☕️ Shrimp Jesus

Dell says remote workers won’t be promoted... March 20, 2024 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( PRESENTED BY [CookUnity]( Good morning. The long search for the next James Bond might be [wrapping up](. The Sun reported that Aaron Taylor-Johnson, a British actor best known for his roles in Kick-Ass and Avengers: Age Of Ultron, has received an offer to play 007 following Daniel Craig’s retirement from the role in 2021. If he accepts, Taylor-Johnson would be the eighth actor to play Bond, leaving only two more Bonds until our punchcards are full and everyone gets a free martini. —Matty Merritt, Sam Klebanov, Cassandra Cassidy, Adam Epstein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 16,166.79 +0.39% S&P 5,178.51 +0.56% Dow 39,110.76 +0.83% 10-Year 4.297% -4.3 bps Bitcoin $63,798.84 -5.61% Nordstrom $18.66 +9.38% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 10:00pm ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: The market had a lovely Tuesday, with [stocks climbing]( as investors await word from the Fed meeting today on any changes to interest rates. The bank is expected to keep rates the same for now, but could signal when (or how often) it’ll lower them later in the year. Meanwhile, Nordstrom shares surged following a report that the retailer’s founding family wants to take it private.  AI [Your Facebook is full of absurd AI spam]( [AI-generated images of Shrimp Jesus on Facebook]( @TheHornetsFury/X Floating amidst your relatives’ all-caps political rants and people trying to sell a Civil War-era hutch for $25, you might have noticed viral photos of Jesus statues made out of shrimp. Those photos are, in fact, AI-generated—and a new analysis from Stanford and Georgetown (which has not yet been peer-reviewed) [found]( that Facebook’s algorithm is giving these fake images a huge boost. Researchers studied 120 Facebook spam and scam pages that posted at least 50 AI-generated images each. Collectively, the posts they analyzed had hundreds of millions of interactions, mostly from real people who were earnestly responding to the “art,” unaware the images were actually made by AI. - In Q3 2023, a post with an AI-generated image was in the platform’s top 20 most viewed pieces of content. - 404 media [reported]( that some of these spam pages are even buying Facebook ads. Interacting with Shrimp Jesus rewards you with more cursed images Facebook’s “Suggested for You” news feed, which the app started using in 2022 to compile posts from people and pages you don’t follow, appears to be prioritizing these AI nightmare pics. If you interact with an AI image, you don’t see more images based on the content of the image…you just get more AI-generated images. What do the pages gain from this? They used to post those clickbait links like “You’ll never believe Katy Perry said this!” But over the last few years, posts with articles linked in them (including news ) have been throttled by Facebook’s algorithm. So, scammers decided to innovate: Now the pages will post an image and then add links to ad-riddled clickfarms or sketchy dropshipping sites in the comments. Big picture: At this point, Meta is used to people clowning the content on its app. But it recognizes a limit does exist. Last month, the company [promised]( it would start labeling AI-generated images.—MM   PRESENTED BY COOKUNITY [Yes, chef]( [CookUnity]( POV: You’re enjoying masterpiece-level meals curated by top-notch chefs and delivered straight to your door. It’s all thanks to [CookUnity](. They’re building the first-ever chef marketplace where millions of busy folks like you can discover and experience the absolute best food the world has to offer. And you can take an [exclusive 50% off]( your first week right now. Yep, you read that right—half-priced access to a first-of-its-kind meal service that connects foodies to chefs all around the country with a menu that updates weekly. Heading out of town? Plans are flexible, and the CookUnity team is here to help. Ready to dig in? [Take your food game to the next level](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [Ben & Jerry’s ice cream]Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images Unilever is freezing out its ice cream business. The owner of Ben & Jerry’s announced yesterday that it’s [spinning off]( its ice cream division—which also includes Breyers, Klondike, Popsicle, and more—and slashing 7,500 jobs in an effort to cut costs and refocus the company around consumer products. The move will save Unilever about $870 million over the next three years, the WSJ reported. The company has been in the ice cream business for over a century and owns five of the 10 best-selling global brands. But in recent years, it has butted cones with Ben & Jerry’s, which sued its parent company after Unilever sold its Israeli business. Japan hiked interest rates for the first time in 17 years. The Bank of Japan raised short-term rates to 0% as the country’s economy finally shows some [signs of growth]( after years of low inflation and wage stagnation. The move means there are no longer any negative interest rates in the world after several European central banks ended their policies in 2022. Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said that the negative interest rates and other measures the country took to boost its economy have “fulfilled their roles.” Texas’s controversial immigration law is on hold after briefly taking effect. Hours after SCOTUS ruled that a Texas immigration law—widely considered one of the nation’s harshest—can proceed, an appeals court panel temporarily [blocked it]( from taking effect. The law, signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott last year, makes it a state crime to cross the border illegally, allowing Texas officials to arrest and deport individuals, which has historically been the sole authority of the federal government. In her dissent, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the decision “upends the federal-state balance of power” and “invites further chaos and crisis in immigration enforcement.” It’s not clear when the next court decision on the law will come. INTERNATIONAL [New law could undo Hong Kong as a finance hub]( [Hong Kong with ominous clouds]( Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images Foreign companies in Hong Kong fear [it won’t be business as usual]( after the city’s legislature passed a controversial security law yesterday. Hong Kong has historically been the world’s financial gateway into China thanks to its common-law court system, transparent regulations, and relative political autonomy from Beijing—legacies of its status as a former British colony that was handed over to China in 1997. But now, Hong Kong’s global finance mojo is threatened by the law, known as Article 23, which builds on an earlier national security law imposed by China that critics say has [been weaponized]( against dissidents. Corporate collywobbles Executives are particularly uneasy about how Article 23 lays out prosecuting espionage and the mishandling of state secrets. Hong Kong officials insist that the law targets only bad actors who threaten national security, not “normal business operators,” but firms worry that it could cover activities like collecting due diligence intelligence and data about the Chinese economy. Big picture: The new law could make the business climate in Hong Kong similar to the [rest of China]( and comes as foreign corporations have already slowed their hiring in the city, possibly due to China’s mainland authorities establishing tighter regulatory control there in recent years. Many businesses have started moving parts of their staffs to what they see as safer harbors, like Singapore, while others have closed shop in Hong Kong altogether.—SK   TOGETHER WITH SMARTASSET [SmartAsset]( Kick back + retire. This Princeton grad’s startup raised $161m to [help people plan for retirement](. If you’re one of the whopping 110m Americans over age 50—or a wise millennial planning ahead—SmartAsset’s no-cost tool makes it easy to get matched with vetted financial advisors serving your area. [Try it today](. WORK LIFE [Dell gives employees the RTO ultimatum]( [Photo of a Dell office]( Brandon Bell/Getty Images Dell, the maker of computers for people who have to wear ties to work, is giving its remote workers the cold shoulder. The company, which implemented a return-to-office (RTO) mandate in February, will [no longer consider]( remote employees eligible for promotion or to change roles as of May, according to a report from Business Insider. BI found that employees aren’t so keen: - Insiders told the outlet that teams are geographically spread out, so working in person doesn’t necessarily enable them to meet face-to-face with their colleagues. - One source at Dell said its remote teams are overwhelmingly women, leading to concerns that the policy could disproportionately impact female employees. For one thing, the mandate will force remote employees who want to accept a promotion to work in person at an “approved” office—even if that means moving. Dell wasn’t always like this. The new policy is corporate whiplash akin to if Ben & Jerry suddenly announced that tye-dye was no longer cool. Dell had a hybrid work culture in place long before Covid, and CEO Michael Dell has [called out]( other companies that enforced RTO policies. Zoom out: Dell is making official what’s already happening elsewhere. A study by Live Data Technologies showed that fully remote workers were [promoted 31% less]( than those who worked in person last year.