Good morning. Y’all wanna hear something crazy? Over 40% of all web traffic in 2021 was generated by bots, per a report released by Statista last year.

No wonder all those “prove you’re not a robot by identifying every bus with a friendly aura” CAPTCHA tests are so dang hard. But at least they keep the bots away, right? No! Data shows that 50% of bots are actually passing those tests, which we regret to admit is about the same success rate as the DONUT team🤷‍♀️.

It only gets weirder from there. ’Good’ bots make up about 14% of all traffic, while ‘bad’ bots account for almost 28%. Which makes us wonder – can a baddie bot get bot therapy and become a goodie bot? Do bad bots think they’re bad bots? Or are they the bot heroes of their own bot stories? What if a good bot pretends to be bad “because all the other bots are doing it?”

And one more question for good measure: who determines whether a bot is bad or good? There’s plenty of great bots out there who are just too hard on themselves thinking they’re bad. But they’re not. They’re good bots. Bots contain multitudes – good, bad, and even sad. Lumping them into cookie-cutter categories is bad for bots, and we at the DONUT will not stand for it.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.58 minutes to read.

“Nearly every crisis seems to be the worst one, but after it's over, it isn't so bad.”

–Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)

Over the past ten years, Tesla stock has grown 8,535%, compared to the 349% and 188% returns produced by the Nasdaq and the S&P 500, respectively, during that same period. But competition in the EV space is heating up – and the Elon Musk-led automaker is feeling the pressure.

Tesla shares fell more than 12% yesterday to reach their lowest price since August 2020, in the first trading day after the company reported Q4 sales that missed analysts’ expectations.

🚘 A deeper dive… Tesla delivered a total of 1.31 million vehicles in 2022, representing a 40% increase from the previous year. And while that may seem like a high rate of growth, it actually fell short of the company’s multi-year goal of averaging 50% annual growth in vehicle deliveries. For context, Toyota delivered 10.5 million vehicles – electric or otherwise – in 2021, while Ford delivered 3.9 million and GM delivered 2.2 million.

But when it comes to just EVs, Tesla currently controls 65% of the US market. Though that’s down from 70% in 2021, and 79% the previous year.

And its US market share could decrease even further; competition isn’t exactly getting less stiff. The number of EV models available in America nearly doubled last year from 62 to 100, and is expected to reach 134 by next year.

• Globally, it’s more of the same. Tesla’s growth has slowed sharply, especially in China, the world's largest EV market, where it faces fast-growing rivals, Reuters reports.

📉 Zoom out: Over the past year, Tesla shares have fallen nearly 73% – losing more in market cap than the next 10 largest automakers are currently worth combined. Its stock closed yesterday trading around $108, down from $300+ as recently as mid-September (which was juuust before Musk re-submitted his offer to purchase Twitter).

As for where it goes from here – that’s anyone’s guess.

📊 Flash poll: Are you bullish (confident) or bearish (pessimistic) about Tesla’s future over the next ten years?

Bullish

Bearish

Unsure/other

🇨🇦 Most foreigners in Canada are now banned from purchasing homes for the next two years. The new law, which was approved by Canada’s Parliament in April and took effect on Jan. 1, carves out exceptions for international students, refugee claimants, and people with temporary work permits. Officials said the legislation is intended to discourage buyers from looking at homes as investments or commodities. Average housing prices in Canada have increased by 48% since 2013, and currently sit at ~$567,000 USD.

🇮🇳 The Indian state of Assam successfully eliminated rhino poaching in 2022. Assam contains nearly 75% of the world’s entire population of greater one-horned rhinos (aka Indian rhinos), with ~2,900 specimens statewide. But poaching has become a serious concern in recent years, as rhino horns are both seen as a status symbol and used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In June 2021, Assam’s government established a 22-member task force and deployed armed commandos as part of a new anti-poaching initiative. And it worked – no rhinos were poached last calendar year for the first time in over two decades.

🇯🇵 Japan is offering families $7,500 per child to move away from the Tokyo area. The incentive, which comes into effect in April, marks a dramatic rise from the previous relocation fee of ~$2,300 per child. Lawmakers said the move is designed to draw people away from Tokyo – the world’s largest city with 37+ million residents in its metro area – and encourage them to move to other parts of the country where local populations are shrinking.

Yesterday we discussed the history of kratom and its benefits. But what exactly makes this plant so unique?

🌲 Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is an evergreen tree in the Rubiaceae family (same as coffee) found in Southeast Asia. Kratom has been an important part of Thai culture for centuries, and the leaves have long been prized by the region’s inhabitants.

🍃 The leaves have a diverse spectrum of effects, attributed to the amount of alkaloids consumed in a serving (i.e. the difference between 1 tea bag and 4).

• 🤗 Less kratom = energizing/uplifting
• 😴 More kratom = relaxing/unwinding

🔬 In animal studies, the effects of kratom (mediated by the alkaloids and other phytochemical components of the leaf) are thought to be felt through three primary mechanisms of action:

• 🍄 The serotonergic system
• 🧠 The dopaminergic system
• 🌺 The opioidergic system

Human trials with kratom are lacking, but robust data concerning traditional use seems to confirm the safety shown in animal studies.

Learn more at Top Tree Herbs. 

Yesterday was a day to remember on Capitol Hill. Hundreds of newly-elected House lawmakers brought their families and loved ones to witness the opening day of the 188th Congress, during which these members-elect were scheduled to be sworn-in.

