Good morning and welcome to Thursday. You clicked on the right email because today is World Knowledge Day and we’re about to drop all kinds.😎🎓

P.S. We’ll be off tomorrow and Monday. See you back here Tuesday!

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.48 minutes to read.

"Be not glad at the misfortune of another, though they may be your enemy."

–George Washington (1732-1799)

🇺🇦 President Biden announced $800 million in additional military aid to Ukraine – including helicopters, artillery systems, and armored vehicles – one day after calling Russia’s actions a “genocide” for the first time.

• The US is also significantly expanding the amount of intelligence it’s providing to Ukraine’s forces so they can target Russians in Donbas and Crimea, per the WSJ.
• The UN warned that Ukraine's water system is "at risk of complete collapse" yesterday, with 1.4 million Ukrainians currently unable to access clean water and another 4.6 million at risk of losing their supply.
• The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv yesterday to show support for the embattled nation days after UK PM Boris Johnson did the same thing.
• Authorities in the island country of Jersey have frozen assets valued at over $7 billion suspected of belonging to Russian oligarch ​​Roman Abramovich, who previously committed to selling the UK’s Chelsea Football Club due to the invasion.
• More than a dozen yachts belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarchs have been seized or identified for seizure since the war began, per Axios.

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

Masks will be required on airplanes, trains, buses, and other public transport until at least May 3, the TSA and US health officials said yesterday. The existing mandate was set to expire on Monday.

🦠📈 Driving (and flying) the move… Per the CDC, the extension was prompted by rising Covid cases and would "give it time to assess the potential impact of the rise of cases on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and healthcare system capacity."

• The latest uptick in cases has been spurred by the omicron BA.2 variant, which now accounts for ~85% of new infections across the country.
• Preliminary research shows this new variant is slightly more transmissible than the previous dominant omicron strain (BA.1), but there’s no evidence that it results in more severe outcomes.

✈️ Zoom out: Chief executives of 10 major airlines and cargo carriers wrote to President Biden last month encouraging him to drop the requirement, arguing it’s no longer necessary and inconsistent with the latest guidance, and that the burden of enforcing it is putting a strain on employees. 21 states have also filed a lawsuit to block the mandate.

• The FAA has reported a rise in unruly passenger incidents since 2020, ~70% of which involved masking rules.

+Dig deeper: From the Left | From the Right

The NFL’s Washington Commanders may have engaged in unlawful financial conduct, including concealing ticket revenue and failing to refund season-ticket holder security deposits, according to a letter from the House Oversight Committee to the FTC requesting further investigation.

🏈 A deeper dive… NFL teams must give 40% of their home ticket sales to the league, which then distributes it to the other 31 teams (revenue sharing).

• The Commanders’ former VP of sales, Jason Friedman, testified to Congress that the team had two sets of books – one for the NFL, which underreported certain revenue, and another which had the accurate numbers.
• He also claimed the Commanders held onto nearly $5 million in security deposits for thousands of season-ticket holders since 2016, directing employees to “establish roadblocks” to prevent fans from being refunded.
• A Washington spokesperson said the team "categorically denies any suggestion of financial impropriety of any kind at any time.”

🔎 Zoom out: Commanders owner Dan Snyder (☝️) has been the subject of several recent investigations by the NFL and federal lawmakers. The House committee’s probe actually began last year with questions regarding the lack of transparency over an NFL-led investigation into sexual harassment and workplace misconduct inside the franchise, which resulted in a $10 million fine.

• And then earlier this year, a former employee described a new allegation of sexual harassment against Snyder in front of Congress, prompting the NFL to launch another investigation into the incident. Snyder has denied any wrongdoing.

😩 So many applications… It’s a struggle trying to find a decent career. Entering your resume repeatedly, no callbacks, coming up short in interviews… it’s frustrating at best.

The pandemic didn’t help either, during which 11 million women were pushed out of the job force. Many educated, experienced women had to put their jobs on hold to become caretakers, only to be left out of the flexible, empowering jobs they wanted after.

🤔 What if we told you, you can return to a remote, flexible job? That there’s a method where 70% of people find a job in 3 months or less?

That’s exactly what Prowess Project is doing. Their hiring approach takes into consideration your professional, interpersonal and transferable skills and ONLY matches you with jobs where you're a top 5 candidate.

That means no wasting time, no application black hole, and no wondering if you’re a good fit. 🙌

Some available jobs include:

• Quickbooks Consultant: 75K/YR + Bonus
• Marketing Manager: $90K/YR
• Project Manager: $30+/HR
• Social Media Manager: $30+/HR
• Executive Assistant/Chief of staff: $30+/HR

Don’t see your perfect fit? Sign up and check back often as there are new roles being added every day!

➡️ Check out the Prowess Project Job Board here!

Fewer overall working hours for the same amount of pay could soon become a reality for many employees in California.

📝 A deeper dive… State lawmakers recently introduced legislation to make a 32-hour week the standard for companies with more than 500 workers.

• There would be no reduction in pay, and any employees who work more would receive an overtime rate of at least 1.5x their regular pay rate.
• The idea is that workers can retain the same level of productivity over less hours by working more efficiently, including cutting out unnecessary meetings.

✋ Yes, but… California’s Chamber of Commerce has come out in opposition to the bill, calling it a “job killer.”

• They argue it would end up imposing more costs on businesses, who would effectively be paying a higher hourly wage without a guarantee that workers would be able to increase their productivity to make up for lost time.

💼 Zoom out: Earlier this month, more than three dozen North American companies switched to four-day workweeks as part of a six-month pilot program, including crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.

