Good morning. We've got a packed newsletter for you, so let’s get right to it.

In today’s edition:

• 🌎 The world’s first entirely-digital nation
• 😬 Target's earnings miss the target
• 🌌 Some black holes could actually be wormholes

… and more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.87 minutes to read.

“A tiny change today brings a dramatically different tomorrow.”

–Richard Bach (b.1936)

Because that’s what you do when the GOAT announces their retirement. According to a press release published yesterday, Yale Law School is dropping its participation in the prestigious US News and World Report annual rankings of law schools – a list the college has topped since 1990.

And while the list isn't without its scandals (more on that later), that’s not why Yale is dropping out. The school’s dean, Heather Gerken, called US News’ methodology profoundly flawed since it devalues programs that encourage public interest jobs, and rewards schools that give scholarships for high LSAT scores instead of ones that focus on a student’s financial needs.

• This has a negative impact on the law profession, according to Gerken, because it adds barriers to those who can’t afford expensive LSAT prep courses or tuition. It also discourages students from taking a service-focused career path, she says.

📸 Big picture: The US News and World Report rankings, just like Ron Burgundy, are kind of a big deal. For decades, participating schools have highlighted their placement to prospective students, and some university leaders even get paid bonuses if their schools move up the rankings.

This, as you might expect, has contributed to more scandals than in the show Scandal (s/o Olivia Pope). The most recent of which occurred in September, when Columbia University admitted to submitting inaccurate data to US News, a move that dropped it from #2 to #18 in the rankings year-over-year.

+Monkey see: A few hours after Yale’s announcement, Harvard Law also said it was dropping out of the US News rankings.

🇨🇳 Residents of Guangzhou, China, staged a rare protest against the country’s strict Covid protocols this week. Videos and images circulating on social media show protesters smashing temporary barriers and marching in the streets, reportedly due to lack of food amidst an ongoing lockdown. The demonstrations come as China reported 10,000+ daily Covid cases for the first time since April 2021 this week, with the biggest hotspot currently in Guangzhou.

🇹🇻 The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, facing extinction from rising sea levels, is recreating itself in the metaverse. The country’s foreign minister told the COP27 climate summit yesterday that Tuvalu’s move is necessary to “preserve its culture and history.” He said the idea is that Tuvalu will continue to function as an independent state – it just won’t have any physical land to govern. Up to 40% of the island nation’s capital district is underwater at high tide, and local officials expect the entire country will be underwater by the end of this century.

🇩🇪 German youths will be given a €200 "Kulturpass" to boost the local arts scene. Each of the 750,000 Germans who turn 18 next year will receive an extra birthday present: a government voucher worth ~$207 to spend on a wide range of cultural goods, experiences, and events. Online platforms like Amazon and Spotify are excluded from the program, which emphasizes smaller, often local organizations like independent cinemas and bookshops. Germany is now the fourth EU nation to offer a youth culture pass.

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Everyone’s favorite red-logoed retailer reported Q3 earnings yesterday – and it was anything but a bulls-eye. Earnings per share missed estimates, margins continued to take a hit, and management lowered guidance for the fourth quarter. This sent shares down 11% on the day.

But the big story of the report was why Target lowered its forward-looking forecast. According to Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell, the retailer saw a “significant change” in consumer shopping patterns at the end of October moving into November. An ominous warning fit for Nostradamus, that also sent other retail stocks sliding. Macy’s and Kohl’s fell more than 8%, while Nordstrom dropped more than 10%.

🤔 So, what’s happening?... Target’s earnings report comes on the heels of Walmart’s, which was released earlier this week. And between the two, one thing seems to be clear: consumers are feeling strained by higher prices for groceries, housing, and other necessities. Cue: less discretionary spending, and more coupon-clipping and waiting for sales and promotions.

Retailers’ less expensive, in-house brands are also growing in popularity; Target’s grew at double the rate of its total business. 

Some other highlights from yesterday’s report:

• The company said it plans to cut up to $3 billion in total costs, citing the need to become more efficient after two years of sales gains. (The retailer’s revenue grew ~40% during the pandemic.)
• “Organized retail crime” drove a $400 million drop in Target’s gross profit margin.

This past Tuesday morning, millions of presale-registered Swifties were waiting with bated breath. The tickets for Taylor’s upcoming Eras tour, her first in five years, were almost available for purchase.

But the anti-hero of this story was Ticketmaster, which reported widespread technical problems due to “historically unprecedented demand.” This rendered millions of wannabe concertgoers technologically unable to purchase tickets. And by the afternoon, resale sites like StubHub and SeatGeek were offering Eras tickets for as much as $35,000+ a pop – just a touch more than the original max price of $449.

After sorting out their technical issues, Ticketmaster hosted another round of presales for Swift’s 2023 Eras tour yesterday. Though its website still carried a warning of high demand and limited availability.

And when tickets go live to the general public tomorrow, something similar is expected to happen. Betting site Bookies.com pegs your odds of jumping the online queue to secure a general sale ticket at 2%, or a 1-in-50 shot.

🎰🏟️ For the lucky few… It’s one day, and Swift’s not only living in a big ole’ city – she’s touring around them.

• Since it was first announced on November 1, the US-leg of the Eras tour has gone from 27 shows to 52, making it Swift’s biggest tour yet. It’s projected to sell 2.8 million tickets in total, per Bookies.com.

