Good morning. If you know any Swifties, now may be a good time to give ‘em a comforting hug. Technical glitches on Ticketmaster’s website earlier in the week rendered millions of T-Swift fans unable to purchase presale tickets to the artist’s Eras tour, her first in five years. And then yesterday, Ticketmaster (the only direct seller) canceled its public sale of tickets for the tour. Which was supposed to begin today.

But there may be a glimmer of hope for some. Variety, citing an unnamed source, reports the tickets that were supposed to go on sale today could end up going to people who experienced delays or problems earlier in the week. Though as of this writing, that information hasn’t been confirmed.

In today’s edition:

• ⚽ The World Cup is set to begin
• 🤔 Did all of Earth’s water originate from off-planet?
• 🔭😯 James Webb’s new hourglass photo

… and more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.82 minutes to read.

“Actions are the seeds of fate. Deeds grow into destiny.”

–Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)

Get ready to see more kicking than a bass drum – and more flopping than a fishing competition. The 2022 FIFA World Cup officially begins on Sunday, kicking off a month-long tournament that’s projected to draw more than 5 billion unique viewers around the world, an all-time record for any single event.

This year also marks the first time the World Cup will be played in the Middle East, as well as the first time it’ll take place in November and December (due to the hot climate).

⚽ Here’s how it works: The World Cup features 32 national teams, split into eight groups of four. The top two teams from each group then advance to the knockout stage, which is a winner-take-all bracket.

• Beginning on Sunday, every day through December 7 will feature at least one game of soccer. The tournament’s final match is set for December 18.

✋ But it’s not all fun and games… Qatar’s World Cup hosting has been dogged by controversy around hosting the World Cup ever since it won the rights in late 2010.

• Journalists, lawmakers, and eventually the DOJ have all accused the country of securing the bid by bribing more than half of the FIFA officials who participated in the vote.
• Human rights orgs reported that thousands of migrant workers died or were severely injured while building the infrastructure for Qatar to host the World Cup.
• More recently, some players and activist groups have expressed concern over the country’s strict ban on homosexuality.

👀 Looking ahead… More than 1.2 million soccer fans are expected to visit Qatar over the next month, a number representing ~50% of the country’s entire population. And, uh, maybe don’t expect too many videos.

📊 Flash poll: Do you agree with FIFA’s decision to hold the World Cup in Qatar?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

🇬🇧 The UK announced its largest tax increases and spending cuts in a decade yesterday. The new strategy differs widely from the budget proposed by former PM Liz Truss in October, which caused backlash ultimately leading to her resignation. The measures, which add up to ~$66 billion in extra gov’t revenue, include a two-year freeze on income tax thresholds and a lowering of the top income tax rate to ~$150,000.

🇷🇺 Russia’s economy has fallen into a technical recession after six months of GDP decline. The news, announced Wednesday by Russian officials, comes eight months after Moscow first invaded Ukraine. A boost in government spending and Russia’s ability to divert exports to “friendly” nations like China and India have helped offset most of the damage from Western sanctions over the war, per Bloomberg. Russian central bank officials said the worst part of the current economic downturn will likely occur early next year.

🇳🇱 A Dutch court convicted three men of murder yesterday for causing a plane crash that killed 298 people in 2014. The convictions, along with life sentences in prison, were handed down in absentia to three members of a Russian-backed Ukrainian separatist group. They were accused of mistaking the plane for a military aircraft and shooting it down as it traveled from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The separatists group has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, though Moscow officials denied any connection to the crash.

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California just wrapped up one of its slowest wildfire seasons in years, per the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. 362,403 acres had been burned through Monday, compared with 2.6 million over the same period in 2021.

It's not the only state to have seen a dramatic drop, either. Across Nevada, Utah, and parts of Idaho and Wyoming, 423,345 acres were burned this year, compared with a five-year annual average of 1.2 million. And in Arizona, 160,770 acres were scorched versus 524,428 last year.

🤔🔥 So, what’s going on?... While Adele sets fire to the rain, in this instance the exact opposite is happening – rain is setting out the fire. Most of the West is still experiencing drought conditions, but there was more precipitation this year than in recent years. According to the US Drought Monitor, 69% of the West is currently experiencing drought conditions, down from 91% a year ago.

Mother Nature’s waterworks also came at some fortuitous times.

• Like when it slowed down the 341,735 acre Hermit Creek-Calf Canyon Fire in New Mexico. The fire destroyed hundreds of homes, but firefighters initially feared it was going to do more damage.
• Or in California, when remnants of Hurricane Kay provided rare September rains to help corral both the Fairview and Mosquito fires, which were raging at the time.

Though another weather bailout isn’t likely next year. A slow fire year is usually followed by a big one, meteorologist Gina Palma told the WSJ.

🐟 In other environmental news: The biggest dam removal in US history was officially approved yesterday. The driving reason? To save salmon.

A 4.6 billion-year-old meteorite that crashed into a driveway in England last year contained some of the most compelling evidence to date that Earth’s water originally came from asteroids, per a new study published yesterday in Science Advances.