• Many of these companies see it as a way to stand out from their competitors in a tight US labor market; there were a record 5 million more job openings than unemployed Americans in February (the latest month for which data is available).
• California’s 32-hour workweek legislation is similar to a federal bill introduced in Congress last December and endorsed by the Progressive Caucus, though it’s not expected to make any further headway.

+Fun fact: The typical American employee today works 1,767 hours a year. Among developed economies, only four countries – Israel, Korea, Russia and Mexico – put in longer hours on average than the US.

• ☝️ “Strawberry in Soda,” one of the 10 winning photos from Apple’s Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge that were announced yesterday.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🐦 Elon Musk is being sued over failing to disclose his 9.2% stake in Twitter within the required time frame by a shareholder who sold before his position was publicized.
• 💊 UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline agreed to buy cancer-drug maker Sierra Oncology for $1.9 billion.
• ✈️ Meta spent a record $26.8 million on security and private jets for founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg last year after spending $25 million and $23 million the previous two years.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 📺 Amazon is rebranding its free ad-supported TV service from IMDb TV to Amazon Freevee.
• ⚽ FIFA launched a new soccer streaming service called FIFA+ with live games, documentaries, archived matches and more; it’s currently free with ads.
• ⚾ San Francisco Giants assistant Alyssa Nakken became the first woman to coach on the field in a regular-season game after stepping in for the team's ejected first base coach.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• ☀️ Swedish researchers have designed an energy system that stores solar power in liquid form for up to 18 years.
• 📝 Sexually-transmitted disease rates continued to climb even during the first year of the pandemic, according to new CDC data, reaching a new record high.
• 📱 TikTok's augmented reality development platform for creators, called Effect House, has officially gone live.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🏛️ The Library of Congress announced 25 "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time” to be inducted this year into the National Recording Registry.
• 🚨 The NYPD arrested the alleged Brooklyn subway shooter yesterday.
• 🌽🍅🥬 The largest land port for produce coming into the US has been blocked since Monday by Mexican truckers protesting a new inspection rule implemented by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. (From the Left | From the Right)

💬 Quoted… “Those are storm clouds on the horizon that may disappear, they may not.”

• In the company’s earnings call yesterday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said there’s a risk the Fed accidentally pushes the economy into a recession as it hikes rates to combat rising inflation.
• The bank's profit dropped 42% last quarter, from $14 billion to $8 billion.

📊 Stat of the Day: More than 8 in 10 American teens (82%) expect climate change and other environmental factors to affect where they live and whether they have children, per a new survey from 4-H and Harris Poll.

🤯 Did You Know?... The lowest-grossing US film in history is psychological thriller Zyzzyx Road, which earned a whopping $30 at the domestic box office.

• The reason? Hollywood accounting at its finest. The film was only shown once a day for six days at a single US theater as a trick to fulfill contractual obligations requiring a North American release before it could be screened internationally.

📖 Worth a Read: What Would It Take for Possible Lifeforms to Survive on Venus? → (Interesting Engineering)

The pandemic is already over (34%): “It seems most places have moved to an endemic approach, and public opinion has shifted towards believing Covid’s not a major threat. Barring a new variant with a significantly higher mortality rate, I don’t think most people would accept more pandemic restrictions.”

Sometime this year (21%): “Vaccinations are free and easily available. Emergency rooms and hospitals aren't flooded anymore. While I'm sure there will be flare-ups every once in a while, I think Covid will be endemic rather than a pandemic in the near future.”

Sometime in 2023 (20%): “Looking at the pandemic of 1918, Covid may always be with us; however, as more people receive vaccines or develop immunity, I believe we will experience a ‘new’ normal between 2023 and 2024.”

In 2024 or later (25%): “I think it's reasonable to say that things will likely get better over the next 2 years, but I don’t really see Covid going anywhere. The virus will likely continue to mutate into new variants until a higher percentage of the global population is vaccinated.”

📊 Bonus: Here are the results from when we last asked this question in February. 👇

• The pandemic is already over: 30%
• Sometime this year: 28%
• Sometime in 2023: 23%
• In 2024 or later: 19%

If your job or passion project requires creativity, it can spread you thin. It’s mentally demanding having to churn out idea after idea on top of everything else.😫

🗝️ The key to productivity… is strong organizational skills! When you’re organized, you can turn on autopilot and can save that precious mental energy for the creative process.

🖊️📓 But to be organized and creative, you need the right tools.

Baronfig knows this struggle – their team is full of designers, mechanical engineers, and writers. Because they know what it takes to be creative, they make higher quality products at a better price than competitors.

Whether it’s a trusty pen, a solid notebook, or a quality backpack, they have all the tools you need to get the gears turning. ⚙️🧠

Get started today with the Idea Toolset. (Follow the links and get 20% off!)

A quick-thinking woman in India potentially saved nearly 200 people on a train headed straight towards a set of broken tracks. 

📖 The story: Omvati Devi was on her way to work when she noticed the track next to her walking route was faulty. Knowing a train would be on its way soon, she had to warn the conductor – and fast.

• The woman quickly removed her bright red sari from her head and held it up in the middle of the track; luckily the conductor noticed her warning sign and was able to stop the train just in time. 

🚂 Sari, not sorry... Omvati has been hailed as a hero for her bravery and quick-thinking, but says she was just trying her best to help. 

• The driver of the train offered her 100 rupees as a thank you, but she initially turned him down. “Then, he insisted that I keep the money, which I did," Omvati shared.

❓ Trivia: What does the “L” stand for in Samuel L. Jackson?

⚖️ True or false?… Coconuts are technically considered mammals, since they have hair and produce milk.

🤔 Riddle me this: What word becomes shorter when you add two letters?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

Check out our referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to this newsletter. 👇

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

❓ Trivia: Leroy

⚖️ T/F: False, but it almost sounds crazy enough to be true.

🤔 Riddle: Short