Good morning. Friendly PSA for those who filed a tax extension: your 2022 return is due today. And to those who started having a panic attack after reading the previous sentence – good luck🫡.

Some other things you’ll know after finishing this newsletter:

• 💥 The latest on the Israel-Hamas conflict
• 🤔 What the “tampon tax” means
• 😬 How much Americans failed to pay in taxes, according to the IRS

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.72-minute read.

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"Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."

–John Wooden (1910-2010)

In Friday’s DONUT Holes section, we mistakenly said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is from Arizona, when she actually governs the state of New Mexico. Apologies for any confusion.

Note: This is the 44th correction out of the 450 newsletters we've published since January 2022.

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas officially entered its second week on Saturday. Here’s what you need to know:

✈️ Israel continued its airstrikes on Gaza, while fending off an outside attack. Israel carried out retaliatory airstrikes yesterday against several Lebanon-based militant groups (including Hezbollah), after they launched at least six strikes into Israeli territory from the northern border.

In the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military has dropped more than 6,000 bombs on nearly 3,000 targets since the war began on October 7, killing more than 2,300 Palestinians – including a Hamas commander responsible for this month’s surprise attack – and injuring nearly 10,000 others.

• Officials over the weekend confirmed at least 1,400 Israelis were killed and 155 others were taken captive in the Hamas attack nine days ago, which marks the worst single-day death toll for Jews since the Holocaust.

📝 Israel’s military is preparing for a ground invasion of Gaza. While an official decision has yet to be announced, Israeli planes dropped leaflets over northern Gaza on Friday telling an estimated 1.1 million Palestinians – or half of the region’s population – to evacuate their homes within 24 hours and relocate to the south.

• The evacuation order from Israel received immediate backlash from the UN and international human rights groups, which warned a forced relocation of that size would have "devastating humanitarian consequences."
• Israel ultimately walked back the 24-hour deadline on Friday evening, but said it was still committed to the overall evacuation plan.
• Hamas has called on Palestinians living in northern Gaza to ignore Israel’s evacuation order, though the militant group hasn’t prevented any residents from leaving.

🇵🇸 The humanitarian situation in Gaza is worsening. The UN warned that hospitals across Gaza had an estimated 48 hours of backup power remaining as of late Saturday, with any shutdown threatening the lives of thousands of patients. UN officials also said all Gaza residents will be forced to drink dirty water for the foreseeable future, after treatment plants ran out of fuel over the weekend due to an Israeli-imposed embargo.

📊 Flash poll: We asked for your initial reactions to the Israel-Hamas conflict on Friday (keep scrolling down to read them). But if you feel compelled to share more thoughts on the unfolding situation, you can do so below.

• Click here to leave a response.

🇵🇱 Poland held parliamentary elections over the weekend. Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party is seeking a third consecutive four-year term at the helm of the country’s government, which hasn’t been accomplished since Poland left the Soviet Union in 1991. Candidates focused on a wide range of key issues leading up to yesterday’s elections, including Poland’s future in the EU, how to handle Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, economic equality, abortion access, and LGBTQ+ rights.

🇬🇷🫒 Greece has seen a recent uptick in olive oil heists. Olive oil prices in Greece have risen by 200% over the past year, leaving many residents scrambling for an ingredient that’s long been a dietary staple. In recent months, thieves across Greece have broken into remote villages in search of oil, raided graveyards where priests keep olive oil for use in lamps, and most recently, snatched 37 tons of olive oil worth nearly $400,000 from a cooperative in eastern Greece.

🇬🇧⚡ The UK launched the first large-scale renewable energy network that uses flooded mining tunnels. The UK is home to a sprawling network of retired mining tunnels, which can be found beneath ~25% of all homes within the country. Following decades of disuse, the coal mines gradually flooded with over 2 billion cubic meters of warm water, with temperatures reaching up to 113°F. Over the past six months, a new extraction system built by the former UK coal town of Gateshead has successfully heated hundreds of local homes and businesses using only warm mine water.

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Last week, with the panache of a group of angry citizens throwing tea into an ocean harbor, eight period-care brands formed a coalition to reimburse any of their customers who pay the “tampon tax.”

