Fake Facts

Sanity Break #1

John Koenig is the inventor of words—which he creates to fill the holes in our language that don’t have names for emotions we all experience. He calls it ‘The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows’—first pointed out to us by founding member Kruthika Ravi Kumar. We looked into it and discovered his YouTube channel—each lyrical video capturing one of these words. The one that made us misty-eyed is above: '' which captures the tiny moment of awareness—right in the midst of an experience—that this too will pass, and become a memory. We strongly encourage you to browse through the others .

Headlines that matter

FARMER PROTESTS: A QUICK UPDATE Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food Piyush Goyal held a press conference—and to consider the government’s proposal (explained ). Union leaders in turn held a press conference where they a “concrete proposal”—and insisted they remain open to dialogue. has more on Goyal’s claim that the laws are intended to promote trade—which did not earn him any fans among the farmers. Meanwhile in Haryana: Political trouble is brewing for the ruling BJP government—which is in power thanks to the Dushyant Chautala-led JJP’s 10 seats. Now, some JJP MLAs are openly talking about withdrawing their support. The reason: farmers are the party’s core constituency. () THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * The Oxford vaccine may get for emergency use in India the moment it is greenlit by UK authorities. * A South African company Renergen has patented —which use helium to store vaccines in ultra-cold temperatures for 30 days. Why this matters: Pfizer has to be stored in minus 70°C. * The government has okayed human trials for an Indian mRNA vaccine—similar to Pfizer and Moderna. has details. * AstraZeneca’s vaccine trial results were a bit odd. Two full doses were only 62% effective, but a half dose followed by a full dose appeared to be 90% effective. At the time, the company attributed the more effective regimen to a mistake. The Oxford University scientists who developed and tested the vaccine now insist this ain’t so. a manufacturing issue resulted in one batch with an excess of the vaccine. So they “toned it down” to avoid giving people too much. But this lower dosage may not be approved because it was only administered to 2,000 people—all of them under the age of 55. * The Gates foundation is pitching in an additional $250 million toward the fight against Covid. Its total funding is now $1.75 billion. * US officials are embroiled in a tu-tu main-main jhagda with Pfizer—each blaming the other for the fact that the government has not bought enough of its vaccines. And it may not be able to buy more in 2021 at least. explains this blunder. * Chinese officials have told flight attendants to to avoid using the plane bathroom on routes to countries with high rates of infections. * Plastic surgeons around the world are reporting a “” in their business: “Many workers are spending more time on Zoom, which isn’t the most flattering of mirrors. They’re also realizing they won’t have to return to an office anytime soon, which will make recovery, and keeping surgery private, easier. Those who choose facial surgery can cover postoperative swelling with a mask when in public.” A related good read: reports on how Indian airports and airlines are gearing up to distribute vaccines. AIRBNB HAS A BLOCKBUSTER IPO Coming out the gate with a valuation of just over $100 billion, it is the biggest US stock market debut of 2020. The shares priced at $68 hit a high of $165 and later closed at $144.71. The reason for such buoyancy: Most people are opting for private rentals over hotel rooms thanks to the pandemic—and for extended workcations in other cities. () US ELECTION RESULTS CHALLENGED… AGAIN! Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a suit with the Supreme Court challenging the results in four states that delivered the Joe Biden victory—Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The lawsuit is backed by 17 other Republican-led states. What they want: The court to block the electors from these four states from voting for Biden in the electoral college. Oh, and Paxton was recently accused of bribery, abuse of office and other potentially criminal offenses by his own top aides—which is now pretty standard for any Trump supporter. has more. In more bad news for Biden: His son Hunter’s taxes are in relation to his business dealings with China. Also being investigated: Thieves who broke into and stole technical equipment from the Russian government’s Doomsday Plane—a top-secret military aircraft designed to serve as an air command for the president during a nuclear war. has this odd story. TWO YEAR-THAT-WAS REPORTS One: According to Google’s ‘Year in Search’ report, ‘Coronavirus’ was the single most searched term around the world. Most popular actor: Tom Hanks. Most popular movie: ‘Parasite’. Oddly enough in India, ‘Indian Premier League’ claimed the top search spot, beating out the virus. Priorities, priorities… Check out the entire list . Two: Netflix’s year-end list reveals that 80% of its Indian users watch movies on its platform—far more often than any other nation in the world. Viewership of Korean series jumped by 370% this year (really?). The platform has not released a top ten list, but instead flagged popular titles in different categories. The list is . MUKESH-BHAI IS A GRANDPA His eldest son Akash and bahu Shloka are proud parents of a baby boy. Yes, this is the very same adored bahu who was the recipient of this Disney-themed from the fam last year. Sadly, all we have for this happy occasion is dada-ji’s . RAVEN BABIES ARE SUPER-SMART A new study reveals that four month old ravens do just as well as chimpanzees and orangutans across a broad array of tasks designed to measure intelligence: “Across a whole spectrum of cognitive skills, their intelligence is really quite amazing.” One important caveat: These were captive birds in close contact with humans—which may explain why they excelled in primate-like skills. Scientific American has more. See one of the below: A Big Apple yatra: A humpback whale was spotted checking out the Statue of Liberty in the city’s harbour. has the story and pretty photos. See below. ARMPIT ADVERTISING IS A THING Australia’s T20 tournament, the Big Bash League, will introduce many unique innovations—including . What we are most astonished by: “The umpires are carrying the branding of a popular deodorant brand underneath their armpits which the world will get to see every time they signal a six or a wicket or a bye.” It’s not quite as bad as it sounds when you see it . () In other sports news: Barcelona footballer Antoine Griezmann his job as Huawei’s ambassador. The reason: the in developing facial recognition tools that can track Uighur Muslims—millions of whom have been thrown into detention camps by Chinese authorities.

