Good morning. You may have noticed an unusually high amount of corrections last week. For transparency's sake, we wanted to let you in on why.

A team member left to go on a well-deserved vacation. Then emergencies popped up with a couple of our remaining team members, leaving everyone stretched a little thin.

All this to say: we’ll be putting out a job posting soon to ensure this doesn’t happen again. But we want to give our readers the first crack at officially joining our team.

Interested? Just send an email with your resume and a writing sample to contact@mydonut.co (or reply to this email). Bonus points for humor and creativity.🙃

In today’s edition:

• 🚚 What FedEx can tell us about the global economy
• 📰 Section 230 is back in the news
• 🙅‍♀️ A Wordle to end all streaks

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.75 minutes to read.

“Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall be disappointed.”

–Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

We heard from a couple of oncology specialists upset with our coverage on chemo/KRAS inhibitors last week, so we wanted to publish our exchange with one of them. You can read it here.

Democrats and Republicans don’t seem to agree on much these days… except when it comes to amending Section 230, a law that gives broad legal protections to websites hosting user-generated content.

But as you can probably guess, the hand-holding and kumbaya’s fade away from there. Cuz while both sides agree that Section 230 needs to change, they have very different ideas about what those changes should look like.

🌐 Background: Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act is one of the most important laws governing how the Internet works in America today. In fact, many experts argue that it’s laid the groundwork for current online giants – Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, TikTok, Reddit, etc. – to thrive.

Essentially, Section 230 means two things: 1) websites can’t be sued for libel or defamation in regards to users’ posts, and 2) websites can moderate themselves by removing posts – so long as they’re acting in “good faith.”

• For example: if a TikTok user claims Elon Musk is actually a muskrat in disguise, TikTok itself can’t be sued for libel/defamation – only the post’s original author can.
• TikTok also can’t be sued if it decides to remove that user’s post in “good faith” (as decided by a judge, if it comes to that).

🏛️ That brings us to last week… when President Biden called on Congress to remove some legal protections in Section 230, echoing a move from former President Trump. But the two sides disagree over how to amend the law:

• Democrats want to hold tech companies liable – aka able to be sued – for failing to remove posts that include extremist content, like hate speech and misinformation.
• Republicans want the 1st Amendment to apply to social media sites, even though they’re private actors.

📊 Flash poll: Do you think Section 230 needs to be changed?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

*By the act of reading this story, you promise to not kill the messenger (aka us). Scroll to accept these terms.*

Late last Thursday, the global shipping giant withdrew its full-year earnings guidance and announced it would close 90 offices, five corporate locations, defer hiring, reduce flights, and cancel projects. The catalyst? Less packages were shipped later in the quarter, as the world’s economy “significantly worsened.”

The company’s stock fell 21% on Friday, its biggest one-day drop in history (even topping its 16% plunge on Black Monday in 1987). Overall, all three major stock indexes finished the day in the red to top off their worst week since June.

🤔 Why investors think FedEx’s move is a big deal… Transport stocks are typically seen as a leading indicator for the economy. The thought is fairly simple: when things are going well, more people are buying and selling goods, causing more packages to be shipped.

• And when things aren’t going so hot… well, you can fill in the rest.

📸 Big picture: The pandemic boom in online shopping appears to be cooling off, per the WSJ. Consumers are switching more of their spending to travel and entertainment, plus high inflation is causing spending cutbacks, leading to less items being purchased.

🇪🇺🇭🇺 The EU no longer classifies Hungary as a full democracy. On Thursday, the European Parliament published a report ​​saying the situation has “deteriorated such that Hungary has become an ‘electoral autocracy,’” citing concerns over the independence of its judiciary, media, and academia. The bloc’s executive branch then recommended suspending ~$7.5 billion in funding to Hungary yesterday over concerns about democratic backsliding and the possible mismanagement of funds. Member countries now have one month to decide whether to officially withhold the money.

🇩🇪 Germany has taken over all Russian-owned oil refineries. The German government seized control of three refineries belonging to energy giant Rosneft over the weekend, calling it “a far-reaching energy policy decision to protect our country." The three refineries together account for ~12% of the country’s overall capacity, though Germany has resolved to eliminate all Russian oil imports by the end of this year.

🇮🇳 Cheetahs are back in India after 70 years. Eight of the world's fastest land animals were flown in from Namibia, Africa, on Saturday as part of “Project Cheetah,” which aims to create a new metapopulation of the species in India. The animals previously went extinct in the country in the 1950s due to hunting and habitat destruction.

Hispanic Heritage Month is happening now, and you can get great products while supporting women entrepreneurs from Hispanic backgrounds at The WMarketplace.

• Latina women account for 16% of the female workforce in the US, a number projected to grow rapidly.

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• Make travel a breeze with the ‘ULTI’-mate travel/laptop bag from CONMIGO

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A long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, there was reportedly a collision between an asteroid and a dwarf planet. And this impact, if a study published last week in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is to be believed, could lead us to a whole new way of making diamonds – already one of the hardest substances known to humankind – even harder.

💎☄️ Before we get started… we should mention lonsdaleite, a rare hexagonal diamond thought to be harder than normal cubic diamonds. It was first discovered in the Canyon Diablo meteorite in 1967, and has since only been found in rock samples from outer space.

But while we knew the material existed, we didn’t quite know how it was formed. Which brings us back to the researchers who conducted the recently published PNAS study.

