In today’s newsletter I discuss how expensive it’s going to be to heat your homes this winter (spoiler alert: INSANELY expensive!), then I talk about the Nasdaq just invested $100 million dollars into the parent company of the crypto company Kraken, the trailer for the movie 'Artificial' based on Sam Altman and his OpenAI just dropped, Ramjet X just launched and can do Mach 4 (which pretty fast), a United Airlines pilot felt bad about all the delays so he bought pizza with his own money for all 150 passengers, The new trailer for the secret Elizabeth Holmes 'You Can See Everything' documentary movie just dropped and it’s creepy-good, Snoop Dogg is hiring a full-time ice cream taster for his Dr. Bombay Ice Cream and I’m applying, and LeBron James just appeared in an ad for Polymarket and I have some strong thoughts on his involvement.

Let’s get into it!

Get ready to spend a whole lot more this winter to heat your home, because it could be a doozy! The Farmer’s Almanac is predicting more storms this winter, and some frigid temperatures. Add to that the effect the never-ending War in Iran is having on oil markets thanks to the Strait of Hormuz essentially being a shooting alley for the U.S. and Iranian militaries. Want to see a real-world example of supply shock? Just open your heating bill this winter. Welcome to the winter of 2027! Let’s get into it.

It’s going to cost you a whole heck of a lot more money to heat your home this winter. There’s just no way to sugarcoat it. We’re looking at a perfect storm of global conflicts, failed tariffs, and unpredictable weather patterns. There are around 133 million households in the United States, and nearly all of them are going to be paying more for electricity and natural gas, the two most used heating fuels in the U.S. We’re looking at a winter where household budgets will be stretched to the breaking point just to cover the basic necessities like food, clothing, and a warm shelter. The combination of surging crude oil prices and a volatile El Niño weather forecast means every time that you walk to your mailbox to get the mail this winter you could be in for some serious sticker shock.

The war in Iran and in the Middle East is throwing a massive wrench into global energy markets and supply chains, which is driving up the cost of a barrel of oil and nearly everything else as those prices work their way through the economy. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices just soared past $100 dollars a barrel for the first time since March 2026 soon after the war began. The prolonged war with Iran, which was supposed to be over in 6-8 weeks, is stirring up fears of higher inflation across the broader economy. The increased cost of crude oil means those costs are trickling down through the economy and are now reflected in the price to heat our homes. In the U.S. we consume roughly 3 billion gallons of heating oil every year, and guess who pays the price when oil prices rise? You, the consumer!

Families living in the Northeast are going to feel the pain of these price hikes more than anyone else in the country. The estimated price of residential heating oil is projected to hit nearly $5 dollars a gallon this season, while natural gas prices are expected to jump to around $16 dollars per thousand cubic feet. A family burning through 100 gallons of heating oil a month could see their monthly heating bills go up by between $150-$200 dollars each month. If you heat your home with natural gas, which is projected to cost around 8.4% more this winter, you’re looking at paying between $11-$18 more per month for a total of roughly $69 dollars more for the entire heating season than last year.

The Farmers’ Almanac is predicting a very active winter heavily influenced by a developing El Niño weather pattern.

The Nasdaq is investing $100 million dollars in the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, called Payward, in order to get a leg up on the competition as stock exchanges and prediction markets prepare for the launch of tokenized stock trading. If you’ve been living under a rock, or just aren’t that into all things crypto, tokenized stock trading is where an exchange or platform converts a publicly traded company’s shares into digital tokens that can then be traded and those trades settled using cryptocurrency blockchains. After the Nasdaq’s $100 million dollar investment in Payward the company now sports a valuation of $21 billion dollars.

What could possibly go wrong with tokenizing stocks to make them easier to trade as cryptocurrencies!?!?

In last week's newsletter I wrote about how the new movie 'Artificial', based on Sam Altman and his OpenAI, was going to finally be released. Now only a few days later they’ve dropped a trailer for the movie, and I can't wait to see Andrew Garfield in the movie!

Aerospace manufacturer Hermeus just unveiled their new Ramjet X, which is an air launched high speed test vehicle designed to fly at Mach 4. The experimental airplane is dropped from a carrier jet, and then accelerates up 100,000 feet before reaching Mach 4 with its ramjet engines alone. The company has raised $350 million dollars in private capital led by investor Vinod Khosla, the new owner of the Seattle Seahawks, and now sports a valuation of $1 billion dollars.

Have you ever been stranded on the runway while your flight was delayed, and thought to yourself “I could really go for some pizza right now?” Well after multiple delays the pilot of a United Airlines jet felt bad for all the delays, so he bought pizza for all 150 passengers out of his own pocket. Next time I fly, I’m requesting that pilot!

The new trailer for the secret Elizabeth Holmes 'You Can See Everything' documentary movie just dropped, and it’s creepy-good!

Back in July of 2023 Snoop Dogg partnered with his son Cordell Broadus to create Dr. Bombay Ice Cream, and now they're hiring a full-time ice cream taster through the company Alex Bouaziz's global HR, payroll, and compliance platform Deel. The ice cream taster will get $10,000 dollars a month for the 3 month assignment, and they’ll travel around the world tasting new ice cream flavors to scout out potential product expansions for Dr. Bombay Ice Cream. Sounds like the perfect job for me!

Well this isn’t a good look for LeBron James. A new ad just came out featuring LeBron James as a celebrity spokesperson for Polymarket. There’s a lot of controversy going around right now about if prediction markets are really gambling, and if they should be regulated like sports betting sites.

For me it’s a little sleazy feeling for LeBron James, someone I admire as both an athlete and as a businessman, to be pitching a prediction market like Polymarket especially since he’s still actively playing in the NBA. There just feels like an air of impropriety for an active basketball player to be pitching a prediction market.

Now let’s get into the actual PolyMarket ad, which features LeBron James walking through Polymarket’s HQ as numerous famous athletes, actors, and personalities are in the office. Retired New York Giants QB Eli Manning makes an appearance, as does Spike Lee, and I’m pretty sure I saw way too quick of a shot with Alexandra Daddario (love her in Mayfair Witches).

What I don’t like about the ad is it features all these famous and wealthy celebrities, and they are allegedly placing bets/predictions on Polymarket, but yet none of these people are the Average Joes that this ad is targeting. None of them made their fortunes betting. They made their money performing at the highest levels. But now your everyday person watching that ad is going to see all these famous people having a good time using Polymarket and they’re going to want to be just like them, but that’s not likely to happen. According to a survey by BadCredit.org 79% of people surveyed who have placed bets on prediction markets reported losing money in the past year. Those aren’t famous actors, athletes, or other spokespeople for prediction markets-those are real people losing their real hard earned money because a multi-billion dollar company created a marketing campaign that led them to believe if they use their platform they’ll be successful like the famous people they featured in their campaign. All I have to say is don’t bet on it!

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The Business Behind The News is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.