—CC   GRAB BAG [Key performance indicators](#) [George Lucas and Darth Vader]Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images Quote: “Creating magic is not for amateurs.” George, you didn’t have to go that hard. In a statement released yesterday, Star Wars creator George Lucas said he [unequivocally]( backs Disney CEO Bob Iger in the company’s increasingly contentious proxy fight with corporate raider Nelson Peltz. Lucas, who sold Lucasfilm (along with the Star Wars IP) to Disney in 2012 and is now believed to be its biggest individual shareholder, added that “no one knows Disney better” than Iger, as the longtime executive dukes it out with hedge fund-backed malcontents over the direction of the company. One could say Lucas finds Peltz’s lack of faith in Iger disturbing. Stat: Someone might want to tell Jack Dorsey that intermittent fasting could be bad for your heart. The dieting technique, which entails restricting food intake to a short window each day and is favored by many celebrities and tech execs, puts practitioners at [higher risk of dying]( from heart disease, per surprising new research. Based on the eating habits of 20,000 US adults, the study found that those who followed an eight-hour eating plan had a 91% higher chance of cardiovascular death than people who ate across a more traditional 12- to 16-hours per day. Still, previous research has shown that intermittent fasting can help with obesity, hypertension, and other conditions. Read: What happened to teen babysitters? ([The Atlantic]( SPORTS [Deep data dive on sports fandom]( [Chart of sports fandom]( Francis Scialabba, Source: Morning Brew/Generation Lab survey In a country where some people devote entire seasons of their lives to rooting for their hometown teams, younger generations may be more inclined to watch from afar. In partnership with Morning Brew, Generation Lab surveyed people aged 18 to 29 about their interest in sports (or lack thereof). [Read more here](. NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [MacKenzie Scott]( is donating $640 million to hundreds of small nonprofits, more than double what she originally pledged. - [Coca-Cola]( said that all 20-ounce Coke bottles will be made from 100% recycled plastic starting this week. - [India]( accounts for 83 of the 100 most polluted cities in the world, according to a new report. - [The UN]( issued a “red alert” on climate change after logging record-breaking increases in global temperatures last year. - [Selena Gomez]( is reportedly considering selling her cosmetics brand at a $2 billion valuation. RECS [Wednesday to-do list] Wonder: [17 scientific mysteries]( that researchers still aren’t able to solve. Go homeward: The [100 best dog movies]( ranked by Rotten Tomatoes. Say cheese: An entire subreddit devoted to [photos of people]( taken by delivery drivers as proof that they dropped off the food. Learn something new: Here’s why “Jeff” is on a [list of nuclear superpowers]( that includes the US and Russia. Be productive: Join Productivity Lab, a community of classes, workshops, and coaching to help you double your productivity in work and life. Get on the waitlist [here]( 4/20 come early: Today’s 3/20, which is close enough to celebrate with Indacloud. Get 35% off award-winning [weed delivered for free + free dispensary-grade gummies]( *A message from our sponsor. +Content from an editorial partner. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Word Search: Two words—baby animals. Nothing cuter than that. [Play the puzzle here](. Coke or Pepsi? Subway announced it’s [switching teams]( from Coca-Cola to PepsiCo as its beverage provider beginning in 2025. So, let’s use the opportunity to play a classic game: Coke or Pepsi? We’ll give you a product, and you have to name whether it’s owned by Coke or Pepsi. - Sprite - Mountain Dew - Barq’s root beer - Gatorade - Dasani - Muscle Milk - Fanta SHARE THE BREW [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=4904f90a]( ANSWER - Coke - PepsiCo - Coke - PepsiCo - Coke - PepsiCo - Coke Word of the Day Today’s Word of the Day is: malcontents, meaning “people who are dissatisfied and rebellious.” Thanks to Caroline from Arkansas for the pleasing suggestion. Submit another [Word of the Day here](. Written by [Adam Epstein]( [Neal Freyman]( [Matty Merritt]( Sam Klebanov, and [Cassandra Cassidy]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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