🌎 Twitter deal's deadline

Plus: Elon Musk's favorite letter Was this newsletter forwarded to you? [Sign up here]( [Quartz]( October 7, 2022 [View in browser]( Sponsored By Good morning, Quartz readers! Here’s what you need to know A judge gave Elon Musk just a few weeks to complete the $44 billion Twitter deal. Otherwise, it’s [back to the Delaware Chancery Court]( in November. Crypto exchange Binance suffered a massive heist. A cyber thief tried to get away with more than $500 million in crypto funds, but the platform shut down operations, limiting damages to an [estimated $100 million](. Marijuana stocks spiked on the promise of a US review of the drug’s status. President Joe Biden’s announcement towards easing [anti-weed laws]( in the country is a boon to the nascent but promising cannabis industry. Google agreed to an $85 million settlement in an Arizona lawsuit. The search engine was accused [of illegally tracking Android users](. The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize recognized human rights efforts in Eastern Europe... Imprisoned Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski, Russian NGO Memorial, and Ukrainian human rights agency Center for Civil Liberties were commended [for holding the powerful to account](. …while feminist writer Annie Ernaux won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature. The French author has written mostly autobiographical works on topics [including gender, class, and race](. What to watch for TwitchCon, the annual convention for Amazon’s live streaming platform Twitch, is [kicking off](today (Oct. 7) in San Diego, California. The sold-out event will feature an esports tournament, meet and greets with streamers, and IRL meetups for community members. While the event will, in fact, be all fun and games, the real competition is heating up in the livestreaming space. Twitch continues to dominate the market, having racked up [5.64 billion hours]( of live streaming in the second quarter this year. But a [gambling scandal](, reports about [child abuse]( on the platform, and a decision to [cut ad revenue]( for the site’s biggest stars has rocked the waters in recent weeks. In an attempt to retain talent, the company has [waived exclusivity rights]( on its partners. But for Twitch streamers, [unionization]( may be on the horizon. Meanwhile, YouTube has [managed to poach]( some of Twitch’s top personalities in the past year, and Meta has its own live streaming ambitions in the works with a new platform called [Super](. Will an Elon Musk Twitter have a different name? Pop quiz: What do you think Elon Musk’s favorite letter is? Let’s review some of his naming choices in the past: 🚀 SpaceX 🚗 Tesla’s Model X 👶 X Æ A-12 Musk plans to buy Twitter for $44 billion appear to be back on, so, you guessed it, the Gen Xer is tweeting about it again. “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” he wrote on Oct. 4. Musk has been obsessed with the X.com domain since at least 1999 when it launched as an online banking services platform later renamed PayPal. After his Twitter acquisition process stalled in August, Musk mentioned [hauling X.com out of dormancy]( and turning it into a new social media platform. Now that the deal’s in motion again, he’s making noise, mostly in recently released text messages, about how Twitter will become this “everything app,” whatever that may be. It’ll likely be years, if ever, before the X revolution though, so don’t go trying to work it into your lexicon just yet. Consider the Maine lobster In September, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch—an organization that monitors the environmental impact of seafood—downgraded the American lobster to its red list, which advises consumers to avoid them, as “they’re caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.” American lobsters—also known as Maine lobsters—have a history of being sustainably harvested to help maintain a healthy population. But sustainability is about more than just the depletion of a given species, and Maine lobster practices are, literally, tangling with whale migration. Michelle Cheng explains how the Maine lobster issue demonstrates just how tricky it is [to get sustainability right](. ✦ Love stories like these? A Quartz membership goes directly towards keeping our journalism free for all. Sign up today and [take 50% off](! Sponsor content by Fidelity Introducing a new way to have a professionally managed, personalized stock portfolio tailored to what matters most to you. Learn more about Fidelity Managed FidFolios℠[Advertisement] [Learn more]( Quartz’s most popular ⚡ [Power-hungry Europe is leaving developing countries without electricity]( 🧐 [Did Elon Musk really lose $80 million helping Ukraine?]( 🛍️ [Shopify is quietly becoming a power player in offline retail]( 🏦 [Open banking could be what Africa needs to deepen financial inclusion]( ⛽ [OPEC’s oil cuts force the US to reconsider its foreign policy]( 💧 [Apple’s manufacturing moves away from China are a drop in the ocean]( Quartz announcement Announcing Work reconsidered, a new podcast from Quartz. Join us each week as we talk to the companies at the forefront of change, examine what reimagined work looks like in practice, and explore how you can bring change to your workplace—and your life. [Listen now]( Surprising discoveries Parrot heists are on the rise. Keep an eye on Polly, she could fetch a pretty penny with these [pandemic prices](. Egypt has called on the British (again) to return the Rosetta Stone. The stolen slab was, after all, deciphered [200 years ago](. There’s a mint chocolate craze going on in South Korea. Everything from burgers to fried chicken is getting the “[mint choco](” treatment. Christie’s and Highsnobiety made some tone-deaf merch. With a [price tag of $125](, the “Art Handler” crew neck didn’t seem cool to actual auction handlers, who report they’re overworked and underpaid. Monks invented the standing desk (well, sort of). Find out more in the [first episode]( of our newly launched podcast, Work Reconsidered! 🎧 Listen on: [Apple Podcasts]( | [Google]( | [Spotify]( | [Stitcher]( Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, legally-obtained parrots, and vibey merch to hi@qz.com. 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