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Every day you breathe in 20,000 liters of air

Rducing concentrations of fine particles--those most hazardous to human health (PM2.5, or 2.5 microns in diameter)--have had a salutary effect on public health: adding five months to the average lifespan. In those cities with the largest improvements in air quality, the increase in lifespan attributable to cleaner air was 10 months

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Over half of the U.S. population lives in just nine states: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina.

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43 million Americans identify as ancestrally German, more than any other nationality.

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USA oil

Produces 18.23 million barrels of oil per day.

Gasoline, distillate fuel oil, hydrocarbon gas liquids, and jet fuel consumption combine for a total of 20.48 million barrels of oil consumed daily

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“If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.”

Mickey Mantle

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USA in 2023

Congratulations, America—Tuesday marks the 247th commemoration of the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress. The Congress actually voted to separate from Great Britain two days earlier, and most didn't sign the document until August ... and some argue the US didn't really become a country until we began operating under the Constitution in 1789.

Still, since then, the country has grown from 13 colonies with about 2.5 million people to 50 states and 14 territories with a population of more than 330 million. The economy has swelled to over $26T, with a median household income above $70K. 

Scientific and technological advances—public sanitation, the germ theory of disease, and more—have revolutionized public health, with our citizens living 35 years longer on average since the mid-20th century. Deaths during childbirth have dropped fiftyfold, while the child mortality rate—the percentage of children dying before age five—has plummeted from 45% to 1%. 

We've built almost 4 million miles of paved roads and more than 5,000 public airports. More than 2.7 million miles of power lines electrify the country, with about 85% of households having access to broadband internet and 92% having at least one computer. In 1800, 95% of the population lived in rural areas, and now about 83% live in urban areas.

Almost 90% of adults have a high school degree or equivalent, while just over one-third have a college degree. About 45 million immigrants call America home—the most of any country—while a roughly equal number of international tourists visit each year.

While there will always be challenges to face and improvements to make, we've come a long way since the beginning. So grab a hot dog (or alternative) and your drink of choice—here's to the next 247 years.

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“If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself.”

Mickey Mantle

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"Diet does influence mood, but the reverse is also true. When you get stressed, anxious or depressed, you tend to eat more unhealthy foods, in particular ultra-processed foods that are high in sugar, fat, and chemical additives."

Frank Hu, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology and chair of the Department of Nutrition discusses processed foods and health

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“A cryptocurrency is not a currency, not a commodity, and not a security. Instead, it’s a gambling contract with a nearly 100 percent edge for the house.”

— Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece calling on U.S. lawmakers to ban cryptocurrencies.

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“Treat others the way they want to be treated.”

Warren Buffett

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“I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them,” said Buffett. “If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.”

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“The internet is not free, after all.”

 Ian Colley, the chief marketing officer of the Trade Desk

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"You don’t need to be smarter than others to outperform them if you can out-position them.

Anyone looks like a genius when they’re in a good position, and even the smartest person looks like an idiot when they’re in a bad one. When circumstances change, the person with low leverage and cash in the bank has many ways to play their hand and come out on top. On the other hand, the person with high leverage and no cash buffer has few.

Time is the friend of someone properly positioned and the enemy of someone poorly positioned."

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"A person’s choice of a spouse—or if they aren’t married, their closest lifelong partner—is much more revealing than anything they say or do in public. This choice tells you about their own innermost longings, expectations, and needs. It tells you what they think of themselves, and what they think they deserve in life (or will settle for). It is, I believe, the clearest indicator of priorities and values you will ever find."

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His top tips? Focus on plants for food, eat less often, get sufficient sleep, lose your breath for 10 minutes three times a week by exercising to maintain your muscle mass, don’t sweat the small stuff and have a good social group.

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The epigenome literally turns genes on and off. That process can be triggered by pollution, environmental toxins and human behaviors such as smoking, eating an inflammatory diet or suffering a chronic lack of sleep. And just like a computer, the cellular process becomes corrupted as more DNA is broken or damaged, Sinclair said.

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"You need to push people out of their comfort zone."

Formula 1's Toto Wolff: