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Have a great weekend.🥳

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“Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.”

–Oprah Winfrey (b.1954)

Nearly 50 people in Minnesota have been charged with laundering ~$250 million in pandemic relief aid – which was supposed to go towards providing meals to children from lower-income families – the DOJ announced this week. It marks the largest fraud scheme to take advantage of federal pandemic programs, the agency said.

🤔 A deeper dive… When it comes to government spending, fraud is expected – in the real world, nothing is 100%. But the driving idea behind these programs was that the risk of fraud, as well as other trade-offs or unintended consequences, were outweighed by the benefits. And that idea is what we’ll be exploring today.

📸 Big picture: Congress enacted five bills in 2020 that provided ~$4 trillion worth of Covid-related aid, including the $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program. The American Rescue Plan of 2021 added another $1.9 trillion, bringing the overall spending to $5.9 trillion.

• Of that total, $5.2 trillion was ultimately added to the federal deficit, per the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

👍 Good news: Census Bureau data published last fall showed federal aid programs enacted early in the pandemic kept 11.7 million Americans from falling into poverty. The US unemployment rate – which peaked at 14.8% in April 2020 – fell below 4% by the end of 2021, roughly in line with pre-pandemic levels. Also, the Covid-induced economic recession in early 2020 stands as the shortest in US history (two months).

👎 Bad news: Criminals targeting Covid relief programs stole an estimated 10% of all PPP funds (~$80 billion), per NBC News. And that’s on top of the $90 billion–$400 billion thought to have been stolen from the Covid unemployment relief program (between 10% and 44% of its overall funds), and another $80 billion stolen from a separate Covid disaster relief program.

📊 Flash poll: Overall, do you think Congress’ pandemic-era spending was worth it?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

More Americans are surviving cancer than ever before, per a new report from the American Association for Cancer Research published on Wednesday.

🔢📈 By the numbers… There are 18 million cancer survivors living in the US today, or 5.5% of the overall population. In 1971, there were just 3 million cancer survivors living in the US, or 1.4% of the population.

• The five-year survival rate across all cancers increased from 49% in the mid-1970s to nearly 70% by 2017, the most recent year for which AACR data is available.

🇺🇸 The big picture: People are being diagnosed earlier and living longer due to better access to care, higher screening rates, and improved treatments. And one additional major factor? We’re not smoking as much.

But even though the death rate keeps declining, cancer is still the second most common cause of death in the US, killing ~600,000 Americans each year. Only heart disease leads to more deaths (800,000+/year).

If you woke up singing, “I’m blue, da ba dee, da ba di,” there’s a good reason. Because starting today, you can now go see Avatar in US theaters.

☝️ First things first… This isn’t the sequel – that’s set to come out in December. Rather, what’s happening today is just a re-release of the original movie from 2009, but with updated visuals and sound.

What’s the point, you ask? Well, the studio is projecting the film to bring in $7 million–$12 million this weekend (mid-teens would be “huge,” per box office analysts) – so it’s probably not about the money. But it does fill an empty spot on the theatrical calendar for Disney, and also allows the company to gauge the interest in/hype-up the movie’s ~$250 million sequel, The Way of Water.

• The latter of which is probably important, given Disney’s bet on its franchise potential. The company has committed to funding at least three more Avatar movies over the next decade.

🤔 Zoom out: While the original film is highly-awarded and still the highest-grossing movie of all-time, it hasn’t seen the same level of commercial success outside the box office as, let’s say, Marvel or Star Wars. Toy sales have fizzled, and cosplayers donning heavy blue makeup at pop culture fan conventions have become few and far between, CNBC reports.

But a long-term bet against Avatar is a bet against ‘ole JC – which, historically, has been a bad move. And based on his reply to feedback, we’ll definitely be seeing his vision manifested into reality.

• In a recent interview with the NY Times, Cameron explained how he convinced the studio to keep certain elements of the original film: “You know what? I made Titanic. This building that we’re meeting in right now, this new half-billion dollar complex on your lot? Titanic paid for that, so I get to do this.”

🤔 Remember all those things you used to be crazy about? Whether it’s a hobby, sport, or passion – life, unfortunately, often gets in the way of our interests, and at no fault of our own.

Some will have you believe hobbies/interests are only for people without responsibilities… but are they really? Not a chance. When we lose touch with what really stimulates us, life gets bland pretty quickly.

👍 Refind is helping 50,000+ curious minds stay looped in every morning. No more weeding through countless clickbait, spammy, articles for the stuff that expands your mind and stimulates deep thought.

Immerse yourself in your interests and passions with Refind.

Have you learned about the bots and the bees yet? If not, you’re about to.

A team of international scientists and engineers have created a swarm of 3D-printing drones that work together to form a single blueprint, similar to how bees or wasps construct large nests, per a new peer-reviewed article published in Nature on Wednesday. This marks the first time detailed 3D-printing has ever been achieved by a free-flying robot, the researchers said.

