Good morning. Lil’ Simpsons trivia for ya: Do you know the name of creator Matt Groening’s father? Homer.

His mother? Marge.

His two younger sisters? Lisa and Maggie.

So who is Bart based on? Groening himself, who went with “Bart” instead of “Matt” because he thought an angry father yelling “Bart” would be funny.

Now if that ain’t news, how about THIS aka THE NEWS:

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.68 minutes to read.

“Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust.”

–Sun Tzu (544 B.C. – 496 B.C.)

Yesterday, the National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation into an incident that occurred over the weekend, where a Norfolk Southern train derailment near Springfield, Ohio, sent 28 cars sliding off the tracks.

It marked Norfolk Southern’s second such incident in the state since early February – though officials stressed that unlike last month’s derailment in East Palestine, this train wasn’t carrying any hazardous materials.

🚂 Big picture: If the first time you heard about train derailments was just over a month ago, you’re not alone. But they’re more common than you may think.

The US government has recorded over 55,000 train derailments since 1990, according to the latest federal data, which averages out to nearly 1,700 per year. But derailments have consistently declined over time, thanks to improved safety technology; 1,049 incidents were reported in 2022.

And though derailments are somewhat common in the US, they aren’t usually catastrophic. Railways are required under federal law to report any derailment that causes at least $12,000 worth of damage, or an incident comparable to a minor fender-bender in a car.

• The vast majority of reported derailments take place within train yards, and don’t result in any injuries or chemical spills.

📝 Bottom line: Over the past three decades, train derailments have been responsible for an average of four deaths and ~20 hazardous chemical spills each year. But even still, experts say railroads are “without question” the safest way to move goods across land in the US.

🇨🇭 Chocolate brand Toblerone is removing a depiction of the Swiss mountain Matterhorn from its packaging. The Swiss-based company said it plans to make some Toblerone bars in Slovakia moving forward to keep up with increased demand, which means it would run afoul of a law requiring foods that use Swiss symbols on their packaging to be 100% domestically made. And in other Swiss-related food news: a US federal appeals court over the weekend ruled that the name “gruyere” can be used to describe cheeses produced outside the Gruyère region of Switzerland and France.

🇮🇷 Iran has found what could be the world’s second-largest lithium deposit, marking its first such discovery in history. In an interview with state television yesterday, Iran’s government said it believes the new deposit contains some 8.5 million tons of lithium. If that total is confirmed, Iran would go from having zero deposits to claiming the world’s fourth-largest reserve of lithium, which is a key material in the production of batteries found in most EVs and personal devices (including phones, tablets, and computers). Yesterday’s announcement came less than a month after India discovered a 5.9-million-ton lithium deposit, which represented the world’s fifth-largest reserve at the time.

🇺🇦 Ukrainian special forces claimed responsibility for a drone strike in Russia yesterday. It represents a rare acknowledgement by Ukraine’s military, which typically doesn’t mention its involvement in any attacks within Russian territory. Separately, Ukrainian forces appear to have started retreating from the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut in recent days due to an ongoing Russian advance, according to a new analysis from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.

🙌💃 Tomorrow is International Women’s Day. And to celebrate, The WMarketplace invites you to shop for products from women-owned companies working hard to make a difference. Companies like:

• 🎀 Bow-Bow Ties… Yes, that’s right. Your beloved cat or dog can look just as fabulous as Cupcake here (pictured above). And what’s even better than seeing your furry pal flaunting class? Knowing you’re helping other animals at the same time; with each purchase the teenage founder makes a donation to a local animal shelter.
• 🧺 Or Bit of Meraki, a social enterprise that promotes ethically handcrafted bohemian and chic home decor. They’re affiliated with the charity Water, who brings clean and safe water to people around the world. They personally work with local partners to implement sustainable water projects and improve access in the communities that need them most.

Shopping at The WMarketplace means your purchase is helping women entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. And with initiatives like the above, your reach extends even further.

Shop real brands making a real impact today at The WMarketplace.

