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Sanity Break #1
‘The Picture of Everything Else’ is a compelling new graphic novel inspired by Oscar Wilde’s ‘’. Conceived by Dan Watters and stunningly illustrated by Trivandrum-based artist Kishore Mohan, it tells the story of two art thieves in 1890s Paris. Check out a sample , and read more about the fascinating plot over .
Headlines that matter
YET ANOTHER BOEING CRASH IN INDONESIA * Sriwijaya Air Flight 182— 62 people to Borneo—took off from Jakarta amid heavy monsoon rain. And then it suddenly plunged more than 10,000 feet in less than a minute. The plane had 12 crew members and 50 passengers onboard, including seven children and three babies, all of them Indonesian. * The aircraft took off at 2.36 pm, reached 10,900 feet within four minutes—and stopped transmitting data 21 seconds later. * Authorities have located the crash site (including remains of the bodies) in the Java Sea and found the black boxes. has more on the salvage operations. * To be clear: This Boeing 737-500 is not the same as the 737 Max. That model was grounded after an Air Asia crash also in Indonesia in 2018, followed by a crash in Ethiopia in 2019. * This 26-year old plane is described as “a workhorse model with a good safety record.” has more on this angle. * However, Indonesia has a terrible air safety record—with more civilian airliner accidents since 1945 than any other country in Asia. The reasons: poor pilot training, mechanical failures, air traffic control issues and poor aircraft maintenance. explains why Indonesia is an air passenger’s nightmare. TRUMP IS BEING LOCKED OUT Here’s a round up of an eventful post-siege weekend (our explainers are and if you’re late to this story). Impeachment: Democrats in Congress are determined to punish Trump for inciting the violence—even though he has only nine days left in office. House members are planning to vote as early as Tuesday to impeach him. The charge: "incitement of insurrection.” If the resolution is passed as expected, Trump will be tried in the Senate for the second time (Vox the process when he was impeached in December, 2019). But the trial will likely be postponed to give President Biden the traditional 100 days to push through the most urgent parts of his legislative agenda. has more. The 25th: Dem leaders are also Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment (explained ) to push Trump out—and the Veep “has not ruled it out” in case Trump “becomes more unstable.” Point to note: Two prominent Republican Congressmen on Trump to resign. Social media blackout: * After permanently banning Trump’s personal account, Twitter his team’s account. It also deleted tweets he sent out from the government’s official White House handle @POTUS. Here’s of all the companies that have blocked him and his supporters. * But far more importantly, tech companies are moving quickly to make sure Trump doesn’t jump on to an alternative platform. For example: Parler—a rightwing version of Twitter that was used to promote and coordinate the riot. * First, Apple and Google pulled the app from their stores. Then Amazon delivered , saying it will stop hosting the platform starting Sunday night. What this means: Parler will go entirely offline while it scrambles to find an alternative web hosting provider. * The bigger fallout: a number of rightwing platforms are under pressure to clean up their act: “They now face the choice of either stepping up their policing of posts—undercutting their main feature in the process—or losing their ability to reach a wide audience.” That doesn’t bode well for Trump who is to start his own platform. * has more on Corporate America (and not just big tech) canceling Trump. Closer home: Twitter was aflame with an angry debate over the political loyalties of the two Malayali men seen waving the Indian flag at the scene. BJP supporters tried to link one of them to Shashi Tharoor, but an fact-check shows that both Trump supporters don’t have any strong Indian party affiliations—but are more sympathetic to the BJP. Also stirring a row: Kamala Harris’ appearance on the cover of Vogue. The magazine tweeted out two versions, and one of them (on the left) made folks very angry. on social media range from lack of creativity to skin-lightening. We, OTOH, like both but again, we are not connoisseurs of fashion magazine covers. Check out the profile—which also offers a better look at the two covers. BIRD FLU OUTBREAK: A QUICK UPDATE * A total of 4,235 migratory birds in Himachal Pradesh. * Over 100 crows in the last four days at a park in Delhi's Mayur Vihar. And the city has the import of live birds and closed its biggest poultry market for 10 days. * For the fourth day in a row, a large number of dead poultry birds were found dumped by the side of the Chandigarh-Shimla highway. * Meanwhile, 900 chickens have died at a poultry farm in Maharashtra. The state has selective culling ASAP. * Also on alert due to rising cases: , including Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan. * has an excellent explainer on bird flu, while offers a guide to safely consuming poultry products. NO SMOKING FOR YOU! A new draft of the tobacco-control law plans to ban smoking in hotels, restaurants and airports. Yup, there will be no more smoking zones. Also in the works: increasing the minimum legal age to 21, and banning tobacco advertising at your local paanwala. Tobacco companies are up in arms. () THE INDIAN PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * Indian researchers who were searching for the UK strain have a new mutation in three patients. But it is unclear whether this is significant, and whether it will impact the efficacy of vaccines. * The greatest challenge in administering vaccines in India is not cold storage or crowd management, but internet connectivity. The reason: All details at every stage of the process have to be uploaded onto a government app. And it created severe delays during the dry runs conducted over the weekend. has reports from across the country. has more on what happened in Bengal. * Each vaccine vial will contain 10 doses, but the vial will have to be used within four hours of being opened—or else thrown. : We