Good morning and welcome to Tuesday. In today’s edition:

• 🌃 A look at post-pandemic America
• 🧠 The psychology behind impulse buys
• ☕ Laser-generated cold brew

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.92 minutes to read.

“Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”

–Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

It’s time to set the dial: The year is ____, Adam Neumann is leading a multi-billion-dollar startup, and an exciting company called MoviePass is about to launch a new subscription service.

If you said 2017, you’d be right – but that’s not the answer we’re looking for. Flow, Neumann’s new startup, secured funding at a $1+ billion valuation just last week. And then yesterday, the previously defunct MoviePass revealed plans to relaunch on or around this upcoming Labor Day.

📅 Don’t call it a comeback… MoviePass was founded in 2011, but struggled to stay afloat until it was bought in 2017 by Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY) – and that’s when the fun started. Under HMNY’s guidance, the company launched a service allowing moviegoers to see one film a day at any theater in the world for just $10 per month.

• Within the first 48 hours, MoviePass saw its subscriptions quintuple from 20,000 to 100,000. In less than a year, it had 3+ million subscribers.

🤔 Too good to be true?... You betcha. HMNY’s business plan centered around the assumption that most subs wouldn’t actually use MoviePass regularly – similar to gyms, which typically use no-shows to financially offset super users.

• But it turns out people like going to the movies more than the gym. MoviePass soon started losing money on virtually every subscriber, failed to *pivot* (Ross voice), then went bankrupt in 2019 before being sold to its original co-founder Stacy Spikes last November.

🍿 Looking ahead… This time, subscriptions will cost $10, $20, or $30, depending on where you live, in exchange for an unknown number of monthly credits to see movies in any theater that accepts Mastercard.

Nearly half of all cancer deaths globally can be attributed to preventable risk factors, according to a new peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet.

🔎 More deets… The study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, set out to analyze the relationship between different risk factors and cancer, the second leading cause of death worldwide behind heart disease.

After reviewing global health data from 204 countries and territories, researchers found more than ½ of all cancer-related deaths in men and over ⅓ of such deaths in women – 44.4% in total – ultimately stem from avoidable causes.

• Smoking was the preventable risk factor responsible for the most deaths, followed by drinking too much alcohol and having a high body-mass index (BMI).
• The data also showed cancer deaths stemming from these causes are on the rise, increasing 20.4% worldwide from 2010 to 2019.

📝 The big picture: In an editorial published alongside the study, the researchers noted people living closer to the poverty level were more likely to die from cancer that could have been avoided.

They say all work and no play makes Jack the US a dull boy… but according to new data, things seem to be changing.

In America’s ten largest cities, office occupancy rates are less than half of what they were pre-Covid (44%), per a new report from business key card firm Kastle. Not a huge surprise. But here’s where things get interesting: office occupancy rates have now stayed at roughly the same level for several months in a row – but downtown neighborhoods are buzzing with social activity.

• Restaurant reservations across all US cities currently stand at 98% of their pre-Covid levels, Bloomberg reports, and foot traffic at arts and theater venues has similarly rebounded.
• In NYC, activity currently stands at 97% of what it was before the pandemic, based on a recent analysis of data from 18 million smartphones.
• In other places like Salt Lake City or Jacksonville, foot traffic levels ​​have rebounded to beyond pre-pandemic levels – though the vast majority of US cities are in the 55% to 90% range.

🏙 The bottom line: When asked to identify the most important features of a great business district by Gensler, a research firm, city dwellers’ top three results were consistent across all generations and 15 cities: restaurants, outdoor space, and public transit options. Shopping, theaters, and “culture” (aka museums and art galleries) were next on the list… and ranking last?

Access to workplaces and office buildings.

Wild guess, but it’s the whopping 6% agent commission fee that’s just not sitting right, isn’t it? Housing prices have skyrocketed – but why have commission fees risen the same amount?

Luckily for Texas residents, there’s a way home sellers can:

• Save 50% on cost of sale, for average savings of $10,000
• Sell commission-free
• Sell 37% faster than with a traditional agent

How? Listing Spark… AKA the fastest way to sell your home for the most money.

⚙️ How it works… ListingSpark leverages data-driven technology to compare your home with thousands of others to find the right price, and lists it on sites with over 100 million monthly views to find the perfect buyer!

• Manage offers, schedule showings, sign paperwork – all just a click away.👌

Don’t be the person that pays full price… use ListingSpark and save $99 on your listing by mentioning The DONUT.

Roughly two-thirds of anyone who’s bought a product they saw on social media say they later regretted their purchase, per a recent survey from consumer finance firm Bankrate.

🤔 So, why do we do it?... There are a few reasons driving impulse buys, according to experts, and nearly all revolve around the business concept of “friction” – effectively anything, however minor or major, preventing or dissuading us from buying a product or service. For example: distracting product visuals, an unclear value prop, or even needing customers to click an extra time or two before purchasing all increase friction. (Fun fact: this is why one-click checkout is such a big obsession for online retailers.)