• Using electron microscopes, the team studied ureilites, a rare type of meteorite that may come from the mantle of a dwarf planet, dating to ~4.5 billion years ago.
• In them, they found the largest lonsdaleite crystals discovered to-date, as well as evidence of a “supercritical chemical vapour deposition process” that probably occurred after impact with an asteroid.

📝🧑‍🔬 Bottom line: Building upon research published in 2020, “this study proves categorically that lonsdaleite exists in nature,” RMIT Professor Dougal McCulloch, one of senior researchers on the project, said in a press release.

And since chemical vapor deposition is one of the ways normal cubic diamonds are being created in labs, the study’s researchers think their work could help inform new manufacturing techniques to make hexagonal diamonds that are even harder.

💬 Quoted…​​ “I think IT would appreciate less memes while they handle the breach.”

Uber is currently investigating a “cybersecurity incident” amidst reports that its internal systems have been breached. The alleged hacker, who claims to be an 18-year old, first revealed the news on an internal company Slack channel, where Uber employees initially thought it was a joke. (And who could blame them – the opening sentence was: “Hi , I announce I am a hacker and uber has suffered a data breach.”)

🇬🇧👑 Stat of the Day: 24 hours = the estimated wait time to see Queen Elizabeth lie in state in Westminster Hall over the weekend, with lines queues stretching over 5 miles. Her funeral will be held later today.

🤯 Did You Know?... ​​Just 41% of all Wordle players guessed Friday’s word correctly within six turns (“parer”). Normally, it’s ~99%.

📖 Worth a Read: Have You Gone ‘Notification Deaf’? Confessions of an Over-Pinged Woman → (WSJ)

📊 Poll results: On Friday, we asked whether y’all agreed with a California bill that would discipline licensed medical professionals who spread Covid mis/disinformation.

• 41% said yes, 49% said no, and 10% weren’t sure or had a more nuanced take.

See the full 360° view here.

• ☝️ Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico last night almost five years to the day after Hurricane Maria; residents experienced winds of up to 85 mph and ~30 inches of rain; the US territory has been without power since yesterday afternoon.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏎️ Volkswagen is targeting a valuation of between $70.1 billion and $75.1 billion for Porsche’s IPO, the automaker announced yesterday.
• 🪙 The Biden administration announced a new regulatory framework for the crypto industry on Friday.
• 🌕 Intuitive Machines, a startup developing tech for moon exploration, announced plans to go public via SPAC; the deal values the company at ~$1 billion.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 The Las Vegas Aces won their first WNBA title ever last night, beating the Connecticut Sun 78-71 to clinch a 3-1 series victory.
• ⚾ New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge hit his 58th and 59th home runs of the season yesterday; the all-time AL record is 61 HRs – and Judge still has 16 games left to play.
• 🏈 College football: Unranked Washington beat No. 11 Michigan State 39-28, while No. 25 Oregon defeated No. 12 BYU 41-20 (Full Week 3 recap) | NFL: The Miami Dolphins came back to beat the Baltimore Ravens 42-38, thanks to a career-best 6 TDs from QB Tua Tagovailoa. (Full Week 2 recap)

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 😮‍💨 The 4-7-8 technique – a relaxation exercise that involves breathing in for four counts, holding that breath for seven counts, and exhaling for eight counts – can help you fall asleep, per a new peer-reviewed study.
• 🫀 Paleontologists discovered evidence of the oldest-known heart, found inside the fossilized remains of a 380-million-year-old fish.
• 🪐 #occupyMars: The number of ancient Martian lakes may have been dramatically underestimated by scientists, per a new study from the University of Hong Kong. | NASA's Mars Perseverance rover discovered organic matter on the red planet, though scientists emphasized this doesn't mean it's found evidence of ancient life.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🌐 Bloomberg Philanthropies recently launched an interactive online database about racial wealth disparity, with the aim of increasing Black wealth accumulation.
• 🥈 Speaking of Bloomberg (and wealth)... Indian billionaire Gautam Adani surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the world’s second richest person on Saturday, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• 🚰 Tap water in Jackson, Mississippi, is now safe to drink, per local health officials; a boil water notice had been in place since late July, and was exacerbated by an August flood that shut down the city's primary water treatment facility. (Background)

Monday: Two-part Monday Night Football kicks off at 7:15 pm ET

Tuesday: National Voter Registration Day

Wednesday: The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates following a two-day meeting

Thursday: Is the September equinox aka the official start of fall; the Presidents Cup also tees off

Friday: FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship tips off; Blonde, Netflix's NC-17-rated Marilyn Monroe film, hits the platform; Don't Worry Darling, a movie marked by some... pre-release drama, hits theaters

In the sprawling countryside of Perthshire, Scotland, there's a tiny village of 84 people with the unfortunate name of Dull.

🥱 Match made in heaven... Dull, however, is not the only town with a dreary name. Across the pond in Oregon state is Boring, with a population of around 8,000.

• Ten years ago, a Dull resident discovered the town of Boring while on vacation overseas. After she told people around her village of the coincidence, the two towns got in touch and became official sister cities.

Can you guess the definitions of these Greek/Latin root words?

1. Ambi
2. Bor
3. Cand
4. Decim
5. Pod

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Ambi: Both (e.g., ambixterous)
2. Bor: North (borealis)
3. Cand: Glowing (incandescent, candle)
4. Decim: Tenth part (decimal, decimate)
5. Pod: Foot (podiatry, tripod)