☄️ Let’s start at the beginning: When a giant fireball lit up the night sky over the small village of Winchcombe in late February 2021, it left piles of dark stones and powder scattered across gardens, driveways, and local fields.

And just like every alien movie ever, scientists and astronomers quickly issued an appeal to collect as many fragments of the meteorite as possible before they could degrade. Fortunately local residents answered the call, working with authorities to gather over a pound’s worth of fresh extraterrestrial material for analysis.

🔬 So, what did they find?... Up to 11% of the meteorite’s weight was made up of water – and the molecules in that water are a near-perfect match for those on Earth. More specifically, the ratio of different types of hydrogen atoms (aka isotopes) in the water are practically identical.

• The study lends credence to the leading theory that water first arrived on Earth via icy meteoroids from the outer regions of the solar system billions of years ago.

💬 Quoted…​​ “Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information.”

• New FTX CEO John Ray, who also led the restructuring of Enron following its collapse, revealed in a bankruptcy filing yesterday that the crypto exchange lacks adequate accounting, HR, cybersecurity, and auditing teams. He also condemned founder Sam Bankman-Fried and his management team for what Ray described as lackadaisical controls on systems and regulatory compliance.

📖 Stat of the Day: Some 500 words were added to the official Scrabble dictionary by Merriam-Webster yesterday for the first time since 2018. Notable examples include subtweet, adorbs, matcha, vax, and zonkey.

🤯 Did You Know?... In traffic crashes, motorcyclists are killed almost 28x more frequently than occupants of passenger cars, per NHTSA data from 2020.

📖 Worth a Read: The inside story of how Facebook designed the like button—and made social media into a popularity contest → (Fast Company)

But tomorrow is the official day!🥳🙌

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Shop The WMarketplace this Women's Entrepreneurship Day (and every day).

• ☝️ NASA’s James Webb telescope published an image yesterday showing a star in its earliest stage of formation; the “protostar” is hidden from view at the neck of the hourglass formation.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• ☕ About 2,000 Starbucks workers staged a one-day strike yesterday; it spanned across 100+ stores in 25 states.
• 📝 Applications to form new businesses in the US are still ~45% higher than pre-pandemic numbers, per new US Census Bureau data.
• 🔋🤑 General Motors told investors it expects EV profits to be comparable to gas vehicles by 2025, several years ahead of its previously projected timeline.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 The Bills-Browns NFL game this Sunday was relocated to Detroit due to an upcoming snowstorm in upstate New York.
• 🎮 Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and all other Activision Blizzard games were pulled from China yesterday after the company was unable to agree on new terms with NetEase.
• ⚾ Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge was named the AL MVP yesterday after setting the league’s single-season home run record; Cardinals first-baseman Paul Goldschmit won the NL MVP.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 👍🍖 The FDA gave its first safety sign-off to lab-grown meat on Wednesday, though the product – lab-grown chicken from startup Upside Foods – still needs to pass other tests before it can be sold to the public.
• 🦖 Tyrannosaurus rex may have been up to 70% bigger than current fossils suggest, per new research presented at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's annual conference in Toronto.
• 🤖 Note-taking software company Notion is debuting a private alpha of a new AI-powered software tool that generates actual writing, like a blog post, sales email, or personal letter.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• ✈️ Close to 55 million Americans will travel during Thanksgiving weekend, just shy of pre-pandemic levels, per a new AAA report. | The best and worst airports of 2022, as ranked by the WSJ.
• 🏛️ Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes will be sentenced today for charges of fraud, which carry a max sentence of 20 years in prison.
• ⚖️ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said yesterday that she won’t seek reelection as the Democratic leader in the chamber, which will be led by Republicans for the next two years. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• ☀️ This insane video will make you believe there's a serpent inside the Sun.

PSA: Our weekly news quiz is live. Ace it, and we just might buy you a cookie.😉

Take the quiz here.

Van Gogh is a 7-year-old pitbull mix who was rescued from a dogfighting ring over the summer. 

• Despite his traumatic past, which resulted in him losing an ear, Van Gogh is a sweet and gentle pup who's spent the last few months waiting for his forever home. 

🎨🐶 The name isn't just because of the ear... Van Gogh is also a talented artist. The dog has "painted" one-of-a-kind art pieces that are currently up for auction on his shelter's website. 

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Butter
• Brown sugar
• Molasses
• Egg
• Pure vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Ginger
• Cinnamon
• Allspice
• Cloves
• Icing

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Speck
• Red onion
• Garlic
• Chili flakes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Basil
• Penne
• Grated pecorino

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Olive oil
• Beef
• Onions
• Carrots
• Celery
• Garlic
• Tomato puree
• Red wine
• Beef stock
• Worcestershire sauce
• Thyme
• Bay leaves
• Potatoes
• Milk
• Butter
• Cheddar
• Nutmeg

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 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.👇

☝️ Recipe #1: Gingerbread cookies

✌️ Recipe #2: Pasta all'amatriciana

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Cottage pie