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Tuesday October 13 2020

Bollywood Sings the Blues

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Sanity Break #1

Founding member Sandip Roy sent us Badshah’s of ‘Genda Phool’ with the comment: How NOT to reinvent a folk classic. Related controversy: The remix also a classic Bengali folk song—because why ruin one song when you can savage two.

Sanity Break #1

Headlines that matter

A NEW STIMULUS PACKAGE The government announced a fresh round of spending to kickstart the economy ahead of the festival season. Here are the :   * Government employees can literally cash in their leave travel concession (LTC). But they will have to spend that money on goods that carry at least 12% GST—i.e. stuff like refrigerators, TVs, food grinders, vacuum cleaners, which are typically bought around Diwali. * They will also receive a ‘festival advance’ of Rs 10,000 in the form of a pre-loaded RuPay card. And that money has to be spent, not withdrawn and saved. * The government will spend Rs 250 billion on big infrastructure projects such as roads, ports etc. * The states will receive Rs 120 billion in zero-interest, 50-year loans to make similar big-ticket spends. * has an explainer on how to cash in your LTC if you qualify. * has more details.   The criticism: The stock market wasn’t impressed with the news, and most the cash outlays simply aren’t sufficient to revive consumer demand. One downside: The incentives are limited to government workers and do not include private employees whose jobs are less secure.    The defence: Monika Halan in calls it a “pragmatic” stimulus that takes account of India’s cash-strapped realities—and includes a significant inducement to spend. A related controversy: took a closer look at the government’s newly minted reskilling fund—and raised a key red flag. As per the revised labour code, when an employee is laid off, an employer has to contribute 15 days of their salary to this fund—which will be managed by the government. The money will be transferred to the employee within 45 days—but with a big catch. Former employees have to show proof of their upgraded skills, failing which they have to return the money with interest. The big concern: The money may not be sufficient to actually acquire new skills. Expecting them to return the money puts unemployed workers at greater risk. BS is behind a paywall, so you may want to check out their reporter’s . THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR ECONOMICS GOES TO... The big one was Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson for their work on auction theory—i.e. they figured out how auctions work and found ways to improve them. The two Stanford professors are neighbours, and so Wilson walked over to Milgrom's home to ring the doorbell—and break the news. It went kinda like :)   A related good read: explains why the so-called ‘economic sciences’ have a lot in common with the art of fiction. A MEGA ELECTRICITY CUT IN MUMBAI Yesterday, the maximum city received minimum bijli thanks to a domino effect. Repair work in one main electricity circuit caused a glitch in another which had to take on its load. Vast parts of the city were literally power-less for 2-3 hours—which spawned grousing and, of course, . The CM has ordered a probe, but local officials are already pointing their finger at TATA Power. ()   THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE  * China will test of the city of Qingdao after 12 cases were detected in a single hospital. * US electoral officials are begging Americans to stop disinfecting their mail-in voter ballots. In California, they “at least 100 ballots damaged by disinfectant and alcohol spray. In one case, someone even microwaved their ballot in an attempt to get rid of any germs.” * A new study out of Australia suggests that the coronavirus can survive on smooth surfaces—think phone screens—for up to 28 days at 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). That’s 11 days longer than the flu virus. But in hotter temperatures (40 degrees, for example), the virus died within a day. * The lead researcher’s : “If we couldn't control it very well during the summer, we are in for a big surprise". * India has generated over of biomedical waste in the last four months—and 3,587 tonnes were produced by Maharashtra alone. This includes PPE kits, masks, human tissues etc. * takes a look at India’s back-to-work data—which is showing signs of life. Interest in hiring is rising, as is the number of new companies being registered. But office spaces are still mostly desolate—and not coincidentally, interest in Zoom has now spread to Tier II and III cities. Click through for more numbers and charts.   AND PLAYING CLEOPATRA… WONDER WOMAN? Gal Gadot is slated to in a retelling of the life story of Egypt’s most famous woman—which will also be directed by ‘Wonder Woman’ director Patty Jenkins. But picking an Israeli to play a woman who is an icon in Middle Eastern history may not have been wise. Journalist Sameera Khan :    > “Which Hollywood dumbass thought it would be a good idea to cast an Israeli actress as Cleopatra (a very bland looking one) > instead of a stunning Arab actress like Nadine Njeim?”    Others pointed out Cleopatra was Greek and therefore perfectly entitled to be white—and surely Israel is a little closer at least in terms of geography than the very British Liz Taylor.    Bonus reads: If you’re curious about appropriate Cleo casting, here’s the latest and likely most of her face. Also: traces the great queen’s makeover—as a white-skinned femme fatale—back to the Middle Ages. In other words, Gadot is part of a long and (not so) proud tradition.   IT’S A FAKE MINI-MOON! Every once in a while, the Earth’s orbit captures an asteroid that circles for a few years—becoming a mini-moon—and then slips away. Astronomers were getting ready for the arrival of another such wonder… except this space invader is no asteroid but an old rocket from a failed moon-landing mission 54 years ago. This isn’t the first case of mistaken identity. As one astrophysicist notes, there have been “many, many embarrassing incidents of objects in deep orbit ... getting provisional asteroid designations for a few days before it was realized they were artificial.” ()   HUMANS ARE STILL EVOLVING According to , more people now have an extra artery that runs down their forearm—and it is three times as common as it was 100 years ago. Scientists say that this is a sign that the human bodies are still evolving. But we don’t know what benefit this extra artery offers:   > “We might imagine having a persistent median artery could give dexterous fingers or strong forearms a dependable boost of blood > long after we're born. Yet having one also puts us at a greater risk of carpal tunnel syndrome, an uncomfortable condition that > makes us less able to use our hands.”   A related good read: looks at why human beings are the most altruistic of all animals—and whether we developed the trait as an evolutionary advantage.    WANT TO DO YOUR BIT FOR AT-RISK CHILDREN? We did a long yesterday on how the pandemic is placing the lives of millions of Indian children in very serious jeopardy. The numbers for child trafficking, online sex abuse and child marriage are soaring. Such stories often make us feel powerless and angry—but only if we do nothing. In that spirit, our subscriber Akanksha Sharma suggests supporting The SwaTaleem Foundation which does the critical work of helping keep girls in school in Haryana. Akanksha says: “I've personally contributed to them, as I came to know about them through a friend whose advice I trust on organisations working in this sector.” You can learn more and .   BRILLIANT BIT OF GOOD NEWS  Samhita Arni has long been a valued supporter and friend. She is one of our founding members—and former colleague from our Broadsheet days. But far more importantly, she is also a highly talented author, and her most recent Young Adult novel, ‘’ just won the Neev Book Award. And we couldn’t be more proud! Want to know more? Read about it .

