A Last Minute Win
Read MoreSanity Break #1
A 60-year-old prima ballerina with Alzheimer’s listens to Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’. This is a reminder that humans never lose our capacity for joy. We just have to rediscover its spark.
Headlines that matter
CLAIM YOUR UPGRADE, ALREADY! Attention monthly subscribers! This is the time to take that leap and upgrade to annual before our Diwali sale ends. Just hit Renew/Upgrade on your account page—at the extreme right on the navigation bar. We leave you to do the math: (Rs 100 X 12) > Rs 600. Or contemplate this lovely meme created for you:) PS: Our sale has something for everyone. Check out the deets . MUMBAI INDIANS WIN… AGAIN! Anyone looking for a break from the usual suspects was disappointed. Delhi Capitals failed to follow through on their debut outing in the IPL finals. OTOH, MI their fifth victory—with Rohit Sharma becoming the to do so. Sharma was also in full form with 68 off 51 balls—so we’re guessing that his hamstring injury has magically resolved itself, long before the Aussie series. The winning score: 157 for 5 (in 18.4 overs). Want more? has the full list of award winners. Winning group photo . Moment of the day: When Suryakumar Yadav himself to save Rohit Sharma. EU SUES AMAZON First, Google was slapped with an antitrust lawsuit in the United States (explained ). Now, it’s Amazon’s turn. The core allegation: > “...Amazon had abused its dual role as both a store used by scores of vendors and a merchant that sells its own competing goods > on the platform. The authorities accused Amazon of harvesting nonpublic data from sellers who use its marketplace to spot > popular products, then copy and sell them, often at a lower price.” Basically, Amazon as a competing seller is screwing over the others who sell on Amazon the platform. () Closer to home…: The company was forced to pull , doormats etc with Hindu symbols such as ‘Om’ or Lord Ganesha from its international sites—due to backlash in India. () THE US ELECTION: A QUICK UPDATE * Donald Trump has put the country in a bizarre situation. His officials are acting as though he won the election—but his campaign is not taking any legal action to challenge its results. * For example: Defense Secretary Mike Pompeo that “there will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration." * Key agency chiefs are , telling them to "play until the whistle blows" and firing anyone who refuses. * And while the Trump campaign isn’t suing anyone, the US Attorney General has prosecutors to look into “voter irregularities.” See how this works? * When Biden won, Boris Johnson tweeted out a simple congratulatory message on a white-on-black Twitter card. His lazy staff had just altered the exact same message first prepared for Trump. Now, they have. AN UNHAPPY ARMENIA INKS A PEACE DEAL For six weeks, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in a war over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is internationally recognised as belonging to Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians since 1994. Russia has stepped in and now forced a three-party peace deal—which essentially hands victory to Azerbaijan—allowing it to hold on to areas seized during the war. has more. THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * The news of a potentially successful Pfizer vaccine (explained ) sparked absurdly in the global stock markets. A jaw-dropping $2 trillion exchanged hands in trades around the world. The number for the US: $500 billion. Over in Europe: $120 billion. * Meanwhile in India, a Pune company, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, is working on a similar , and is still waiting on approval for human trials. * There’s also good news in the area of Covid treatment. US regulators have the emergency use of a drug cocktail developed by Eli Lilly—which if administered to newly infected patients prevents them from developing serious symptoms. What’s amusing everyone: its name, . * Not good news: A new study that reveals one in five patients are diagnosed with some form of psychiatric disorder within 90 days of recovering from the illness. Another key finding: people with a pre-existing mental illness were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with Covid. has more. * Human trials of the Chinese vaccine Sinovac in Brazil have been suspended after a “severe adverse incident”—i.e. one of the participants died, though it isn’t yet clear if the vaccine is to blame. As explains, much of this may also have to do with a political tug-of-war in Brazil. In pandemic-related news: An exclusive analysis shows that many countries desperate to revive post-pandemic economies are throwing climate change concerns to the side. The worst of the lot: China. Only 0.3% of its recovery package—about $1.4 billion—is slated for green projects. India’s planned spend on sustainable development: $830m. The best of the lot: The Biden plan (if he ever gets to be President or pass any legislation). TWO USEFUL HEALTH STUDIES One: In a surprising reversal of decades-old advice, a new study found that late-night eating does not make you fatter: "We did not see any difference in weight loss for those who ate most of their calories earlier versus later in the day. We did not see any effects on blood pressure either." In other words, it is what you eat not when you eat it. So no, this is not a free pass for those midnight ice cream runs. () Two: Popping multivitamins will not make you any healthier. That’s the conclusion of a UK study that found zero difference in the physical health of those who took the pills and those who did not. But there was one difference: those who took multivitamins were more likely to rate their overall health as good, very good, or excellent. () AND THE WORD OF THE YEAR IS… Lockdown, of course! The Collins English Dictionary the L-word “because it is a unifying experience for billions of people across the world, who have had, collectively, to play their part in combating the spread of Covid-19.” Their accompanying is kinda fun—more so than the experience itself. A HINDU TEMPLE IN ABU DHABI Local Hindu groups released the for the first-ever temple in the United Arab Emirates. It will fuse traditional Hindu and Middle Eastern motifs, and combine sandstone from Rajasthan with marble shipped in from Italy. See the official video below. has the details.
Sanity Break #2
Here’s something completely silly and totally worth your time. Isa Bredt takes real life pets and ‘Disney-fies’ them. is the happy, chill-out break you deserve on hump day.
Smart & Curious
A SHORT LIST OF INTRIGUING THINGS One: Can you teach your pet to ‘talk’? This intriguing video explores a button-based system that could help your doggos say ‘come play’! Two: A couple recently discovered a super-secret and “super rare” message written more than 100 years ago—by a Prussian soldier to his superior officer, and sent by a carrier pigeon! The message: > “Platoon Potthof receives fire as they reach the western border of the parade ground, platoon Potthof takes up fire and retreats > after a while. In Fechtwald half a platoon was disabled. Platoon Potthof retreats with heavy losses.” Not good news then. has more. Three: This is the first-ever human passenger flight on — as a “super high-speed levitating pod system” because we don't know how else to characterise a transport system that does this. FYI: if this thing works, a person can ‘hyperloop’ themselves from NYC to Washington DC in just 30 minutes. Four: Ok, so we all know Tailorbirds make clever nests. But have you ever one get the job done? There is something very soothing about ‘nesting’ in these pandemic times.
Feel Good Place
One: Meet of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. He is six-months old, named Wilbur, and handles his stressful job with great aplomb: “He’s done a lot of interviews locally, he’s had a lot of pets, a lot of belly scratches and a lot of ear rubs." Two: “The of recovery is admitting you have a problem.” Three: The of not being very bright is that you are easily amazed.
