Good morning. Miiiiiiike. Mike. Mike. Mike. Mike. What day is it?!🐪

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.07 minutes to read.

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.”

–Beverly Sills (1929-2007)

Songs aren’t the only content getting remixed these days – books just rang the doorbell to join the party. New editions of children’s books written by the late UK author Roald Dahl are being edited to remove words that could be deemed offensive to some readers, The Telegraph first reported last week.

📚 Background: The Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC) controls the rights to all of Roald Dahl’s written works, which include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, The Twits, and Matilda, among others. And like the jock in every ‘80s teen movie Dahl’s books are quite popular, collectively selling more than 200 million copies to-date.

But recently, the author’s catalog was reviewed by the RDSC and UK publisher Puffin Books – and the pair ultimately decided to alter many previous passages that reference topics like weight, mental health, gender, or race to ensure the “wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today.”

Some notable examples:

• Every instance of the word “fat” or “ugly” has been removed across all of Dahl’s books. Ditto goes for most descriptions of objects or people using the words “black” or “white,” as well as passages calling people with mental illness “mad” or “crazy.”
• Many references to gender have also been removed or altered. Examples include swapping out phrases like “mothers and fathers” for “parents,” removing a passage about how boys’ dreams are different from girls’, and saying a supernatural female’s alter-ego may be working as a “top scientist or running a business” instead of as a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman.”

🗣️ The public reacts: While there are those who applaud the changes, several high-profile authors have denounced them as unwarranted and potentially dangerous, including Salman Rushdie, Philip Pullman, and a community of 7,500 US writers known as PEN America.

📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about the Roald Dahl Company editing the deceased author’s works to remove some words that could be deemed offensive?

Strongly agree

Agree/Somewhat agree

Neutral

Disagree/Somewhat disagree

Strongly disagree

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia announced plans to double the size of its capital city of Riyadh with a new multi-billion dollar development. The main attraction of the new project is a massive cubic skyscraper, called the Mukaab, that’ll measure a quarter-mile long on each side (large enough to fit 20 Empire State Buildings). Saudi officials said the Mukaab will feature nearly 22 million square feet of total floor space – focused mainly on hospitality – when it opens to the public sometime before 2030.

🇷🇺 Russia is suspending its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between Moscow and the US. In his state-of-the-nation address yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will step back from the 2011 New START treaty that limits the number of nuclear warheads, bombers, and launchers the US and Russia are allowed to possess. Though hours after Putin’s speech, Russia’s Foreign Ministry clarified that Moscow hasn’t officially withdrawn from the treaty, and called the government’s decision to suspend its participation “reversible.”

🥖 Food additives that are present in American food – but banned in Europe – are “almost certainly” contributing to higher rates of US cancer. That’s according to Professor Erik Millstone, an expert on food additives at England's University of Sussex, who told CBS News on Monday that European regulators take a far more cautious approach to food safety than their American counterparts. Millstone cited several potentially cancer-causing substances that are currently banned in Europe for health reasons but permitted in the US, including potassium bromate, titanium dioxide, azodicarbonamide, and propylparaben.

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US consumers collectively owed ~$986 billion in credit card debt at the end of last quarter, per a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That’s the highest level since 1999, when this data first started being collected.

And we’re not done yet – credit card debt these days might as well be nicknamed Simone Biles, because it’s setting all the records. Americans’ total credit card debt increased by $61 billion in Q4 2022 compared to the previous quarter, as well as $130 billion year-over-year. Both of which are record highs, per the report.

And yet another thing hitting new highs (besides Snoop Dogg)? Interest rates on credit card debt. The average US rate last quarter stood at 21.6%, which is the highest level since WalletHub began tracking that data in 2011.

🚫📈 Big picture: While credit card debt (and interest) continues to go up, the average US consumer’s ability to pay it back is going the way of Jay Sean – down, down, down, down, down. In Q4 2022, Americans in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s had their highest rate of entering CC delinquency since 2010.

A larger storm may be brewing, too. A separate report from Moody’s Analytics found ~10% of auto loans extended to Americans with low credit scores were at least 30 days behind on payments at the end of last year, the highest share in over a decade.

💬 Quoted…​​ “This obviously positive symbol [provides] hope, but there's a lot of work to do."

A 53-year-old man from Dusseldorf, Germany, has become the fifth person to ever be officially cured of HIV, per a new study published yesterday in Nature Medicine. Though he's only the third patient in history to have seemingly eliminated the virus after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor carrying a rare genetic mutation that resists HIV (the other two appear to have been somehow cured without treatment).

