Good morning and welcome to Monday. We’ve got a jam-packed newsletter so let’s just rock ’n roll.

In today’s edition:

• 👋 Say hi to Luk.AI, a self-learning digital avatar
• 💥 One binary asteroid is about to have a no-good, very-bad day
• 🎾 We bid adieu to Roger Federer

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.79 minutes to read.

“Be approximately right rather than exactly wrong.”

–John Tukey (1915-2000)

There are 43 days until midterms, which means ‘tis the season of full-on politicking. And thanks to the launch of a new Google pilot program, Gmail users may start seeing more political emails in their inboxes, the tech giant revealed to Axios last week.

📧 A deeper dive… Once political campaigns are enrolled in the pilot program, which was approved by the Federal Elections Commission last month, they’ll no longer be subject to Gmail’s usual forms of spam detection – though the company will still scan the messages for signs of phishing or malware.

• Per Axios, users receiving their first email from a campaign in the program will see a “prominent” banner at the top with three options: keep seeing the messages, unsubscribe, or report as spam (... we’re not exactly sure what this button does).

🚩 Zoom out: Google has come under fire in recent months over concerns that Republican fundraising and campaign emails are flagged by Gmail’s spam filters more often than those from Democrats, as was shown in a North Carolina State University study published in April.

🙅‍♀️ A different approach: This past Thursday, TikTok banned all political fundraising and other money-making opportunities for politicians and government accounts – which covers ads, requests for donations, e-commerce, and gifts.

• The short-video platform is also trying out a system of mandatory verification for all US accounts belonging to governments, politicians, and political parties. This will last until midterms, TikTok said.

+One interesting thing: TV ads for Senate, House, and governor's races across America have been breaking records for negativity so far this fall, per a new report from the Wesleyan Media Project.

📊 Flash poll: How do you think tech platforms should handle political advertising?

Ensure that it reaches as many people as possible (like Gmail)

Completely ban it from their platforms (like TikTok)

Something in the middle

NASA is performing an experiment later today that – just like the Incredible Hulk – has one mandate, and one mandate only: smash.

At approximately 7:14 pm ET, a custom spacecraft will crash into a binary asteroid, called Didymos, about seven million miles away from Earth.

🛰💥 Background: This is all part of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which aims to determine how effective a guided crash is at diverting a potential impact on Earth. Asteroids are immensely powerful, with the ability to alter the course of all living things – just ask the dinosaurs.

But to get more recent, a growing group of scientists theorize an asteroid hit Earth ~12,800 years ago. And the result was right out of a George Martin book: fire + ice.

• The impact reportedly incinerated ~10% of the Earth’s entire biomass, due to the asteroid launching burning ejectorate that caused widespread wildfires.
• The ice caps at the North Pole were instantly liquidized as well, creating a tsunami wave ~1,000 feet tall that flooded an area the size of Europe and China combined.

And if that wasn’t enough, debris from the impact combined with ash from the fires to block out the Sun completely, sending the planet into a 1,200-year Ice Age.

So yeah… avoiding that is kind of a big deal.

+In the know: Today’s head-on impact – between a roughly 600-foot-wide asteroid and 1,300-pound spacecraft traveling at 10,000+ MPH – will produce the estimated energy equivalent of around three tons of TNT. Watch it live.

🇮🇷 The Iranian protests have become the country’s largest demonstrations in years. Demonstrations over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s ‘morality police’ have spread to at least 46 Iranian cities, towns, and villages, per the AP. At least 41 protesters and police have been killed – and 1,200+ demonstrators arrested – over the past week, the publication said. Though Iran’s government has restricted phone and Internet usage across the country, making the true numbers difficult to verify.

🇺🇦 Referendums have begun across Russian-occupied Ukraine. The regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson – some of which are only partially occupied by Russian troops – began controversial referendums on Friday that could lead to Moscow annexing ~15% of Ukraine. The four elections, which are widely seen as a sham and considered illegal under Ukrainian and international law, will conclude tomorrow. (Background)

🇦🇬🇰🇳 Caribbean islands are thinking about dropping the British monarchy. Antigua and Barbuda recently scheduled a nationwide referendum over whether to ditch the Crown following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, while the leader of St. Kitts and Nevis told Axios on Friday that he plans to follow suit. The two island nations are among the seven Caribbean island countries and 14 total overseas territories where King Charles III currently reigns as head of state; the list also includes Canada, The Bahamas, Australia, Jamaica, and New Zealand.

… say it with us now: “Sub_Urban Riot.”

🤔 What’s Sub_Urban Riot?... A global clothing brand founded by two college friends at the beginning of one of the largest financial crises ever, so following rules and convention isn’t exactly their thing… but creating out-of-this-world outfits art masquerading as clothing definitely is.

• Translation: Expect a stylish, sustainable fit anchored in comfort – one that seamlessly operates from the gym to the grocery store.
• And to be frank, we expect nothing less from the brand that brought us the Kale sweatshirt (worn by Queen 🐝 herself), hilarious tees we’ve all seen on It’s Always Sunny, and the Favorite Daughter design.

So whether your day consists of baking, errands, the club, or gym/tan/laundry, Sub_Urban Riot delivers the fit you need to get the job done and look good while doing it.

Be ready for anything with clothing from Sub_Urban Riot.

If you follow NBA player Luka Dončić on TikTok, you may have seen some… interesting posts on your FYP over the past few days. That’s because his account is now completely operated by Luk.AI, a self-learning, AI-powered virtual avatar created by Epic Games.

