Laverne Cox Is About To Make Television History, Plus More Stories

1. World News: Dozens of people were reportedly struck dead by lightning during powerful storms in Bangladesh.

No government agency is charged with tracking lighting-related fatalities, but the Associated Press, citing leading Bangladeshi newspapers, reported the number of casualties on Saturday to be at least 64. (NBC News)

2. In-The-Know: Danish researchers publicly released data from nearly 70,000 OkCupid users — without their consent.

The OkCupid dataset included usernames, ages, genders, locations, what kind of relationship (or sex) users are interested in, personality traits, and answers to the site's thousands of profiling questions. The researchers did not make any users anonymous or ask for their consent. (Read More)

3. Major News: Laverne Cox is the first transgender person to star as a reoccurring trans character on broadcast television.

Cosmopolitan reports that Cox earned a role on the upcoming CBS drama Doubt, whichmakes her the first transgender person to star as a reoccurring transgender character on broadcast television. There is no word yet on who Cox will play on the new series. (Read More)

4. Fun Fact: People spend more time watching Netflix than reading, socializing, and exercising — combined.

A new study proves what all devoted binge-watchers know: It is easy to get reeled into a show on Netflix and, in the process, neglect everything in your life. Cord Cutting, a website about all things technology, quantified how much time Americans really spend with Netflix. (Read More)

5. Tech Talk: Mark Zuckerberg launched an investigation to see if Facebook trending topics are biased.

The accusations stem from a report published by Gizmodo on Monday, alleging that Facebook artificially doctored its trending topics list to prevent stories of interest to conservative users from appearing. (Read More)

6. Noms: McDonald's is testing fresh beef for its burgers in select restaurants.

This may surprise devoted Big Mac and McDouble lovers, but for many years, Mickey D's has used frozen beef patties. The patties are seasoned, as all its burgers are, and then "flash frozen" to lock in the flavor. (Read More)

7. Squad Goals: Apple Martin, daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow, celebrated her 12th birthday with Blue Ivy.

Paltrow documented the big bash, which included a guest appearance by 4-year-old Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé and Jay Z's pride and joy. How cute are they? It's unclear who the other two girls comprising the "brunch squad" are. (Read More)

8. A-List: All of your favorite celebs went to see Beyoncé in concert this weekend.

Apparently, celebrities are just as in formation with Beyoncé as us ordinary fans are. Her Formation World Tour has been littered with celebrities coming out to see the show in cities like Miami, San Diego, and Houston. (Read More)