners in different areas save more compared to those who own conventional vehicles, per a WSJ analysis.
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🧠🎶 Listening to one's favorite music can improve brain plasticity and function in early Alzheimer's patients or those with mild cognitive impairment, new research suggests.
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⚖️🚰 A federal judge approved a $626 million settlement for people who were exposed to the lead-contaminated water in Flint, Michigan; it’s structured so that nearly 80% of the money goes to children who were under 18 when first exposed.
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💰 Elon Musk sold ~$5 billion worth of Tesla stock this week.
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🎤 The death toll from the Astroworld music festival rose to nine after a female college student passed away late Wednesday.
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🏈 NFL Round-up: Minnesota Vikings lineman Dakota Dozier, who is vaccinated, has been hospitalized with COVID-19. | The Carolina Panthers signed free agent QB Cam Newton, the former MVP who once took the team to the Super Bowl. | Free agent WR Odell Beckham Jr., who was released by Cleveland last week, will reportedly sign with the LA Rams.
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🏛️ A federal appeals court temporarily blocked the release of White House records sought by the House committee investigating the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. (From the Left | From the Right | See the 360º View)
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🛸🌄📲 Calling from the Future…
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☀️♻️ On The Bright Side
 Image: Obton
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🎁 Scientists from India’s KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology developed a new technique to extract virtually pure silicon from old solar cells.
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💰 Why it’s a big deal: Solar cells today are faced with many of the same recycling challenges posed by old TVs – they have limited resale value, contain hazardous materials, and carry a high cost to recycle properly. (This technique is looking to address the last one.)
⚙️ How it works… Unlike other conventional methods to recycle silicon from old solar cells, the Indian scientists’ new technique isn’t based on using highly toxic hydrofluoric acid and is both effective and (relatively) cheap.
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It uses a combination of sodium hydroxide, nitric acid, and phosphoric acid, spitting out recycled silicon with a purity of up to 99.9984%.
👁️ Looking ahead… The scientists said it can also be tweaked to also enable the recovery of pure aluminum, silver, and lead.
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🤗 Daily Dose of Positive
🐢🌊Finned Friends Friday: Flipping Turtles
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 Images: YouTube
Influencer Brodie Moss has dedicated his life to saving the oceans. In one of his latest YouTube videos, the marine lover went on a boat tour to showcase the avalanche of sea turtles making their way to the Australian coast for mating season.
👀 Speak of the devil… It was mid-film when Brodie spotted a turtle stuck in the sand and flipped upside down in the distance – a possibly lethal situation for the poor creature.
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Luckily, Brodie and his friend were able to help the animal flip back onto its stomach, after which it rushed… er, plodded back out to sea.
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💡 Dose of Knowledge
🚀 The Great Unknown
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How many humans have been to space ?
A) 113
B) 600
C) 1,291
D) 500
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(keep scrolling for the answer) |
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🍩 Share The DONUT, Earn Rewards
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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.
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Ambassador Rewards and Progress → |
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💡 Dose of Knowledge Answer
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C) 600 people have been to space.
The milestone was reached after a SpaceX rocket carried 4 people into orbit on Wednesday night.
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