🌊 Death by Beef Wellington

This dude must’ve really wanted to keep his Roca app streak alive.

A 27-year-old student in Japan had to be rescued from Mt. Fuji twice in one week. Last Tuesday, his reason was excusable: He was climbing the mountain when suddenly he developed altitude sickness. He called authorities, and they rescued him. But then, just days later, he returned to the mountain to find his phone and… he got altitude sickness again.

Listen, we get how badly you want to keep your Roca app streak alive, but if you forget your phone on Mt. Fuji just leave it there. You can explain the situation to us.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Mushroom Murder Down Under

The trial for an Australian woman accused of killing three people with poisonous mushrooms began on Tuesday

• The woman, Erin Patterson, allegedly poisoned her former in-laws by serving them a beef wellington – a dish of beef wrapped in mushrooms and pastry – made with “death cap” mushrooms in 2023

• Patterson claims to have purchased the mushrooms from an Asian market, while police say she intentionally fed them to her estranged in-laws and their two relatives

• The case has become a viral sensation in Australia, sparking shows and podcasts

Dig Deeper

• Patterson has claimed that everyone picked their own plate and that she ate some of the beef wellington herself

• The trial is already garnering intense public attention, with Australia’s public broadcaster launching a podcast with daily updates on it and journalists seeking to cover the trial subject to a lottery

• A detective in Australia said in 2023 that the national and international attention on the case had become “incredibly intense” and urged the public to express sensitivity, while the court has imposed reporting guidelines

KEY STORY

UK Autism Testing

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is planning to test all transgender children for autism, per The Telegraph

• Several studies have found higher rates of neurodevelopmental conditions among transgender youth

• On Tuesday, The Telegraph obtained leaked documents that show the NHS will soon begin testing transgender children for autism. Per the documents, every child referred to a UK gender clinic will be “screened for neurodevelopmental conditions,” particularly autism

• If a diagnosis is made, the leaked NHS documents said that instead of medical treatment, children should be referred to “the paediatric neurodevelopmental service” for “holistic” care

Dig Deeper

• The plan follows the UK’s recent shift away from medical treatment for gender dysphoria, including “indefinitely” banning puberty blockers for trans children and issuing no new prescriptions for blockers for over a year

• Per The Telegraph, the plan “will soon be going to full public consultation” before it is rolled out later this year

QUOTE OF THE DAY

ROCA’S SPONSOR

Sweat. Sip. Supercharge.

Together with LMNT

You don’t train to look pretty – you train to get stronger and better. But sweat drains more than just water. It takes your energy, focus, and power with it

• That’s where LMNT comes in: Packed with salts and electrolytes, no fake sugar, and nothing your body doesn’t need – it’s hydration that keeps up when your workout doesn’t let up

  • Replenish what sweat steals

  • Hydrate faster than water alone

  • Power through your next workout

Dig Deeper

• LMNT is trusted by thousands, from the Roca staff to the USA Weightlifting Olympic Team and Navy SEALs

• Get a free Sample Pack with any drink mix purchase and supercharge your workouts today

KEY STORY

Satellite Rivalry

Amazon launched its first Kuiper internet satellites into space as it seeks to rival Starlink

• In 2019, Amazon unveiled Project Kuiper – a $10B effort to provide global satellite internet and rival starlink

• The project ended up being delayed by over a year, but on Monday, Amazon launched the first 27 Kuiper satellites. It seeks to put over 3,200 in orbit to rival the current 7,000 launched by Starlink

• While Amazon is thousands of satellites behind Starlink, it hopes that its established cloud computing business and infrastructure will give it an edge over SpaceX

Dig Deeper

• Amazon said that it expects to “begin delivering service to customers later this year,” barring any potential setbacks

• Starlink currently dominates the internet satellite market with over 7,000 currently in orbit and a total target of 12,000. Since launching in 2019, Starlink has attained 5M+ subscribers across 100+ countries. It generates over $8B in annual revenue, dwarfing its competitors

KEY STORY

ChatGPT Shopping

OpenAI announced plans to add a shopping feature to ChatGPT

• OpenAI has been aggressively competing with Google, integrating search engine capabilities into ChatGPT and partnering with news outlets and other websites, so users don’t need travel through Google to reach them

