Good morning and welcome to Friday. You may think cats are somewhat ridiculous with their penchant for empty boxes, but ask yourself this…

If a box larger than yourself suddenly appeared in the living room, wouldn't you be at least a little bit tempted to step inside???📦🚶‍♀️

In today’s edition:

• 💬 How Facebook became the center of an abortion case
• 🦠 The CDC’s updated Covid guidelines
• 📱 The online habits of American teens

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.02 minutes to read.

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

–Robert Collier (1885-1950)

This past June, a Nebraska woman was charged with two felonies related to an illegal abortion after authorities discovered information in private messages on Facebook, per court documents made public this week.

⚖️💊 A deeper dive… Prosecutors say the 41-year-old Jessica Burgess acquired and gave abortion pills to her daughter, who was 17 at the time and ~28 weeks pregnant, then helped her dispose of the fetus following a miscarriage.

The two were initially charged with one felony and a pair of misdemeanors each – none of which were related to abortion, which has been illegal in Nebraska 20 weeks after fertilization since 2010. But after serving a search warrant to obtain FB Messenger chat logs between the mother and daughter, police tacked-on two additional felonies for Burgess (the mother)… and this time both were related to abortion.

• Meta published a statement this week saying the warrants from Nebraska police “did not mention abortion at all,” only that authorities “were investigating the case of a stillborn baby who was burned and buried.”

🧠 In the know: Facebook stores most user information in plaintext on its servers, meaning the data can be accessed when compelled with a warrant, per NBC News, which said the company routinely complies with law enforcement requests to do so.

• Its Messenger app does offer end-to-end encryption, meaning chats are only visible on users’ phones and aren’t readable by the company or any government entity (even with a search warrant). But this option is only available to people using the app on mobile devices, and messages are encrypted only after you select the option to mark chats as “secret,” though Meta says it’ll be the default setting across all messages and calls by next year.

📊 Flash poll: How do you think Big Tech should handle legal requests for data related to abortion?

Comply as normal

Refuse to hand over data

Unsure/other

The CDC published new Covid guidelines yesterday loosening many of its recommended restrictions, including 6-foot social distancing. According to the agency, this marks a strategic shift towards treating the virus as an endemic disease – though it also said the pandemic isn’t over yet.

📝 So, what changed?... In addition to removing social distancing recommendations, the new guidance also lifts the requirement for Americans – including K-12 students – to quarantine if exposed to the virus, and deemphasizes screening people with no symptoms.

It also brings the recommendations for unvaccinated people in line with those who are fully vaccinated, acknowledging the high levels of US immunity due to vaccination, past Covid infections, or both.

• "Based on the latest ... data, it's around 95% of the population," Greta Massetti, a senior CDC epidemiologist, told reporters yesterday. "And so it really makes the most sense to not differentiate."

🦠 Zoom out: ​​Average daily Covid cases and hospitalizations (👇) are near their highest point since February – though the most recent data appears to suggest the summer surge has peaked, following months of high transmission fueled by BA.5 and other omicron sub-variants. As of August 3, the 7-day moving average of daily new cases (117,351) decreased 7.3% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (126,537).

+In the know: The number of Americans who say they’ve returned to a “normal, pre-Covid-19 life” has more than doubled over the past six months, from 16% to 41%, per a recent survey from UPenn’s Annenberg Public Policy Center.

Over the past month, Russia has been mounting attacks out of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which it took over close to the start of the war. The plant came under fire again yesterday, with both Kyiv and Moscow blaming each other for the attacks.

And if you just said in your head, “hmmm, explosions around a nuclear reactor don’t exactly sound like the best idea,” your instincts would be right. According to Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, “Any military firepower directed at or from the facility would amount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences.”

🤔 What’s going on?... Caveat: during war, it’s often hard to tell what info is real and what isn’t. But what we do know (publicly at least), based on satellite imagery, is that Russian forces began using the plant around a month ago as a base to stage artillery attacks on the nearby town of Nikopol – and over that same time period, the power plant has taken-on some serious damage.

• Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of setting off explosions at the plant in a bid to scare European allies and discourage them from arming Ukraine, saying its military can’t shoot back out of concern that missiles would hit a reactor at the plant, igniting a radiation catastrophe (fun fact: the Chernobyl nuclear plant is also located in Ukraine).
• Moscow has denied the accusations, accusing Ukraine of repeatedly shelling the plant to drive out Russian troops.

🇺🇦 Zoom out: Here’s a quick rundown of other recent Russia/Ukraine war happenings: A Ukrainian counterattack in Crimea appears to have destroyed at least eight Russian planes, the UK approved the delivery of additional multiple-launch rocket systems and missiles to Kyiv,​​ and McDonald’s is planning a phased reopening of some of its restaurants in Ukraine.

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If you need to get your palm read, the place to go is about to be your local Whole Foods, not a fortune-teller. According to multiple recently published reports, Amazon plans to expand its Amazon One palm reading payment system to 65 Whole Foods locations across California in the coming weeks.

✋💳 Talk to the hand… Prior to this expansion, the tech was being tested in a few stores. Here’s how it works: Users link their palm and payment card to the service. Then, all they have to do to complete the checkout process is wave their palm over a scanner.

• This is different from Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” tech, which was developed in parallel and uses a combo of computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning to let you sign into an app once entering a store, shop, and then.. well.. just walk out.
• It’s also different from other biometric systems like Apple’s Face ID, Touch ID or Samsung Pass – and in a major way. The other systems store biometric data on each individual’s device, whereas Amazon One sends your encrypted palm print to the cloud.

📸 Big picture: Step one of the master plan: roll the tech out in your own stores. Step two: license it to other businesses. Amazon says Amazon One could be used as a replacement for sporting and concert tickets, or even an office keycard.

But many are raising data privacy concerns, given Amazon doesn’t exactly have the cleanest handling record. Plus, it could be compelled to hand over any data it has to the authorities (apparently today’s newsletter has a running theme).

• Given widespread Amazon One adoption, the company would have access to an individual’s shopping data, streaming data, location, palm print, home security footage (if they use Ring), conversations (if they use Alexa), and – as of last week – an army of floor-plan-mapping robot vacuums.

💬 Quoted…​​ “First, I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter. Second, the Department does not take such a decision lightly.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department asked a federal judge to unseal a search warrant used by the FBI to raid the Mar-a-Lago home of former President Donald Trump earlier this week.

• This was the DOJ’s first official statement on the matter, and means we may get some additional details regarding the raid soon.

+Dig deeper: Background | From the Left | From the Center | From the Right

☀️🧊 Stat of the Day: The Arctic has warmed 4x faster than the rest of the planet since 1979, according to new peer-reviewed research published in Communications Earth and Environment.

🤯 Did You Know?... Airline runway numbers aren’t sequential, but based on compass bearings. For example: a runway pointing straight East (90 degrees) is called Runway 09, while a runway pointing straight South (180 degrees) is called Runway 18.

📖 Worth a Read: The Incredible Story of Sealand → (Alts.co)

• ☝️ Chinese electronics company Xiaomi unveiled a working humanoid robot prototype called the CyberOne yesterday, which it claims has the ability to recognize 45 different human emotions.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🛻 EV-maker Rivian reported its net loss nearly tripled last quarter to $1.7 billion, and said it expects an operating loss of $5.45 billion for the full year.
• 🏛️ The SEC is investigating the risk controls and investor disclosure of Melvin Capital Management after the hedge fund was crippled by the meme-stock rally last year, sources told the WSJ.
• 🏥💰 Credit-score provider VantageScore will stop factoring-in all medical debts in collections, following similar moves from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion (which together own VantageScore).

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚾🌽 The Chicago Cubs defeated the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 in the MLB’s ‘Field of Dreams’ game last night, which takes place in an Iowa cornfield.
• 📱 The Pew Research Center surveyed teenagers from across America between the ages of 13 and 17 years old to learn more about their social media usage; about half of US teens aged 13–17 say they’re online “almost constantly,” up from 24% in 2015; 95% of those surveyed said they use YouTube regularly, tops among all platforms.
• 🎶🎟️ Spotify launched a new website to sell concert tickets directly to fans, rather than through third-party sites like Ticketmaster.
• 🏀🎽 The NBA Is retiring Bill Russell's No. 6 across all 30 franchises, meaning no one in the league can wear that number again; he's the first NBA player to receive the honor; players currently wearing #6 will be grandfathered in (like LeBron, for instance).

