Morning Brew

The US’ continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz resulted in the first known use of force to maintain it yesterday, creating an interstice in global shipping. Meanwhile, the world is waiting to see if peace talks between Iran and the US will resume in Pakistan today, or whether the tenuous ceasefire agreement will hold.

What happened: The US Navy attacked and seized the Touska, an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel, after issuing multiple radio orders for it to stop over a period of six hours. Many shipping companies are pausing their plans to resume operations in light of fresh confusion:

• On Friday, in response to Israel and Lebanon agreeing to a 10-day ceasefire, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said, “The passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire.”
• In response, President Trump thanked Iran on Truth Social, but then said the US would maintain its blockade of the strait “AS IT PERTAINS TO IRAN” until a peace deal between the US and Iran is complete.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then announced that the strait had “returned to its previous state” due to the US blockade, meaning it would stay under “strict management” by the IRGC.

Confusion ensued. On Saturday, India reported that Iran fired on two of its merchant ships in the strait after having let other ships through earlier. Then came yesterday’s US seizure of the Touska, which Iran denounced as an act of piracy, warning it would soon retaliate against the United States for it.

What about peace talks?

Those plans also generated mixed messages over the weekend. Yesterday, Trump said his team of negotiators would arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan, for round two of peace talks today. But hours later, Iran said there was “no clear prospect” for face-to-face talks given current realities.

Looking ahead…the original two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran expires on Wednesday, though it risks crumbling before then. The markets seem to have lost their optimism of a tidy resolution, as stock futures fell and oil prices rose last night in response to the renewed tensions.—HVL

Canadian PM Mark Carney says US economic ties are “weaknesses” to be corrected. Carney’s assessment came yesterday in a YouTube video, which the prime minister said was intended to speak directly to Canadians about the challenges the country faces. “The US has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” he said. On Friday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, “They suck,” in reference to Canada while speaking at a conference. The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, which replaced NAFTA, is due to be renegotiated by July.

The tariff refund portal opens today. It’s not an energy vortex—just a website administered by US Customs and Border Protection. The Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal, known as CAPE, will allow businesses that paid tariffs levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or customs brokers who paid tariffs on their behalf, to submit a refund request. But the refunds won’t be automatic, and may take months or even years to resolve in some instances. For eligible parties who don’t want to take the time and effort to file, some hedge funds and financial services firms are buying up refund claims as if they were alternative assets.

Trump fast-tracked psychedelic drug review prompted by Joe Rogan. On Saturday, President Trump signed an executive order to accelerate the research of certain psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine and LSD, which may successfully treat depression, PTSD, and opioid addiction. Rogan stood behind Trump for the signing in the Oval Office. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said at the signing that the EO was an “unimaginable task” that came together in one week, “from a series of connections and communications with Joe Rogan.” Ibogaine is currently illegal in the US, but some Americans have traveled to Mexico for treatments.—HVL

You can’t run from technology, especially not now. Over the weekend, event organizers in Beijing, China, hosted a half-marathon race featuring both humans and humanoid robots for the second straight year. The number of participating humanoid teams jumped nearly 500% this year, and, despite some hilarious moments, the machines ran away with the competition. This year’s winning robot outpaced last year’s by nearly two hours, but the real headline is that, for the first time, a robot beat the humans, proving that the only thing more powerful than mettle is metal.

We had a good run, humans: According to the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (known as Beijing E-Town), which hosted the race, a bipedal robot named Lightning completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, shattering the human record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo last month. To make matters worse, the robot added one of those 13.1 stickers to its car faster than Kiplimo, too.

Technological strides

Many of the participating robots were controlled remotely, but the winning Lightning robot, made by Chinese smartphone-maker Honor, navigated autonomously.

Battle bots: In the past year, China has hosted several humanoid sporting competitions, highlighting the progress the country has made since designating robotics as a key sector for rehabbing its technological image in 2015, per CNN.—BC

Yearning for earnings: Earnings season continues in full force this week. UnitedHealth, 3M, and GE Aerospace deliver results tomorrow, followed by Tesla, IBM, and Boeing on Wednesday. Intel, Blackstone, and SAP report earnings on Thursday, and then Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive show their cards on Friday. We’ll also hear from several credit card companies and defense contractors this week.

First stage of the Warsh cycle: Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s nominee to take over as Federal Reserve chairman, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow. Even if the hearing moves forward, North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has pledged to block Warsh, or any Fed nominee, from advancing to a full Senate vote until the federal investigation into Jerome Powell is halted. Powell’s term as chair ends on May 15.

