Happy World Tofu Day, everyone. A fun fact about tofu — although “fun fact about tofu” may be an oxymoron — is that the first recorded mention of tofu in the US was in a Benjamin Franklin letter. He thought it was the Chinese version of cheese. Hope you all have a nice day — would end the intro with a tofu joke but… they’re all tasteless.

In today's edition:

• IRS will no longer be one who knocks

• Florida’s ocean surface record

• Are Neopets the next comeback story?

 🔑 Key Stories

No More Knocking

The IRS announced it will no longer make unannounced visits to delinquent taxpayers’ homes

• Since the 1950s, unarmed IRS agents have made unannounced visits to the homes of taxpayers accused of failing to pay taxes. The IRS says people it visits that way owe a median of $110,000 in taxes

• Over the past year, some Republicans have alleged that billions in extra funding going to the IRS will militarize it and lead to more armed IRS agents

• The IRS claims those allegations make its job more dangerous. On Monday, it said it will almost completely end door knocking and mail letters instead

Dig Deeper

• “Knocking on someone’s door today is a different scenario than it was 10 or 15 years ago, and there have been reports from IRS employees where they have felt unsafe,” the IRS’ commissioner said. He added random visits will still occur in “extremely limited situations,” usually with a court order

Bronny James Suffers Cardiac Arrest

LeBron James’ oldest son, 18-year old Bronny James, suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday

• On Monday morning, Bronny collapsed and lost consciousness while playing basketball at a University of Southern California (USC) gym. He was rushed to a hospital and placed in an ICU

• Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops pumping blood. It’s different than a heart attack, which is when blood flow to the heart is blocked

• Bronny is an incoming college freshman at USC and one of the world’s top basketball prospects. James’ family said Bronny is now stable

Dig Deeper

• In a statement, James' family said, “Yesterday while practicing Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest. Medical staff was able to treat Bronny and take him to the hospital. He is now in stable condition and no longer in ICU. We ask for respect and privacy for the James family and we will update media when there is more information”

Altman Wants to Scan Your Eyes

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the launch of a startup that wants to scan every human’s irises

• Altman, 38, is a tech entrepreneur and the CEO of OpenAI. On Monday he launched Worldcoin, a startup that seeks to scan every person’s irises and generate a unique ID for them

• Altman said that “World ID” is a “proof of personhood” that will allow people to differentiate real humans from increasingly advanced AI models

• Worldcoin pays users 25 Worldcoin tokens – a crypto currently worth $2.20 – to scan their eyes

Dig Deeper

• The US hasn’t yet approved Worldcoin, so it can’t operate there. Altman has said that doesn’t matter: “The US does not make or break a project like this,” he recently told the Financial Times

Qin Gang Out

China replaced its foreign minister weeks after he disappeared from public view without explanation

• China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, rose quickly through Communist Party ranks to become China’s foreign minister last year. He was considered a close ally and adviser to Chinese President Xi Jinping

• In June, though, he went missing. A Chinese spokesperson cited “health reasons,” although that response was cut from the official media transcript

• On Tuesday, Chinese state media announced Wang Yi, a former foreign minister, would again take the job. There is no official word on Qin’s whereabouts

Dig Deeper

• Wang had appeared in place of Qin at several foreign ministry events since Qin’s disappearance. He’s also widely believed to be one of Xi’s most powerful and trusted advisers

DeSantis Campaign Struggles

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ campaign staff told donors they had misspent money and would become “leaner” and more “insurgent”

• 13 Republicans are currently running for president. Trump leads all of them by a considerable margin, while a majority of polls show DeSantis in second place

• DeSantis enjoyed several early advantages but has struggled in the polls recently. A recent campaign finance report showed that his campaign spent $8M over its first six weeks, a high spending rate, and disclosures showed his campaign employed ~90 people, the most of any candidate

• Last weekend, DeSantis’s campaign staff met with top donors at a retreat in Utah. During that, his campaign manager said the campaign had spent too much money on ineffective operations and would become more “insurgent”

Dig Deeper

• The map below shows the number of times a state has voted for the same political party consecutively in the presidential election, counting back from the 2020 election. The number on each state shows the streak count, while the color value (blue, Democratic; red, Republican) darkens to represent longer streaks

🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• Car-lied Russell: Alabama woman Carlee Russell admitted to fabricating her kidnapping story. After disappearing for 2 days, she said she was kidnapped. It’s not clear why she made it up

• TextTok: TikTok introduced text-only posts that allow users to create “text-based content” – limited to 1,000 words – in an apparent challenge to Twitter and Threads

• RIP, Tafari Campbell: Barack Obama’s personal chef, Tafari Campbell, drowned while paddleboarding near the family’s home on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts

Wildcard

• Commander in chomp: President Biden’s dog, Commander, bit Secret Service officers 10+ times from October to January, according to Department of Homeland Security records

• Windshield rescue: In 100°F temperatures, a Texas father smashed his car’s windshield to rescue his baby who was trapped inside. The man had accidentally locked his keys in the car

• Florida man buoy breaks record: A buoy near Manatee Bay, Florida, recorded a 101.1°F water temperature, challenging the world record for warmest ocean surface temperature

👇 What do you think?

Today's Question:

Are chain restaurants net positive or negative for local communities?

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

In 1997, a British university student named Adam Powell conceived of a world.

