Good morning. Let’s start the day with a little reminder that many of us learned the hard way.

When someone shares an accomplishment or something positive in their life with you, go out of your way to sincerely say “well done”. That tiny act can positively impact the other person for days — or even years — after your conversation. A little kindness goes a longgggg way.

And if they’re mean later, you can always punch ‘em in the face.🙃

In today’s email:

• An update on Russia/Ukraine
• The Supreme Court officially has a new nominee
• What’s the best color to wear to a job interview?

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.95 minutes to read.

"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action."

–William James (1842-1910)

🇺🇦 As of Sunday morning, Russia had deployed two-thirds of its total troops to Ukraine and fired 320 missiles within the country, but still didn’t control any major population centers, according to a top Pentagon official.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that officials from both sides would meet for peace talks on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.
• His announcement came as satellite images showed a 3+ mile long Russian convoy 40 miles away from Kyiv and headed towards the city, which Mayor Vitali Klitschko told the AP was “encircled” by Russian troops (though his spokesman later said he “misspoke”).
• Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior said at least 352 civilians had died as of Sunday, with ~1,700 more injured. Nearly 400,000 Ukrainians have already fled to other European countries.
• The US, EU and other Western nations announced several rounds of sanctions over the weekend, including freezing the assets of President Vladimir Putin and some of his cabinet and expelling a “certain number of Russian banks” from the global SWIFT financial system. The EU also said it would buy weapons for Ukraine, the first time in its history it will deliver weapons to a country under attack.
• Earlier this morning, Russia’s central bank more than doubled the country’s key interest rate from 9.5% to 20% as the ruble hit a record low against the dollar.
• Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia's deterrence forces, including nuclear weapons, to stay on high alert. The US called the decision an "unnecessary escalation."
• The sports and entertainment world has mostly reacted to Russia’s invasion by canceling upcoming events in the country (Formula 1, Association of Tennis Professionals, FIFA, Louis C.K., Green Day) or banning Russia from participating (Eurovision).
• More than 100,000 demonstrators marched in Berlin yesterday protesting the invasion.

+The latest news: From the Left | From the Right

Less than nine months after suffering a heart attack and literally dying on the field, Danish soccer star Christian ​​Eriksen, 30, returned to the pitch over the weekend. 

What made this possible? Obviously, a lot of hard work – and the help of a medical device known as an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD).

🫀 How it works... The ICD constantly monitors the patient's pulse, and, if it detects an irregular or abnormal heartbeat, the device is programmed to respond accordingly.

• For a slower-than-normal heartbeat, there's a “back-up pacemaker” that brings the heartbeat back up to normal.
• For a mild, faster-than-normal heartbeat, the ICD sends out several pacing signals that usually cause the heart to return to a normal rhythm. If that doesn’t work, it delivers a mild electric shock to the heart to slow it down.
• And if that doesn’t work, the device sends an even stronger shock intended to stop the fast heartbeat. This – in theory – should prompt the patient to visit an emergency room.

🤔 Is it safe to compete with an ICD?... Up until 2015, scientists thought the answer to that question was “no”. But then a research team from Yale University published a peer-reviewed study following 440 athletes competing with ICDs over four years.

The study found that ~10% of the athletes received a shock from the device while competing. But there were no examples of the ICD failing, and none of the athletes suffered an injury or died from a sports-related cardiac event, leading the study’s author to conclude “the risk is low.”

• Still, the rules governing ICDs in athletes vary by country. ​​Eriksen had to leave his previous club, Inter Milan, because Italian rules prevent anyone from playing with the device.

Golfing legend Greg Norman is not happy with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, according to a letter sent last week. 

In it, the Hall of Famer pushed back against Monahan’s ultimatum that any golfer who plays in a new league backed by Norman’s company would lose their PGA Tour membership.

⏮ The backstory... Norman, who spent 331 weeks as the world No. 1 in the ‘80s and ‘90s, is now CEO of Live Golf Investments, an organization attempting to create a league to rival the PGA Tour using hundreds of millions of dollars from the Saudi Arabian government.

• Monahan has maintained since last spring that players would lose their Tour membership if they competed in a rival league. 
• Norman claims the Tour has no legal right to do so since the golfers are considered independent contractors.

🏌️ The big picture: Many of golf’s top players have publicly pledged their allegiance to the PGA – including Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Tiger Woods – despite reported offers of $100+ million from Live Golf in some cases.

But earlier this month, tour player Kramer Hickock said that 17 out of the Saudi league’s 40 slots have already been filled and they include “some big names." Most of the league’s events will be held in the US.

+Mickelson in hot water: Phil Mickelson's recent comments on the morality of starting a league in Saudi Arabia – which he later apologized for – drew widespread backlash, leading several sponsors to pause or end their relationship with him, including Calloway Golf.

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On Friday, President Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, who will step down this summer.

If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black female justice in Supreme Court history. She’d also be the third Black justice and sixth woman overall, bringing the current Court to a record four women.

⚖️ Background: Jackson, 51, is a Harvard Law grad who formerly clerked for Justice Breyer. She spent seven years working at top corporate firms, two years as a public defender and eight years on the federal bench.

