Boeing Strike, Billionaire Spacewalk, and the Top-Ranked Vegetable

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Good morning. It's Friday, Sept. 13, and we're covering Boeing's production line grinding to a halt, the first commercial spacewalk, and much more. First time reading? Join over 3.8 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.

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Need To Know

Boeing Workers Strike

Boeing's 33,000 production workers voted overwhelmingly to strike yesterday, with over 90% of members rejecting the company's proposal of a 25% wage hike over four years. The work stoppage is a blow to new CEO Kelly Ortberg, brought on last month to restore faith in the company amid a series of safety lapses.

While Boeing's proposed pay hike fell below the 40% production workers called for, the union had recommended workers accept the deal (see previous write-up). In announcing vote results, however, the union characterized the work stoppage as an unfair labor strike, citing alleged safety violations on the production floor.

The strike, which began overnight, is expected to be costly. Boeing is the US' single largest exporter by dollar value, generating close to $80B in revenue each year in commercial and military aircraft, weapons, and related products and services. When production workers last went on strike in 2008, the 52-day work stoppage cost the company an estimated $100M per day in deferred revenue.

Historic Spacewalk

SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission made history yesterday as billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis completed the first private spacewalk. The pair exited their Crew Dragon capsule roughly 450 miles above Earth in new SpaceX-designed spacesuits.

Before the walk, the crew underwent a two-day pre-breathe process—breathing pure oxygen to purge nitrogen from the bloodstream—while decreasing cabin pressure to reduce the risk of decompression sickness. All four crew members wore spacesuits, which operate at a lower pressure than the spacecraft's interior, and the entire capsule needed to be depressurized as it lacks an airlock. The mission is also conducting 36 scientific experiments from 31 institutions, including studies on radiation exposure, motion sickness, and eye health. Many aim to contribute to NASA's Human Research Program and provide insights into deeper space travel.

Only 265 humans have conducted a spacewalk, with 149 from the US. Watch a video of the spacewalk here.

OpenAI o1

Artificial intelligence startup OpenAI released its latest flagship large language model yesterday, dubbed OpenAI o1, its first major product debut since the May reveal of GPT-4o. The new model and a more cost-effective, limited version are currently only in preview for paying users and have a weekly message limit.

OpenAI o1—previously hyped as the Strawberry model—reportedly differs from other models by the strength of its "reasoning" capability. OpenAI says the model breaks down queries into discrete steps before offering an answer, privately refining the response (watch demo). The model was trained via reinforcement learning, an approach that teaches the system via rewards and penalties. The text-based model surpassed GPT-4o on math and coding abilities and cannot currently access the web.

Over 200 million people use ChatGPT products monthly, and the company boasts nearly 60% of the market share in AI search. The product debuts as OpenAI announced a new fundraising round valuing it at $150B Wednesday. Watch how generative AI works here.

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In The Know

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards air Sunday (8 pm ET, ABC); see predictions (More) | Tuesday's presidential debate hauls in 67 million viewers, a 31% increase over June's debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump (More)

> Harvey Weinstein indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York; Weinstein is awaiting a retrial for his 2020 conviction overturned in April (More)

> Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson breaks all-time WNBA single-season scoring record, topping the mark set last year by Seattle Storms' Jewell Loyd (More)

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Science & Technology

> US health officials approve hearing assistance feature for Apple's AirPods Pro 2, making them the first over-the-counter hearing aid software device (More)

> Physicists demonstrate ability to control the wobble of the nucleus of a single atom; technique may allow storage of quantum information (More) | What does an atom look like? (More)

> Hardt Hyperloop successfully tests hyperloop train concept in Europe; train was levitated and launched through a roughly 1,400-foot-long airless tunnel (More)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.8%, Dow +0.6%, Nasdaq +1.0%); S&P 500 posts four-day winning streak (More)

> US average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage falls to lowest level since February 2023 at 6.2% (More) | European Central Bank cuts interest rates for second time in three months, lowering key rate to 3.5% from 3.75% (More)

> Amazon increases pay for contracted delivery drivers amid renewed unionization effort; national average earnings for drivers to rise roughly 7% year-over-year (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> Former President Donald Trump rules out second debate with Vice President Kamala Harris (More) | Springfield, Ohio, receives bomb threats, closes government buildings after unverified claims in the city about Haitian migrants eating locals' pets (More)

> New York City police commissioner Edward Caban resigns after federal agents seize his phone in ongoing criminal probe into members of Mayor Eric Adams' (D) administration; probe reportedly tied to corruption in nightclub enforcement (More)

> Idaho Supreme Court rules man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022 will stand trial in Boise, moving case out of Latah County—where the crime occurred—over concerns of pretrial prejudice in the community (More)

In-Depth

> The Cash-Landrum Incident

So Supernatural | Ashley Flowers. The mystifying 1980 story of two rural Texas civilians who witnessed a mysterious, diamond-shaped flying craft pursued by several military helicopters, an incident still unexplained today. (Listen)

> Hotel on the High Seas

Outside | Graham Averill. How adventurous tourists can stay overnight on the Frying Pan Tower, a decommissioned Coast Guard lighthouse tower 32 miles off the coast of Wilmington, North Carolina. (Read)

> The Tyranny of the Penny

NY Times Magazine | Caity Weaver. Hardly anyone uses them, and new ones are almost immediately removed from circulation and piled into jars and drawers—so why does the US spend $90M a year to produce pennies? (Read)

> Plane Misconceptions

Veritasium | Staff. A thorough review of some of the most common misunderstandings about airplanes, from why they fly so high to how flying affects flatulence. (Watch)

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Etcetera

A list of unlucky Friday the 13th coincidences.

Mega tsunami made Earth vibrate for nine days.

Tiny monkeys discovered to call each other by name.

Queen Elizabeth II statue sparks online criticism.

World Nomad Games include goat polo, horseback wrestling.

Meet the world's fastest woman to cycle around the world.

See SoCal to Vegas bullet train renderings.

... and the new USPS mail truck design. (w/photo)

Clickbait: The CDC's top-ranked vegetable.

Historybook: Francis Scott Key writes America’s national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" (1814); Actor and producer Tyler Perry born (1969); Israel and Palestine sign peace accord (1993); Rapper Tupac Shakur dies six days after a drive-by shooting (1996); Ann Richards, educator and former governor of Texas, dies (2006).

"I've always said that in politics, your enemies can't hurt you, but your friends will kill you."

- Ann Richards

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Boeing Strike, Billionaire Spacewalk, and the Top-Ranked Vegetable

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