What is the tampon tax?... The phrase refers to the sales tax levied on menstrual products, which are often taxed similarly to luxury items rather than being exempt from state sales tax, such as other necessities like medicine. Critics say this is discriminatory against women.

But, if you listen closely, you should be able to hear the winds of change. As recently as a decade ago, 41 states taxed menstrual products – now, that number is down to 21. And in most of those 21 states, consumers now have the "Tampon Tax Back" campaign to fall back on.

• How to claim the reimbursement: Consumers who go to the Tampon Tax Back coalition’s website within 10 days of purchase and submit their receipt will be reimbursed via Venmo within 24 hours (clarifying note: the originally purchased product must be from one of the eight brands involved in the coalition).

These aren’t the only companies fighting the “tampon tax,” however. CVS agreed last year to eliminate the sales tax on its branded menstrual and feminine care products in states where absorbing the tax is allowed. At the same time, the company announced it was dropping prices on its private-label period products by 25%.

💬 Quoted… “Porphyras.”

This word, ancient Greek for “purple,” was recently deciphered from a scroll burned 2,000 years ago by the volcano that destroyed Pompeii. This potentially marks the first time in two millennia that these scrolls have been read – and it hasn’t been for lack of trying. After they were discovered in 1752 in a Pompeii-adjacent villa owned by Julius Caesar’s brother-in-law, researchers began trying to peel the scrolls – which are believed to be works of Greek philosophy – apart in order to read the text. Those efforts were largely unsuccessful and resulted in the partial destruction of some of the scrolls.

• But then, AI cracked its knuckles and got to work. A 21-year-old computer science student recently created an artificial intelligence technique that was able to pull the word from the scrolls, earning $40,000 in the process. Bigger awards await those who can interpret longer passages.

🚫🧾 Stat of the Day: $688 billion = the amount of money that Americans failed to pay on their taxes in 2021, per an IRS estimate published Thursday; it marks the highest annual figure in the agency’s history.

🤔 Did You Know?... A 2015 study by the NY Department of Consumer Affairs found that for any given consumer product sold in America, the "women's" version costs 7% more on average than similar products for men.

📰 Worth a Read: The secret to living to 100? It's not good habits → (WSJ)

😋☕️ Rich, chocolatey, and silky smooth… Cocoa Mojo by Enerhealth is a delicious organic cocoa infused with a blend of six medicinal mushrooms to help boost your immune system - just in time for cold and flu season!

This creamy cocoa is:

• 🍄 Full of immune-boosting nutrients, with 100 mg of mushrooms per cup
• 🤎 Sweetened with low glycemic coconut palm sugar (stabilizes energy levels)
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• ☝️ A rare “ring of fire” eclipse took place in certain locations across South and North America on Saturday, in an event that lasted roughly three hours in any given spot.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Paleovalley

• 💰 US markets closed mixed on Friday (S&P: -0.5%; Dow: +0.1%; Nasdaq: -1.2%). | 🤔 There's a 48% chance the US economy could face a recession over the next year, according to economists surveyed for the WSJ's latest quarterly economic report; that’s down from 54% on average in July and the first time they’ve put the probability below 50% since the middle of last year.
• 🏦 JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup all reported better than expected Q3 earnings.
• 🤝 Kaiser Permanente agreed upon a tentative new contract with a frontline healthcare workers union after ~75,000 workers went on strike last week. (Background) | 🚗 The UAW strike keeps escalating. Here’s what could be behind the union’s tactics.

*From our partners: 🐮😊 Clean protein that’s gut-friendly… Paleovalley's 100% Grass-Fed Beef Sticks are the convenient way to nourish your body with nutrient-rich superfoods. Organic spices, naturally fermented, and available in five delicious flavors that kids love, too. Save 15% on Paleovalley here.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• SCOREBOARD: 🏈 CFB: No. 7 Washington outlasted No. 8 Oregon 36-33, while No. 21 Notre Dame beat No. 10 USC 48-20; see other highlights from the weekend (link). | 🏈 NFL: The Browns beat the 49ers on a last-minute field goal, while the Jets handed the Eagles their first loss of the season (full Week 6 recap). | 🏀 WNBA Finals (best of five): The NY Liberty beat the Las Vegas Aces 87-73 yesterday to force a Game 4 on Wednesday; the Aces lead the series 2-1.
• 🎤🍿 Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert movie earned between $95 million and $97 million in its domestic box office debut this weekend, the largest such figure for a concert movie and right around the biggest domestic opening weekend ever in October (Joker at $96.2 million).
• 🗣️🎭 Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said negotiations between the actors guild and Hollywood studios fell apart last week due to an additional “levy” the actors proposed placing on every new streaming subscriber, which would cost studios ~$800 million per year; actors guild leaders say studio heads have “intentionally misrepresented” the proposal’s cost and overstated it by 60%.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Floof

