American Horror Story
SANITY BREAK Here’s serious eye candy for book lovers: Here are 100 iconic of ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’—Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s tour de force. Dating back to 1967, these are gorgeous, strange, and wildly different. Sadly, the list doesn’t include Indian editions, so here is of the Tamil translation: ‘‘Thanimyin Nooru Andugal’.
HEADLINES THAT MATTER UNLOCK KIYA JAYE! The government announced its plans to let us loose—just as our Covid count is soaring through the roof. * India recorded its in Covid-19 infections, recording 8,237 cases in a single day. Death toll: 5,404—of which over 2,000 were recorded in the past 12 days. * Our tally of 1,85,061 cases, we have zoomed past Germany and are #8 on the global list of worst-hit nations. * India added 247 cases per hour during Lockdown 4.0—which was the deadliest. Nearly seven people died every hour. * But, hey, starting tomorrow, we will move into ‘Unlock 1.0’—when all parts of the country outside containment zones will be thrown open in successive phases. * Here’s that tells you—in a single glance—what is open and what is not. * State governments, however, have the freedom to place more restrictions if needed. And plans to do just that. Here’s a breakdown for the rest. * has a detailed report on how malls will reopen with ‘mandatory isolation rooms’. * Also open: trains. has the full schedule. * There was no 8 pm address to the nation to mark this happy occasion, but the PM wrote instead—and his ministers penned op-eds. The one by Amit Shah was accompanied by an unintentionally funny headline, and a very odd graphic in SO WUHAN WAS NEVER GROUND ZERO?! Experts at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that the pandemic did not originate in that infamous seafood market in Wuhan. Instead, the market may have been a super-spreader event—where one infected person gave it to many others. According to scientists, “tissue samples from the market's animals have revealed no trace of the virus. For the virus to jump from animals to humans, the animals have to actually be carrying it.” views this “confession” as an attempt by China to duck responsibility. Adding to the confusion: French scientists that the virus may have first entered Europe in November 2019—two months before the first cases were officially confirmed on the continent. THE INDIA-CHINA JHAGDA THAT NEVER HAPPENED An undated and unverified image and a video clip of clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers is going viral. But the Army staunchly insists the following: > “The contents of the video being circulated are not authenticated. Attempt to link it with the situation on the northern borders > is malafide... > > > > Currently no violence is taking place. Differences are being addressed through interaction between military commanders, guided > by established protocols on management of borders between the two countries. We strongly condemn attempts to sensationalise > issues impacting national security.” You can watch the , and has the story. ICMR HAS A CREDIBILITY PROBLEM Antibody testing: The decisions of the Indian Council of Medical Research are raising eyebrows. First, the council asked the states to stop conducting ‘rapid tests’—which check for antibodies rather than the virus to determine if you have Covid. The reason: faulty testing kits from China. Now it has changed its mind for unstated reasons. Community transmission: The ICMR also staunchly insists that there is no community transmission—the stage of the pandemic when the virus is freely circulating within the population. A joint statement issued by leading medical associations called the council out on its bs: “It is unrealistic to expect that Covid-19 pandemic can be eliminated at this stage given that community transmission is already well-established across large sections or sub-populations in the country.” Spurious HCQ testing: Last but not least, the ICMR has an inordinate affection for the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine—which it claims can protect against Covid-19 even though all medical research shows exactly the opposite. The council’s solution: conduct shady trials with spurious results and declare victory. has that story. KYLIE JENNER IS NOT A BILLIONAIRE! Back in March, Forbes magazine made waves when it trumpeted Kylie in its with the headline: “At 21, Kylie Jenner Becomes The Youngest Self-Made Billionaire Ever.” Now, it has changed its mind after an extensive investigation that shows Jenner is a dirty, cheating liar: “Taking all this new information into account and factoring in the pandemic, Forbes has recalculated Kylie’s net worth and concluded that she is not a billionaire. A more realistic accounting of her personal fortune puts it at just