A couple ways social media reduces friction for businesses:

• Targeted advertising: This ensures hot new items of specific interest to you are placed right at your fingertips.
• Easy checkout: Then once you see this product, biometric payment options for smartphones (i.e., Apple Pay) means buying it is simply a glance away. Buy-now, pay-later options further reduce friction at checkout, since it attracts more folks who would otherwise be turned off by the price of a product.

💬 Also worth mentioning: New cars, fancy vacations, private jets – it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not online. But per Lisa Fischer, chief lending and growth officer at Mission Lane, “Seeing images and advertisements like this can make someone feel insecure about their own financial situation and subsequently cause them to spend more just to feel like they belong.”

📝 Bottom line: Impulse buys – and keeping up with the Joneses – can sometimes lead to real ragrets.

💬 Quoted…​​ “We hadn’t really expected it to be this good, to be honest.”

• NASA released new images yesterday from the James Webb Space Telescope showing Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system; scientists hope the pics will provide more clues as to the inner workings of the gas giant.

🌐 Stat of the Day: A majority of Americans (54%) would rather give up their smartphones for a year than have their browsing history published online, according to a recent survey from Online Tech Tips.

🌎 Around the World: Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan was charged under the country's anti-terrorism act Sunday for allegedly threatening senior police and a judge in a speech.

🤯 Did You Know?... Facebook has more than 40,000 employees currently working in its cyber safety and security division – more than the amount of people employed by the entire FBI (~35,000 workers total).

📖 Worth a Read: Wow, Politicians Are Really Bad at Podcasting → (Politico)

📊 Poll results: Yesterday, we asked if ​​you – or anyone in your life – are currently dealing with the effects of long Covid.

• 47% of y’all said yes, and 53% said no.

See the full 360° view here.

• ☝️ Some areas of North Texas experienced “1-in-1,000-year” levels of rainfall resulting in flash flooding; more than 450 people across the area called for emergency rescues on Sunday and Monday, per CNN.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏢 Roughly 420,000 new apartments are expected to be completed in cities across the US this year, a 50-year high in multifamily construction, per data from listing service RentCafe.
• 🚘 Lucid Motors unveiled its Air Sapphire EV sedan, which can do zero to 60 MPH in under two seconds, zero to 100 MPH in under four seconds, and a quarter-mile in under nine seconds.
• 💼 Ford announced plans to lay off 3,000 employees and contract workers, primarily in the US, Canada, and India.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🍿 Netflix’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery finally has a release date: December 23.
• ⚖️ Rapper Fetty Wap pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess and distribute 500 or more grams of cocaine; he faces a minimum of five years in prison.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• ⚡🧠 Pulsing electrical currents through the brain for 20 minutes can boost memory for older adults for at least a month, according to a new peer-reviewed study published in Nature Neuroscience.
• 🧊☕ German researchers have developed a method to make cold brew in a record three minutes using lasers, as opposed to the typical 12 to 24 hours of steeping coffee grounds.
• 🧠 A compound called vanadium dioxide is capable of 'remembering' previous external stimuli, researchers have found; it’s the first time this ability has ever been identified in a material.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🥪 Subway is launching its first subscription service; the $15 “Footlong Pass” offers 50% off a footlong each day in September when ordered on Subway's app or website; the service will be capped at 10,000 users.
• 🏫 Teachers at Ohio's largest school district voted to go on strike days before the start of the school year, after failing to come to agreement on the terms of its labor contract.
• 🏛️ Dr. Anthony Fauci, who’s served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, announced plans to step down in December.

🤯 So wearables no longer just track biometric data…

🏹 Apollo™ is a wearable that sends silent, soothing vibrations to actually improve your health in real-time. The Apollo wearable increases your body’s resilience to stress – which helps you stay calm and focused, and even improves sleep quality. 😲

Apollo Neuro’s groundbreaking technology was developed by neuroscientists who conducted real-world and clinical trials where participants experienced, on average:

• 40% less feelings of stress/anxiety ✌️
• 19% more deep sleep 😴
• Up to 25% more focus and concentration 🧐

The Apollo wearable provides feelings of calm and comfort, a flow-state level of focus, and features modes like “Sleep and Renew”, “Relax and Unwind”, “Meditation and Mindfulness”... and it’s safe and noninvasive, even for children.

⚠️ Awesome savings alert: save $40 with code ILOVEDONUTS!

Take control of your stress with the Apollo wearable.

Tom Steury, that's who. The Washington man recently celebrated turning 82 years old by shooting his one millionth free throw on the basketball court.

🏀 A long time coming... The octogenarian began his goal over seventeen years ago, when he started recording every shot on a spreadsheet to track his accuracy.

• According to Tom, he currently sports a ~95% accuracy rate. He shoots 100 free throws a day, which has added up to about 2500 hours on the court over the years. 

On August 18th, his 82nd birthday, he officially made his one-millionth free throw.

🎅 Trivia: Are the 12 days of Christmas before or after Dec. 25th?

🥕 True or False?… Eating carrots can change your skin color.

🤔 Riddle Me This: What needs to be broken before it can be used?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, all for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT.

🎅 Trivia: After

🥕 T/F: True

🤔 Riddle: An egg