• 💊 Mounjaro, a diabetes drug developed by Eli Lilly & Co., helped obese and overweight patients lose at least a quarter of their body weight – 60 pounds on average – when combined with intensive diet and exercise, per a new study published in Nature Medicine.
• 🫁 Lung cancer, the most deadly form of cancer in the US, affects slightly more young women compared to young men in the same age group, per a new report from the American Cancer Society.
• 🚀☄️ NASA’s Psyche mission, which aims to explore an asteroid of the same name that scientists believe contains quintillions of dollars worth of iron and nickel, successfully launched into space on Friday. (Background)

*From our partners: 🐾🥰 Soothe and heal your pup’s paws and dry areas… Floof's Soothing Cream is the ultimate way to show love to your BFF. Vet-backed formula contains no harsh chemicals and helps prevent infection/discomfort. Save 20% on Floof with code PAWDONUT20.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🎰💰 The winning ticket for the Powerball’s recent $1.73 billion jackpot was sold to a yet-to-be-determined customer at a liquor store in Frazier Park, CA (pop. 2,600).
• 🗳️ Jeff Landry, Louisiana's Republican attorney general, will be the state's 57th governor after winning Saturday’s election. (We got this state right, promise.)
• 🇺🇸🇨🇳 The Biden administration is reportedly planning to announce new restrictions on the sale of AI chips and other equipment to China.

CLICKBAIT

• ❄️ When to expect the first frost based on where you live.

Monday: Ken Burns’ The American Buffalo debuts on PBS

Tuesday: National Mulligan Day

Wednesday: Senate confirmation hearing for Biden’s ambassador to Israel

Thursday: Weekly unemployment claims

Friday: Martin Scorcese’s Killers of the Flower Moon hits theaters nationwide; The Rolling Stones and Blink-182 debut new albums

On Friday, we covered the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, which began after a surprise attack by Hamas two weekends ago.

❓ Our question to you: What are your thoughts on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas?

• “Israel drew a line in the sand, Hamas passed it with soaring disregard for the safety of the people within Gaza - who they purport to represent - and now Israel is responding in a war scenario.”
• “We need to stop associating being anti-Netanyahu and anti-segregation with being antisemitic. The atrocities Israel has been allowed to impose on Palestine leaves no question as to how Hamas has gained power. We sit by and let it happen. (Even fully fund it). The wrong side of history is to blindly support Israel here.”
• “I’m a liberal American Jew who has been staunchly critical of Netanyahu’s far-right government. I try to keep my sanity and retain my moral clarity by clinging to a simple principle: killing innocent civilians is wrong. There is no “greater good” that can justify it. As critical as I am of Israel, what Hamas did this week is clearly worse.”

Click here to read more of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 368 longform responses.

Detroit Nonprofit organization Move For Hunger just broke the world record for most cereal boxes toppled over like dominoes (yes, that's a thing).

🥣 Sometimes all you need is a little push... The nonprofit, whose mission includes "challenging millions of people to confront the issues of hunger and food waste and provide them with opportunities to take action," used the event to collect over 12,000 boxes of cereal. This cereal will now be donated to Forgotten Harvest, as well as Gleaner's Community Food Bank.

🐯 It was grrrrrrreat. Tony the Tiger started the domino chain, which took up the entire Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center. 

• "We just set a world record," said Adam Lowy from Move For Hunger. "More importantly, we’re providing about a half a million meals to those in Michigan and across the United States."

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Bor
2. Cen
3. Exter
4. Grat
5. Ject

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Bor = North (e.g., borealis)
2. Cen = Empty (cenotaph)
3. Exter = Outer (exterior, external)
4. Grat = Thank (gratitude, ingrate)
5. Ject = Cast (eject, trajectory)