Powell had grown up working at a grocery store and coding his own rudimentary video games during his free time. In school he befriended Donna Williams, whom he later started dating. The couple loved pets: They had birds, guinea pigs, and a cat.

While at university, Powell had the idea for a virtual pet website. He dropped out of school to start an online-ad business, but didn’t make much money or enjoy the work. He thought his virtual pet world could draw people in and use banner ads to make money.

In 1999, he and Williams – whom he later married and became Donna Powell – began building Neopets. He did the coding; Powell the design. They launched Neopets that September.

Set in the world of Neopia, Neopets allowed users to own virtual pets ("Neopets") and buy virtual items for them. The pets wouldn’t die if neglected, but to fully play the game they needed to be tended to. The game had its own calendar, holidays, and economy.

Around the site’s launch, its creators met an American businessman, Doug Dohring.

Neopets quickly grew popular, and in January 2000, Dohring organized the purchase of a majority of the company for a “significant sum.” Dohring brought more than money to the company: He had worked for or run several successful market research companies, and he was a committed Scientologist.

Scientology recommends a business structure known as the “Org Board,” which the Church claims is a business “technology” that dates back 80T years and was improved by L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer who founded the Church. The Org Board recommends seven corporate divisions based on the Church’s seven-stage “Cycle of Action,” which is a fundamental tenet of Scientology.

“As a business executive I have enjoyed many successes thanks to my knowledge and use of L. Ron Hubbard’s administrative technology,” Dohring has said. “Mr. Hubbard’s organizational concepts are always with me to the point where virtually every aspect of running my companies involves the use of his administrative technology.”

In 2014, Neopets co-founder Donna Powell wrote in a Reddit AMA that “Basically the first group of investors…were scientologists.”

When asked if it was true the company was organized on Scientology principles, she wrote, “Yes. Although we were not aware of it at first as we were totally naive.”

“When we realised it was a bit of a shock. Somewhat awkward moment when you realise you started the biggest entertainment site visited by millions of children and teens, but the upper management you just signed the company over to are part of some weird religion that is banned in some countries..”

“The company was structured like a scientology org. It didnt really change anything that I noticed apart from some odd test that interviewees had to take consisting of questions like which straight line seemed friendlier and stuff like that. We also had a lot of obscure celebrities coming round the office for tours”

“At one time there was some talk about putting scientology education on the site, but we killed that idea pretty sharpish.”

Scientology aside, Neopets boomed under Dohring’s ownership. Under him, Neopets helped pioneer “immersive advertising,” which seamlessly placed advertising within the Neopets world. The company targeted its most loyal users to grow dramatically.

By 2005, Neopets had 25M registered members, was translated into 10 languages, and had users spending an average of 6 hours and 15 minutes on the site monthly – the second-highest of any website at the time. That year, Viacom – which owns Nickelodeon – acquired Neopets for $160M.

"We want to be wherever kids are," says Nickelodeon’s president, "and there are plenty of kids at Neopets.”

Over the following decade, though, Neopets collapsed.

Numerous reasons have been put forward for why, including a failure to improve and invest in the product; adapt to mobile; and provide customer service. Much of the website relied on Adobe Flash, which was discontinued in 2020.

As usage plummeted, Neopets was sold and sold again, ending up with a Chinese company in 2017. It faced a hack, a failed NFT sale, and a break in the company’s chat filter, allowing the platform to flood with inappropriate messages.

Earlier this year, though, it was announced that Neopets had been bought and put into a new company, World of Neopia Inc. It has announced $4M in funding. Neopets has since promised a “new era” – starting this week.

Yesterday, Neopets returned with 50 original Neopets games. Can Neopia make its comeback complete?

If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!

 🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Have you received a spam call in the past week?
Yes: 82%
No: 18%

Yesterday's Question:

Should legacy status play a role in college admissions?

Leah from Saint Paul, Minnesota: “Absolutely they should! Family legacies are something to be proud of. They shouldn't be the only role in admissions, but keeping that family legacy is great."

Judy from Indianapolis, Indiana: "Do away with legacy entrance in universities. Some of the dumbest, most unmotivated people are offspring of the rich. Make them earn entry with knowledge like everyone else!”

Scott from Lowell, Massachusetts: "In a myopic world, a person's legacy status should play zero role in the admission. However, with many legacies, there is funding from the family to the school, that will probably go away. So realistically, it will probably never change”

Kelly from New Mexico: “I think legacy status should only apply if a PARENT attended a school/university. But I believe that person should still have to qualify.”

Yesterday's Wrap Replies:

Kevin: “He was a brilliant individual. One would like to think he knew what the capabilities of his invention were. I guess one could say he was both. He built a death machine, however, we still use some fundamentals of nuclear physics for good.”

Tammy from Asheboro, North Carolina: “He was a human. That means part good part bad. He was neither devil or saint. Most of us are like that. The difference for him was that he was able to greatly influence the world for years to come.”

Éanna from Cork, Ireland: “Oppenheimer strikes me as neither a hero or a villain, just a normal man, genius aside, with his own complicated feelings, flaws & politics, like the everyone else in the human race.”

🧠 Final Thoughts

We've been loving the feedback to recent newsletters. Thoughtful and interesting replies that are changing the ways we think about things. Thanks for it – and keep it coming!

Happy Tuesday!

—Max and Max