🐝 How it works: Like bees or wasps, the drones use a “collective building method.” Meaning some drones are in charge of doing the actual printing – which could be done with either a cement-like pseudoplastic material or insulation foam – and others are responsible for verifying the accuracy of everything that’s been constructed.

• The drones are fully autonomous while flying, but still require human supervision in case something goes awry.

👀 Looking ahead… The researchers plan on using these drones to help with especially challenging projects in the future, like rebuilding disaster areas, repairing skyscrapers, or constructing buildings on the Moon and/or Mars.

💬 Quoted…​​ “It is past time for the United States government to honor its promise.”

The Cherokee Nation launched a campaign to force Congress to honor a 19th-century treaty and provide the group with a nonvoting US House delegate.

• The representative wouldn’t be able to cast votes on final legislation, but could speak on the House floor and participate in committee votes – similar to the nonvoting delegates currently representing Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa.

🏈📺 Stat of the Day: Amazon averaged 13 million viewers for its debut live stream of “Thursday Night Football,” per Nielsen figures released yesterday. That’s up from 8.9 million on the NFL Network from the same week in 2021.

🌎 Around the World: The US Treasury Department announced sanctions against Iran's morality police yesterday over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini and violence against protesters. At least nine Iranians have died in confrontations with police over the past week, per the AP.

🤯 Did You Know?... Marvel used to release its financial reports in the form of comic books in the 1990s, with characters like Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk discussing topics like revenue sources and future business plans.

📖 Worth a Read: In the Mind of a Whale​ ​→ (Hakai Magazine)

• ☝️ You’re looking at the winner of the 2022 Drone Photo Awards, which depicts the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland during its last eruptive phase.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🪙 Coinbase tested an internal group that used $100 million of the company’s money to speculate on crypto – after testifying to Congress no such group existed – the WSJ reported yesterday, citing internal sources; Coinbase denied the report.
• 📦📈 FedEx announced plans to raise shipping rates by 6.9% yesterday, days after it reported a global slowdown in business at the end of last quarter. | 💰 Boeing will pay $200 million to settle SEC charges that it misled investors following two fatal crashes of the 737 Max.
• 🌎 Around the world this week: Japan’s gov’t intervened in foreign exchange markets to shore up the yen for the first time since 1998; the UK raised interest rates by 0.5%, its seventh consecutive rate hike; South Africa also raised its benchmark interest rate.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎮⚽ You’ll be able to play as characters from Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso – and can be managed by the man himself – in FIFA 23, EA and Warner Bros. revealed on Wednesday.
• 🏀 Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka will face a one-year suspension for having a consensual relationship with a team staff member.
• 🏌️ The Presidents Cup teed off yesterday, with the Americans grabbing an early 4-1 match lead against the International team (who’s now a 20-to-1 underdog, per Caesars).

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🥽 Patients who are immersed in VR during surgery may need less anesthetic, a new peer-reviewed study suggests.
• 🚀🌕 The UAE announced plans to launch its first lunar rover, the “Rashid,” in November; the country is partnering with SpaceX and Japan’s space agency to get the craft to the Moon.
• 🏆 The 2023 Breakthrough Prize winners were unveiled yesterday; the awards honor accomplishments in fundamental physics, mathematics, and the life sciences; each win comes with a $3 million cash prize, roughly triple the Nobel Prize.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🚨 “Fat Leonard,” a Malaysian contractor who helped orchestrate one of the largest bribery scandals in American military history, was arrested in Venezuela yesterday; he had fled the US earlier this month prior to being sentenced.
• 🏛️ The Senate began the process of approving a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown ahead of next week’s deadline.
• ⚖️ An Indiana judge yesterday temporarily blocked the state’s near-total abortion ban, which was signed into law on August 5, saying it likely violated Indiana’s constitution. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

Our weekly news quiz is live. In just two minutes or less...

Find out how your news superpowers stack up against our team.

Erica Hart is considered a hero around her UK town. 

• The determined dog lover has saved upwards of 200 pups with her drone, flying it around the village to locate any dogs missing from their homes. 

Most recently, she rushed home from work to help locate a runaway Schnauzer whose owners had been searching for her for hours – and found her just in the nick of time, before a huge thunderstorm struck.

🤖🐶 Seriously grateful... “What she did is brilliant," shared the dog's owner. “She saved her life... It brought a tear to my eye when we got her back.”

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:

• Oreo crumbs
• Butter
• Vanilla & chocolate ice cream
• Chocolate chips
• Corn syrup
• Heavy whipping cream
• Vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar
• Sprinkles

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Rainbow trout
• Coriander
• Sweet paprika
• Garlic powder
• Flour
• Olive oil
• Lime juice
• English cucumber
• Garlic
• Vinegar
• Greek yogurt

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Butter
• Sugar
• Vanilla bean/extract
• Ground almonds
• Flour
• Baking powder
• Milk
• Powdered sugar
• Vanilla sugar

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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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.)

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☝️ Recipe #1: Dairy Queen ice cream cake

✌️ Recipe #2: Mediterranean pan-seared trout with tzatziki 

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Polish vanilla cookies