The Stalemate
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Sanity Break #1
This is Sukh Ojha at BBC’s Asian Network Comedy. The South Asian Brit comic is funny, feminist—and totally nails every Indian family ever.
Headlines that matter
THE WORLD’S FIRST CORONAVIRUS JAB Margaret Keenan got a Pfizer shot yesterday, becoming in the world to receive a vaccine. She turns 91 next week! The second: An 81-year old named ! Many ‘Taming of the Flu’ jokes ensued. US authorities have confirmed that Pfizer offers within 10 days of administering the first dose. In related good news: For India, a peer-reviewed study in the Lancet journal confirms that the Oxford vaccine is safe and effective. One downside: most of the trial participants were below the age of 55—which raises questions about how well it will work for the elderly. () In other pandemic-related news: * reports that the Moderna vaccine was developed over a single weekend—and had been designed by January 13. But it was still wise to take time to test and roll it out. * President Trump held a ‘vaccine summit’ but —including the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna. Not invited: The Biden team which will have the actual task of distributing the vaccines in the new year. Also: The US has only bought 100 million Pfizer doses—which is enough to . So nowhere close to what’s needed. * An unhappy pandemic effect: A shows that social distancing has increased the power of restaurant customers—who can more freely harass the wait staff: "Many survey respondents noted that they’ve been asked to remove their masks so the customer can ‘see that pretty face under there.’ Some say they were explicitly told to take off their masks so the customer could decide how much to tip.” The reason: the staff are more dependent on tips from a smaller number of patrons. * has a happier story on dabbawalas—who were struggling due to the lockdown but have now found a new gig: supplying fresh veggies and fruits to Mumbaikars. CLUES TO ANDHRA’S MYSTERY ILLNESS More than 500 people were hospitalised in Eluru over the past three days due to an undiagnosed illness. They exhibited symptoms of epilepsy, including seizures and tremors. The culprit: contaminated water. An AIIMS report showed high levels of nickel and lead in blood samples. And a private lab has found high levels of pesticides—including DDT—in the drinking water. Eluru is served by two canals which are a dumping ground for farmers along their banks. () MT EVEREST IS HIGHER THAN EVER The great peak was first officially measured by the Survey of India in 1954—and deemed to be 8,848 metres in height. Then China measured their side in 2005 and came up with 8,844.43 metres. Then Nepal undertook the task of settling the question once and for all. Now all—including the Chinese—agree that it is 8,848.86 metres high. That’s 0.86 metres higher than the previous estimate. explains why a massive earthquake in 2015 may have increased the peak’s height. In China-related news: China has conducted a mass ‘app cleansing’, pulling down 105 apps—including TripAdvisor. The reason: they spread content related to pornography, prostitution, gambling and violence. Oh, TripAdvisor, we never knew ye… () SITHARAMAN MAKES THE FORBES LIST The Finance Minister ranks #41 in Forbes’ list of the 100 most powerful women in the world—along with Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (#68) and HCL Enterprise CEO Roshni Nadar Malhotra (#55). At #1 for the 10th year in a row: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde. Kamala Harris makes her debut at #3. The full list is . Talking of powerful people: Indian-American Vivek Murthy has been appointed Surgeon General of the United States again! He previously held the post under Barack Obama—but this time he will be in charge of the Biden administration’s Covid effort. has more on Murthy. In somewhat Biden-related news: Turkish singer Bilal Goregen uploaded a clip of him playing the darbuka, accompanied by a cat gif—and instantly created an iconic meme. Here’s a with the visually impaired artist—where he talks about the great number of Indian fans and love for Joe Biden. YOUTUBE’S ROLE IN CHRISTCHURCH KILLING A New Zealand commission conducted an independent inquiry into the horrific 2019 shooting that left 51 people dead. It has now issued a report that concludes that YouTube played a significant role in radicalizing the shooter, Brenton Tarrant: > “In one of the sections of the report called ‘The terrorist,’ they write that he viewed content promoting extreme right-wing and > ethno-nationalist views on sites like 4chan and 8chan. ‘He also spent much time accessing broadly similar material on YouTube,’ > the authors said. ‘His exposure to such content may have contributed to his actions on 15 March 2019 — indeed, it is plausible > to conclude that it did.’” PM Jacinda Ardern plans to take these findings up with YouTube. () AN ANTI-RACISM PROTEST IN FOOTBALL A Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir was unexpectedly suspended yesterday. The reason: A match referee allegedly called Basaksehir