Sanity Break #2

Of the many year-end lists, this may be our favourite: Top 19 Creative Projects Made During the COVID-19 Crisis. They are whimsical, funny and often moving—each a recognition of all that we have endured this year. This one is a street mural by LA-based artist Hijack titled ‘Love in the Time of Quarantine’. In his words, “Six feet of distance makes the heart grow fonder… Or just more randy.” See the rest over at .

Weekend advisory

SO YOU WANT TO WATCH SOMETHING… : This is a fast-paced 1970s set crime drama starring Rachel Brosnahan—who is forced to go on the run with her baby after her husband betrays his partners. Coming to Amazon Prime on December 11. : is kinda like ‘Lost’ meets ‘Pretty Little Liars’. Think High school drama that involves a bunch of teenage girls stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. Reviews ( and ) promise a soapy binge-watch. Dropping on Amazon on December 11. (El desorden que dejas): Carlos Montero, the writer of season 2 of ‘Elite’ directs an adaptation of his own murder-mystery novel. The plot: a lit teacher takes a substitute position in a small town—and soon finds out that her predecessor committed suicide. We’ve added this to our watchlist for the breathtaking scenery, hottie stars and the, er, plot, of course. Read: interview with Montero. : Sanjay Dutt plays cricket coach to a bunch of kids at an Afghan refugee camp—even as he battles terrorist baddies who are trying to recruit them as suicide bombers. A good masala watch with lots of action and likely tears. Available December 11 on Netflix! For something different: Three photographers were determined to do something very unique: capture the stunning beauty of the Aurora Borealis from space using an ordinary camera, powered by a weather balloon. This short movie titled ‘’ follows their quest—and the result is a moving tribute to nature’s great beauty and what we can see when we change our perspective. If you just want to see the end result, skip to the 25-minute mark:) A LIST OF GOOD (AND LIGHT) READS * This piece is titled ‘Growers versus showers: A scientific penis investigation’—and it delivers on its promise. * explains why dating in the pandemic is like being in a Jane Austen novel. explores whether the pandemic is turning our hair grey. The answer is not what you may hope for. * asked noted authors for their best-of-2020 picks. There are lots of recommendations here so we’d just bookmark it—to browse when you don’t know what to read next. * More immediately useful: Staff of put together a list of things that brought them joy. It includes stuff to read, watch, listen to and do. * has a handy list of best podcasts for science nerds. * Tarana Husain Khan in explains how the qorma became the king of Indian curries.