Good morning. Given the popularity of our Monday intro about Bambi: The Reckoning, a horror movie with an… interesting (and now completely legal) take on the Disney original, we've made a very real and not-at-all-rash decision to 🥁🥁🥁 launch a film studio!

So without further ado, allow us to present the DONUT Studios’ film slate for 2023:

• Revenge Of The Little Women
• Peter Pan Is Super Old
• The Hardy Boyz Do Crimes
• The Sun No Longer Rises
• Popeye The Sailorman… Is Unemployed
• The Gatsby Who Honestly Wasn't All That Great

What about y’all – got any ideas for updating a classic from the public domain? Hit reply and share a laugh with us. We’ll shout out our favs in an upcoming newsletter.

⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.88 minutes to read.

“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”

–Vince Lombardi (1913-1970)

Job seekers without a college degree, get ready for some good news. According to an analysis by the Burning Glass Institute, a think tank that studies the intersection of learning and work, 41% of current US job postings require a college degree, down from 46% at the start of 2019.

And looking ahead, Burning Glass projects an additional 1.4 million jobs will open up for workers without college degrees over the next five years.

⏩ Driving the trend… Demand for workers is high, and unemployment is low. There have been roughly 2x as many job openings as unemployed workers in America over the past 11 months, a record-high since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking that data in 2002.

The end result? Stiff competition for workers, leading many large employers to rethink degree requirements for some jobs.

• Notable examples include Google, Bank of America, Delta, IBM, Accenture, and Dell, as well as the state governments of Colorado, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

📸 Big picture: More than 60% of Americans over the age of 25 don’t have a bachelor’s degree, per the latest Census Bureau data. And ​​nationwide college enrollment, already on the decline pre-pandemic, has fallen by an additional 1.5 million students since early 2020.

• On the flip side, an estimated 70+ million Americans – half of the working population – have learned job-relevant skills through alternative routes like trade school, workforce training, or community college, per nonprofit Opportunity@Work.

📊 Flash poll: Do you have a bachelor’s degree or above? (Click a link below to record your vote + see some follow-up questions.)

Yes

No

🇨🇳 China yesterday launched three astronauts into orbit with the task of completing the construction of the country’s new space station. The launch marks the first time astronauts already aboard the Tiangong space station – basically China’s version of the ISS – will be met by a crew arriving from Earth. In an interview following the launch, government officials said Beijing’s next major goal is to put astronauts on the moon for the first time.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Christians now comprise less than half of the population of England and Wales for the first time, per new census data. Around 46% of the population of England and Wales described themselves as Christian on the day of the 2021 census, down from 59% a decade earlier. The second most common response was “no religion,” at 37% – up from 25% in 2011. Muslims and Hindus both saw a slight uptick in proportional representation over the past decade.

🇺🇦 The US announced $53 million in new funding to help restore Ukraine’s power grid. Russia has launched hundreds of missile strikes in recent weeks targeting critical infrastructure across Ukraine, causing millions of residents to lose access to power and running water. Separately, Russian analysts told CNBC that anxiety is rising in Moscow over how the war is progressing, and that “losing is not an option” for President Vladimir Putin.

🥇 Just one. Ground News makes it easy to compare how a single story is being framed across the media landscape. They put a spotlight on stories that are underreported by both the Left and the Right, and don't use your browsing history to show you content you already agree with.

Join Ground News today and get 40% off the top-tier Vantage plan. Black Friday sale ends Dec 2nd!⌛

The movie Glass Onion, Netflix’s sequel to Knives Out, completed its limited theatrical run last night. To quickly recap: the movie debuted in 600 AMC, Regal, and Cinemark theaters over Thanksgiving weekend, where it was shown for one week – and one week only.

So if you haven’t seen the film, which currently has a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the only way to watch it now is to have a Netflix login after December 23.

Official box office numbers aren’t available, but the movie reportedly grossed between $13–$15 million during the seven days it was out. And per analysts, that number could’ve safely reached $30+ million – as well as $200+ million over its entire theatrical run – had the film’s release included the traditional studio marketing push and wider theatrical release on thousands of screens.

🤔 So, why pull it from theaters?... For the time-being, the streaming giant is laser-focused on selling and retaining subscriptions, per co-CEO Ted Sarandos. And Glass Onion’s limited theatrical run is a good way to generate buzz around the movie, similar to an “underplay” in the music industry, when an act is purposely booked to play smaller-than-usual venues to drive anticipation and PR for an upcoming album release or tour.

Plus, Director Rian Johnson reportedly pushed for live audiences to see the movie… and when you shell out a reported $450 million for the franchise, it’s probably important to keep its creator happy.

