Good morning. We knew this moment would come eventually, but that doesn’t make it any less bittersweet. Roger Federer announced plans to retire from pro tennis later this month after one final tournament, joining fellow legend Serena Williams in riding off into the sunset.

Altogether, the two tennis greats:

• Played 2,990 singles and doubles matches over a combined 51-year career.
• Won 207 tournaments, including 57 Grand Slam titles.🤯
• Spent 629 weeks ranked No. 1 in the world for singles. Which, put another way, is more than 12 years – or in dad-speak, “longer than you kids have been alive.”

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.99 minutes to read.

“To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.”

–Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss (1904-1991)

We channeled our inner Charlie in yesterday’s header and incorrectly spelled Rob McElhenney’s last name.🤦‍♀️ We promise to do more better moving forward.

Medical professionals in California who spread COVID misinformation or disinformation could face penalties for “unprofessional conduct,” up to and including having their state license revoked, per a new bill recently approved by the state legislature.

💉🦠 A deeper dive… State law already prohibits doctors from lying to patients or mistreating them for any illness, per the SF Chronicle.

The new measure explicitly calls out Covid, saying false information about vaccines has endangered the lives of Californians, and that “some of the most dangerous propagators of inaccurate information” are licensed medical professionals.

• It defines misinformation as "false information that is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care."
• Disinformation is defined as “misinformation that the licensee deliberately disseminated with malicious intent or an intent to mislead."

If signed into law, the bill would prohibit doctors from “misleading” patients about Covid or the “development, safety and effectiveness” of its related vaccines and treatments. Enforcement would be up to the Medical Board of California, which licenses physicians and can discipline them.

✋ On the flip side: Critics of the bill argue it violates medical professionals’ 1st Amendment rights to free speech, and would lead to California becoming an arbiter of what could be said in private medical consultations.

👀 Looking ahead… Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has until the end of the month to sign or veto the bill, which would take effect on January 1 if approved. His office hasn’t indicated which decision Newsom plans to make.

📊 Flash poll: Do you agree or disagree with California’s measure regulating Covid mis/disinformation among medical professionals?

Agree

Disagree

Unsure/other

US railroad companies and union leaders, collectively representing ~57,000 workers, reached a tentative agreement yesterday to avert a nationwide strike – though it still has to be ratified by union members. Had an agreement not been reached, it would’ve likely cost the economy ~$2 billion per day.

🛤️ More deets… At the heart of the labor dispute is the rail companies’ attendance policies. Workers say they’ve been forced to essentially be on call 24/7 and remain within a two-hour radius of the jobsite at all times, outside of paid vacation and personal leave days.

• The new tentative agreement carves out an exception for workers to take time off for scheduled medical appointments, without fear of discipline. Which seems to have been a big issue: union leaders reportedly pushed for the concession during 20 straight hours of negotiation leading up to the deal.
• Both sides had already agreed to a compromise this summer giving union workers a 24% increase in wages over a five-year period from 2020 through 2024, including an immediate average payout of $11,000 upon the deal’s ratification.

✋ Yes, but… there’s no guarantee that ratification will occur. Labor experts have warned the tentative agreement could be a tough sell to workers, since unscheduled sick days would still result in penalties.

• All 12 labor unions have now reached tentative agreements with US railroads in recent days, but only two of those deals have been ratified by rank-and-file members.

🛑 But, but, but… The agreements include a “cooling off” period of several weeks to ensure no immediate rail shutdown occurs if a ratification vote fails. And Congress has the power to step in and prevent workers from going on strike, if it comes to that.

Stay tuned.

If Saturn, the second-biggest planet in the solar system, came rolling up to this weekend’s tailgate, they’d be rocking mad rings – seven of them, to be exact. (Which is more than Jordan. Just saying.)

And while scientists knew the rings formed around the planet around 100 million years ago, we didn’t exactly know how. But according to a study published yesterday in Science, we may have an answer.