But things didn’t go exactly to plan. The House ended up adjourning yesterday afternoon without swearing in a single member, after lawmakers held three consecutive failed votes for Speaker of the House for the first time in a century.

☝️ First things first: To be elected as speaker, a lawmaker must be chosen by the majority of House members, or at least 218 votes. Republicans currently have a 222–213 majority over Democrats in the chamber.

Heading into yesterday, the favorite to become House Speaker was Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-NY), who had served as the GOP’s House Minority Leader since 2019.

• But McCarthy’s bid fell short in all three rounds of voting, with 19 – or 20 – Republican House members selecting other GOP candidates, and all 212 Democrats present backing Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

🏛️ Why it’s a big deal: Until a leader is elected, the House is unable to perform any of its duties. Members can't be sworn in, since their oath of office is administered by the speaker. This means the House can't set rules to govern itself, and also can't consider legislation or create committee assignments.

👀 Looking ahead… The House will meet again at noon today to keep holding ballots until someone gets a majority of votes. And if history is any indication, they could be at it for a while – in 1856, it took two months and 133 ballots for the chamber to finally elect a speaker.

+Dive deeper: From the Left | From the Center | From the Right

💬 Quoted…​​ “Your generosity and compassion mean the world to us… please keep Damar in your prayers.”

This quote is from the family of Damar Hamlin, a 24-year-old safety for the Buffalo Bills who collapsed after going into cardiac arrest during Monday night’s game against the Bengals. Hamlin’s heart was restored on the field, the Bills said in a statement yesterday, and he was taken to the hospital where he remains in critical condition. The game was suspended following the incident and will not be finished this week, the NFL announced yesterday.

• A GoFundMe campaign initially created by Hamlin in 2020 to raise money for a community toy drive has raised more than $5.5 million over the last 36-ish hours (the campaign’s original goal was $2,500).

🌿🍫 Stat of the Day: The number of young children who accidentally ate cannabis edibles increased 1,375% between 2017 and 2021, per a study published in the journal Pediatrics yesterday.

🤯 Did You Know?... For the first time since 2014, Meta and Google no longer account for the majority of US digital-ad dollars, per data from Insider Intelligence, who predicts the companies’ combined US market share will come in at 44.9% this year. It peaked at 54.9% in 2017, and clocked in at 48.4% in 2022.

📖 Worth a Read: The very serious science behind what makes people laugh → (Vox)

• ☝️ Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed a robotic dog that excels at climbing on ceilings and up walls.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• ✈ Southwest Airlines began offering 25,000 frequent flier points yesterday for all travelers affected by the ~16,000 recently canceled flights; the airline will also cover refunds and dispurse reimbursements for "reasonable" expenses. (Background)
• ⚖ Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and ex-CEO of FTX, pleaded not guilty yesterday to eight charges of fraud, securities fraud, and campaign finance violations; his trial has been scheduled for Oct. 2, 2023. (Background)
• 🚗⚡ Foxconn, the world's largest technology manufacturer and service provider, has partnered with chip-maker Nvidia on electric vehicles, the two companies announced yesterday.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 📺📊 Warner Bros. Discovery signed a deal yesterday with ad-measurement startup VideoAmp to track viewership across linear TV and streaming platforms; Nielsen, the industry standard for audience tracking, reported problems with undercounting that led to it losing accreditation with the Media Rating Council in 2021.
• ⚽ Cristiano Ronaldo inked a 2.5 year deal with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia; the deal, worth $200 million/year with commercial agreements included, is being reported as the largest soccer contract in history.
• 📺💰 Global TV spending is expected to increase by just 2% in 2023, research firm Ampere Analysis reported this week; if this happens it would be the lowest year-over-year increase in a decade (excluding the pandemic-driven decrease in 2020).

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🚀 SpaceX launched 114 small satellites into space yesterday in the company’s first mission of 2023.
• 🩸 People with one of the type A blood groups are more likely to have a stroke before age 60 compared to people with other blood types, per a new peer-reviewed study published in Neurology.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🚘 A German driver recently lost his license after allegedly falling asleep while his Tesla drove on the Autobahn highway with its Autopilot feature activated.
• 🏛️ Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) officially broke the Senate record for longest serving leader in history yesterday, at 16 years and counting.
• 💊 The FDA issued new changes allowing some brick-and-mortar pharmacies to dispense abortion pills for the first time. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 💎 What’s the rarest mineral on Earth?

Robert and Edith Mae Schaum were married on December 26th, 1942. And throughout Robert's deployment in WWII, as well as raising a family together, one thing remained true for the Pennsylvania couple: their love for each other. 

👵🏻👴🏻 The power of positivity: Both are currently 102 years old, and the couple credits their long and happy marriage to a positive attitude. 

• While their 80-year marriage hasn't quite beat the world record, they are still celebrating the impressive milestone. 

🥲 Who's chopping onions... “I picked him," shared Edith of their first meeting over eight decade ago. "He always says he picked me, but we belonged together." 

Can you decode this famous quote, written solely with emojis?

🐝🔀🙏👁️👁️➡️🌎

(keep scrolling for the answer)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, just 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. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize. (Pro tip: there's no need to ration points, you're entitled to a prize at each tier.)

Start referring.👇

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

–Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)