Navigation app Waze announced that Roger Federer’s voice can now give you directions. Given the tennis legend’s multi-lingual abilities, his voice will be available in English, French, and German. What Waze really needs is a John McEnroe voice option. Can you imagine John’s reaction to a driver cutting you off in traffic?

In today's edition:

• New Zealand Air to weigh passengers?

• A selfie request turns into a proposal

• The Queen of Rock and Roll

 🔑 Key Stories

Air New Zealand to Weigh Passengers

Air New Zealand will weigh international flyers as part of a month-long survey

• Air New Zealand is the country’s national carrier. On Wednesday, it announced that until July 2, international flyers departing from Auckland International Airport will be asked to step on a scale while checking in

• Passengers’ weights won’t be displayed and will be kept private. The data will be averaged across 10k+ passengers and used to boost efficiency and safety

• A spokesperson for the airline said that while it is “daunting” to step on a scale, “you'll be helping us fly safely and efficiently”

Dig Deeper

• New Zealand requires airlines to know the weight of everything that goes onto planes. The airline currently uses cabin bags to estimate passenger weight, but hopes the survey will produce more accurate data

House Votes to Suspend Debt Ceiling

The US House voted to suspend the US’ debt ceiling

• The debt ceiling caps how much the US can borrow. The US had hit it and could therefore no longer borrow, putting it on pace to miss a debt payment – to default – by June 5

• Weeks of bipartisan negotiations produced a deal last weekend that limited some spending and increased some welfare work requirements

• 218 votes were needed to pass it. On Wednesday night, the House voted 314 - 117 to do so. 165 Democrats and 149 Republicans voted for it; 46 Democrats and 71 Republicans opposed it

Dig Deeper

• The bill now heads to the Senate and then the White House, both of which are expected to pass it. If it is passed before Monday, the US will avoid a default

Electricity from Humidity

Electricity can be produced from humidity using nearly any material, a new study said

• Researchers from the University of Mass. at Amherst announced in 2020 that they’d created an “Air-Gen” – an ultra-thin membrane able to turn humidity into electricity

• It works by allowing water molecules to pass through small pores, creating a charge across the membrane that then generates electricity

• The same lead researcher published a new study proving that membrane can be made of nearly any material. He said ~1B of them – which would be the size of a refrigerator – could one day power a house

Dig Deeper

• The study’s lead researcher compared the device to a “small-scale, man-made cloud” and said this finding will enable the device’s construction with cheaper materials, driving down its price. He added that the device releases zero emissions and can be used nearly anywhere

Sacklers Receive Civil Immunity

A court ruled that the Sacklers, the family behind OxyContin, are immune from future civil lawsuits

• The Sacklers are the billionaire majority-owners of Purdue Pharma, a privately-owned pharma company that produced OxyContin, a highly addictive opioid painkiller that was first sold in the 1990s

• Purdue advertised OxyContin as non-addictive. It has since faced thousands of lawsuits, many of which have accused it of causing the opioid crisis

• On Tuesday, a judge ruled that the Sacklers could receive immunity from future civil suits in exchange for paying up to $6B and cutting all ties to Purdue

Dig Deeper

• Connecticut, the first state to sue Purdue, publicly endorsed the deal but said that no money will fix the “depths of pain and suffering [caused by] the Sackler family”

• The Sackler family applauded the panel’s decision

• The Department of Justice, which opposes the deal, hasn’t said if it will challenge the ruling

🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• ‘Tis the season: Republicans Mike Pence and Chris Christie are expected to announce their presidential bids next week. Christie will announce on June 6; Pence on June 7

• Billionaire Census: The number of billionaires declined worldwide this year. The US tops the list with 955, while China and Germany follow with 357 and 173, respectively

• Say hello to my little tot: 83-year-old Al Pacino’s 29-year-old girlfriend is 8-months pregnant with the Oscar-winning actor’s 4th child. Pacino already has a 33-year-old daughter and a pair of 22-year-old twins

Wildcard

• Love serving love: Professional women’s tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza is engaged to a fan who asked her for a selfie during the US Open in 2021

• Kim Jong-Splash: North Korea tried to launch its first satellite into space, but the mission failed and the rocket crashed into the sea. North Korea says it will try again

• The Swan Poachers: Police have accused 3 upstate New York teens of killing and eating a swan owned by the town. According to reports, they thought the swan was a duck

👇 What do you think?