Dribble, skate, run, draft: The top teams from the NBA and NHL will play their first-round playoff games throughout the week. If that’s not enough, the 130th Boston Marathon will be run today, and the London Marathon will be held on Sunday. The NFL Draft will start on Thursday and conclude on Saturday. Spoiler alert: That mock draft you’ve been working on is devastatingly wrong.

But wait, there’s more:

• US retail sales data for March will be released tomorrow morning.
• Let our powers combine: Earth Day is on Wednesday.
• On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will vote on whether to approve Paramount’s acquisition.
• Head back to Hawkins on Thursday, when the animated spinoff Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 lands on Netflix.
• The Michael Jackson biopic Michael moonwalks into theaters on Friday.

Even after rigorous research on cost, culture, fit, size, and location, your college choice may have come down to something as unpredictable as the weather. According to a recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, students are less likely to apply to a college if they visited the campus when the weather was bad, no matter how sunny your tour leader’s disposition may have been.

Researchers at Amherst College discovered that applications dropped 10.1% when a campus tour was comparatively hot, 5.9% when it was cold, 4.9% when it was cloudy, and 8.3% when there was precipitation. So, a school’s application rates literally depend on whether it has a good atmosphere or not.—BC

• A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, which issued a tsunami alert.
• Eight children were killed by the same gunman during shootings in Shreveport, LA, yesterday, in what authorities called a domestic incident. The gunman was later killed. It’s the US’ deadliest mass shooting in more than two years.
• Hipp baby food was recalled in Austria after a jar contaminated with rat poison was found there. The brand said the recall “is related to a criminal act that is being investigated by the authorities.”
• The NSA, a Department of Defense support agency, is using Anthropic’s most powerful AI model, Mythos Preview, despite the DOD designating Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” according to Axios.
• A pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine for humans showed lasting results in an early stage trial.
• The Blue Origin New Glenn rocket put a satellite payload into the wrong orbit.
• Eddie Murphy received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award.

Turntable: This week’s puzzle has just 26 words and one pangram to find. Easy as pie, right? Play Turntable here.

Song trivia

What do the following songs have in common?

• “Chocolate” by The 1975
• “I Got 5 On It” by Luniz
• “Got to Get You Into My Life” by The Beatles
• “We Be Burnin’” by Sean Paul

Share the Brew, watch your referral count climb, and unlock brag-worthy swag.

Your friends get smarter. You get rewarded. Win-win.

Your referral count: 0

Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
morningbrew.com/r/?kid=547516e4

They’re all about smoking weed. A very 4/20 trivia category…

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: interstice, meaning “a break in time between events.” Thanks to Caroline McNall of Spokane, WA, for continuing the run of good suggestions. Submit another Word of the Day here.

Good morning. You ever walk down the grocery store snack aisle, see a bag of Doritos Protein, and wonder how we got here? Same. Today’s newsletter is all about the business of the vital and increasingly trendy nutrient protein: why it’s now in everything you eat, the companies benefiting the most, and, most importantly, how to win your next meat-judging competition. We’ll also debunk some myths about protein and teach you the basics if you’re just getting started on your maxxing journey.

There was a time when if you heard someone mention “protein,” they were wearing a fluorescent tank top and on their way to a GNC at the local mall.

Now, protein is everywhere. There are more powder options and awful-tasting bars available than ever before. It’s emphasized at restaurants and in products you never thought would be a protein source (toaster pastries???). It’s all part of a tectonic shift in culture: Americans are pursuing healthier lifestyles and consuming more protein and fewer carbs.

The protein–GLP-1 connection

The increase in popularity (and affordability) of GLP-1s like Ozempic and Wegovy in the last few years lines up perfectly with the spike in demand for protein:

• A 2025 Gallup report found that 12% of Americans (~30 million) were taking weight loss drugs, up from 6% in 2024. A separate study said that share was just 2.9% in 2019.
• The 2025 IFIC Food & Health Survey showed that 71% of Americans have increased their protein intake. Research from Cargill found that, six years earlier, only 48% were upping their protein consumption.

Businesses jumping on the trend: General Mills did $100 million in sales in the US in its fiscal 2024 from its protein cereals alone. PepsiCo—the makers of Doritos Protein—expects the protein category to continue to grow. Meanwhile, a study funded by the beef stick company Chomps found that protein snacks are growing at three times the rate of the overall snacking industry.

Going after the health-conscious: Writing “protein” on a bag of chips or tub of ice cream appears to be working. A 2025 survey from the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association found that 46% of GLP-1 drug users are more likely to purchase a frozen food product if it has high-protein content.