💬 Quoted…​​ “I frankly don’t want to be the CEO of any company.”

• Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, made this reportedly offhand comment during testimony yesterday in a trial challenging his compensation package at Tesla. Musk went on to explain that he prefers an engineering-focused role over a business-focused one, and said he expects to eventually find someone else to run Twitter.

📱 Stat of the Day: 3 out of 10 American adults say they’ve gone viral in their life, per One Poll (via Harper’s Index).

🤯 Did You Know?... German education expert Friedrich Fröbel in 1840 first coined the term kindergarten (literally “garden of children”), because he believed kids should be nurtured and nourished “like plants in a garden.”

📖 Worth a Read: What Old Age Might Be Like for Today’s 30-Year-Olds → (WSJ)

🎁🤔 What do you get the person that has everything? You give them a feeling – ideally one they’ve yet to experience. Like that odd satisfaction when sliding into jeans uniquely manufactured to the exact measurements of their body. Or the amazement when every last stitch and button is perfectly tailored to their preferences, and theirs only.

👌 unspun guarantees perfection, which means a full refund if they’re anything less. Tweaks and adjustments are on them, too. And right now, you can save $50 on jeans by giving an unspun gift kit, and they’ll throw in a FREE tote bag as well.

Give someone that perfect jeans feeling and get $50 off, PLUS a free tote bag.

• ☝️ Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s 12,000-sq ft penthouse in the Bahamas’ capital city of Nassau was listed for sale at $39.9 million this week; the apartment reportedly housed SBF’s inner circle of 10 roommates who helped him run FTX (and were reportedly also romantically entangled).

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏛️ The SEC imposed a record $6.44 billion in total monetary penalties over the past fiscal year, a 67% jump from the previous year.
• 🇬🇧 Annual inflation in the UK rose to 11.1% last month, up from 10.1% in September, per new data published yesterday; it’s the country’s highest rate since 1981.
• 💄 Cosmetics giant Estée Lauder agreed to buy Tom Ford for $2.3 billion on Tuesday in the largest luxury deal of the year; the acquisition propelled designer/filmmaker Tom Ford to billionaire status.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 💻 Netflix introduced a new account management tool that gives users the ability to remove access privileges from specific devices (aka a tool for kicking your ex off your account).
• ​​🏏 Major League Cricket, a US-based professional cricket league, will launch its inaugural season in July 2023; cricket is the world’s second-most popular sport.
• ⚾ Astros pitcher Justin Verlander won the AL Cy Young award yesterday; Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara won the NL Cy Young.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🌌 Wormholes – hypothetical tunnels linking one part of the universe to another – may be hiding in plain sight in the form of black holes, per new peer-reviewed research from physicists at Sofia University in Bulgaria.
• 💉 A new experimental vaccine developed by University of Houston scientists blocks fentanyl's effect on the brain, but leaves other opioids alone.
• 💍🦟 German scientists have developed a wearable ring that can repel mosquitoes for well over a week.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🏛️ The House passed a bipartisan bill yesterday limiting the use of non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements in sexual harassment cases; it now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature.
• 🗳️ Republicans officially won control of the House after clinching their 218th seat, the AP called last night; separately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was reelected to serve as the chamber's Republican leader for the next two years. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🐍 Cobra bites boy, boy bites it back (the boy was fine, the snake wasn’t).

Yesterday, we covered former President Donald Trump announcing his 2024 presidential candidacy.

❓ Our question to you: Do you agree with Trump’s decision to run in 2024?

• 👍 Yes: 12%
• 👎 No: 78%
• 🤷‍♀️ Unsure/other: 10%

See the full 360° view.

+Note on sample size: We received 11,960 responses.

We bring you the most unusual, off-the-wall and occasionally laugh-out-loud headlines from this week.

• Lost dog 'hands itself in' at Loughborough Police Station → (BBC)
• Texas homeowner says 'hooker' ghosts have taken over rental property: 'They're trying to stir up business' → (Fox News)
• Police in Arizona warn against buying owls from strangers while on drugs → (KTAR)
• 1970s sandals worn by Steve Jobs auctioned for $218K → (APNews)
• Bear's popcorn theft from van caught on camera in Tennessee → (UPI)

CROWDSOURCED

Have you ever encountered a glitch in the matrix, quirky animal behavior, or even just a hilarious first grader? Tell us about it here for a chance to be featured in next Thursday’s newsletter.

👩 Who: Nikki L. from Charleston, SC

💬 The experience: One time when I was about 16, I was waiting at a lone bus stop. After some time of waiting, this car pulls up and out comes a giant man who just starts dancing for a cool 15 seconds before taking off. I still wonder if he's out there dancing on unsuspecting strangers...

P.S. Don’t forget to share your odd or hilarious experience with us here.

The 22nd Annual Mighty Texas Dog Walk was held last weekend, featuring hundreds of Austin-based pups and their owners walking a mile together. 

• The event, which claims 10 Guinness World Records over its two-decade-long history, aims to raise money for Service Dogs Inc.

🖍🐶 The doggiest day in Texas... This year, the Mighty Dog Walk broke the record for the world's largest coloring book. 

• The book measured 195 square feet and was placed near the finish line for participants to help complete. It took more than 500 markers to color in its 15-by-13-foot pages.

Which South-Asian country has the most active volcanoes in the world?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

👆 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 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: Indonesia