Good morning. You know the guy who always says “Let’s get ready to rumble?” before boxing matches? His name is Michael Buffer because of course it is. In 1992, he trademarked the phrase. Do ya know how much he’s made in licensing fees since?

$400 million.

That’s $80 million per word.

In Mr. Buffer’s life, the words ‘get’ and ‘to’ have brought in $160 million.

Not much else to say except…

LET’S GET READY TO NEWS!! (cha-ching)

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.97 minutes to read.

"It is far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness."

–William L. Watkinson (1828-1925)

The Department of Homeland Security is limiting its use of no-knock warrants and banning chokeholds in non-life-threatening situations, according to an updated use-of-force policy published yesterday.

👮 More details… Under the new changes – which apply to 80,000 officers from the DEA, TSA, Border Patrol, and other agencies within the DHS – no-knock warrants are only allowed in two instances: 1) a situation where knocking would explicitly endanger officers or other people, and 2) for evidence preservation in national security matters.

The DHS also banned its officers from using chokeholds or carotid restraints unless deadly force is authorized, and prohibited the use of deadly force against anyone whose actions only pose a threat to themselves or property.

• Alongside new guidelines for agents in the field, the DHS unveiled plans to modify its officer training program with an emphasis on de-escalation, the duty to intervene, when to use deadly force, and implicit bias and profiling.

🏛️ Zoom out: The DHS’ updates came nearly a year-and-a-half after the Department of Justice announced a similar policy restricting the use of no-knock warrants and chokeholds, which applies to more than 20,000 officers at the FBI, DEA, US Marshals Service, and other DOJ agencies.

And on a congressional level, House Democrats are planning to reintroduce the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the coming days, though it’s not expected to pass in the Republican-controlled chamber.

• Among other things, the bill would withhold federal funding from state and local governments that don’t limit no-knock warrants and chokeholds, and would also make it easier to bring charges against police officers in federal court (a key point in the GOP’s objection).

📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about the Department of Homeland Security’s new updates to its use-of-force policy?

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🇹🇷🇸🇾 The death toll from Monday’s series of earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has passed 11,000. Turkish President Recep Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency in the 10 provinces hit by the earthquakes, which affected an estimated 23 million people in southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria. Rescue teams are continuing to search for people trapped under fallen buildings, and though sub-freezing temperatures are hampering efforts, they’ve managed to rescue over 8,000 survivors and counting.

🇨🇳 Chinese scientists have reportedly cloned three “super cows,” which were engineered to produce 50% more milk than average. According to state media, researchers used a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer to create embryos cloned from Holstein Friesian cows, a Dutch breed of cattle known for producing an above-average amount of milk. The three calves, who were reportedly born healthy last month, are expected to produce 100 tons of milk in their lifetime. China imports roughly 70% of its dairy cows from other countries.

🇰🇷 A South Korean court ordered the government to compensate a Vietnam War massacre survivor, in a first-of-its-kind ruling. The court found South Korean marines guilty of killing more than 70 people, and wounding 20 others, across two villages in central Vietnam in 1968, most of whom were women and children. As part of the ruling, the government was ordered to pay $23,900 in compensation to a 62-year-old woman who said she lost five relatives and was gravely injured alongside her brother in the massacre.

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On Monday, the FAA gave the go-ahead for California startup Universal Hydrogen to start flight testing its new liquid hydrogen-powered airplane.

The plane – a modified Dash-8 model that can seat 41 passengers – would be the largest such craft ever to take flight. But if/when it does, it won’t be traveling very far (at least at first).

• The hydrogen-powered plane has a current max range of 460 miles, or about the distance between San Diego and San Jose.
• Universal Hydrogen aims to increase its range to 630 miles, which would enable it to serve nearly all of the 2,500+ routes flown by conventional Dash-8 planes since 2004.

🤔 Why use hydrogen?... The aviation industry accounts for ~2.5% of all global CO2 emissions. And while EVs are seen as a way for automakers to decrease their emissions, electric-powered airplanes aren’t really feasible for one simple reason: they’re not powerful enough.

Lithium-ion batteries have 70x less energy density than jet fuel – and when you’re flying a big hunk of metal through the air, weight-to-power ratios are like shopping at dollar stores: you want more bang for your buck.

📝 The bottom line: Liquid hydrogen, which has 3x the energy density of conventional jet fuel and emits zero CO2 when consumed, aims to deliver that bang. But there are still some hurdles to overcome – a big one being the need for advanced cold storage on planes, since hydrogen only stays in its liquid form in temps below negative 423°F.

Remember last year’s Super Bowl, or should we say, Crypto Bowl? The Rams vs. Bengals 2022 game featured four commercials from crypto related firms. This year? Not so much.

