🌊 So About Those Crime Stats...

The Costco magazine gets a…. BOOM!

We all know print is dead, but just how dead is it? Costco’s monthly magazine — Costco Connection, for the uninitiated — has a greater circulation than People, Vogue, Reader’s Digest, National Geographic, and The Atlantic…. combined. It goes out to 15M people a month, and you’ll find more than just discounts for 12-gallon tubs of sour cream in its pages: It’s recently featured interviews with Oprah, Bruce Springsteen, and Tom Hanks. Alas, they haven’t been able to land the Rizzler yet.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Social Media: Maybe Bad?

New Oxford research identified a strong link between teenage social media use and higher rates of anxiety and depression

• A group of Oxford academics are carrying out one of the largest-ever studies of teenage mental health. The research is tracking the mental health of 50,000 people between ages 11 and 18 over a ten-year period with the goal of creating a “mental health map” of UK youth

• While the research is not completed, the academics told the FT that their initial research identified a “linear relationship between higher rates of anxiety and depression and time spent networking on social media sites”

• Yet the research comes less than a year after a different Oxford study found that there is no “smoking gun” linking internet use to poor mental health

Dig Deeper

• The researchers of the new study also found a strong correlation between “agency” – the feeling of control over one’s actions and consequences – and mental health, noting that “both anxiety and depression are high when agency is low…Wellbeing and flourishing are also strongly correlated to high agency”

KEY STORY

New Nazca Lines

Archaeologists using AI discovered 303 new geoglyphs near the Nazca Lines in Peru, nearly doubling the number of known figures at the 2,000-year-old site

• The Nazca Lines are a group of very large “geoglyphs” (designs etched into the ground) found in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. They consist of hundreds of figures, including animals, plants, and geometric shapes, some stretching several kilometers in length

• Until recently, a century of research had uncovered 430 geoglyphs. Now, researchers using AI and drones discovered an additional 303 geoglyphs in just six months. The new figures are smaller than the previously detected ones and are up to 900 years older

Dig Deeper

• The researchers said the findings will further understanding of the society that predated the Nazca one and the transition between them

• Peru's chief archaeologist for the Nazca Lines told The Guardian, “With a drone, you can cover several kilometers in a day...What used to take three or four years, can now be done in two or three days”

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KEY STORY

FBI Revises Crime Stats

The FBI revised its 2022 data to show a 4.5% increase in violent crime that year, instead of a 2.1% decrease, as previously reported

• Conservatives criticized the FBI for an alleged lack of transparency after the agency did not announce the revisions in its most recent press release

• The changes – first reported by RealClearPolitics – were logged in files on the FBI’s website. “We definitely would’ve [reported this] in a press release,” the former head of the DOJ’s Statistics Bureau said

• The FBI said it “stands behind” its numbers and will release monthly statistics moving forward

Dig Deeper

• Violent crime figures have become a focal point of US politics leading up to the election and were discussed at both the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates

KEY STORY

Crunch Time for the Senate

34 Senate seats will be decided in the November elections. Polling averages and betting markets predict the Republicans will win a narrow majority of the Senate

• Right now, the Democrats hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, plus the tiebreaker vote with Vice President Kamala Harris

• Democrats are defending 23 of the 34 up-for-grabs seats, including three in states that Trump won in 2016 and 2020

• The Ohio and Texas Senate races are garnering the most money and attention, as Sherrod Brown (D., OH) and Ted Cruz (R., TX) look to fend off challengers

Dig Deeper

• RealClearPolitics' forecast currently shows the Republicans winning 51 seats and the Democrats winning 44 seats with 5 seats considered “toss ups,” while Kalshi's prediction market shows Republicans with an 81% chance to take control of the Senate

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🧑‍🏭 The union representing striking Boeing workers reached a tentative deal with Boeing

🦟 After a nearly 100-year campaign, Egypt was declared malaria-free

📃 Documents allegedly detailing Israel’s plans for a strike on Iran were leaked. The files contained information gathered by US spy agencies, including the types of drones and missiles Israel is preparing for a potential strike

💲 Elon Musk pledged to give away $1,000,000 daily to a randomly-selected Pennsylvania voter who signs his conservative-leaning petition

🇮🇱 A Hezbollah drone penetrated Israeli air defenses and exploded near Prime Minister Netanyahu’s family residence in what appears to have been an assassination attempt

COMMUNITY

🧠 Today’s question: Political polarization plagues the country. How do we fix it? Even if you have just one little idea, we’d love to hear from you.

