Good morning. Welcome back from the long Labor Day weekend, an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers.

In that spirit, your humble writers – Kyle, Kailyn, Peter, JP, and Jullea – would like to celebrate the achievements of our workers.

A non-exhaustive list of things our DONUT teammates are responsible for:

• Building and maintaining the proprietary tech that powers our entire writing operation, enabling this newsletter to reach your inboxes each weekday.
• Helping to grow our subscriber base from 13 to 120,000+ people🥳, all without a marketing budget (though they’ll be the first to admit you all do the heavy lifting, s/o to our referral program).
• Finding the right advertising partners, so that we’re only showcasing quality brands and products that people on our team actually use.

Let’s give them a round of applause, baby make those hands clap👏👏.

Now, for the main event – the NEWS.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.66-minute read.

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"You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren't paying attention to."

–Robin Williams (1951-2014)

Tens of thousands of people at the Burning Man festival – from ravers to tech entrepreneurs to prominent Silicon Valley investors – ended up stranded in the Nevada desert over the weekend.

🔥♂️ Background: Burning Man – a week-long, large-scale desert campout focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance – was first started on a San Francisco beach in 1986 before being moved to Nevada in 1991. And, similar to a gangly teen who went through a glow-up over summer break, it’s become quite popular.

The first gathering had ~35 attendees. Now, more than 70,000 people regularly attend the event, including big names like Elon Musk and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

But Burning Man 2023 didn’t quite go according to plan

On Friday, the event, which was supposed to run from last Sunday through yesterday, experienced heavy rains. These rains turned the desert sand into mud, trapping attendees in place. Burning Man officials instructed attendees to shelter in place and conserve food, fuel, and water.

• Many who attempted to leave the 3,900-acre event site in vehicles without 4WD or all-terrain tires got stuck.
• Others – like Diplo and Chris Rock – were able to successfully get out after being picked up following a lengthy hike through the muck.

Roads seemed to be mostly passable yesterday, per USA Today, which reported witnessing “a growing stream of vehicles headed toward the exit” at 8:30 am.

Overall, it was a rough weekend for festivals. Electric Zoo, an EDM festival held each year in New York, canceled its first day (Friday) due to “unparalleled challenges” – then saw its gates stormed on Sunday, including by valid ticketholders, after announcing the event had reached capacity.

+Dive deeper: Who attends Burning Man? Take a look at its annual survey of attendees.

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🚀🇮🇳 India launched its first spacecraft dedicated to studying the Sun. One of the main goals of the mission is to study how solar phenomena like coronal mass ejections, an expulsion of solar particles that creates the Northern/Southern Lights, can affect orbiting satellites and power grids across the globe. Saturday’s launch came nearly two weeks after India became the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon and the first to land at the lunar south pole (quick update on that mission: India's rover switched off on Sunday, though it could be reactivated in the future).

🇫🇷🛵 Rental scooters are now banned in Paris. The new law, which went into effect Friday, follows an April public referendum where nearly 90% of voters cast a ballot in support of the ban (though only 8% of the voting-age population turned out to vote). Since the city first approved rental scooters in 2018, three people have died as a result of getting struck by riders – and, as anyone living in a big city knows, the scooters end up scattered everywhere. Paris joins a handful of other major cities with similar bans, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Montreal, and Las Vegas.

🇺🇳🇨🇳 A UN body revealed new evidence of China’s human rights abuses in the Xinjiang province. The UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which investigates alleged cases of arbitrary detention across the world, issued opinions on three cases involving Uyghur Muslims, whom it determined were victims of enforced disappearance. While China has attempted to keep its actions in Xinjiang a secret, the UN estimates between 900,000–1.8 million predominantly Muslim people have been involuntarily sent to the region’s high-security “reeducation camps,” where torture, forced medication, and rape are reportedly common.

This morning, the impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) begins. He stands accused of engaging in misconduct since taking office in 2015, including allegations of bribery and abuse of office.

• Paxton is the second statewide elected official in Texas history to face impeachment, with the first occurring in 1917.

🤔 What are the charges?... The Texas AG is accused of using his office to help a political donor with their legal issues, including allegedly ordering state workers to interfere with an FBI investigation into the donor.

In exchange, the donor allegedly paid for renovations to a house Paxton owns, and also gave a job to a woman with whom the AG was allegedly having an affair.

• The GOP-controlled Texas House of Representatives voted 121-23 to impeach Paxton on charges of bribery and abuse of office this past May, citing thousands of emails and text messages in addition to statements from former staffers and local officials.
• Paxton, who’s suspended while facing trial, says the Texas House’s allegations are without merit and lack evidence of any quid pro quo, framing the impeachment proceedings as an illegal effort to overturn the will of Texas voters.

👀 Looking ahead… The Senate impeachment trial is expected to last 2–3 weeks. If Paxton is convicted by a two-thirds majority, he would be removed as AG and potentially banned from holding any future office in Texas (pending a follow-up vote).

💬 Quoted… “Brotox.”

US males are increasingly opting to undergo cosmetic enhancements like cheek lifts, butt implants, and brotox (botox, but for men). American men underwent 265,000 total botox injections in 2020, a 182% increase compared to 2000, per data from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

• Overall, American men opting for “minimally-invasive” cosmetic procedures increased 29% between 2000 and 2020.

🚢🗑️ Stat of the Day: The Ocean Cleanup’s new trash-scooping vehicle, called System 03, is capable of cleaning an area the size of a football field every five seconds.

🤔 Did You Know?... Major League Baseball uses an estimated 900,000 baseballs over the course of each season, or about 120/game.