It seems ovens and opinionated uncles aren’t the only things blowing hot air in American kitchens. An estimated 60% of US households now own an air fryer, according to Adam Graves, president of Nestle US’s pizza and snacks division. That’s up from roughly 36% in 2020.

♨️ Background: The device, which first debuted at a major consumer electronics fair in Berlin in 2010, has quite a relatable origin story. Fred van der Weij, its inventor, was just looking for a way to crisp a French fry without deep-frying them. Alternative methods for making fries at home took too long, and turned out blah. A convection oven, for example, dried them out.

But combining close-range radiation with increased air flow seemed to do the trick. Thus, the air fryer was born – and it’s gotten pretty popular since then.

• In 2022, the air fryer leapfrogged over grills and multicookers to become the No. 4 cooking appliance, according to the NPD Group.
• Air frying has now become the second-most popular way to heat up frozen prepared foods, CNBC reports.

📸 Big picture: Americans spent ~$1 billion buying air fryers last year. And food brands are starting to lean in.

Some Nestle products, like Hot Pockets, now include air fryer cooking instructions alongside directions for heating up in the microwave and oven. Tyson Foods launched its own air-fried line in 2019. And Kellogg’s started including air fryer instructions for its plant-based Morningstar Farms products in early 2021, in response to customer inquiries.

In the 1990s, Web 1.0 startups described the internet as an “information superhighway.” Well, if that was a superhighway, today’s internet might best be likened to a home theater hurtling through space.

The January 2023 Global Internet Phenomena Report from intelligence firm Sandive was just released, and there’s one major takeaway: video is king. Last year, video streaming made up 65% of all traffic – defined as the total amount of data that’s downloaded and uploaded by a given website – on the global web, up from about 54% in 2021.

Some more facts about last year’s internet usage:

• 48% of all internet traffic came from just six companies: Netflix, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon.
• Netflix comprised ~14% of all internet traffic – or the same as all of Google’s properties combined.
• Facebook saw the biggest single year drop in traffic, from 15.11% of all volume in 2021 to 6.45% in 2022. Google took the second biggest loss, down 34% from 20.99% in 2021 to 13.85% in 2022.

🔎 Zoom out: In 2013, about 29% of the developing world had access to high speed internet. By 2021, that number had more than doubled to 57%. And as that number continues to rise, Netflix better make sure to stock up on bingeable content and keep the 19 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy available.

💬 Quoted…​​ “[The cookie] proved to be more popular than anticipated.”

The Girl Scouts’ latest cookie, a raspberry-flavored version of its Thin Mint cookie called Raspberry Rally, was always supposed to be a limited edition item. But the nonprofit org didn’t expect it to be this limited. A new CNN report found Raspberry Rally cookie packages sold out in a matter of hours, and are currently going for as much as $30 on eBay – well above the list price of $5 to $6 per box.

🧾 Stat of the Day: 21.8% = the average tip left at restaurants in Delaware in Q4 2022, which represents the highest statewide average in the entire US, per new data from Toast. The lowest? California, clocking in at 17.5%.

🤯 Did You Know?... About 70% of the world’s population doesn’t use toilet paper.

📖 Worth a Read: How YouTube birthed a dubbing empire → (Rest of World)

🎯🔥 Assembling IKEA tables got you feelin’ like the Steph Curry of furniture? Our pals at The Average Joe will turn you into the Marie Kondo of investing. Organized, calm and ready to conquer the markets.

📈 The Average Joe newsletter — aka the “IKEA instructions for investing” — is short, simple, and concise. It’s filled with market insights, trends, and ideas that’ll have you asking, “Where have you been all my life?”

But you don’t read IKEA manuals on your spare time... and you wouldn’t read financial publications for fun, or would you? (Feel free to reply!)

📸 Big picture: Look, we already know you’re a fan of The DONUT’s easy-to-digest, bite-sized format… The Average Joe is like The DONUT but for money stuff, and you can become a better investor just by reading (plus it’s free).