🪐 More deets… The study posits the planet’s rings were formed ~160 million years ago, when a large moon the researchers named Chrysalis grazed Saturn. The moon broke apart, with 99% falling into the planet’s atmosphere, causing it to tilt sideways like Paul Wall, and the other 1% creating the rings.

• This could also explain a couple other mysteries befuddling scientists: its increasing axial tilt, and the strange, rapidly expanding orbit of Titan, its largest moon.

✋ Yes but: Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley not involved with the project, told the WSJ the new scenario “has a lot of things going for it,” but that it’s hard to verify the complex series of celestial events it outlines.

+Calling all time travelers: Set your dial for ~160 million years ago, then let us know what you see.👍

🤯 Did you know… baby hedgehogs (aka Hoglets) provide unique learners the sensory feedback needed to concentrate and complete tasks? This is due to their nubby squishy texture and crazy bright colors…

🧐 Bright colors?!... Yes, actually! The Hoglet from Hedgehog Health combines a computer mouse with a functional fidget. It gives kids with ADHD and learning challenges the multisensory experience they crave – and adults can’t keep their hands off it either.

• Fidget toys are proven to improve concentration in learners with ADHD, however, many computer labs don’t allow them.

🦔 The Hoglet solves this by serving as a functional fidget, and also injects some much-needed personality into your typical plain, lifeless computer lab. Getting kids to stay on task isn’t easy, but The Hoglet makes a real difference with its friendly feel, shape, and look – especially for learners with anxiety, ADHD, or autism.

It's also built with kids in mind… meaning The Hoglet is easy to clean, takes a single D battery, and is super durable.💪

Improve focus and concentration this school year with The Hoglet.

Adobe just dropped its 2022 US Emoji Trend Report, and it’s got some juicy details on how we feel about these little picture characters that originated in Japan.

🤔 So, how do we feel about them?... The survey was taken by 5,000 emoji users across the US. And ever since reading the following stat from it, we can’t get Billy Madison’s voice out of our head: 73% of respondents believe that adding emoji to your messages makes you cooler, friendlier, and funnier (“all the coooooool kids are doing it…”).

Though to be clear, not every emoji makes you cool. But never fear – you’re about to be in the know. Here’s some emoji tips for when flirting or dating, according to science.

• To become more likable: Use 😘, 🥰 , or 😍
• To become less likable: Use 💩, 😠, or 🍆
• To elicit confusion: Use 🤠, 🍒, or 🙃, otherwise known as the most misunderstood emoji. (Bonus points for using all three in the same sentence.)

🌎 Zoom out: The process for adding new emoji is overseen by the Unicode Consortium, a nonprofit org that ensures there’s a unique code for every character, in every language, in every program, on every platform, so users and programmers can develop content in their native language.

Unicode’s Version 15.0, containing 20 new emoji characters, went live this past Tuesday.

+The generational divide: Peep the top five most frequently-used emojis by generation below. (Can confirm: parents LOVE a good ‘ole thumbs up.)

💬 Quoted…​​ “Stamps really don’t mean anything to Janet at all.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is known around the world to be an avid stamp collector. At least six foreign leaders have given her stamps during diplomatic meetings over the past two years – and that’s not including a British chancellor, who last year gave her the most valuable stamp ever issued by the Royal Mail.

• There’s just one problem… Yellen doesn’t like stamps. But she previously listed her mother’s stamp collection – worth between $15,001 and $50,000 – in financial disclosure forms required for various government roles over the years.

👥 Stats of the Day: The number of people primarily working from home more than tripled between 2019 and 2021 (9 million → 27.6 million), per new Census Bureau data published yesterday. Commuting by public transportation was cut in half over that same period.

🌎 Around the World: Chinese President Xi Jinping officially met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Uzbekistan yesterday, marking Xi’s first trip outside China since the early days of the pandemic.