don’t have enough vaccine vial monitors that monitor storage temperature. Typically, opened vials can be safely used for a far longer period. SALARY SLIPS ON WHATSAPP The labour ministry plans to use “WhatsApp and other social media" platforms to send messages to employees about their salary slips and other confidential information. Privacy advocates are up in arms. has more on this story. Another WhatsApp worry: Links to join WhatsApp groups are once again popping up on Google search. This means anyone can use those links to join private groups. explains. Telegram smacks WhatsApp: CEO Pavel Durov has accused the company of carrying out a disinformation campaign to target its messaging app. has more. PILOT SHALT NOT CRITICISE THE PM GoAir has sacked a pilot for tweeting: “PM is an idiot. You can call me same in return. It’s ok. I don’t matter. Bcoz I am not PM. But PM is an idiot. Period.” The airline promptly sacked him, declaring: “GoAir has zero tolerance policy and it is mandatory for all GoAir employees to comply with the company’s employment rules, regulations and policies, including social media behaviour.” The pilot has deleted the tweet, issued profuse apologies, and clarified that GoAir must not be blamed in any way for his sins. The other fallout: the hashtag “IdiotPM” trended on Twitter soon after as retired members of the military rallied around one of their own. The pilot is an Air Force veteran. () In other airline news: Air India its first nonstop flight between San Francisco and Bengaluru helmed by an . Why this is especially cool: This is the longest commercial flight in the world by any Indian airline. () MICHAEL JACKSON CONCERT GETS A TAX BREAK... Twenty four years after the star performed in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has waived Rs 3.4 crore in taxes on his performance. Back in the day, the event had been organised by then Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray and a company called Wizcraft— which claimed an entertainment tax exemption on the grounds that the show was a “classical concert.” The court disagreed, and it rattled around the legal system until now. Tax windfalls come to those who wait. () LABOUR PARTY HAS A KHALISTAN PROBLEM Each year, the Labour party can pick six people who will be made honorary members of the House of Lords—and get to slap a ‘Lord’ or ‘Baroness’ before their name. One of the names of Labour’s list: Dabinderjit Singh Sidhu—who is a long-time Khalistan supporter. This detail had apparently escaped those in charge of the vetting process until the very last minute—when they uncovered “new information about the ‘background’ of Mr Singh.” And now Sidhu has been hastily dropped from the list. And Sikh organisations in the UK are very unhappy. () IDENTICAL TWINS ARE NOT IDENTICAL New research suggests that even monozygotic twins—who come from a single fertilised egg—have an average of 5.2 genetic alterations at a very early embryonic stage. In 15% of the cases, the variation was even higher. Why this matters: Scientists often use identical twins to make judgements about what to attribute to nature as opposed to nurture. Now, we have to be more careful about jumping to those conclusions: > “So if you take identical twins raised apart and one of them developed autism, the classic interpretation has been that that is > caused by the environment. But that is an extraordinarily dangerous conclusion.” has more. THE TROLLING OF WOMEN DOCTORS A worrying study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that one in four doctors experienced online attacks based on their medical advice, religion, or race. But that was before the pandemic. The numbers have risen even higher since, and the abuse includes negative doxing, rape and death threats, coordinated attacks etc. The most common: Sexual harassment with one in six female doctors reporting it on social media. Why this matters: "We worry that this emotionally distressing environment will drive women physicians off social media, which has been well-documented as a helpful career-advancement tool.” () WHEN THE SNOW IN SPAIN... Spain is experiencing record-setting levels of snow—and it has paralysed great parts of the country. has more on the story. Meanwhile, the while the snow fell… TBH, authorities were not amused.
Sanity Break #2
You may not have heard of the Brit electronic band The KLF—best known for burning a million pounds—or care much for country music legend Tammy Wynette. But you will absolutely love this insane and catchy music video for ‘’ that brings these two together. Perfect Monday earworm.
Smart & Curious
A LIST OF GOOD READS * Is ‘Queen’s Gambit’ a great piece of cinematic work or a showy but empty spectacle? argues that the answer to this big question may lie in the exquisite beauty of its heroine. * What will wellness look like in 2021? offers some interesting (and some eye-brow raising) answers. * has a good read on the origins of chai. * Need pandemic road trip advice? Five contributors share their experiences and tips. * From the archives: A 1954 profile of Tenzing Norgay. * Christie Aschwanden is a lifelong runner. She explains why she no longer does her usual routine of stretches in . * reports on how the pandemic has been a disaster for people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. * The publishing of the Pentagon Papers is remembered as one of the greatest events in the history of investigative journalism. Now that reporter Neil Sheehan has died, finally revealed the story behind one of its greatest stories. FYI: We thought it also (unwittingly) reveals what’s wrong with the persona of the hotshot male journalist. * A related read: on ‘Collective’—the documentary which is Romania's official submission in the international Oscar category. Now, this is a far more inspiring story of journalistic heroism. * Also in the : An excellent review of ‘Bollywood Wives.’ * We highly recommend Nisha Susan’s delightful riff on liar moonjis (faces) in .
Feel Good Place
When you’re still trying to keep that new year resolution... (h/t subscriber Sowmya Swaminathan) Nailed it! FYI: That’s National Gold Medalist Gymnast Parul Arora Bobby Deol: Covid test expert. Prank dancing.