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• ☝️ Rapper Lil Wayne recently sold his 10,600-square-foot Miami beach home for just over $22.5 million; the house features seven bedrooms, a home theater, and 110 feet of water frontage.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💰🤝 US markets closed mixed yesterday (S&P: +0.1%; Dow: +0.1%; Nasdaq: -0.1%) | Marlboro parent company Altria confirmed its purchase of e-cigarette startup NJOY for $2.75 billion; the announcement comes days after Altria divested its stake in Juul. | WeightWatchers purchased telehealth company Sequence for ~$106 million; the deal will allow WW to medically prescribe diabetes and obesity drugs like Ozempic. (Background)
• 🚗 Tesla lowered the prices of its Model S and Model X by 4%-9%.
• 📉 Google notified employees yesterday that there will be fewer promotions to than in prior years.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🖥️ Apple is on track to release a new iMac in the back half of this year, per Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman; the desktop computer will be one of the first to use the company’s M3 chip.
• ⚽ Ted Lasso’s third season, which premieres March 15, was written to be its last, creator and star Jason Sudeikis told ET yesterday. | 📽️ Elon Musk will be the focus of Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney’s next project; Gibney is known for Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and documentaries about Enron and Steve Jobs.
• ⚾️ The World Baseball Classic kicks off tonight for the first time in six years.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🪱🌕 March’s full moon, called a “Worm Moon,” is projected to reach peak illumination at 7:42 am ET this morning.
• 🤡 The strongest explanation for why humans tend to be scared of clowns stems from not being able to see their facial expressions due to make-up, according to a new peer-reviewed study.
• ✈️⚛️ Universal Hydrogen announced the first successful test flight of its custom 40-seat commuter plane, which is equipped with a hydrogen fuel-cell engine. (Background)

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🚨 Nearly three dozen people were arrested in Atlanta on Sunday amid protests at the site of a planned law enforcement training facility; at least 23 of the arrested suspects will face domestic terrorism charges, according to police.
• 🇲🇽 Four US citizens were kidnapped by gunmen in northeastern Mexico on Friday in a case of mistaken identity, a US official told CNN yesterday.
• 🏛️ The D.C. Council withdrew a set of proposed changes to the city’s criminal code from consideration yesterday; the move comes days before a Senate vote that was projected to overturn the measure, though lawmakers indicated the vote will still proceed later this week. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 💉 'Truth serum' drugs do exist – but they probably don't work the way you think they do.

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Yesterday we took a way-too-early look at the 2024 presidential election, based on new polling data that’s been published in recent weeks.

❓ Our question to you: If the 2024 presidential election were held today, which party would you vote for?

• 🐘 Republican: 33%
• 🐴 Democrat: 38%
• 3️⃣ A third party: 10%
• 🚫 I'm not planning on voting/too young: 8%
• 🤷 Unsure: 11%

Click here to read some of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 11,479 votes and 1,088 longform responses.

Last month, 27-year-old Dalai was officially named the world's oldest llama by Guinness World Records. 

🦙 What a life... Born in 1996, the beloved llama lives on a farm in Albuquerque along with his best friend Gelato, a Nigerian Dwarf goat who goes everywhere with him.

Dalai is spoiled sweet by his owners and loves every minute. 

• “He still leaps in the air with joy when we bring him a bucket of mashed alfalfa,” his owners reported. “He loves to smell your hair when it is freshly washed.”

❓ Trivia: What plant does the vanilla bean come from?

🦄 True or False?... A group of unicorns is referred to as a murder.

🤔 Riddle Me This… I start at the end and finish at the beginning, and wherever I go I am cold. What am I?

(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.)

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❓ Trivia: A type of orchid

🦄 T/F: False, it’s called a blessing

🤔 Riddle: Winter

**The Parallel Flight sponsor block was written and/or published as a collaboration between The DONUT's in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of The DONUT. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. The DONUT may receive monetary compensation from the issuer, or its agency, for publicizing the offering of the issuer’s securities. This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be investing advice. This is a paid ad. Please see 17(b) disclosure linked in the campaign page for more information.