Many of the 2023 Super Bowl ads have already been released. And they’re giving…

• Nostalgia: Two quick examples: PopCorners put together a commercial that places Breaking Bad’s Walter White and Jesse Pinkman back together again in their RV. Except this time, they’re cooking PopCorners chips (BB fans will be happy to know the spot was directed by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan). And in a Rakuten ad, Alicia Silverstone is back in high school as Cher from the 1995 film Clueless.
• Alcohol: This year, Anheuser-Busch has given up its exclusivity on alcohol-related Super Bowl commercials – which means we’ll be seeing other alcohol brands advertised for the first time since 1989. Expect spots from Crown Royal, Rémy Martin, Molson Coors, and Heineken (which will run a non-alcoholic beer spot with Ant-Man).

💸 Now let’s talk dollars: The going rate for a 30-second commercial in this year’s Super Bowl is ~$7 million (that’s $233,333/second, icyww). Which makes you wonder – is it actually worth it?

According to data insight group Kantar, the answer is yes. Brands in 2021 earned an average ROI of $4.60 per every dollar spent.

💬 Quoted…​​ “Because the soul of this nation is strong, because the backbone of this nation is strong, because the people of this nation are strong, the State of the Union is strong.”

President Biden gave his second annual State of the Union address last night, during which he touted highlights of his past two years in office and laid out some of his – and congressional Democrats’ – agenda for 2023.

• In the Republican response, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called attention to historically high US inflation, and criticized what she called an ongoing “left-wing culture war.”

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

🏀 Stat of the Day: 38,890 = The amount of points LeBron James has scored in his NBA career, after he dropped 38 points last night to claim the NBA's all-time scoring title by a two-point margin over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – a feat requiring more consistency than the Energizer Bunny. Despite only leading the league in scoring one season, the 38-year-old Akron, OH, native has netted at least 10 points in 1,140 consecutive games, the longest such streak in NBA history, as well as averaged 27.2 points per game over the past 20 seasons (a scoring average that's currently 5th all-time).

🤯 Did You Know?... Wooly mammoths were still alive (on an island in the Arctic Ocean) when the Egyptian pyramids were built ~4,000 years ago.

📖 Worth a Read: A viral TikTok drug challenge has police on high alert. But it’s not real → (Rest of World)

• ☝️ Shift Robotics has invented new $1,400 “shoes,” called Moonwalkers, that reportedly increase walking speed by 250% without the wearer expending any extra energy.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💻 Zoom is laying off ~1,300 employees, or 15% of its workforce, the company announced yesterday.
• 🤖 Microsoft unveiled new versions of Bing and its Edge browser, both integrated with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
• 🥚 Wholesale egg prices reached $2.61 on Monday, down 52% from their December 19 high of $5.43, per data firm Urner Barry.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎤💿 Michael Jackson’s estate is reportedly in talks to sell half of the singer’s catalog for between $800 and $900 million.
• ⛳️ LIV Golf generated virtually zero revenue in 2022, court documents show.
• 🍿 Spiderman: No Way Home and House of the Dragon Season One were the most pirated movie and TV show of 2022, respectively, per a Variety report published yesterday; Marvel and DC films made up 70% of all illegally-streamed movies last year. | 🍯 🐻 Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey has made almost $1 million in box office sales since releasing in Mexico on January 26; the micro-budget horror film will release globally on February 15. (Background)

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 The startup behind Stable Diffusion launched an AI-powered tool that can transform existing videos into new ones based on text prompts or reference images.
• 🦀😋 Neanderthals living 90,000 years ago regularly caught crabs, roasted them on coals, then ate the cooked flesh, per a new peer-reviewed study based on the ancient remains of charred shells found near modern-day Portugal.
• 🌎 A team of US researchers have detected a previously-unknown layer of partially molten rock located 100 miles below the Earth's surface, per a new study published in Nature Geoscience.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 💰 The IRS is asking millions of taxpayers in states that issued tax rebates last year to hold off on filing their taxes until next week, while the agency determines whether those rebates count as taxable income.
• 🎓 The American Bar Association’s policy-making body rejected a proposal that would make the LSAT and other standardized tests optional for law school admissions. (Background)

CLICKBAIT

• 🐔🥚 Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

Ten years ago, Alabama resident Hody Childress stopped by the local drug store to chat with the pharmacist. He was shocked when she told him many of his neighbors struggled to pay for their medications, due to a lack of insurance and rising prescription costs. 

❤️ Help your neighbor... For the next decade, Hody dropped a $100 bill off at the pharmacy on the first of each month. He gave thousands away over the years.

• “Do not tell a soul that money came from me,” the pharmacy owner remembered Hody saying. “If they ask, just tell them it’s a blessing from the Lord."
• In fact, no one knew of Hody's generosity until just before his passing last month, when he told his daughter what he had done

💸 Keep the giving going: Members of Hody's small Alabama town are keeping the tradition alive by donating money each month to the same pharmacy in honor of Hody's good deed. 

Here's how to play: We provide an incorrect stat. Then you guess whether the actual number is over or under the stated value. 

• 🦒 16: Average length of a giraffe’s tongue in inches.
• 👶 35: Amount of times Michael has been the most popular male baby name in the last 100 years.
• 🤖 2.2B: Approximate amount of “robocalls” Americans collectively receive each month.

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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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.)

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1. Over (18-20 inches)
2. Over (44 times)
3. Over (4 billion)