Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🌕 The Moon is getting its own time zone
• 💼 Hollywood is struggling
• 🤔 Mount Everest getting taller?

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~5.09-minute read (1,355 words).

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"It's the job that's never started that takes the longest to finish."

–J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)

NASA-associated physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology recently created Coordinated Lunar Time, a time zone for our Moon. Can’t wait to see how watchmakers work that into a GMT.

Why is it needed? As the US and other countries aim to return humans to the Moon and establish a permanent presence there, coordinated and ultra-precise timekeeping is imperative to ensure things like reliable communication with Earth and safe spacecraft maneuvers, Science reports.

It’s actually a challenging task

On Earth, atomic clocks are used to keep precise time. They’re placed all over the globe and in orbit, and measure time’s passage by monitoring the resonant frequency of atoms. These clocks are a technology Swiss Army Knife of sorts, enabling many of the innovations we rely on today, especially GPS.

But bringing Google Maps to the lunar surface isn’t a plug-and-play, since Earth time can’t just be mapped onto the Moon.

• A lunar day and lunar night each last two Earth weeks, and, due to relativity, seconds tick by slightly faster than they do on our home planet – 56.02 microseconds/day faster, to be exact.
• But while small, this discrepancy can add up to significant inconsistencies over time – causing spacecraft to land dozens of feet away from their intended targets, for example.

The solution: Creating a Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) that acts similar to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on Earth.

NIST researchers propose placing communication satellites – basically space telephone poles – between the Earth and Moon in Lagrange points, relatively stable areas in space where objects don’t wander off. These satellites would beam transmissions back and forth, and be programmed to keep everything synchronized between the two celestial bodies.

👀 Looking ahead… An April memo from the White House directs NASA to map out its plans for a new lunar time scale by December 31, then implement them over the next two years, calling the project “foundational” to renewed US efforts to explore the lunar surface. NASA aims to put humans on the Moon in 2026 – and on Mars, which will also need its own time zone, sometime in the 2030s.

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🇯🇵✈️ A US bomb from WWII exploded at a Japanese airport. The 500-lb bomb, which exploded at Miyazaki Airport in southwest Japan, is thought to have been dropped during World War II to prevent Japanese "kamikaze" planes from carrying out suicide missions. The explosion created a large crater in one of the airport’s runways and caused 80+ flight cancellations, but no injuries. Hundreds of tons of unexploded WWII-era bombs remain buried around Japan.

💥 Israeli soldiers engaged in close fighting with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The IDF said eight soldiers were killed yesterday as part of its ground operation in Lebanon, which is aimed at pushing Hezbollah back from Israel’s northern border. The combat in Lebanon came a day after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel in response to the recent killing of Hezbollah’s leader and top commanders. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged future retaliation against Iran, while Tehran says it will respond in kind to any upcoming Israeli strikes.

🇨🇳 Chinese scientists reported using stem cells to cure type 1 diabetes, in a world first. According to a study published last week in Cell, a 25-year-old woman who had type 1 diabetes for a decade was able to naturally produce her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells. The patient is the first person with the disease to be treated using cells extracted from their own body, per Nature.

Last week, Paramount finished implementing another round of major company-wide layoffs as part of a $500 million cost-savings plan, which includes an overall workforce reduction of 15% (~2,000 employees).

• Paramount’s cost-savings plan comes on the heels of a $5.3 billion operating loss in Q2 – largely due to a “goodwill impairment” charge for its cable networks – and a loss of $250 million in the same period a year ago.

Paramount isn’t alone on the struggle bus. The US film and TV industry has yet to fully bounce back following the pandemic and writer/actor strikes of 2023, with major players like Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Pixar also enacting layoffs in recent months.

• Unemployment in the industry stood at 12.5% in August – roughly 3x the national average of 4.2% – with analysts saying the real number is likely much higher, since many film workers don’t file for unemployment between projects.
• Overall, the number of TV and film productions during Q2 was ~40% lower compared to the same period in 2022.

📝 Bottom line: This trend not only means fewer new movies and binge-worthy shows – it could also have a major impact on the US economy. In Los Angeles alone, the entertainment industry contributes $115+ billion annually to the local economy, with an employment base of 681,000+ people.

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“While speed remains crucial, it’s merely one component of a successful drive-thru strategy.”

On Tuesday, QSR and Intouch Insight released the 2024 Drive-Thru Report. Their research was based on an analysis of 1,650+ orders from the top ten fast-food chains in America, who were then ranked across several categories including accuracy, speed, and service.

The fastest: Taco Bell set the pace for a fourth consecutive year, with an average total wait time of 4 minutes and 16 seconds. They were followed closely by KFC at 4 minutes and 19 seconds, while Arby’s (4m 43s) and Dunkin’s (4m 47s) were the only other restaurants with an average wait time under 5 minutes.

The slowest: As usual, Chick-fil-A ranked last by a wide margin. Their customers waited 7 minutes and 59 seconds on average – far higher than the next-closest restaurant (McDonald’s at 6m 16s). But there’s a very obvious reason why: Chick-fil-A is far more popular than other restaurants, averaging nearly 3x as many cars in its drive-thru (3.44) as the overall average (1.23).

