Good morning. If you're anything like us, you're probably freaking out about everything you have to do before the holidays – buy gifts, finish work, learn how to play the ukulele so you can impress everyone at Christmas, etc. You know, the classics.

But you know what we just realized? Some deadlines – like for gifts – can’t move, but others sure can. Who cares if you finish something on Jan. 10 instead of Dec. 23? We sure don't. We here at The DONUT love you no matter what. In fact, we might love you just a little more if you don’t finish everything and – get this – actually enjoy the time leading up to holidays🤯.

So give yourself a break, chill out, and remember to heed the three L’s probably hanging somewhere on your wall (live-laugh-love).

Now let's dive into some news!

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.95 minutes to read.

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”

–Sun Tzu (544 BC – 496 BC)

The Federal Reserve’s policy-making committee unanimously voted to raise interest rates by 0.5% yesterday in an effort to tame inflation, which increased 7.2% year-over-year in November.

🏦 More details… The Fed’s decision breaks a string of four consecutive 0.75% rate hikes, which marked the central bank’s most aggressive pace of monetary policy tightening since the early 1980s (the last time inflation was this high).

Benchmark interest rates are now set at a range between 4.25% and 4.5%. That’s their highest level since 2007, and up from near-zero as recently as March.

• In the Fed’s official statement, published yesterday, a majority of officials said they support further raising interest rates to between 5% and 5.5% by early next year.

📈 Big picture: Like securing a first date with your forever crush, interest rate hikes are a big deal, affecting borrowing costs across the entire US economy. Some notable examples:

• The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has nearly doubled since January (3.29% → 6.49%).
• The yield on a two-year US Treasury bond has increased from 0.73% at the start of the year to 4.41% in December.
• Average credit card interest rates are sitting at 19.6%, up from 16.3% in February.

📊 The market reacts: Stocks rose early in the day, but fell in choppy trading after the Fed’s decision was released. They ultimately closed down across the board. (Dow: -0.4% | S&P: -0.6% | Nasdaq: -0.8%)

🇪🇺 Apple is preparing to allow third-party app stores on its devices in the EU, per Bloomberg. The move comes in response to the EU’s new Digital Markets Act, which requires all tech companies valued at $80+ billion with 45+ million monthly users to open up its platform to third-party developers. As part of the reportedly planned change, Apple customers in Europe would be able to install apps without using the App Store, which takes a 15%-30% cut on all transactions.

🇨🇳🇷🇺 Chinese President Xi Jinping has reportedly instructed his government to form stronger ties with Russia. Per the WSJ, Xi in recent weeks has ordered officials to: 1) increase Chinese imports of Russian oil, gas, and farm goods, 2) approve more joint energy partnerships in the Arctic, and 3) increase Chinese investment in Russian infrastructure, including railways and ports. Both countries are also reportedly conducting more financial transactions in their own currencies – instead of the euro or dollar, as is typical – in an effort to protect their economies from potential future sanctions.

🇵🇪 Peru declared a 30-day national state of emergency yesterday following a week of mass protests. In recent days, thousands of Peruvians have gathered across dozens of cities calling for the reinstatement of former President Pedro Castillo, with at least seven deaths reported in clashes with police. Last week, Castillo was arrested and replaced as president shortly after he announced plans to dissolve Peru’s legislature and rewrite the constitution, which came hours before a vote to impeach him for alleged corruption. New President Dina Boluarte this week proposed moving the next presidential election up by two years in response to the ongoing protests.

🧠📰 Our friends at Ground News don’t just spoonfeed you news from one angle or based on your browsing history, resulting in you living in an information bubble/echo chamber. They let you view a story through multiple lenses, allowing you to see through the bias in these divisive times instead.

Ground News makes it easy to compare how a single story is framed across the media landscape by arranging things in a clean/intuitive fashion. They put a spotlight on stories that are underreported by both the left and the right, so you can read laterally and determine what’s credible yourself.👍

See all sides of the story and make up your own mind today with Ground News.

Yesterday, the Library of Congress unveiled its annual list of 25 films to be inducted into the National Film Registry (NFR) for preservation. And it’s giving *nostalgia*.

🤔 What is the National Film Registry?... Established with the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, the NFR’s stated purpose is to aggregate and preserve a list of works deemed significant to American culture. Films become eligible for the list 10 years after their release, and the public can nominate movies for consideration each year. The final 25 are then chosen by the Librarian of Congress.