📱🏀 More deets… The virtual doppelganger, created with Unreal Engine 5 technology, is able to interact, exercise, play, and converse with fans via TikTok, which will be his home, ESPN reports.

Luk.AI is described by Epic as a "self-learning artificial intelligence capable of emotional, physical, and technological growth." He’ll reportedly become smarter and grow by interacting with the TikTok community.

• Fans will influence his skills, interests, and hobbies, in a similar way that social interaction stimulates and shapes our own minds, per ESPN.
• He’ll also be working with the real-life Dončić’s foundation to help teach kids about artificial intelligence.

🤖 Zoom out: While Dončić is the first athlete with a metahuman that’ll learn and grow as his interactions with fans increase, tennis Hall of Famer John McEnroe recently showcased the same tech in "McEnroe vs. McEnroe," an ESPN+ special.

+Dive deeper: How a South Korean politician utilized an online AI to increase his popularity → (The DONUT)

💬 Quoted…​​ "This is a year of reinvention. And change is exhilarating."

• SNL creator Lorne Michaels isn't worried about losing eight cast members ahead of the show's 50th anniversary next season. In a NY Times interview published on Friday, he explained the cast had grown a bit bloated due to the pandemic – at "23 or 24" members – and said the price of success for SNL is that its members then move on to other things.

⚾ Stat of the Day: 700 = the number of career home runs hit by St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, 42, who on Saturday became just the fourth player in MLB history to reach that milestone.

🤯 Did You Know?... The cereal Lucky Charms originated in 1964, when a General Mills employee added chopped-up pieces of his favorite candy (Circus Peanuts) to a bowl of Cheerios.

📖 Worth a Read: The sleep advice no one tells you → (Vox)

📊 Poll results: On Friday, we asked if y’all thought Congress’ pandemic-era spending was worth the widespread fraud that accompanied it.

• 36% said yes, 51% said no, and 13% were unsure or had a more nuanced opinion.

See the full 360° view here.

• ☝️ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Saturday in response to Tropical Storm Ian, which is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane before making landfall later this week. | Hurricane Fiona made landfall yesterday on Canada’s Atlantic coast in the Nova Scotia area, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of residents and washing away or collapsing dozens of homes.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💷📉 The British pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 ($1.09) after new UK PM Liz Truss announced a budget that included extensive tax cuts and assistance for energy bills.
• 💼 Job-seekers’ weak social ties on LinkedIn were twice as effective as stronger ties in helping them find jobs, per the results of a secret study conducted on ~20 million LinkedIn users from 2015–2019 published this month in Science.
• 💰 The US gov't would've collected an additional $32 billion in tax revenue had the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ been enacted in 2021, per a new study; half of that total would've been paid by just six companies: Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, Ford, AT&T, eBay, and Moderna.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎾 Roger Federer played the final pro match of his career on Saturday alongside doubles partner Rafael Nadal.
• 🏌️ The American team defeated the International team at the Presidents Cup yesterday, clinching its 12th win in 14 events.
• 🎽 Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge set a new world record of 2:01:39 in the Berlin Marathon yesterday, shaving 30 seconds off the previous record (which he also owns).
• 🏈 Rihanna will headline this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, while Apple Music will replace Pepsi as its official sponsor; the singer hasn't released an album since 2016 and last performed publicly in 2018. 

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🪐 Jupiter will be at its closest point to Earth tonight since 1963.
• 🛶 A 3,000-year-old canoe has been discovered in Wisconsin, the WI Historical Society announced Thursday; it’s the oldest canoe ever discovered in the Great Lakes Region by ~1,000 years.
• ⌛🚀 NASA delayed the initial test run of its Artemis I mission – previously scheduled for tomorrow – due to Tropical Storm Ian; the next possible launch date is Sunday.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 😊 The happiest states in America, per a new study from WalletHub.
• 🙅‍♀️🛢️ California is aiming to become the first state to ban natural gas heaters and furnaces; state regulators approved a new proposal that would phase out all such sales by 2030.
• ⚖️ An Arizona judge on Saturday reinstated a 19th-century law banning nearly all abortions in the state, lifting a legal block that had been in place for 50 years. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

If you frequently wake up tired or with a headache, there’s a good possibility you’re grinding your teeth…

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Monday: Today🙃

Tuesday: US consumer confidence numbers for September

Wednesday: National Women’s Health & Fitness Day

Thursday: Weekly unemployment claims; Porsche set to IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Friday: Commerce Department publishes US household spending/income figures; Tesla's second AI Day

+Plus: Shanah tovah u'metukah to all our Jewish readers celebrating Rosh Hashanah

What was your favorite toy as a kid? 

Whether it was Barbie Dolls, Nerf Guns, or Rock-Em-Sock-Em Robots – we all had a special toy (or toys) we couldn't get enough of. And if you're lucky, your favorite may officially be part of the National Toy Hall of Fame. 

🥇 Tough competition... The organization recently announced its top 12 candidates for this year's induction; they include American Bingo, Catan, the Piñata, Nerf toys, and Pound Puppies, to name a few. 

• The finalists were selected based on four criteria: icon-status, longevity, discovery, and innovation. 

😎 Looking ahead... Winners will be officially announced next month.

There are 27 total James Bond movies. Which of the following is not one of them?

1. Dr. No
2. Live and Let Live
3. From Russia With Love
4. Goldfinger

(keep scrolling for the answer)

👆 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.)

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2. Live and Let Live – the actual title is Live and Let Die (1973)