Today's Question:

If you had to choose between universal power or universal respect, which would you pick, and why?

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

Anna Mae Bullock was born on November 26, 1939.

The child of “well-to-do” farmers, she was raised on a farm outside Memphis, Tennessee, and began singing at a nearby Baptist church. Bullock’s parents had a turbulent relationship.

As a child, her mother left the family and moved to St. Louis, where Bullock would later join her.

In high school, Bullock and her sister began attending clubs in nearby East St. Louis. The highlight was a man named Ike Turner and his band, the Kings of Rhythm. “I wanted to get up there and sing sooooo bad,” she later wrote in a memoir.

Eventually, she did.

While the band took a break one night, the drummer handed Bullock the mic and she belted out a BB King Song. She had long been trying to get Ike’s attention. Now, she finally had it.

Ike began employing Bullock as a backup singer. In 1958, though, when the lead singer didn’t show up for a recording session, he asked her to sing. She did, and the resulting song hit #2 on the Billboard R&B chart.

Bullock became Ike’s protege, and, from 1960, his lover. He gave her the name Tina, after a television character, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. They married in 1963, and Bullock became Tina Turner.

The couple renamed their group the Ike and Tina Turner Revue and toured primarily black venues across the US. Their act caught the attention of the Rolling Stones, who asked them to open for them on a 1966 tour.

Yet while the group became increasingly successful, their marriage spiraled.

Tina later said Ike first “instilled fear” in her in 1960, when she struck her head with a wooden object. Tina later revealed that she attempted suicide in 1968, and said that in the 1970s, Ike was abusive, promiscuous, and wildly addicted to cocaine.

Ike later wrote, "Sure, I've slapped Tina. We had fights and there have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I never beat her.”

In 1976, the couple got into a fight on the way to a hotel in Dallas. Turner ended up fleeing with 36 cents and a credit card to a Ramada Inn on the freeway. They divorced a month later.

“I didn’t exist,” she said of the time.

“I didn’t fear him killing me when I left, because I was already dead. When I walked out, I didn’t look back.”

When Ike died of a cocaine overdose in 2007, Tina said it had been over 30 years since they had last spoken.

After the divorce, Tina found herself heavily indebted and on food stamps. She lived with friends and played small and dingy clubs. But in 1979, she persuaded a manager to help her launch a comeback – and it worked.

The manager returned Tina to the rock style that made her famous. She then released a popular album and a series of hit singles. The comeback culminated with the 1984 smash “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” after which she starred in several movies that helped bring her to superstardom.

In 1988, Tina set a Guinness World Record for the largest paid concert attendance for a solo artist (180,000 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). 2 years later, her European tour drew nearly 4 million attendees – shattering the Rolling Stones’ record.

Tina’s success continued for decades. Movies and plays were made about her life and she had the year 2000’s highest-grossing tour. Her best-selling album in the US came in 2004, 41 years after she took the name “Tina.”

In 2013, she remarried to a music executive whom she had been dating since 1986. She suffered a stroke 3 weeks after the wedding, though, and was diagnosed with cancer in 2016.

Other health issues led to a kidney transplant in 2017.

She died last Wednesday at her home in Switzerland, having earned the title “Queen of Rock and Roll.”

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

 🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Do you prefer...

Texting: 71%
Calling: 29%

Yesterday's Question:

What is the most significant object that you own? Feel free to include pics!

Joanna from Biloxi, Mississippi: "The trunk my great grandfather brought with him when he emigrated from Portugal in the late 1800’s. It held all his worldly belongings.”

Anonymous: "Nothing - God owns it all but i do like my lil' a**”

Julie from Ponte Vedra, Florida: “A piece of styrofoam, a piece of tree bark and a rock…all i of them heart shaped. When my son was little he used to bring me things he found in the shape of an heart. Now he just bring me his bills.”

🧠 Final Thoughts

Happy June, everyone. It's hard for us to believe we are already entering the year's sixth month. We're delighted to be doing so with you, our loyal Roca Riders. We hope your summers are off to a great start!

—Max and Max