assistant coach Pierre Webo a “negro” (watch that ). Basaksehir striker Demba Ba then stepped up to confront the official (clip ). Both sides then left the field in protest: has more details. In other football news: A women's university football match in China was called off because… one player’s hair was not “black enough”! Apparently, the nation’s football league has really strange rules about what players can and cannot do: “Athletes are not allowed to dye their hair, grow long hair [for boys], wear weird hairstyles, or wear any accessories.” has this strange story. JET PLANS A COMEBACK The new owners of the once-bankrupt airline aim to take to the skies by : > “The Consortium's vision is to regain lost ground, set new benchmarks for the airline industry with the tag of being the best > corporate full-service airline operating on domestic and international routes. The Jet 2.0 hubs will remain Delhi, Mumbai, and > Bengaluru like before. The revival plan proposes to support Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities by creating sub-hubs in such cities." AN LA MUSEUM’S ‘OOPS’ MOMENT David Lew’s artwork had been on display in the courtyard of the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles since 2018—until the city’s maintenance staff threw it out thinking it was trash. Now, Lew the museum. The exhibit was called Year of the Shark Red Packet and looked like this: “88 decorated empty canvas tote bags hanging on washing lines—a nod to Chinese immigrants working in the US laundry business.” THE ROBOTAXI IS HERE! Earlier this year, Amazon acquired Zoox which makes self-driving cabs. For months now, Zoox has been teasing the world with tantalising of its creation. Well, the real thing has finally been spotted wandering the streets of San Francisco. The verdict: “They look dorky as hell.” has more. DISAPPOINTING NEWS ABOUT THE GENDER GAP A new study suggests that parent-friendly policies may not do much to reduce the workplace gap between men and women. Researchers looked at multi-decade data from Austria—which offers up to 35 months in shared parental leave and free childcare for children under the age of five. And yet, the average earnings of Austrian women is currently 43.5% lower than men. More worryingly: without these benefits, that number would have been 41.5%. The researchers write: “Our main conclusion is simple and striking: The enormous expansions of parental-leave and child-care subsidies have had virtually no impact on gender convergence.” The big reason: cultural norms. explains. REMEMBERING CHUCK YEAGER He was the world's most famous test pilot who became the first to break the sound barrier. Yeager died on Monday in Los Angeles at the ripe old age of 97. The has a wonderful obit while the captures his life in pictures. break the sound barrier below.
Sanity Break #2
Yup, it’s that ‘best of’ time of the year. Here are the best science photos of 2020 courtesy the . They are in turns quirky, powerful and sometimes uncomfortable reminders of the past 12 months.
Smart & Curious
A LIST OF INTRIGUING THINGS One: This is Queen Victoria’s personal —and it contains very useful things to know. Example: “The egg is not boiled enough.” has more on the Queen and her tutor Abdul Karim (immortalised in the movie ‘Victoria & Abdul’). Two: was quarantined in his hotel room in Vancouver for two weeks—and decided to make creative use of the available appliances. He is now a TikTok star. Sadly, we can’t show his TikTok videos, but with a running commentary from Gordon Ramsay, no less. Also: Jago Randles? Really? Three: Caro Verbeek is a unique art historian who is obsessed with reconstructing the smell of history. And in Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, visitors are given little strips of paper so we can literally smell the past. For example, Napoleon’s Retreat at the Battle of Waterloo, 1815 War which smells of: “gunpowder, horses, wet earth, anxiety, sweat, leather. Overlaid with a reconstruction of Napoleon’s perfume, called acqua mirabilis, which contained rosemary, bergamot and bitter orange.” You can see stunning photos of this unique exhibit over at but sadly you can’t smell them. You can also check out Verbeek’s 11-minute . Four: This is a ‘sati stone’, ancient memorials that commemorate women who died on funeral pyres of their warrior husbands. They are found strewn across the country, often in a state of neglect—as they’ve now become a political and religious lightning rod. offers a fascinating deep dive into their history and those who seek to preserve them. Five: Pandemic khana goes upmarket: is the hottest global trend. has more variations on this theme. Sadly, the Indian one—Delhi's Dragonfly Experience’s ‘party pods’—are the most underwhelming.
Feel Good Place
Unrequited love. Onward furry soldiers! Amazon Prime for the win! (h/t founding member Kruthika Ravi Kumar) What makes any analysis of the farm protests better? Doggies, of course! What makes any viral animal video better? Adding ‘Sadi Gali’ to it, of course. Thank you founding member Ameya Nagarajan for this hump day gift.
