💉 White House Sets Deadline for Federal Vaccine Mandate

Image: Leigh Prather/Adobe Stock

Companies in noncompliance face fines of up to ~$13,500 for each violation.

🤿 A deeper dive… The first rule, issued by OSHA, applies to an estimated 84 million workers at large companies, who have the option to remain unvaccinated if they undergo weekly testing and wear a mask while on the job.

• A second rule, issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, applies to roughly 17 million health care workers – both clinical and non-clinical – who do not have an option for weekly testing in lieu of vaccination.
• Both mandates have drawn opposition from states led by Republican governors. Missouri and nine other GOP-led states sued the Biden administration last week to stop the federal contractor mandate covered above, while Arizona sued in September to stop the private-sector mandate.

🌎 Zoom out: Over 80% of U.S. adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to CDC data, though just under 70% are considered “fully vaccinated” (defined as receiving two shots of an mRNA vaccine or one shot of a single-dose vaccine).

From the Right: WSJ

From the Left: NPR

🎁 Baleen whales – such as blue, fin, and humpback whales – eat an average of three times more food each year than scientists have previously estimated, according to a study published Wednesday in Nature.

🎁 The U.S. had the second-steepest decline in life expectancy among high-income countries last year, according to a new study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal).

Chinese military vehicles carrying DF-41 ballistic missiles; Image: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

That’s an increase from the same report a year ago, wherein the Pentagon said Beijing’s stockpile was “in the low-200s” and likely to “at least double in size” by the end of the decade.

• For context, Russia has 6,255 nuclear warheads while the U.S. has 5,550, per the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. But unlike those two countries, China has consistently refused to join global talks on nuclear arms control.

📝 A deeper dive… The 192-page report details China's broader military goals and ambitions, including strengthening its ability to "win wars" against a “strong enemy" (which the report calls “a likely euphemism” for the U.S.).

• It also calls attention to a potential invasion of Taiwan, which has seen a record number of Chinese military incursions in its air defense zone in recent months.
• The island’s defense minister last month said Beijing would be able to launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan with minimal losses by 2025.

🇨🇳 Zoom out: The Pentagon’s report doesn’t mention Beijing’s development of new weapons, ​​such as a hypersonic missile tested in August that can theoretically evade existing U.S. weapons defense systems.

• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, America’s most senior military officer, said this week that he views China as “No. 1” military challenger to the U.S.– “We are witnessing one of the largest shifts in global and geostrategic power that the world has witnessed.”

How to Sleep Your Way to the Top

First-things-first, get your mind out of the gutter. Sleep is an essential function of our body that helps it recharge, remain healthy, and stave off diseases.

• Without enough sleep, we can’t function properly – and if that’s the case, good luck being consistently at the top of your game.

💰💪 So, with that in mind: what do the richest man on Earth and the 5x Fittest Man on Earth have in common ?... They both prioritize sleep. And while we know Jeff Bezos sleeps in a coffin (probably), the 5x Fittest Man on Earth uses Dream Powder from Beam to fall – and stay – asleep.

😴 Dream a little dream: So whether you want to be an astronaut, scientist, or just a well-rested human being, mix one scoop of sugar-free Dream Powder with water before bed and start your journey to dreamland – while you’re asleep or awake. 😉

• It’s got relaxing minerals like magnesium and l-theanine, a reishi mushroom superfood that helps to support your body’s sleep cycle as well as manage stress, plus melatonin to help close those eyes.
• Also, Dream Powder has totally THC-free nano CBD, a non-psychoactive-but-relaxing micro compound that relieves anxiety and inflammation while delivering sleepy little messages to all your cells.

😬 But there IS a dilemma... Dream Powder usually comes in an alarmingly delicious Cinnamon Cocoa flavor, but Beam just rolled out a White Chocolate Peppermint flavor for a limited time only… and while we’re big fans of Cinnamon Cocoa, we also LOVE holidays and more chocolate.

Use discount code DONUT for up to 35% off the first month of a subscription, plus you’ll receive a free mug and frother !

Give (or get) the gift of sleep this holiday season.

🪐 Aliens: They’re Real, Right ?

Image: Tenor

🤔 Why it’s important: As you probably guessed, it’s only released once a decade – and in it, astronomers lay out a vision for the next gen of tools to study the most distant reaches of space.

• Past decadal surveys have led to the formation of the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, the former of which is responsible for these unreal images, and the latter of which is set to launch into deep space before the end of the year.

🔭 Details, details… Similar to past surveys, this most recent one calls for building a “flagship” space telescope, but with the ability to find and confirm Earth-like planets orbiting around Sun-like stars – something that isn’t possible with current technology.

• It also recommends developing two smaller telescopes almost simultaneously while investing in various ground-based telescopes and space missions already in development.

👽 Life in the cosmos ?... If the report is followed, astronomers could have an entire fleet of new space telescopes providing the most comprehensive picture ever of the distant Universe by the end of the 2040s.

📝 Bottom line: “[The decadal team] laid out the awesome science, and they made bold choices, both for ground-based and space-based facilities. I am so happy right now,” Heidi Hammel, vice president for science at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, told The Verge.

Images: Facebook

After a pigeon in Peru became tangled up in a piece of string hanging from an electric wire, the local police force had to get creative in their rescue mission.

• The bird was suspended high out of reach, and it was too dangerous for a human to approach the electric wires.

🚁 Welcome to the drone zone... Using a remote controlled drone with a small knife duct taped to the side, officers were able to safely cut the bird free, resulting in celebratory cheers around the block. The police captured the pigeon soon after to make sure its health was in order, taking the bird to an animal rehab center before setting it free.

When does daylight savings officially occur this Sunday ?

A) Midnight ET
B) 1 a.m. ET
C) 2 a.m. ET
D) 3 a.m. ET

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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C) 2 a.m. ET

After the clock strikes 1:59 a.m. ET early Sunday morning (or late Saturday night for our West Coast friends), it "falls back" to 1:00 a.m. ET as the hour gets repeated.