Reply to this email to let us know what you think!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

💲 British Bitcoin Debacle: A UK man is suing his city council for £495M ($645M) over a lost hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin

0️⃣ Sugar, We’re Going Down Back: Coca-Cola recalled 13,152 cases of Minute Maid Zero Sugar Lemonade because they contained sugar

🏫 Taking You to CourtGPT! A Massachusetts high school student's parents are suing his school after it accused their son of cheating by using AI

⚖️ Hmm Wonder Why! A woman who sued her former employer for not giving her a leaving card lost her case when it emerged that the card had been bought but wasn’t given to her after only three people signed it

👮‍♂️ Spit and Run No More: Police in an Indian state issued guidelines to prevent restaurant staff from spitting in food as part of a crackdown on “spit jihad”

ROCA WRAP

Monday Morning Madness

Happy Monday, Roca nation. We’ve got a set of quirky stories for you to start off your weeks.

Love On The Tracks

A couple's secret quickie in a Melbourne train station dislodged a sprinkler, causing a flood that damaged the station and stranded a significant number of passengers.

The chaos – which occurred just after an Olivia Rodrigo concert – was thought to be an act of vandalism until CCTV footage revealed that it was caused by a hook-up in a remote stairwell at the station. The flood disrupted service at various public transit stations. Police say they are searching for the “amorous” couple responsible.

Lucky Lad's Lava Leap

A 31-year-old Irishman miraculously survived a 650-ft fall down an active volcano in Indonesia.

The man was hiking alone on Mount Rinjani, Indonesia’s second-highest volcano, when he slipped and fell. Despite falling 60+ stories, he suffered only minor injuries to his shoulder and some cuts on his face, legs, and arms. Rescuers, who were in the area to help someone who had fallen to their death, used a pulley system to yank him to safety. The man said the rescuers saved his life and promised to “stay safe after this and not go too far from my hotel.”

And an Island Away…

On a different Indonesian island, a hippo in a Zoo unexpectedly sprayed visitors with what has been described as “watery excrement.”

A video that captured the incident and went viral on TikTok shows the hippo spinning its tail like a propeller while relieving itself and releasing a loud fart, prompting nearby visitors to scream and flee the messy explosion. Some commenters likened the hippo’s digestive issues to their own, while others said Moo Deng – the viral baby pygmy hippo from Thailand – would never do something so foul.

Bone-afide HOV Lane Violator

A California driver was caught using a plastic skeleton as a fake passenger to access a carpool lane.

The skeleton was wearing a mask reminiscent of the Scream movies and was buckled up. Highway Patrol officers spotted the HOV lane violation, which in California incurs a $490 ticket. California authorities said that while the HOV lane counts a passenger as “any person who occupies a safety restraint device, ie, seatbelt,” passengers must be living beings.

Toilet Paper Trouble

An Oklahoma City woman is in a public battle with her apartment complex after it threatened to fine her for flushing toilet paper down the toilet.

The woman said she had received warning notices about sewer backups and was threatened with a $50 initial fine and $100 for subsequent backups. Her building’s management has said tenants should not flush toilet paper, wipes, or paper towels down the toilet. The woman – a single mother of two – has resorted to using a trash can for toilet paper disposal. She says the incident is causing her serious distress: “I can’t even sleep at night because I’m worried about you charging me,” she wrote.

ROCA VIDEO
Minority Voters Shifting Toward Trump

While roadtripping around swing states the last few months, perhaps nothing has shocked me more than minority voters’ support of Donald Trump. Whether it’s black people in Atlanta and Detroit, Mexican workers in rural Pennsylvania, or Muslims in Michigan, the Don is clearly not as toxic as he once was to these groups.

In this video, we analyze polling and share interviews with minority voters that capture this trend.

Make sure to subscribe to the channel!

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

Thanks for sending in so many amazing fall photos. As we said on Friday, instead of 20 Questions this week, we’re doing a fall photo showcase. When we did it two years ago, we were amazed at the quality of the photos you sent in. And sometimes the simpler, the better. We will start featuring the best ones on Tuesday. Make sure to send yours in right here. Have a great Monday!

–Max and Max