Bottom line: With the prices of GLP-1s coming down, and more pill forms on the way for people who hate needles, the demand for protein may only increase. The expectation is that the global protein market, which was valued at $56 billion last year, will surpass $100 billion by 2034, per research from a food and beverage consultancy.—DL

A new study found that proteinmaxxing by gorging on steak tips is extremely effective at slimming down...your wallet. US beef prices have soared in recent years due to cattle herds shrinking to record lows, spurring many carnivores to pivot to the other dominant source of protein—chicken.

As domestic beef production declined 4% last year, wholesale beef prices rose 13% in February from the same month last year, according to government data. The supermarket price tag of a pound of ground beef, aka the go-to for the budget-conscious, reached $6.75 in January, compared to $5.03 two years prior.

Shoppers aren’t the only ones hit with sticker shock: Steakhouses say they’ve been forced to either absorb soaring beef costs to the detriment of their profits, or risk driving customers away with higher prices or reduced portions.

Swapping steak for wings

While surveys show more Americans view meat as important to their diets, they might be starting to cut back on beef. Americans ate 58.5 pounds of red meat on average last year, down from 59.1 pounds in 2024, according to USDA estimates. It projects beef intake will decline 2% this year.

Industry observers say that bargain hunters typically aren’t forsaking cow meat all together, but are instead trading down from filet mignon to value cuts like sirloin. Some are pivoting to chicken, which is 30% to 40% cheaper than ground beef. Tyson Foods reported selling 3.7% more chicken in the last three months of last year, while beef sales dropped 7.3%.

Chicken is top of the food chain…when it comes to fast food. The likes of Raising Cane’s and Dave’s Hot Chicken have had an expansion bonanza in recent years, while burger-centric value chains like Burger King are struggling with declining margins. Meanwhile, McDonald’s recently beefed up its chicken offerings by adding sauce-lathered and seasoned McCrispy Strips to its menu.—SK

This is the question that should have been posed to the supercomputer in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Instead, we’re left scrabbling together macronutrient advice with the panic of a high school student who forgot about today’s calculus exam.

For years, it was straightforward enough. US dietary guidelines long advised that adults eat 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (0.36 grams/pound) every day, which is in line with the World Health Organization’s recommendations.

But this year, the US updated its protein guidance to 1.2–1.6 grams per kilogram (0.55–0.73 grams/pound), which many nutritionists considered to be too much for the average person. Some caveats:

• This amount of protein can be appropriate if you’re strength training or are over 65, when muscle loss tends to accelerate.
• One dietitian told Stanford Medicine that she also recommends the higher end of this range for patients who are losing body mass on GLP-1s.

Busted: You may hear that you should be eating 1 gram of protein per pound that you weigh, but a dietitian writing for the Mayo Clinic says that anything above 0.9 grams per pound (2 grams/kilogram) is excessive. Another myth, according to Stanford’s director of nutrition studies, is that plant-based protein is “incomplete” compared to animal protein. If anything, carnivorous diets may lack sufficient fiber, which is found aplenty in plant-heavy diets.—ML

Much like Ryan Gosling when he was promoting Project Hail Mary, protein is showing up everywhere you look. Here are some of the more unexpected—and downright confusing—foods that now boast about having protein, and how many grams each has per serving:

• Doritos Protein (10 grams)
• Starbucks protein drinks (27–36 grams)
• Dunkin Protein Refreshers (15 grams)
• Barilla Protein+ pasta (~17 grams) + Sturdy Sauce (20 grams)
• Eggo Protein Waffles (10 grams)
• Jack in the Box Protein Bowls (up to 35 grams)
• Protein Pints (30 grams)
• Idahoan +Protein Mashed Potatoes (6 grams)
• Subway Protein Pockets sandwiches (20 grams)
• Pop-Tarts Protein (10 grams)
• Smucker’s Uncrustables (12 grams)
• Ramen Bae (up to 28 grams) (The only food you can afford in college now gets you yoked, too.)
• Sour Protein Gummies (14 grams)
• Man Cereal (15–16 grams) (Sorry, ladies, but this protein is for the fellas.)
• Thomas’ High Protein Bagels (21 grams)
• Mini Babybel Protein cheese (5 grams)
• Khloe Kardashian’s Khloud Protein snacks (7 grams)
• Ready Clear Protein Water (20 grams) (Yes, water.)

—DL

Hey chat,

With everyone trying to get swole, I researched protein powders so you don’t have to. Friends who practice veganism and/or have tummy troubles, listen up:

• The classic animal-based powders are whey and casein (which come from milk) and collagen peptides (which typically come from cowhide). Whey and casein are considered complete proteins with all nine essential amino acids. Collagen is missing one of them (tryptophan), but what it lacks in muscle-building, it makes up for in joint, hair, and nail support.
• If you’re going to take casein, it’s best to do so before bed, because it’s a slow-digesting protein that can help build muscle while you’re catching Zzzs.
• If you’d rather avoid animal products: Soy, hemp, pea, and rice are the usual suspects of plant-based powders, which tend to blend multiple protein sources to cover all their amino acid bases.

Caution: Lead has been found in some protein powders, so here are a few safer options that Consumer Reports recommends. Now, go clean your blender.—ML

And not just to send it back to the kitchen for being undercooked. Intercollegiate Meat Judging has been around since 1926, when the first event was hosted at the International Livestock Exposition in Chicago. In 1996, the American Meat Science Association took over the competitions.

What are we looking at here? Competitors throw on hard hats and white lab coats to mosey on into a giant cooler before you’ve even gotten out of bed. There is a range of specialized divisions, but the basic premise is that teams evaluate the quality of beef, lamb, and pork carcasses dangling from the ceiling. Competitors determine factors like weight and fat thickness solely by looking at the carcass, and use their observations to determine the meat’s yield grade. Each student is only allowed to compete for one calendar year.

The meat-judging dynasty. The final event of the year, November’s international competition in Dakota City, NE, has been dominated by Texas universities over the last decade. Texas A&M won last year’s national title, but Texas Tech had a pretty impressive run from 2019 to 2021.

The original goal of this “sport” was to train students for jobs in the meat and livestock industry. Many do end up sticking with meat: A Texas Tech Meat Judging alum helped invent Oscar Mayer Lunchables.—MM

Share the Brew, watch your referral count climb, and unlock brag-worthy swag.

Your friends get smarter. You get rewarded. Win-win.

Your referral count: 0

Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
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The US’ continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz resulted in the first known use of force to maintain it yesterday, creating an interstice in global shipping. Meanwhile, the world is waiting to see if peace talks between Iran and the US will resume in Pakistan today, or whether the tenuous ceasefire agreement will hold.

What happened: The US Navy attacked and seized the Touska, an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel, after issuing multiple radio orders for it to stop over a period of six hours. Many shipping companies are pausing their plans to resume operations in light of fresh confusion:

• On Friday, in response to Israel and Lebanon agreeing to a 10-day ceasefire, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said, “The passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire.”
• In response, President Trump thanked Iran on Truth Social, but then said the US would maintain its blockade of the strait “AS IT PERTAINS TO IRAN” until a peace deal between the US and Iran is complete.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then announced that the strait had “returned to its previous state” due to the US blockade, meaning it would stay under “strict management” by the IRGC.

Confusion ensued. On Saturday, India reported that Iran fired on two of its merchant ships in the strait after having let other ships through earlier. Then came yesterday’s US seizure of the Touska, which Iran denounced as an act of piracy, warning it would soon retaliate against the United States for it.

What about peace talks?

Those plans also generated mixed messages over the weekend. Yesterday, Trump said his team of negotiators would arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan, for round two of peace talks today. But hours later, Iran said there was “no clear prospect” for face-to-face talks given current realities.

Looking ahead…the original two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran expires on Wednesday, though it risks crumbling before then. The markets seem to have lost their optimism of a tidy resolution, as stock futures fell and oil prices rose last night in response to the renewed tensions.—HVL

Canadian PM Mark Carney says US economic ties are “weaknesses” to be corrected. Carney’s assessment came yesterday in a YouTube video, which the prime minister said was intended to speak directly to Canadians about the challenges the country faces. “The US has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” he said. On Friday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, “They suck,” in reference to Canada while speaking at a conference. The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, which replaced NAFTA, is due to be renegotiated by July.

The tariff refund portal opens today. It’s not an energy vortex—just a website administered by US Customs and Border Protection. The Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal, known as CAPE, will allow businesses that paid tariffs levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or customs brokers who paid tariffs on their behalf, to submit a refund request. But the refunds won’t be automatic, and may take months or even years to resolve in some instances. For eligible parties who don’t want to take the time and effort to file, some hedge funds and financial services firms are buying up refund claims as if they were alternative assets.

