Good Morning. A strait, a stadium, and a server farm. Today's biggest stories are all about who gets to charge admission. Plus, Ariana Grande's hacker lawsuit, a bandage that reads your cells, and a stretch to end back pain (first time here? Join the 1% Better movement).
Missed yesterday? Our most clicked link: 50 greatest luxury hotels on earth
TOP STORY TODAY
Shots Fired
Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired multiple ballistic missiles at US forces in the Middle East Tuesday evening. US Central Command said every missile was intercepted. Jordan's military shot down five more Iranian missiles early Wednesday.
American and Saudi fighter jets answered hours later, hitting weapons and logistics sites across eastern Iraq. The strikes followed more than 30 drone attacks in 72 hours on Saudi oil facilities. An Iran-backed Iraqi militia group reported 20 dead.
The exchange ended a five-day pause meant to allow talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about 20% of the world's oil. Only 29 verified crossings happened July 24 through 26. Why Hormuz shipping is not bouncing back.
Is Zuck Destroying Meta?
Mark Zuckerberg reports Meta's second quarter results after Wednesday's closing bell. Wall Street expects about $60.2 billion in revenue. The stock is down more than 8% this year, near $595.
He has raised Meta's 2026 AI budget twice, to $125 billion to $145 billion. Executives told bankers the company may seek hundreds of billions more. Shares fell about 7% after the last raise. What to look for on spending reports.
Zuckerberg told staff this month that AI agent progress has lagged his expectations and that recent layoffs had not gone smoothly. Meta also halted a plan to record everything employees do on work computers after leaking staff data.
FIFA Goes Private?
FIFA confirmed yesterday it is seeking private investors for a new commercial subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise. The company would house World Cup broadcast, sponsorship, and ticketing rights, and is valued near $20 billion.
Investors would buy 20% to 30%, raising up to $4.2 billion. Thrive Capital, run by Josh Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, would lead the group. Each of FIFA's 211 member associations receives about $20 million. Apollo is circling the deal too.
UEFA objected publicly, arguing the game is not FIFA's to sell (potential boycott). A majority of member associations and FIFA's 37-member council must approve. European federations have floated a World Cup boycott if it proceeds.
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GET 1% BETTER
Workout advice from two lifetime power lifters
Alex Hormozi built and sold Gym Launch. Chris Bumstead is a five-time Classic Physique Olympia champion. They spent an hour on legs and traded notes on what actually works.
Warm up or stay hurt. Hormozi skipped warmups his entire career because the Bulgarian lifters didn't do them. He was in pain constantly. Three warmup sets fixed it. (7:22)
Steal this warmup. No treadmill. Two or three sets on the hip flexor machine, two or three on the adductor, then backward sled drags until the legs are pumped. (2:40)
Microload. One and two pound jumps instead of ten. "It seems so stupid, but you can't deny that it works." (19:08)
Chase range, not weight. The secret to big legs is knee flexion, getting your calf toward your hamstring. Find the largest range you can load without pain. (35:02)
Match the work to the energy. Bad morning, schedule calls. Sharp morning, do deep work. The failure mode is taking the day off, then losing a year. (1:03:33)
The one stretch you need to relieve back pain
From the same video above…
Alex Hormozi had back pain for four years of powerlifting. He tried specialists and chiropractors. Then he read Stuart McGill's Back Mechanic.
"In the first chapter it's like, most back pain comes from tight hips. Try this stretch first." He stretched his hips. The pain went away. "I was so enraged at probably the 5,000 dollars I spent."
It was the couch stretch. Kneel with your back shin flat against a wall or couch, toes pointing up.
Front foot planted, knee bent.
Now the part people skip: squeeze the back glute and tuck your pelvis under. Stay tall. Two minutes per side.
Too aggressive? Do it flat on the floor in a lunge. Same pelvic tuck.
Hormozi's warning: "I'll do this and the pain goes away, then I'll stop stretching until it comes back."
TRENDING
5 Stories
▲ Rogue AI doubts grow as researchers call the OpenAI danger warnings a fundraising pattern, not a disclosure
▲ Ariana Grande sues up to 100 anonymous hackers over a yearslong campaign against her collaborators
▲ Vaccine schedule fight escalates as a federal judge pauses HHS plan to cut recommendations from 17 diseases to 11
▲ Smart bandage captures the body's own healing proteins, releasing them only when repair cells physically tug
▲ Johnson & Johnson pays $5.5 billion to settle nearly 80,000 talc claims after a decade of litigation
TOGETHER WITH SCREENWRITER MARKETING
The Only Thing Stopping You Was the Budget
Thirty Years Later, You Can Finally Afford to Make It…
Those VHS tapes are still burned in your memory. The boulder rolling after Indy in Raiders. The water rippling in the cup in Jurassic Park. The trench run in Star Wars. You watched them until the tracking lines never came out, and somewhere in there you decided you wanted to make one.
Then you learned what a camera package cost, and the idea went in a drawer for thirty years. That wall is gone. AI puts a vision on screen in a weekend for what a single rented lens used to cost.
Join a community of like-minded movie enthusiasts. Free to start. Make your first short this weekend.
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