Good morning. Remember when the pandemic and lockdowns first started, and we all learned how to bake bread, woodwork, embroider, etc.? Well, it seems another hobby was also brewing: pointing lasers.

In 2020, the FAA reported 6,852 incidents of people pointing lasers at planes, close to an all-time record and a year-over-year increase despite fewer overall flights. And last year saw another 40% jump in incidents on top of that.

To all the perpetrators: Surely, the great cat in the sky has been appeased by now… so knock it off.

In today’s edition:

• ⭐️ The sausage that could’ve been a star
• 📝 A budget reconciliation bill just passed the Senate
• If Friday’s jobs report was an emoji:🔥

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.72 minutes to read.

“A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of their opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of their difficulties.”

–Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)

Following months of negotiation and a 15-hour marathon session hopefully involving a pizza break or two, the Senate voted 51-50 on Sunday along party lines in favor of a climate, healthcare, and tax-related budget reconciliation bill dubbed the “Inflation Reduction Act.” VP Kamala Harris cast the deciding vote.

📝 What’s in the bill?... According to Senate Democrats, the measure would raise $739 billion in revenue over the next decade against $433 billion in total spend. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found it would reduce the deficit by ~$102 billion, not including an additional $204 billion in tax revenue – though it also found the 755-page bill would have a "negligible" effect on inflation this year and into 2023.

• Taxes: The bill would establish a 15% corporate minimum tax aimed at large companies, a 1% tax on all stock buybacks, and enhanced IRS tax-enforcement efforts that could roughly double its size in ten years. (Note: Removing the carried-interest tax provision didn’t make the final cut.)
• Climate and energy: The bulk of the funds – $369 billion – would be spent on climate and energy programs that Democrats say would lower greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030, when compared to 2005 levels.
• Healthcare: The other $64 billion would go towards extending three years of Affordable Care Act subsidies that first kicked-in under the 2021 American Rescue Plan. A provision is also included to allow Medicare to negotiate prices, currently set by manufacturers, on a set of yet-to-be-determined prescription drugs.

👀 Looking ahead… The House is expected to briefly return from its August recess this Friday to provide final approval before the bill heads to President Biden’s desk.

+In the know: The bill was passed via a process called budget reconciliation, which only requires a simple majority vote to pass, avoiding the 60-vote threshold required by the filibuster – but there are a couple of caveats. It can only be used once per year, and provisions in the bill must be related to the budget in some capacity. The Senate Parliamentarian gave the green light to the “Inflation Rescue Act” over the weekend.

📊 Flash poll: Do you support the Senate-approved budget reconciliation measure?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

🇪🇸🚫💨 Spain is limiting AC to save energy. Effective through November 23, all public and large commercial buildings are banned from cooling their interiors below ~81°F or heating them above ~66°F, keeping doors open, and leaving lights on in shop windows after 10 pm, as the country seeks to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas. The new measures were rejected by Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who said they wouldn’t be applied in her region.

🇮🇱🇵🇸 A tentative ceasefire has been declared in Gaza. Israel and the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad declared a truce that went into effect yesterday evening local time following three days of fighting that saw at least 44 Palestinian deaths, including two top commanders of the Iranian-back militant group Islamic Jihad, and more than 1,000 rockets fired by militants into Israel.

🇨🇳🇹🇼 China keeps up the pressure on Taiwan. Officials on the self-governing island accused China of staging a mock invasion on Friday as continued retaliation for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit last week. Beijing continued large-scale military drills around Taiwan on Saturday. (Background)

But forget firing off into Jobland... we may already be there. According to Labor Department statistics published Friday, the US added 528,000 nonfarm jobs in July, more than twice the number economists had expected.

💼 By the numbers... Job growth was experienced across every👏 single👏 industry👏 last month with the exception of wholesale trade, which saw little change. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, its lowest level in nearly five decades (and exactly where it was pre-pandemic).

• Government payrolls rose by the most since May of last year, the restaurant and bar sector posted its highest job growth in five months, and health care payrolls saw their biggest gain since August 2020.
• But the largest growth came in the leisure and hospitality industry, which added 96,000 jobs – though it’s still 1.2 million workers shy of pre-pandemic levels.

📸 Big picture: Many economists and central bank officials are pointing to the labor market’s ongoing strength as a sign the economy has not entered a recession, despite two straight quarters of GDP decline… which means the Fed could be feeling more pressure to ease inflation (what else is new).

👀 Looking ahead… Fed Chair J-Powell and gang don’t meet again until September. And when they do, traders are increasingly expecting a third-straight 0.75% interest rate hike – markets are pricing in a 65.5% chance of this scenario happening next month, up from 40% before this latest data.

🤠 That’s Texas Modern... not just preserving the natural and organic qualities of materials, but using stunning designs to emphasize them even further.🌳

It’s perfecting this style that's made Petrified Design a custom furniture and buildouts go-to for residents of Austin, Texas. 👌

🪵 Petrified Design places a focus on crafting well-executed products that ooze natural aesthetic – as you can see in their project gallery.

Their team of designers, woodworkers, welders, and craftsmen thoughtfully create every project and ensure they’re built to last. And whether it’s furniture or larger build-outs and installations, they'll craft unique custom pieces for your business or home.💪⚒️

If you’re in the market for a custom chair, a dream kitchen, or a build-out that perfectly suits your business, Petrified Design has you covered. 👍

Bring a natural aesthetic to your home/business today with Petrified Design.

Whether it’s flipping a water bottle with the whole class staring at you, or brain surgery with the whole operating room staring at you (and frantic loved ones waiting outside), practice makes perfect.