Trump fast-tracked psychedelic drug review prompted by Joe Rogan. On Saturday, President Trump signed an executive order to accelerate the research of certain psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine and LSD, which may successfully treat depression, PTSD, and opioid addiction. Rogan stood behind Trump for the signing in the Oval Office. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said at the signing that the EO was an “unimaginable task” that came together in one week, “from a series of connections and communications with Joe Rogan.” Ibogaine is currently illegal in the US, but some Americans have traveled to Mexico for treatments.—HVL

You can’t run from technology, especially not now. Over the weekend, event organizers in Beijing, China, hosted a half-marathon race featuring both humans and humanoid robots for the second straight year. The number of participating humanoid teams jumped nearly 500% this year, and, despite some hilarious moments, the machines ran away with the competition. This year’s winning robot outpaced last year’s by nearly two hours, but the real headline is that, for the first time, a robot beat the humans, proving that the only thing more powerful than mettle is metal.

We had a good run, humans: According to the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (known as Beijing E-Town), which hosted the race, a bipedal robot named Lightning completed the race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, shattering the human record of 57 minutes and 20 seconds set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo last month. To make matters worse, the robot added one of those 13.1 stickers to its car faster than Kiplimo, too.

Technological strides

Many of the participating robots were controlled remotely, but the winning Lightning robot, made by Chinese smartphone-maker Honor, navigated autonomously.

Battle bots: In the past year, China has hosted several humanoid sporting competitions, highlighting the progress the country has made since designating robotics as a key sector for rehabbing its technological image in 2015, per CNN.—BC

Yearning for earnings: Earnings season continues in full force this week. UnitedHealth, 3M, and GE Aerospace deliver results tomorrow, followed by Tesla, IBM, and Boeing on Wednesday. Intel, Blackstone, and SAP report earnings on Thursday, and then Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive show their cards on Friday. We’ll also hear from several credit card companies and defense contractors this week.

First stage of the Warsh cycle: Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s nominee to take over as Federal Reserve chairman, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee tomorrow. Even if the hearing moves forward, North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has pledged to block Warsh, or any Fed nominee, from advancing to a full Senate vote until the federal investigation into Jerome Powell is halted. Powell’s term as chair ends on May 15.

Dribble, skate, run, draft: The top teams from the NBA and NHL will play their first-round playoff games throughout the week. If that’s not enough, the 130th Boston Marathon will be run today, and the London Marathon will be held on Sunday. The NFL Draft will start on Thursday and conclude on Saturday. Spoiler alert: That mock draft you’ve been working on is devastatingly wrong.

But wait, there’s more:

• US retail sales data for March will be released tomorrow morning.
• Let our powers combine: Earth Day is on Wednesday.
• On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will vote on whether to approve Paramount’s acquisition.
• Head back to Hawkins on Thursday, when the animated spinoff Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 lands on Netflix.
• The Michael Jackson biopic Michael moonwalks into theaters on Friday.

Even after rigorous research on cost, culture, fit, size, and location, your college choice may have come down to something as unpredictable as the weather. According to a recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, students are less likely to apply to a college if they visited the campus when the weather was bad, no matter how sunny your tour leader’s disposition may have been.

Researchers at Amherst College discovered that applications dropped 10.1% when a campus tour was comparatively hot, 5.9% when it was cold, 4.9% when it was cloudy, and 8.3% when there was precipitation. So, a school’s application rates literally depend on whether it has a good atmosphere or not.—BC

• A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, which issued a tsunami alert.
• Eight children were killed by the same gunman during shootings in Shreveport, LA, yesterday, in what authorities called a domestic incident. The gunman was later killed. It’s the US’ deadliest mass shooting in more than two years.
• Hipp baby food was recalled in Austria after a jar contaminated with rat poison was found there. The brand said the recall “is related to a criminal act that is being investigated by the authorities.”
• The NSA, a Department of Defense support agency, is using Anthropic’s most powerful AI model, Mythos Preview, despite the DOD designating Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” according to Axios.
• A pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine for humans showed lasting results in an early stage trial.
• The Blue Origin New Glenn rocket put a satellite payload into the wrong orbit.
• Eddie Murphy received the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award.

Turntable: This week’s puzzle has just 26 words and one pangram to find. Easy as pie, right? Play Turntable here.

Song trivia

What do the following songs have in common?

• “Chocolate” by The 1975
• “I Got 5 On It” by Luniz
• “Got to Get You Into My Life” by The Beatles
• “We Be Burnin’” by Sean Paul

Share the Brew, watch your referral count climb, and unlock brag-worthy swag.

Your friends get smarter. You get rewarded. Win-win.

Your referral count: 0

Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
morningbrew.com/r/?kid=547516e4

They’re all about smoking weed. A very 4/20 trivia category…

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: interstice, meaning “a break in time between events.” Thanks to Caroline McNall of Spokane, WA, for continuing the run of good suggestions. Submit another Word of the Day here.