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• ☄️ The ongoing Perseids meteor shower was at its peak last night, with an average of 50-100 shooting stars per hour in rural areas; it’ll remain active until September 1.
• 🧠 After a long period of thinking hard, making decisions that favor ease in the short term but are worse overall – like leaving dirty dishes for later – appears to be a biological regulation tool to combat cognitive fatigue, per a study published yesterday in the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 📮 The US Postal Service is planning to temporarily hike prices for peak holiday season, from October 2 until January 22.
• 🇨🇳🇹🇼 Beijing published its first white paper on Taiwan since President Xi Jinping came to power; in it, China withdrew its promise to not send troops if it takes control of the island.
• 🎓 President Biden will make his final decision regarding federal student loan forgiveness “before August 31st,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said yesterday. (Background: To Forgive, or Not to Forgive?)
• ✈️ Upgrade your flight permanently… The ULTI travel bag from CONMIGO has a slide-out cushion, intuitive pocket design, is ultra-durable, water-resistant, under-seat-size compliant, and backed by a LIFETIME warranty and includes FREE shipping! Visit CONMIGO!🎉*

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We bring you the most unusual, off-the-wall and occasionally laugh-out-loud headlines from this week…

• Local man arrested in possession of too many sharks, meth → (WFAB)
• Massachusetts grants absolution to its last remaining witch → (Courthouse News)
• Intoxicated bear rescued after eating hallucinogenic honey → (UPI)
• A mosquito killed in a burgled department helps police catch the thief → (Global Times)

CROWDSOURCED

Have you ever encountered a glitch in the matrix, quirky animal behavior, or even just a hilarious first grader? Tell us about it here for a chance to be featured in next Thursday’s newsletter.

👦🏫 Who: Bronwen S. from Gastonia, NC

💬 The experience: A while ago, I was sitting at the kitchen table talking to my brother (11), who was eating grapes. After a few minutes he put several grapes in his mouth at once... and then suddenly runs over to the trash can and spits them all out. I asked him what was wrong, and he claimed that the outsides were sticky and that the grapes tasted abnormally sweet. 

Of course, being 15, I asked him quite seriously if he thought he was being poisoned. His eyes widened. Then, cautiously, he took another grape and slowly put it into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "Wait a minute," he said suddenly, "there's donut glaze on these grapes!" Now I was really skeptical, so I took a grape myself. I don't know how or why, but those frozen grapes were definitely covered in donut glaze. 

Ever since, I've been licking every grape I get before I eat it. Who knows what else could be on there...

P.S. Don’t forget to share your odd or hilarious experience with us here.

Around one month ago, the pup pictured above was rescued after his previous owner left him locked in a car for over two hours. The responding officers estimated the car reached around 102°F before the dog was evacuated.🥵

🐶 To make the whole story cuter: The lucky pup was officially adopted by the officer who rescued him, Aruna Maharaj of the 19th Precinct. From the look on both of their faces, it looks like a match made in heaven.❤️

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make. Easy peasy! (The rules, at least.)

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Chicken breasts
• Cornstarch
• Eggs
• Flour
• Oil
• Pineapple
• Bell peppers
• Yellow onion
• Sugar & brown sugar
• Apple cider vinegar
• Ketchup
• Soy sauce
• Garlic

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Red bean
• Sugar
• Brown sugar
• Rice flour
• Sesame seeds
• Frying oil

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Corn kernels
• Onions
• Ginger
• Chiles
• Garlic
• Lemon juice
• Cumin seeds
• Tumeric powder
• Red chili powder
• Garam black pepper
• Chaat masala
• Rice flour
• Cornflour
• Gram flour
• Salt
• Oil

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone you think would like the DONUT.

☝️ Recipe #1: Sweet & sour chicken

✌️ Recipe #2: Sesame balls

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Corn pakora