• One interesting thing: The NFPA of 1988 – passed in an era notably absent of streaming platforms – came about after several prominent filmmakers and industry players, including Frank Capra and Martin Scorsese, advocated for Congress to enact a film preservation bill in order to avoid commercial modifications of classic films (including editing for TV), which they saw as negative.

📽 This year’s inductees: Include the list’s most recent film (Pariah, released in 2011), one of the list’s oldest films (Mardi Gras Carnival, 1898), as well as classics like Hairspray, When Harry Met Sally, House Party, The Little Mermaid, and Iron Man, aka the film that kicked off the MCU as we know it. Here’s the full list.

📝🍿 NFR fun facts: This year's additions bring the total number of films in the Registry to 850. And of that overall list, only Raging Bull was inducted prior to the 10-year release minimum – while six other films, including Goodfellas, Toy Story, and Freedom Riders, were inducted right at the 10-year mark.

The US government is preparing for a major SWOT analysis – but probably not the kind you’re familiar with. NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is set to launch a high-tech weather satellite into space later today, where it’ll perform the first-ever global survey of Earth’s surface water.

The $1.2 billion initiative, which aims to gather detailed information about oceans, lakes, and rivers and how they change over time, is a joint effort between NASA and France’s space agency.

But SWOT isn’t just about discovering the shape of water (🐟👱‍♂️). A major component of the mission is exploring how oceans absorb atmospheric heat and CO2. This natural process impacts global temperatures and sea levels. And soon we’ll have a whole lot more data on how.

• Once the SWOT satellite reaches orbit tomorrow afternoon, the SUV-sized spacecraft is expected to transmit ~1 terabyte of climate data back to Earth each day.

🌐 Looking ahead… NASA climate data-gathering missions are like the Mission Impossible franchise – there’s always another one on the horizon. The space agency is set to launch its $1.5 billion NISAR satellite next month, which features radar sensors able to detect movements of the Earth’s land, ice sheets, and sea ice as small as 0.4 inches. That craft is expected to transmit 80 terabytes of data per day.

💬 Quoted…​​ “The eight defendants have, for years, promoted themselves as trustworthy stock-picking gurus. In reality, they are seasoned stock manipulators.”

• The DOJ and SEC charged seven social media influencers yesterday with using Twitter and Discord to perpetuate an alleged pump-and-dump stock scheme, and an eighth for aiding and abetting the scheme by promoting these "skilled traders" on his podcast. The group illegally earned over $100 million, the charges allege.

🚫✈️ Number of the Day: 25 = the minimum number of Twitter accounts suspended yesterday for tracking the planes of government agencies, billionaires, and high-profile individuals. They include an account that tracked the flight patterns of Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who said last night that the suspensions were handed down for “doxxing real-time locations.”

🤯 Did You Know?... Pac-Man earned an estimated $6 billion worth of quarters in its third year of release (1982). That's more than the combined amount of money spent in Vegas casinos and US movie theaters that year.

📖 Worth a Read: The woman who made online dating into a science → (The Atlantic)

🫖🌿 Kratom tea has been used for centuries (possibly millennia) by people in Thailand and nearby regions. Traditionally it has been consumed for energy, although it is often consumed to help with physical discomfort, as well as uplifting and balancing your mood.

You may have seen kratom extracts/powders, but our friends at Top Tree Herbs believe kratom is best consumed with traditional methods – brewing tea with kratom leaves. FYI: different types of kratom leaves are brewed for different purposes:

• White vein kratom helps energy/mood
• Use red vein kratom for its relaxation/bodily effects
• While green veins provide a happy medium.

Also, smaller servings of kratom tea tend to be energizing, while larger servings may even help support pain relief. Oftentimes it’s consumed casually while socializing!

🏃‍♀️😊 If you’re looking for a caffeine alternative that can help with energy/mood/relaxation, check out Top Tree Herbs kratom teas! They contain AKA cGMP-certified kratom – meaning you’re getting the highest quality kratom tea on the market.

Learn more at Top Tree Herbs.

• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the best book covers of 2022, as chosen by some of the industry’s best cover designers.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💸 The SEC advanced a series of rules yesterday aimed at leveling the playing field for retail investors; the measures would represent some of the biggest changes to the US stock market since the mid-2000s, per multiple reports; they’ll now move to public comment for about three months, after which the agency can finalize them.
• 🍿📽 AMC Theatres is launching a credit card in early 2023.
• 🪙 Crypto exchange Binance recorded as much as $3 billion in net withdrawals over a 24-hour period ending Tuesday, per data firm Nansen.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚽🏆 The World Cup final is set: France will face off against Argentina on Sunday at 10 am ET after beating Morocco 2-0 yesterday. | Grant Wahl, the soccer journalist who passed away last Saturday while covering the World Cup, died of an aortic aneurysm, his wife confirmed yesterday.
• 👑🍿 Harry & Meghan racked up 81.5 million viewing hours in its first four days, Netflix reported Tuesday, making it the streamer’s biggest documentary debut to date. | TÁR was named the Best Movie of 2022, per IndieWire’s annual survey of 165 critics.
• 🏒 Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin became the third player in NHL history to reach 800 goals after scoring a hat trick Tuesday night.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 NotCo, a Chilean food company that uses AI to build plant-based recipes, raised a $70 million funding round valuing the company at $1.5 billion; the funds will be used to create a new B2B platform.
• 🚶 Human bipedalism, aka walking upright on two legs, may have evolved in trees – not on the ground as previously thought – per a new study published yesterday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🏛️ The Senate unanimously passed a bill yesterday that would ban all federal employees from downloading or using TikTok on government devices over national security concerns. (Background) | The House passed a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown, which is currently on track to occur tomorrow.
• 🗳️📊 Two recent polls from the WSJ and USA Today/Suffolk show Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of former President Donald Trump by double-digits in a hypothetical 2024 presidential primary matchup; the last time we covered a similar poll in mid-November Trump had a 47-33 lead over DeSantis.

CLICKBAIT

• 🖼️ This virtual art gallery displays 34 new pieces every day.

On Tuesday, we covered how ChatGPT – the internet’s buzziest AI chatbot – actually works, as well as some of its potential applications.

❓ Our question to you (long-form): How do you see AI technology like ChatGPT changing your professional life?

🗣️ Answers: “As a high school English teacher, I see the ChatGPT as a huge opportunity for kids to cheat and skip out on learning important skills, including critical thinking.”

• “I'm a software engineer. Currently, software solutions created by ChatGPT have turned out to be rather primitive. As such, I don't think I'm in any real danger of losing my job to an AI – at least in the near term. But I can foresee a time when many run-of-the-mill software jobs morph into knowing how to properly instruct an AI to get the result you need, rather than actually writing the code itself.”

“As a virtual high school English teacher, I am curious to see how education evolves to address the negative implications of ChatGPT, so I can get back to helping students read, learn, and use language in a way that’s meaningful and intellectually challenging.”

+Note on sample size: We received 319 long-form responses.

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

• For the first time ever, no British fans were arrested at the World Cup → (USA Today)
• Samsung reportedly ditches Samsung, will rely on Samsung for future Samsung chips → (Android Authority)
• Skiing Santas shred slopes for annual event in Maine → (UPI)
• Deputy dressed as Grinch gives onions to speeding drivers → (APNews)

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: Chris M. from Marinette, WI

💬 The experience: One evening in Mississippi when I was nine years old, I was playing with my friend in his yard and i saw a matte black ufo in the sky with orange circular lights on each corner. And the corners were round, not pointy. After a few minutes, it flew off into the distance.

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

When Yasushi “Yassan” Takahashi decided he wanted to propose to his girlfriend Natsuki, he didn't realize he would grab a Guinness World Record in the process. 

📍🚗 Talk about commitment... He knew he wanted to make it epic, so the Japanese man quit his job and spent the next six months driving 4000+ miles across Japan with a GPS tracking device in his car. 

• At the end of his journey, Yasushi pulled up his route on Google Maps. The result was nothing short of impressive 🤯⬆️. 

🗺 Bucket-list trip: Prior to the journey, Yasushi had never left Tokyo. The trip allowed him to discover new places and climates he had only ever read about in books. 

• Guinness World Records even awarded him the title of largest ever piece of GPS art. 

💍❤️ Worth the journey... Don't worry, Natsuki said yes in a heartbeat. 

You're looking at an island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island. If your brain has finished melting, can you name the island country where this occurs?

(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.👇

The Philippines – Lake Taal on the island of Luzon.