4.5.2024

Facts, without motives.
 

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Good morning. It's Friday, April 5, and we're covering winter's last stand in the Northeast, an anniversary for a master of horror, and much more. First time reading? Sign up here.

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Need To Know
 

April Nor'easter Arrives

Almost 700,000 customers were without power across the Northeast yesterday as a powerful storm system brought high winds and more than 2 feet of snow to some locations in the region. Three people were killed in separate incidents after trees fell on their vehicles.

 

Meteorologists said the storm was the biggest April nor'easter to hit the area since 2020. The weather phenomenon occurs when Arctic air carried southward from Canada by the jet stream meets warmer, moist air off the Atlantic coast. See a video from the Massachusetts coast here, along with photos from the upper Northeast

 

In other weather-related news, forecasters said yesterday the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season has the potential to be the most active on record. The early analysis predicts 23 named storms (compared to 14 to 15 on average), with five systems reaching Category 3 status or higher (the yearly average is around three). Hurricane season begins June 1 and peaks in September. 

 

Women's Final Four

The women’s NCAA Final Four tips off tonight, with No. 1 South Carolina set to take on No. 3 NC State (7 pm ET, ESPN), followed by No. 1 Iowa facing No. 3 Connecticut (9:30 pm ET, ESPN).

 

The Gamecocks enter their fourth consecutive Final Four undefeated, with the potential to become the 10th perfect national champion. The Wolfpack, led by Aziaha James, will play in its first Final Four since 1998. AP Player of the Year Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes will meet Paige Bueckers and the Huskies (see player comparison). Both teams boast offenses that ranked in the top 25 during the regular season.

 

The women’s tournament has captivated sports fans this year, marked by record-breaking viewership—the matchup between Iowa and LSU drew the highest number in women's college basketball history. Average ticket prices for the women’s Final Four exceed $2K, while the men's is around $1K—partly attributed to supply, with the women’s arena seating just under 20,000 and the men's seating around 70,000.

 

On the men’s side, No. 1 Purdue takes on No. 11 NC State Saturday (6 pm ET, TBS), followed by No. 1 Connecticut versus No. 4 Alabama (8:50 pm ET, TBS).

 

The King of Horror, 50 Years On

Today marks 50 years since Stephen King’s debut novel, “Carrie.” Its 1974 release launched King’s decadeslong influential literary career in horror and beyond.

 

King was born in 1947 in Maine, where many of his stories are based (see towns). He was an English teacher before “Carrie” and its 1976 film adaptation about a high school outcast propelled him to fame. While the horror genre dates back to the 1700s, King is in large part credited with its revitalization in the 1970s and 1980s, with his novels praised for their empathetic characters and realistic world building. He has written more than 60 novels, more than 30 of which were bestsellers. Those include classic horrors like “The Shining” and “It,” as well as others beyond the genre, including the novella behind “The Shawshank Redemption.” 

 

King has also been credited with inspiring generations of storytellers, including JJ Abrams and the Duffer brothers. His latest novel, “Holly,” was released last year.

In partnership with Incogni

Keep Your SSN Off The Dark Web

 

Every day, data brokers profit from your sensitive info—phone number, DOB, SSN—selling it to the highest bidder. And who’s buying it? Best case: companies target you with ads. Worst case: scammers and identity thieves.

 

It's time you check out Incogni. It scrubs your personal data from the web, confronting the world’s data brokers on your behalf. And unlike other services, Incogni helps remove your sensitive information from all broker types, including those tricky People Search Sites.

 

Help protect yourself from identity theft, spam calls, and health insurers raising your rates. Plus, just for 1440 readers: Get 55% off Incogni using code 1440DAILY.

Please support our sponsors!

In The Know
 

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

In partnership with NativePath

> Kiss to sell entire music catalog and intellectual property rights to Swedish company Pophouse for over $300M (More) | Jay-Z's Made in America festival canceled for second straight year (More)

> Christopher Durang, Tony Award-winning playwright and Pulitzer Prize finalist, dies at 75 (More)

> Oakland A's will temporarily relocate to Sacramento, California, after this season before final relocation to Las Vegas in 2028 (More)

From our partners: The secret to healthful aging? Drinking the right type of water. Research shows that drinking fluid with the proper balance of electrolytes and amino acids can help combat dehydration, weakness, inflammation, poor circulation, and even UTIs and muscle weakness. Try this drink mix from NativePath risk-free and see how much better you feel in as little as 2 hours.