Thanks to the help of VR, which enabled months of intense practice alongside surgeons nearly 6,000 miles away in London, Brazilian doctors have successfully separated conjoined three-year-old twins in a surgery described by Gemini Untwined, a charity created specifically for cases like this, as “one of the most complex separation procedures on record.”

🥽👩‍⚕️ More deets… The twins were born with craniopagus, meaning they were connected to each other via fused skulls and intertwined brains that shared vital veins. Experts told the twins’ medical team a separation would be impossible, causing them to turn to Gemini for a solution.

After taking detailed imaging of the boys’ brains, including MRIs and CT scans, health workers and engineers were able to replicate them in 3D and virtual reality models.

• This is what allowed doctors to spend months in VR practicing the surgery… which, not to oversell the story too much, was called "space-age stuff" by surgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani. At almost four years of age, the twins are the oldest craniopagus patients ever to have been separated.

📈 Zoom out: The global market for VR in healthcare is projected to grow from $628 million this year to $6.2 billion by 2029, per data from Fortune Business Insights.

💬 Quoted… “Like going to the moon.”

Earth Species Project is a California non-profit with a lofty goal: use artificial intelligence to translate animal languages, both verbal and non-verbal, into something humans can understand – then make that technology available to everyone. Meaning, you may be able to talk to your pets one day… and have them actually talk back.

• The project, which was founded in 2017 with backing from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, published its first paper this past December.

🏎 Stat of the Day: Last year, 10% of all McLaren P1s ever made, each of which is worth north of $1 million, were registered in Montana.

• The reason? The Dutton family owns them all Tax breaks and emissions regulations, since the Clean Air Act doesn’t apply anywhere in the state.

🤯 Did You Know?... Words that take on completely different meanings when their first letter is capitalized – eg. March the month vs march the walking motion – are called capitonyms.

📖 Worth a Read: TikTok Has Loads of Useful Information, but You Have to Verify Sources → (WSJ)

📊 Poll results: Since the DONUT is being used across more than 15,000 classrooms on a consistent basis, Friday’s edition was a departure from the norm. Instead of multiple choice, we accepted long-form responses to the question: “How would you deal with America’s ongoing teacher shortage?”

• Read some of the most thought-provoking answers here.

• ☝️ French scientist Etienne Klein apologized after dazzling his Twitter followers with a breathtaking image of a “star” taken by the JWST… that was actually a slice of chorizo, aka a type of sausage. (Note: We ran the tweet through Google Translate.)

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🪙 Crypto companies have committed more than $2.4 billion to sports marketing in the past 18 months, per data compiled by Bloomberg.
• 🤝 Amazon agreed to purchase iRobot, the company that makes Roombas, for $1.65 billion.
• 💼 Oracle laid off “hundreds” of workers on Friday, mainly in its advertising and customer experience group, sources told the WSJ.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎟️📱 Ticketmaster is teaming up with TikTok to sell tickets directly through the app; Demi Lovato, OneRepublic, WWE, and more have already signed on.
• 🍿 Top Gun: Maverick officially passed Titanic as the seventh-biggest film ever at the domestic box office (not adjusted for inflation) with $662 million in sales.
• 🎮 The beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II will begin on September 16.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🇰🇷🚀 South Korea ​​launched its first-ever lunar mission late Thursday using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
• 🏛️ The Horniman Museum in London will send 72 artifacts taken by the UK in the 19th century back to the government of Nigeria, including a famous set of brass plaques known as the Benin Bronzes.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• ⚖️ Alex Jones was ordered to pay $45.2 million in punitive damages ​​to the parents of a child who died in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting; it’s unclear how much he’ll actually pay, since punitive damages in Texas are capped at twice the compensatory amount ($4.1 million in this case), plus $750,000.
• 🏛️ Indiana became the first state to approve a near-total abortion ban since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. (Background | From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

✈️ Travel can bring about many feelings, and not all of them are pleasant. So when we find something that can provide comfort and a sense of safety, it feels pretty special!😊

That’s the ULTI from COMIGO... a travel bag designed to give you the peace of mind you deserve! It features a slide-out cushion so you can literally grab a seat anywhere. The cushion also provides extra padding for electronics, and when it’s in use, all your belongings are safe and sound since it’s attached to the bag! 👍

And that’s just one feature. The ULTI also features a contrasted interior, intuitive pocket design, and lightweight durable construction…. plus, you get free shipping and a lifetime warranty!🥳

Get 30% off The ULTI today with the code DONUTRULES.

Monday: Global ‘Sleep Under the Stars’ Night

Tuesday: Midterm primaries in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin

Wednesday: Consumer Price Index for July

Thursday: MLB “Field of Dreams” game in Iowa

Friday: Fan Expo Boston begins

Eleven-year-old Zoe Wood is one of the only girls on the baseball field. The New Jersey girl is her team's star player, excelling both in the outfield and with the bat.

🧢 Special ability: Zoe sticks out already as the only girl on her team. What some don't recognize, however, is she's playing with a limb difference. 

• Zoe was born without any of her fingers on her left hand. "The way she's been raised, we never really pointed [her hand] out," her father Jeff said. "We just treated her like everyone else. We never let it get in her way at all."

⚾️ If you can dream it... Zoe's life goal? To become the first woman to play in the Major Leagues.

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Hemo
2. Pyr
3. Techno
4. Alb
5. Hiero

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone you think would like the DONUT.

1. Blood
2. Fire, heat
3. Art, craft, or practical skill
4. White
5. Sacred, holy