🤦‍♀️ I said *no* ketchup… When it comes to the worst drive-thru experience, Dunkin’ and Wendy’s brought up the rear with customer satisfaction rates of 89% and 90%, respectively. Chick-fil-A ranked #1 in overall customer satisfaction (99%), slightly ahead of Raising Cane’s (98%) and McDonald’s (97%).

• ☝️ Residents of Easter Island and some areas of South America were treated to an annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse yesterday; just ~175,000 people (0.002% of the world’s population) live in the path of the eclipse.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Arro

• 💰 US markets rose slightly (S&P: +0.01%; Dow: +0.1%; Nasdaq: +0.1%).
• ✂️ CVS is laying off 2,900 workers, or 1% of its workforce. | 👖 Levi Strauss reported mixed quarterly results; the company also revealed it’s looking to sell its Dockers business.
• 🤘 Costco now sells platinum bars, adding to its precious metals lineup.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚾ MLB Playoffs: The Tigers, Royals, and Padres finished off Wild Card sweeps yesterday to advance to the Divisional Round; the Mets and Brewers play a deciding Game 3 tonight. | 📺 Diamond Sports Group submitted a bankruptcy reorganization plan that calls for it to shed the broadcasting rights it owns for 11/12 MLB teams (except the Atlanta Braves).
• ⚖️ The doctor who helped supply Matthew Perry with ketamine – the drug that caused his overdose death last October – pleaded guilty to a drug charge; he’s the third person to plead guilty to charges over Perry’s death.
• 🏁 Michael Jordan’s NASCAR team is suing NASCAR and CEO Jim France for what it alleges are anticompetitive practices and monopolistic control of the sport. | 🏀🗑️ Dude Perfect hired a new CEO: Andrew Yaffe, who was most recently an executive VP at the NBA; the move comes after Dude Perfect raised $100+ million from private investment firm Highmount Capital in April.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Caliber

• 🤖💰 OpenAI officially raised $6.6 billion in new funding from multiple tech giants and large private investors at a $157 billion valuation; investors in the new round can withdraw their money if OpenAI doesn’t complete its planned conversion to a for-profit company within two years.
• 🌡️🥵 Palm Springs, California, recorded a high of 117°F on Tuesday, matching the highest temperature ever observed in the US during October.
• ☀️ The Sun on Tuesday released its second-most powerful flare of this solar cycle (since December 2019); the associated coronal mass ejection is expected to hit Earth tomorrow and spawn a strong geomagnetic storm.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🤔🗣️ What did viewers think of the Walz-Vance VP debate? Here’s what new polls have shown.
• 🗳️💰 A federal appeals court rejected an effort from the CFTC to prevent startup Kalshi from offering bets on US congressional elections; Kalshi says it will resume taking such bets “very soon.” (Dive deeper: The battle over election gambling)
• ⚖️🗳️ A federal judge unsealed court filings from Special Counsel Jack Smith laying out his case for why former President Trump should still be prosecuted on election-interference charges, despite a recent SCOTUS ruling granting broad immunity to presidents for official acts. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🤖🎙️ Google’s AI turns the words “Fart” and “Poop” written 1,000 times into an entire podcast.

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⛰️ Stat of the Day: Like a teenager, the world’s tallest mountain is in the midst of yet another growth spurt. Mount Everest is gaining an extra 0.8 inches/year in height, thanks to the nearby Arun river, which is eroding its base and has pushed the peak an estimated 50-165 feet higher than it would have been otherwise, according to a study published this week in Nature Geology.

🤔 Did You Know? In 2018, University of Michigan researchers created the world’s smallest computing device, which they used to measure temperature in cancerous tumors. The device’s dimensions measure 0.012 inches x 0.012 inches x 0.0039 inches – more than 10x smaller than a grain of rice.

📰 Worth a Read: The odd Arctic military projects spawned by the Cold War – including a city under ice → (Smithsonian Magazine)

Yesterday we covered how scientific journals are increasingly running into a similar problem: some of their published research has issues with accuracy or integrity, leading to a growing number of retractions.

❓ Our question to you: How would you best describe your personal confidence in the scientific community?

• A great deal of trust: 26%
• An average amount of trust: 41%
• Little or no trust: 21%
• Unsure/other: 12%

Click here to read more of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 2,865 votes and 294 longform responses.

Thirteen years ago, author and Kid President creator Brad Montague started a sock drive for his local homeless shelter. The idea came after a few middle school students expressed their desire to help the local community. 

• Brad initially thought they might collect 50-100 pairs of socks. In reality, so many donations came in that they couldn't all fit in his car.

Fast-forward to today, and Socktober has become an international sensation. Schools, churches, and businesses around the globe host their own Socktober drives to help shelters prepare for the winter ahead. 

• "It’s incredible what creative, compassionate people can do when they rally together," Brad shared on his blog.

Stone Mountain, pictured above, is located in which US state?

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Georgia