 

Science & Technology

> NASA selects three companies to submit designs for moon buggies to be used by astronauts stationed at a lunar base planned as part of the Artemis mission (More) | Most precise measurement of universal expansion to date confirms current theory to within 1% (More)

> Amphibians emit high-pitched screams outside the frequency of human hearing to ward off predators, new study suggests (More)

> Genetic analysis of the sunflower family tree reveals flower symmetry evolved independently in different species of the plants (More) | What is convergent evolution? (More)

 

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -1.2%, Dow -1.4%, Nasdaq -1.4%) as Federal Reserve official casts doubt on any interest rate cuts this year; oil prices continue climbing to highest levels since October (More) | US jobs report today expected to show 3.8% unemployment rate in March, down from 3.9% in February (More)

> Alphabet reportedly considering buying marketing software platform HubSpot, with a $35B market value, in what would be its largest purchase ever (More) | Google reportedly considering launching a paid subscription service for Google searches using AI (More)

> Disney Plus to crack down on password sharing in June, following example from Netflix, with plans to extend to all 150 million subscribers by September (More

 

Politics & World Affairs

> President Joe Biden pushes for Gaza cease-fire during call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says US support is contingent on protecting civilians and aid workers (More) | Israel to open new border entrance in northern Gaza to expedite aid delivery (More) | World Central Kitchen calls for independent probe following Israeli strike that killed six aid workers and a translator (More)

> Judge orders US Border Patrol to provide indoor accommodations for thousands of migrant children who've not yet been formally processed; would classify them as "in Border Patrol custody" regardless of processing status (More)

> Nonpartisan group No Labels announces it will not run a third-party candidate in this year's presidential election following rejection from high-profile candidates (More) | See latest poll numbers (More)

 

In-Depth

> Snarked to Death

Columbia Journalism Review | Feven Merid. Reddit communities obsessively following online influencers have been criticized for being unnecessarily cruel and lauded for uncovering scams. (Read)

 

> The Radium Girls

Criminal | Phoebe Judge. (Podcast) In the 1920s, women working at a watch-dial painting factory fell seriously ill with a mysterious ailment. It would take a better understanding of radioactivity to reveal the cause. (Listen)

> Battling Chronic Wasting Disease

Knowable | James Gaines. A fatal brain disease that turns deer and elk into virtual zombies is spreading across North American herds. Is culling the only option? (Read)

 

Editor's note: Want to learn more about prion disease? Start here (via YouTube).

 

> Rat Kings

Popular Science | Lauren Leffer. Rats arrived in America centuries ago aboard European ships searching for the New World. One hyperinvasive species, the brown rat, quickly established dominance. (Read)

In partnership with Incogni

Identity Theft Affects 1 in 3 Americans

 

… and how do these crooks get ahold of your personal info? Data brokers. They buy (and sell) your address, phone number, and SSN on the internet, profiting off your misfortune.

 

Incogni helps you fight back. It hunts down your sensitive data and scrubs it from the internet, confronting data brokers on your behalf. Help protect yourself from identity theft, robo calls, or scammers attacking your credit. Don’t wait, 1440 readers can get 55% off Incogni today with code 1440DAILY.

Please support our sponsors!

Etcetera
 

Educators sound off on teaching K-12 in America.

 

Photos capture the Statue of Liberty getting struck by lightning.

 

How cryptographers (maybe) cracked the "Zodiac Killer" cipher.

 

A 400-year-old book about chocolate is going to auction.

 

The pilots flying during the solar eclipse.

 

Bartenders search for the perfect Old Fashioned.

 

Calculate how unrealistic your dating expectations are.

 

Package thief wears garbage bag as disguise. (w/video)

 

Clickbait: The invention that blocked a neighbor's music.

 

Historybook: Booker T. Washington born (1856); Actress Bette Davis born (1908); Actor Gregory Peck born (1916); Former Secretary of State Colin Powell born (1937); Kurt Cobain dies (1994).

"Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible."

- Colin Powell

Why 1440? The printing press was invented around the year 1440, spreading knowledge to the masses and changing the course of history. More facts: In every day, there are 1,440 minutes. We’re here to make each one count.

 

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