🌊 Kim Jong-Undercover

Scroll to see the top Roca fall photo selections.

Last Friday, in lieu of 20 Questions, we invited you all to send in your best fall photos. Toward the bottom of today’s newsletter, we feature some of our favorite submissions. Narrowing them down was not an easy process. There were many worthy submissions we couldn’t feature — including one that was simply a screenshot of the weather app showing 82 degree weather in Indiana in late October — but we hope you enjoy the ones that made it.

Link to 20 Questions.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

NK Hackers Getting Hired

Western companies are increasingly discovering their remote IT workers are actually North Korean operatives seeking to steal money and data

• In the latest instance, an unnamed company in either the US, UK, or Australia fell victim to one such operative after hiring him as a remote IT worker. He spent four months stealing sensitive data and then demanded a crypto ransom when fired

• Cyber firm Mandiant reported that dozens of Fortune 100 companies have hired such North Korean operatives. They reportedly funnel income and ransoms to North Korea’s heavily-sanctioned government

Dig Deeper

• Secureworks, a cybersecurity firm, recently released a list of “warning signs” that suggest you may be hiring a North Korean hacker. Signs include:

• Refusing to use company laptops

• Avoiding webcam appearances

• Frequently changing payment services

• Working at unusual hours

• Having exactly 8-10 years of work experience

• Speaking poor English and sounding like they're in a call center

KEY STORY

New Polls: Trump Leading Nationally

A series of major polls show Donald Trump has taken a narrow lead over Kamala Harris nationally

• A new WSJ poll shows Trump leading 49% to 46%, reversing Harris's August lead. That figure is outside the poll’s 2.5% margin of error

• Meanwhile the election’s final NYT/Siena poll has Trump leading 47% to 46% – a major swing from the last poll, which showed him trailing by 3% – and tied 48-48 in a head-to-head race that eliminates third-party candidates

• A Forbes/HarrisX poll has Trump up 2%, within the 2.5% margin of error, while an FT poll shows that Harris has lost her lead on economic issues

Dig Deeper

• As Trump has taken an apparent lead, Democrats’ rhetoric has intensified: Kamala Harris has taken to calling him a “fascist,” while Hillary Clinton told CNN that Trump’s upcoming Madison Square Garden rally is a “reenactment” of a 1939 Nazi rally

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KEY STORY

MBA Rush

Graduate business school applications are skyrocketing in the US

• Graduate MBA program applications rose 12% in 2024 after falling in 2023 and 2022. In-person business school applications are up 32% since last year

• Analysts attribute the trend to layoffs at mega-corporations like BlackRock, Amazon, and Google, and a shortage of professional opportunities: Older businesspeople are sticking around longer and workplace AI is becoming more prevalent

• Candidates are looking for ways to shore up resumes and get ahead in the hiring and promotion races

Dig Deeper

• While unemployment is at a relatively low 4.1%, much of the opportunity growth in recent years has been focused in the retail, dining, healthcare, and government sectors

KEY STORY

Americans Sour on China

Americans’ views of China have fallen to a record low, according to a new report

• Since 1978, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs has conducted polling to gauge the sentiment of Americans toward China. It asks participants to rate their feelings toward China on a scale of 0 to 100

• In 2024, Americans responded with an average of 26, down from 32 in 2022 and 45 in 2018

• A majority of survey participants (55%) now say that the US should work to actively "limit the growth of China’s power”

Dig Deeper

• The decline in favorability of China was not unique to a specific party: Democrats, Independents, and Republicans all averaged less than 30, although at 20, Republicans had the lowest opinion of China

• Among Americans’ top goals for US-China relations, 69% say that avoiding a military conflict is "very important." 56% say US-China trade does more to weaken US national security compared versus 39% who say it does more more to strengthen

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🇺🇸 The Justice Department (DoJ) warned Elon Musk's America PAC that its $1M daily lottery for registered voters who sign a petition could violate federal law

💰 Bill Gates has privately said he donated $50M to Kamala Harris’ campaign, the New York Times reported. Gates hasn’t officially endorsed a candidate, but has said "this election is different" and that he supports a candidate with a "clear" commitment to improving healthcare, reducing poverty, and fighting climate change

🗣️ Turkey launched airstrikes against Kurdish targets in Iraq and Syria. The strikes followed a terror attack on a Turkish defense company

🏎️ Tesla shares surged 19% after the EV maker beat profit expectations and Elon Musk predicted strong future growth

🪙 The International Monetary Fund warned that the gap between Europe's and the US’s economy will continue to widen. It projected just 1.45% annual growth for Europe through 2029, versus 2.29% for the US

COMMUNITY

🧐 Yesterday’s question: Have you picked out a Halloween costume? If so, what are you going to be?

Community
20 Questions!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Weeknd.

"All work and no 20 Questions makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no 20 Questions makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no 20 Questions makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no 20 Questions...." - The Shining, 1980

Spooky season is in full swing, leaving us with absolutely no choice but to do a Halloween-themed edition of 20 Questions. We will try not to bore you with too many 4th-grade-level "this or that" questions, but then again is it really only for a 4th grader to decide whether Skittles are better than Reese's? If anything, these are questions for grown-ups who've had years of experience in the candy-eating business.

Here is the link.

Roca Fall Community Showcase

A selection of fall photos submitted by the Roca community.

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🍞 Tragic Turn at Walmart Bakery: A 19-year-old Walmart employee was found dead in a walk-in bakery oven in Halifax, Canada

📼 On VHS, No One Can Hear You Scream: “Alien: Romulus” will get a limited-edition VHS release on December 3rd. The release – which celebrates the franchise's 45th anniversary – will allow the movie to be presented in classic 4:3 aspect ratio

📲 “I Knew I Had a Problem When…”: An 18-year-old Idaho man who had his phone seized by police during a child porn investigation proceeded to buy another phone to look at child porn, authorities say

🦞 Work Potluck Goes Wrong: 46 employees at a Maryland seafood distributor fell ill from food poisoning after an employee apparently brought a rancid homemade meal to a party

🇬🇧 DIY Detention: A 52-year-old UK man drove to police with two tied-up males on a quad bike. Despite them being on his property, the driver was the one who was arrested

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Breathe in, breathe out. Time for a relaxing weekend ahead of next week’s sprint to the election. It’s always good to remember that politics is not the most important thing in life. No friendship or family relationship should end over politics, even though the media ratchets up the mood constantly and treats the smallest political squabbles as life-or-death issues. Have a wonderful weekend!

–Max and Max