📰 Worth a Read: My A.I. Writing Robot → (The New Yorker)

Autumn colors are the perfect complement to a savory glass of wine. And with tasting fees starting at just $15, Lodi, California, is the ultimate destination for wine lovers this fall…

• 🍇 85+ boutique wineries
• 🍷 125+ award-winning varietals
• 🌄 Lush natural scenery
• 💃 Vibrant downtown atmosphere

Beyond its diverse portfolio of the world's best flavors, Lodi features everything from zoos and parks to exquisite fine dining. Come and see why thousands have made Lodi their home away from home.

Get the free Lodi Visitor’s Guide.

• ☝️ You’re looking at a sneak preview of the London Natural History Museum’s 59th annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition; the top 100 photos – out of nearly 50,000 entries – will be officially released on October 13.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with The Wine Connection

• 💰 US markets closed mixed on Friday, the first trading day in September (S&P: +0.2%; Dow: +0.3%; Nasdaq: -0.02%).
• 💼 The US economy added 187,000 jobs in August (vs. 170,000 expected), per new gov’t data; the unemployment rate was 3.8%, the highest since February 2022.
• 💻 Arm, the Soft Bank-owned British chipmaker, kicks off its IPO roadshow this week; the company is reportedly seeking to raise between $5 billion–$7 billion at a valuation of $50 billion–$60 billion.

*From our partners: 🍷🌍 Sample the beautiful Pinots of the world through The Wine Connection. With 27 years of experience providing unmatched service and recommendations, they’ve selected a few premium Pinots just for DONUT Readers – save 15% on any 6 bottles with code DONUT.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with The Morning Blitz

• 🏈 No. 8 Florida State defeated No. 5 LSU by a score of 45-24 on Sunday night (full results from CFB Week 1). | 🗳️ The Atlantic Coast Conference voted to add two pacific coast teams – Stanford and UC Berkeley – in addition to SMU starting in the 2024-25 academic year.
• 🍹🙏 Jimmy Buffett, the singer/songwriter best known for hits like “Margaritaville” and “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere,” died on Friday at the age of 76. | 🎤🙏 Steve Harwell, the former lead singer and founding member of Smash Mouth, passed away yesterday at 56.
• 🇺🇸🏀 Team USA lost to Lithuania 110-104 at the FIBA Basketball World Cup on Sunday, though the Americans still qualified for the quarterfinals and the 2024 Olympics with a 4-1 overall record; Team USA’s next game is against Italy at 8:40 am ET this morning. | 🎾 Three American men are in the quarterfinals of the ongoing US Open Tennis Championships for the first time since 2005; 19-year-old Coco Gauff became the first American teen to reach consecutive US Open quarterfinal rounds since Serena Williams more than two decades ago.

*From our partners: 🏀🧠 Level up your sports knowledge with the Morning Blitz, the #1 sports newsletter in America. If you're a fan of sports and The DONUT’s witty, digestible, 5-minute format, you’ll love The Morning Blitz. Subscribe free.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🌊 NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean yesterday; its four astronaut members spent the past six months onboard the ISS. | 🚀 SpaceX on Sunday completed its 62nd launch into space so far this year, breaking an all-time record the company set last year.
• 📡🛰️ NASA is testing a new short-range laser communication system that connects the ISS to Earth and can transmit up to 100x more data than current radio-based tech; officials say it could eventually replace the agency’s Deep Space Network used to communicate across long distances in space. (Background)
• 💊 Korean scientists developed a new drug that reversed obesity in mice without affecting their appetite levels, per a new Phase 1 clinical trial published in Nature Metabolism.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🔥 Louisiana’s Tiger Island fire, the largest wildfire in state history, was caused by arson, state officials confirmed on Saturday.
• 🇺🇸🇨🇳 Chinese nationals, sometimes posing as tourists, have gained access to sensitive US military bases and other sites on as many as 100 separate occasions in recent years, sources told the WSJ.
• 🎓 West Virginia University will offer courses and majors in Spanish and Chinese, partially reversing the school’s previous decision to cut its entire World Languages department. (Background)

CLICKBAIT

• 🤯 36 hidden messages in company logos you see all the time.

On Friday, we covered the Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation that marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule III drug, instead of its current Schedule I status.

❓ Our question to you: Do you agree with HHS’s recommendation that marijuana be reclassified from a Schedule I drug to Schedule III?

• 👍 Yes: 40%
• 🚭 No, marijuana should remain Schedule I: 17%
• 🌿 No, marijuana shouldn’t be illegal at all: 32%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 11%

Click here to read some of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 15,295 votes and 1,618 longform responses.

Nine-year-old Valentina was crushed when she lost her "best friend," an American Girl Doll named Beatrice, on her family's connecting flight from Tokyo to Texas.

After digging around their luggage and the airport, Valentina's parents took to the internet to try and locate Beatrice across the world. Luckily for them, news of their search reached American Airline pilot James “Jim” Danen, who made it his mission to find her. 

• Jim eventually found the doll and was able to scoop her up in Tokyo, taking photos of her in various airport around the world as she made her way back 5,800 miles to Texas. The pilot eventually hand-delivered the doll to a grateful Valentina.

💬 What they're saying: "I think it's another sign of there's a lot of kindness in this world,” Valentina's mother told Good Morning America, referring to Jim and his actions. “I'm really... thankful for him."

🏇 Trivia: In which US state is riding a horse over 10 mph illegal?

🎓 True or False?... Fear of knowledge is called Einsteinophobia.

🤔 Riddle Me This: Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red. 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.)

Start referring.👇

🏇 Trivia: Indiana (specifically Indianapolis)

🎓 T/F: False, it’s epistemophobia

🤔 Riddle: A match