under $900 million…” We are 😱 😱 😱 () THE MYSTERY OF PM CARES A student filed an RTI asking for details of the Covid-19 relief fund, but the government is refusing to tell. The reason: “The PM CARES Fund is not a public authority under the ambit of section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005.” So what is a public authority? As per : > “Under the RTI Act, a public authority is an organisation established (a) under or by the Constitution (b) by any other law made > by the parliament or (c) by a notification or order issued by the government. The definition also covers organisations financed > substantially by the government and non-governmental organisations.” Guess a fund created by the government, chaired by the PM—and with cabinet ministers as its trustees—doesn’t quite fit the bill 🤷♀️ . But oddly enough, all donations to the fund as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spend. Huh! THE STEALTHY ART OF MEDIA LAYOFFS HT Media—which publishes Hindustan Times, Mint and Hindustan—has laid off over 100 employees. "Those affected were offered a choice: either resign with the offered terms, or be terminated without them.” This follows the bloodletting at Times of India and The Telegraph. But none have issued a public statement acknowledging the layoffs or offering a reason—unlike every other company in every other industry. asks why. WETRANSFER IS NOW ANTI-NATIONAL The world’s most popular file transferring platform has been banned by the Ministry of Telecommunications in “the interest of national security or public interest.” Translation: no one knows why. ()
SANITY BREAK Imagine a lickable screen that can recreate any taste your mouth desires—minus the calories, i.e actual food, of course! The can replicate sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami flavors with just a flick of your tongue.
SMART & CURIOUS A LIST OF GOOD READS * explains the ten frontrunners in the race to be the first coronavirus vaccine—and how they differ from one another. offers a close look at the first one to pass a human trial—but using a new and as yet unproven kind of vaccine. * has put together a lovely series of first-person essays, each describing a piece of art that changed the author’s life. * The biggest winner of the pandemic games is Big Tech—and not only because everything is going digital and online. explains why. * has an excellent interview with the always candid Harbhajan Singh who explains what it means to be a spinner in a T-20 game. * explains how we make decisions about our safety—and why some of them are terrible—during a pandemic. A must-read insight into the human psyche. * takes a thoughtful look at the good, bad and ugly history of the modern office—now endangered by the virus. * After teaching a week of online classes, an explains why they fall way short of the hype. A LIST OF INTRIGUING THINGS * Can you drink in space? The : Not if you’re American and stuck on the International Space Station. Yes, if you’re Russian on Mir—in which case, feel free to hit the cognac. * Seriously dumb American bros are at their, er, genitalia to prove that firearms are perfectly safe. No, we are not making this up. * In the UK, you can sign up for of clothes and do some good. You will receive a box of apparel lying unsold in warehouses—and help Bangladeshi garment workers whose lives have been destroyed due to the pandemic. Brilliant! * Did you know that the US military is building massive to build tunnels during wartime? * Here’s what the world 250 million years from now. Looking good, India!
LIFE ADVISORY A LIST OF HANDY GUIDES FOR UNLOCK 1.0 * has a detailed and very timely guide to staying safe on a flight * Ok, so now you are out and about, and paranoid about everything you touch. looks at the latest research and explains exactly how risky it is to touch different kinds of surfaces or objects. * lays out everything you need to know about hand sanitizers, and the right way to use them. * Wearing masks outside is now mandatory. Do you go for a reusable cotton kind or the disposable kind? Most importantly, how do you make sure that you clean that mask properly? has all the gyaan you need. Speaking of masks, has a small collection of pretty masks to cheer you up.
THE FEEL GOOD PLACE : Arunkumar Purushothaman! The hospital nurse built this adorable and awesome mini-auto for his little boy—because he couldn’t afford an expensive toy car. This, of course, is waaay better! : This hilarious dog that’s also Whitney Houston’s biggest fan. The clip is priceless. ! This 5-month old baby survived a serious bout of Covid-19—after spending 32 days in an induced coma! reminds us why she is seriously awesome. just like us! Even he can’t pronounce atmanirbhar. Also: he doesn’t know how to either.
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