• The company launched its latest shot at Google this week, when it announced the rollout of a shopping feature that is reportedly intended to rival Google shopping

• The new shopping feature will be integrated directly into ChatGPT, allowing users to view items, their details, pricing, and review before being directed to a vendor’s website to finish the sale

• It will also make shopping recommendations to users based on online reviews and user preferences

Dig Deeper 

• ChatGPT denied comparisons to Google’s shopping feature, which provides users with shopping recommendations directly in Google search results. That feature is a major generator of ad revenue for Google

• OpenAI tried to distinguish itself from Google, saying that its shopping results “are not sponsored” and will therefore be what the user actually wants, rather than a function of which company pays for the ad slot

• OpenAI’s head of product said that ChatGPT’s responses are “not looking for specific signals that are in some algorithm,” and will be more personalized than keyword-driven

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇮🇱 Israel’s spy chief resigned following a long-running dispute between him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

🛩️ A $70M US F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet rolled off an aircraft carrier in the Red Sea after the ship swerved to avoid Houthi militant fire

⚖️ Congress passed a bipartisan bill that makes the publication of deepfake nude images and revenge porn a federal crime

💲 After coming under criticism from the Trump Administration, Amazon denied that it plans to list tariff charges next to products on its website

⚡ Power has mostly returned after a widespread power outage caused blackouts across Spain, Portugal, and parts of France

What does Roca Nation think?

🧐 Yesterday’s Question: Who’s someone who didn’t deserve to be canceled?

🧠 Today’s Question: Is it just nostalgia or were Disney movies in the 90s (Hercules, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Pocahontas, etc.) better?

Replay to this email with your thoughts!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

📱 The Bubble Economy: A new study from the University of Chicago found that college students would have to be paid $31 to have their iPhone texts appear as green rather than blue for a month

💖 Celebration Medication: A study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology found that drinking champagne could reduce the risk of a sudden heart attack

🚤 Hydroplane to Airplane: A speedboat that went airborne and flipped at 200 mph won a race in Arizona. Videos of the boat flying 30 feet into the air and crashing into the lake have since gone viral online

🛬 Digital Detour: A flight from California to Germany was forced to land in Boston after a passenger’s iPad became stuck in a seat, prompting concerns that it could overheat and ignite

🚘 Homework Home Visit: A teacher in Ohio was charged with criminal trespassing after reportedly driving to a student’s house unannounced to discuss a homework assignment

ROCA WRAP
Golden Passport Denied

Malta

The EU’s top court ruled that this country’s “golden passport” program violates EU laws.

Golden passports, or citizenship-by-investment (CBI) programs, allow individuals to buy citizenship or residency in a country by making a significant financial investment, often through purchasing real estate, government bonds, or business ventures. Primarily small countries offer these programs as a way to generate investment and economic growth.

In 2015, Malta launched a golden passport program that granted a passport in exchange for a minimum one-off investment of $700,000, the purchase of property worth at least $800,000, a roughly $10,000 donation to a charity, and three years of residency (or less for those who invest more).

Since then, the program has reportedly generated $1.6B+ in revenue for Malta, which the country says funds affordable housing, healthcare, and cultural initiatives.

Yet not everyone was happy with the program: Because Malta is an EU country, it effectively let anyone buy EU citizenship for $1.5M, which the EU argued facilitated tax evasion, money laundering, and corruption.

That led the European Commission to sue Malta in 2022.

On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice ruled that the golden visa violates EU law and that Malta must end what the court called the sale of EU citizenship.

“A member state cannot grant its nationality – and indeed European citizenship – in exchange for predetermined payments or investments, as this essentially amounts to rendering the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction,” the court said. “Such a practice does not make it possible to establish the necessary bond of solidarity and good faith between a member state and its citizens, or to ensure mutual trust between member states.”

While Malta defended the program and said it would study the ruling’s “legal implications,” the golden passport has lost its luster.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

That beef wellington story was just so juicy — no pun intended — that we had to include it as a key story today. Watch out for your in-laws’ cooking.

We hope you have a great Wednesday. The weather in New York is simply exceptional today. A nice day in spring is hard to beat. Time to hit Mt. Fuji.

–Max and Max