• Unfortunately, this procedure isn’t considered a suitable option for nearly all of the 38 million people around the world currently living with HIV. It’s very high-risk, and generally performed in cancer patients without any other treatment options.

🥵🥶 Stat of the Day: If this week’s weather had a theme song, it’d probably be Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold.” Forecasters are projecting a 100-degree temperature spread from North Dakota (-10°F) to Florida (90°F) tomorrow.

🤯 Did You Know?... The average lifespan of pet cats around the world has nearly doubled since the early 1980s, from seven years to 15 years.

📖 Worth a Read: The childhoods of exceptional people → (LessWrong)

🫧📉 Do you have a habit of being late to the party? Do you tend to pick em right before the bubble pops? Hey, we get it, the hype was real… or at least it really seemed like it.

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Parallel Flight Technologies has a fundraising round open now – learn more and how to invest here.

• ☝️ The most expensive home in the Caribbean recently went up for sale with a list price of $200 million; the 17-acre estate is currently operated by 18 full-time staff, and features a 12,000 sq.-foot building dedicated to games and entertainment that’s connected to the main residence via a 60-foot tunnel.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 All three major US stock indexes closed down across the board yesterday; both the Dow and S&P 500 turned in their worst performances of 2023 so far. (Dow: -2.1% | S&P: -2.0% | Nasdaq: -2.6%)
• 🏘️ US home sales declined in January for the 12th straight month to reach a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4 million, the lowest since October 2010, per new data from the National Association of Realtors; the median home price is currently $359,000; that's up from last January but down 13% compared to its June 2022 high.
• ⛪ The Mormon church was fined $5 million by the SEC yesterday over accusations the religious institution illegally hid its $32 billion investment fund behind multiple shell companies.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🍿 Zach Galifianakis will reportedly star in an upcoming live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch that’s intended to be a major release on Disney+.
• 🏀 The Atlanta Hawks fired head coach Nate McMillan yesterday; the team is currently 29-30 and ranked eighth in the Eastern Conference.
• 📺 CNN anchor Don Lemon is returning to the network this morning; his return follows a brief hiatus due to controversial comments he made last Thursday about GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🌕 The mysterious red streaks visible on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa could be the result of a newly-discovered type of salty ice, according to a peer-reviewed study published Monday in PNAS.
• 🤕 Blue and purple lights are up to five times better at showing bruises on people with darker skin, per a new peer-reviewed study that aims to help US nurses and police officers in cases of assault and domestic violence.
• 💪 US researchers helped two paralyzed stroke survivors regain control over their arms; the first-of-its-kind implant delivers an electric shock to the spinal cord in the areas controlling hand and arm motion.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🚂 The EPA yesterday ordered Norfolk Southern to pay for the entire cleanup stemming from the derailment of one of its trains carrying hazardous materials in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month. (Background)
• ⚖️ Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former top security official, was convicted yesterday by a US court on charges that he accepted bribes in exchange for allowing drug cartels to operate with impunity – all while supposedly leading Mexico’s anti-drug efforts. | The Supreme Court heard arguments in Google vs. Gonzalez yesterday; the case could reshape Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 26-word clause that's been credited with helping to shape the internet as we know it. (Background)
• 🏛️ Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) will resign from Congress effective June 1 to lead the Rhode Island Foundation as its president and CEO. | Democrat Jennifer McClellan became the first Black woman elected to represent Virginia in Congress, after winning a special election yesterday to replace the late Rep. Don McEachin (D).

CLICKBAIT

• 🔠 I'm the Wordle editor. People complain about the words and recognize me on the street — but I wouldn't trade this job for anything.

A group of students from Washington, D.C., flew out to Arizona earlier this month for the Super Bowl.

But the young adults weren’t there for the game. They were there for the aftermath of the tailgate party, where the youngsters collected thousands of pounds of unused food for people in need.

😋 Bon appétit… The students are part of the Food Recovery Network, which is the largest student-led movement fighting food waste in America. It currently has more than 100 active chapters across the country.

🎮 Trivia: The original PlayStation prototype was designed by Sony in collaboration with which company?

🐌 True or False?... Snails have feet.

🤔 Riddle Me This: What gets dirtier the whiter it gets?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 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.👇

🎮 Trivia: Nintendo

🐌 T/F: False, they have one foot, which is what scientists call their entire underbelly (gastropod = "stomach-foot")

🤔 Riddle: A chalkboard