• Biden appointed Jackson last year to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, often dubbed the “second-highest court in the land.”
• She was confirmed in a vote where three Republicans joined all 50 Dems.

👀 Looking ahead... Jackson’s nomination now heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold a hearing in roughly one month. Procedurally, the committee votes on a recommendation before it heads to the full Senate, which has its own debate before a final vote.

• The SCOTUS nomination process is exempt from the filibuster, meaning Jackson only needs the support of 50 Senators to be confirmed (with VP Kamala Harris breaking any tie).

• ☝️ Ukrainians’ views on Russia vary by region, according to a poll conducted earlier this month (pre-invasion); 21% of people in Western Ukraine had a positive attitude towards Russia compared to 53% in Eastern Ukraine.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💊 Four major US drug distributors – Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health & McKesson – finalized a $26B agreement to settle claims they fueled the opioid crisis, though none of the companies acknowledged any wrongdoing.
• 🛢️ British Petroleum is exiting its nearly 20% stake in Russian oil producer Rosneft; it could result in a $20+ billion charge for BP.
• 🪙 A pair of crypto wallets posted on Twitter by the Ukrainian government – one for bitcoin, one for ether – have raised over $10 million according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚾ The MLB and its Players’ Association have until midnight tonight to come to a deal, or the ongoing lockout will officially push back Opening Day (March 31).
• 🎮 The Pokémon Company announced two open-world games for the Nintendo Switch coming in late 2022: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
• 📺 CBS executive Chris Licht will replace Jeff Zucker as president of CNN.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🚀🌕 China claims the rocket on course to crash into the moon this Friday isn’t from one of their missions, contradicting recent reports.
• 🐦 Scientists have discovered some parallels with human speech in the chirps and trills of birds.

BEST OF THE REST

• 🔐 The 20 most common passwords that hackers leak on the dark web.
• 😷 The CDC eased indoor mask-wearing guidelines on Friday; they now extend to less than 30% of Americans, down from ~95% of US counties. (From the Left | From the Right)
• 🗳️ Former President Trump won a straw poll taken at the Conservative Political Action Conference over the weekend, topping Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis 59-28. (From the Left | From the Right)

💬 Quoted… "The fight is here ... I need ammunition, not a ride."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s response after the US offered to evacuate him from Kyiv.

🔢 Stat of the day: A 2012 study estimated that 60% of Ikea purchases are impulse buys due to its complex store layout.

🤯 Did you know?… The majority of the apples planted in the early 1800s by John Chapman (AKA Johnny Appleseed) were unfit for eating. 

• Instead, they were used to make America’s favorite alcoholic beverage at the time – hard apple cider.

📖 Worth a read… The Five-Day Workweek Is Dying → (The Atlantic)

Monday: SCOTUS hears a case challenging federal power to reduce GHG emissions

Tuesday: Mardi Gras; first day of March; President Biden delivers State of the Union; the first primary of the 2022 election season takes place (in Texas)

Wednesday: Fed Chair Jerome Powell appears before Congress for the first of two consecutive days of testimony; Ash Wednesday

Thursday: National Anthem Day

Friday: Employee Appreciation Day; The Batman hits theaters; it’ll be exclusively available there until coming to HBO Max on April 19.

Kids do the darndest things... and every now and then, they teach us the strongest lessons. 

Five-year-old Justus Mateo was in the car with his father Justice when he noticed a homeless man standing on the curb asking for money. 

• The little one instantly offered up everything he had – 30 whole cents – to the man out his window. 

While dad Justice initially was worried that just 30 cents would be a rude donation to the man, he decided to use the moment to show his son that giving to others is always the way to go. 

💸❤️ A little goes a long way... “I’m sorry man, I don’t have any cash on me," Justice said to the man on the curb. "But my son back here wants to give you everything he has right now. He just turned 5. And my God…" he continued on, "The smile on that man’s face lit UP the intersection and he said to Justus, ‘God bless you little man! Thank you so much!’”

🕵️‍♀️ Put your detective hat on… and take a crack at these two riddles.

1. Jack and Jill went on vacation for two weeks. They carefully locked their house, and had a neighbor check on the place with a spare key while they were gone. When they returned, Jill discovered that, because of a power failure, she had lost all of her fine jewelry – even though she had hidden it in what she thought was a very safe place. The house was not robbed and the jewelry was lost by accident. How?
2. Indiana Jones IV finds a chest of treasure guarded by a pirate who offers him a red key, a blue key and a gold key. Only one of them can open the treasure chest, and he only has one chance to choose the right key. Behind the pirate, there’s a cipher that reads ‘TGK HOE ELY DEN.’ Which key should he choose?

🤔 Daily Trivia: According to a survey of 2,099 hiring managers by Career Builder, what color clothing makes the worst first impression in a job interview?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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Here’s your unique link to copy & send to anyone you think would like the DONUT:

Detective:

1. Jill had hidden her jewelry inside her freezer in a bag among all the frozen food. Because of the power failure, much of the food in the freezer had become spoiled. The friendly neighbor with the key had tried to be helpful by throwing out all the bad food – and with it, the jewelry.
2. The gold one. Rearrange the letters in the cipher and it says ‘the golden key’.

Trivia: Orange; the best colors to wear are black or blue.