Bollywood Sings the Blues

Sanity Break #2

Last Bench, a Bangalore design studio is giving IPL cricketers a ‘folk art’ makeover. Behold, Virat Kohli as a Togalu Gombeyaata puppet (traditional art form in Karnataka). The aim: to generate support for traditional handicrafts. Read more about the project in or check out/download the posters (including a very good one of MSD) over at their .

Sanity Break #2

Smart & Curious

A LIST OF CURIOUS FACTS One: A Chicago startup is using CO2 drawn from the air to create the world’s first carbon-negative diamonds—i.e. zero labour exploitation, deforestation or water pollution. And as you can see, it looks every bit as gorgeous as the traditional kind. has the details.   Two: Human beings—especially the female variety—have long been torturing themselves to fit some absurd ideal of beauty. And the Victorians weren’t any different. Yes, we all know about the corsets, but have you ever heard of the ‘Tapeworm diet’?   > “The idea is simple, and gross. You take a pill containing a tapeworm egg. Once hatched, the parasite grows inside of the host, > ingesting part of whatever the host eats. In theory, this enables the dieter to simultaneously lose weight and eat without > worrying about calorie intake.” It makes the current obsession with ‘skinny tea’ look positively wholesome. has more including insane ads for ‘jar packed sanitised tapeworms.’   Three: Cellmate is an anti-cheating and ‘submission sex’ play device that clamps a metal ring around a man’s genitals—a kind of ‘smart’ chastity belt. But there’s one hitch: it can only be unlocked via an app—which allows hackers to literally lock in thousands of users at one go. Ouch! explains this latest controversy in the world of smart sex toys.  Four: Ratan Naval Tata was a real cutie and real popular at his American high school back in 1955. And he has his to prove it. Also: his school’s name: Riverdale. Is he an Archie or a Reggie? Vote .   Five: How do you, umm, pleasure yourself if you don’t have hands. Seven very have figured out just how to get the job done. No, we don’t plan to list these very amusing examples of sexual jugaad, but leave you to discover them over at Mashable. All we will offer here is this picture of a very flexible hedgehog, and leave the rest to your imagination.  

Smart & Curious

Feel Good Place

: The care and feeding of manatees...   : These birds wanna play ball...    : Just two babies playing...  

Feel good place

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