🤯 Did You Know?... ​​The International Space Station is closer to Earth than San Francisco is to LA (257 miles vs. 383 miles).

📖 Worth a Read: The Search for Intelligent Life Is About to Get a Lot More Interesting → (NY Times)

• ☝️ Bed Bath & Beyond is closing ~150 stores across North America; pictured above is a map of all the known locations that are going away for good. (Exact addresses in the link.)

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏘️📈 The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in the US rose to 6.02% this week, per Freddie Mac, the highest level since 2008.
• 🤝 Adobe agreed to buy design-software firm Figma for ~$20 billion in cash and stock; Adobe’s stock closed down 17% on the day.
• 📧📅 Zoom is preparing to launch its own email and calendar apps as early as November, dubbed internally as ‘Zmail’ and ‘Zcal,’ per The Information.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 👕🏀 A jersey worn by Michael Jordan in Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals – part of his “Last Dance” season – sold for $10.091 million at auction yesterday, making it the most-valuable item of sports memorabilia ever publicly sold.
• 🙅‍♂️ Kanye West said he terminated his two-year-old partnership with the Gap because of “substantial noncompliance,” alleging the retailer breached their agreement by not opening branded Yeezy stores and distributing his apparel as originally planned, among other issues; Gap confirmed the split, saying it had “throughout this partnership upheld our commitments,” but their “vision is not aligned.”
• 📱 TikTok unveiled a BeReal clone yesterday.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🌊 The ancient Egyptians used a now-dried-up arm of the Nile River to help ship materials for the pyramids of Giza to their construction site, per a new peer-reviewed study published in PNAS.
• 🏜️ An international team of scientists recently discovered the remnants of a huge coral reef in the middle of the Australian desert.
• 🏝️ A new peer-reviewed map analysis suggests the existence of now-vanished islands that are referenced in Welsh folklore.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🔎 The DEA is investigating telehealth ADHD company Done Global over its practices related to prescriptions for controlled substances, including Adderall – similar to rival telehealth company Cerebral. (Background)
• ⚖️ The federal judge overseeing the Trump Mar-a-Lago case denied the DOJ’s request to exclude classified documents from the special master’s review, and appointed former NY federal judge Raymond Dearie to serve in that position. (Background | From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)
• 🏛️ The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he sent two flights containing a combined 50 illegal migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday, similar to buses of migrants sent to large out-of-state cities by the governors of Arizona and Texas. (Background | From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

Like many people, Gez Robinson picked up a quirky new habit in his older age. 

• Upon discovering a family of mice living in his garden, Gez spent hours building them a safe habitat and feeding them flowers and seeds. 

🐭🏠 Cinderella, who? ... As his love for the mice grew, he became more and more creative with constructing their habitat. 

Gez began building teeny tiny houses for the mice, and even named the two families now occupying his garden. The Honeysuckle family lives in the logpile, while the Bramble family lives near the brambles in a stone wall.

• "I’ve had a few emails saying the mice have helped them through hard times," he shared, referring to his viral videos of the critters. "People say it’s quite uplifting and it makes them smile.”

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make. Easy peasy! (The rules, at least.)

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Broth
• Yellow onion
• Ginger
• Coriander
• Cloves
• Fish sauce
• Hoisin sauce
• Soy sauce
• Red chili paste
• Cinnamon
• Salt & Pepper
• Steak

✌️ Recipe #2

• Salt
• Pancetta
• Parmesan
• Egg yolks
• Large eggs
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Spaghetti

3️⃣ Recipe #3

• Milk
• Bananas
• Vanilla bean pod
• Toasted sugar
• Cornstarch
• Kosher salt
• Ground cloves
• Egg yolk
• Vanilla extract

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize. (Pro tip: there's no need to ration points, you're entitled to a prize at each tier.)

Start referring.👇

☝️ Answer #1: Pho soup

✌️ Answer #2: Carbonara

3️⃣ Answer #3: Banana pudding