The US Men’s soccer team defeated Iran 1–0 yesterday to advance to the knockout stage of the World Cup, aka the round of 16, for the first time since 2014 (and seventh time overall).

⚽️ A deeper dive: The only “GOALLLLLL” America needed to secure yesterday's victory was scored in the 38th minute by Christian Pulisic, who collided with Iran's goaltender in the process. He was taken to the hospital, with the team later saying he had suffered a pelvic contusion and his status was day-to-day.

The win was the USMNT’s 3rd match (1W, 2D) of the World Cup, which has been a historic one for the team overall.

• America has allowed its fewest total number of goals in the group stage since 1930 (1 vs Wales).
• It’s also the first time in 92 years that the US has gotten two shutouts in a World Cup.

👀 Looking ahead… The US’ next match is against the Netherlands on Saturday. With a win, the USMNT would advance to the quarterfinal round for the first time since 2002.

And if they win again, earning a trip to the semifinals, it'll be America’s first time in the final four since the inaugural World Cup in 1930. Though this year, the stakes are even higher: in addition to $42 million in prize money, Budweiser announced last week that the tournament winner gets every drop of beer the company’s not allowed to serve in Qatar.

💬 Quoted…​​ “I cannot emphasize enough what a breakthrough this paper is.”

A universal flu vaccine that protects against all 20 known strains could be available within the next two years, per the authors of a new study published last week in Science.

• Fun fact: Their experimental flu shot uses the same mRNA technology as successful Covid vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

🤑 Stat of the Day: The average date night in the US costs $98, according to dating app Zoosk.

🤯 Did You Know?... The South Pacific island nation of Niue uses legal tender coins featuring characters from Mickey Mouse, Star Wars, Pokémon, Peanuts, and more.

📖 Worth a Read: The Hibernator’s Guide to the Galaxy → (WIRED)

• ☝️ The Lopburi province of Thailand just celebrated its annual Monkey Feast Festival, held each year to show gratitude to the monkeys for bringing in tourism.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🚘 Tesla’s market share of new registered EVs in the US stood at 65% through the third quarter, down from 71% last year, per S&P Global Mobility.
• 🏘️📉 US home prices fell for the third straight month in September, but still came in 10.6% higher than last year, per the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index.
• 🛍️ A record 196.7 million Americans shopped in stores and online over the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday; that’s nearly 17 million more shoppers than last year and the highest figure since the National Retail Federation began tracking it in 2017. (Background)

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 👻 Wednesday now holds the record for most hours viewed in a week for an English-language TV series on Netflix, beating out Stranger Things Season 4.
• 🎶 Apple Music users can now access a recap of what they’ve listened to this year with Apple Music Replay; the company also announced the top global song of 2022 ("Stay" by The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber), and the top global artist (Bad Bunny).
• 🏈 The second-to-last College Football Playoff rankings were revealed yesterday; Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and USC currently occupy the four playoff spots.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• ☄️ At least two minerals never-before-seen on Earth were discovered when researchers analyzed a piece of a 16.5-ton meteorite unearthed in east Africa in 2020.
• 🐶🎮 UK-based startup Joipaw is creating video games that provide health benefits to the brains of older dogs.
• 🩹 A wireless smart bandage developed by an international group of researchers can make a serious wound heal 25% faster than conventional methods, per a new study published in Nature.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🙏 Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA) unexpectedly died of colorectal cancer on Monday at the age of 61 less than a month after being reelected; his seat will be vacant until a special election is held.
• 🏛️ The Senate voted 61-36 to officially approve a bill enshrining same-sex and interracial marriage into law, with 12 Republicans joining the entire Democratic caucus; the measure now heads to the House before it can end up on Biden’s desk. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 📜 The oldest logos that still exist in the world.

Tariq, aka the Corn Kid, spent his Thanksgiving donating thousands of cans of his beloved vegetable to people in need. 

🌽🎶 A star is born... Tariq went viral earlier this year, when a video of him confessing his deep love of corn garnered millions of views online. 

• The seven-year-old now has over 850,000 followers, and his original video was later made into a popular sound on TikTok.

🥰 Spreading the love (of corn): Tariq spent his holiday joining nonprofit City Harvest in loading up and distributing 50,000 cans of corn to people in NYC.

Can you decode these movie titles written with emojis?

1. 🐺👨‍💼🤑
2. 🍳☕🥯♣️
3. 🌊👨👨👨👨👨👨👨👨👨👨👨👩

(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.👇

1. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
2. The Breakfast Club (1985)
3. Ocean’s Twelve (2004)