November 03, 2026
Good Morning. Polls close tonight from 6 p.m. ET in parts of Kentucky to 1 a.m. ET in Alaska, and some races could take days to call. Plus, a 28-year walk home, a $62,000 Kandinsky now estimated at $80 million, and turkey braised in gravy (first time here? Join 523,000 Betterists ).
Yesterday’s top link : 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli is F1’s youngest champion
TOP STORY TODAY
Polls Close Tonight
Polls are open for the midterms. The first close at 6 p.m. ET in parts of Kentucky and Indiana, the last at 1 a.m. ET in Alaska. All 435 House seats and 36 governor’s races are up.
Voters also decide 145 ballot measures , from abortion and voter ID to taxes. California weighs a one-time 5% tax on residents worth over $1 billion, and Washington votes on repealing its 9.9% tax on income over $1 million.
Results start tonight, but close races and mail ballot rules can stretch counts for days; Alaska’s ranked-choice tallies won’t come until Nov. 18. Watch live results (w/video), and check your state’s voter ID rules .
$17 Billion Quarter
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, reported $33.2 billion in revenue for the first nine months of 2026 in an updated IPO filing Monday. That’s up from $2.5 billion a year earlier.
One standout? It brought in $17.0 billion in the third quarter alone , after $41 million in all of 2023. It has also committed about $895 billion to computing and data centers, roughly half of it due by 2030.
Shares would trade on the Nasdaq as ANT, and the company itself warns the pace may not last. The big question is price: the range is still blank in the filing. See how fast revenue grew (chart).
28 Years Walking
Karl Bushby, a 57-year-old former British paratrooper, walked into his hometown of Hull, England, on Monday , 28 years and one day after setting out on foot from the southern tip of Chile.
His rules: no machines to move him forward and no trips home, even if loved ones died. He crossed the Bering Strait into Russia, swam the Caspian Sea for 31 days and covered about 31,000 miles ( see his route ).
He pushed the same cart he’d used for about 25 years to his mother’s door, then hugged her in the street. After 28 years of dollars, he says, even the stores feel foreign. See photos from the journey .
TOGETHER WITH COLLECTIVE
The $5 Ingredients Inside a $500-a-Month GLP-1
The ingredients in compounded GLP-1s cost as little as $5 to make , yet many Americans pay up to $500 a month for them. Most of the difference is markup.
Thrive Market co-founder Gunnar Lovelace built Collective to cut it out. Members pool their buying power to get wholesale prices from trusted US pharmacies: compounded Semaglutide for $59/month and Tirzepatide for $69/month , and the price never rises with your dose.
A real physician reviews your health assessment before anything is prescribed. Members also get unlimited messaging with a real doctor, regular check-ins and nutrition support. No insurance needed, and it’s HSA/FSA eligible.
Try membership for 21 days and pay only for medication.
Get compounded GLP-1s for $59/month
Please support our sponsors!
GET 1% BETTER
The 4 People in Every Political Argument
It's Election Day, and Jimmy Carr has a better way to sort people than red vs. blue. On Joe Rogan's podcast last week, he pointed to Tim Urban's book What's Our Problem? , which ranks how people think on a four-rung ladder:
- The Scientist: changes their mind when the evidence does.
- The Sports Fan: has a team but, as Carr put it, likes "the rules of the game more than I want my team to win."
- The Attorney: picks a side first, then argues it no matter what.
- The Zealot: nothing will change their mind.
Urban's point: liberals and conservatives can stand on any rung, and the top two are where minds still change.
Hear Carr explain all 4 on Joe Rogan (2:16:00)
“Wealth Without Independence Is a Unique Form of Poverty”
Writer Morgan Housel said it on Chris Williamson’s Modern Wisdom podcast. His point: plenty of billionaires don’t control their own calendars, while someone earning $50,000 can. With tech stocks still sliding, try his test: judge your money by how much of your day you control, not by your balance.
See all 5 of Housel’s money ideas
THE MARKET
Business & Markets
▲ Marvell agreed to buy laser maker Lumentum for $115 billion, one of the biggest tech deals ever | Why AI chips are switching to light
▲ Oil prices fell nearly 8% Monday on reports of US-Iran peace talks, pushing Brent below $105 | Hours later, US strikes hit Qeshm Island
▲ Florida voters decide today on raising the homestead exemption to $250,000 by 2028, from about $51,000 | What Amendment 3 would and wouldn’t change
TOGETHER WITH VITA COCO
The 2 Hydration Windows Around Every Run
Your training plan covers the miles. The hydration around them matters too: before you head out and after you finish , when long runs, speed work and recovery days have pulled fluids and electrolytes out through sweat.
Vita Coco Original Coconut Water covers both. It naturally contains electrolytes like potassium, so it works as a pre-run drink or a lighter way to rehydrate after a workout.
Whether you’re building mileage for race day or running for wellness, consistency is the whole game. Vita Coco has partnered with the running community to keep runners hydrated through marathon season.
Grab Vita Coco before your next long run
Please support our sponsors!
THE OTHER 99%
5 Stories
▲ US forces struck Iran’s Qeshm Island Monday in what officials called limited, defensive strikes | The strikes, hours before the midterms
▲ Hackers pushed supermarket freezers in seven European countries as high as 122°F, spoiling stock overnight | No one has asked for a ransom
▲ A Kandinsky the Guggenheim sold for $62,000 in 1964 could fetch $80 million on Nov. 17 | See the painting up close
▲ Scientists found heme, the iron molecule in blood, inside cell-like structures in a 115-million-year-old dinosaur bone | The study behind the find
▲ Andy Garcia and David Mamet are among this year’s Kennedy Center honorees, to be celebrated Dec. 7 | The night’s most memorable moments
Fun Links
NASA telescope set to fall after failed rescue [ Article ]
Tea may protect your heart, with a catch [ Study ]
68,000 personal trainer openings every year [ Partner* ]
Why Kenya Barris walked away from Netflix [ Podcast ]
Diet and exercise put diabetes in remission [ Study ]
Gravy-braised turkey for Thanksgiving [ Recipe ]
The “dark at 5:30” family movie list [ Video ]
Why slow and steady beats crash diets [ Post ]
Award-winning drone photos of 2026 [ Photos ]
Why 1% Better? Most self-improvement swings between burning out and rusting out. 1% Better is the antidote. In five minutes each morning, we help you get smarter about the news, your health and your money, with small tips you can use to get a little better every day.