The great pandemic: A quick update
- First, the numbers: India added 50,497 new cases and 1,341 deaths (of which 294 are previously unreported deaths from Maharashtra).
- We finally have phase 3 data on Covaxin—which show that it is 77.8% effective, which is lower than Covishield which has an efficacy of 80%.
- On Monday, India undertook a record-breaking vaccination drive that administered 8.80 million (88.09 lakh) doses. The good news: 64% or 3 out of every 5 shots were administered in rural areas. Scroll reveals how the big numbers were carefully orchestrated by BJP-ruled states.
- The UK will allow 60,000 spectators to attend the Euro 2020 final and semi-final.
- South America is emerging as the deadly hotspot of the global pandemic. Even though it has only 5% of the world's population, it accounts for one fourth of the global death toll.
- Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte has found a novel way to overcome vaccine hesitancy: “You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed.”
- BBC News has a must-watch video report on how the second wave has devastated Buddhist monasteries in India.
Kashmir talks move forward
The Gupkar alliance of six leading J&K parties have agreed to attend a meeting with PM Modi on June 24. PDP President Mehbooba Mufti said:
“We will talk about our key agenda… which is the restoration of the position in J&K pre-August 5, 2019. This is going to be the first and foremost concern for us. Whatever their agenda for discussion, but this is going to be our agenda.”
Two related reads: The Wire argues that the offer to hold talks is the sign of a failed Kashmir policy; Scroll analyses the demands of each political party in Kashmir.
Two studies of note
One: A long-term study out of Israel suggests that men in unhappy marriages are at a higher risk of death—especially from strokes. The risk factor is as high as if they smoked or did not exercise:
“Men who were dissatisfied with their marriage were 19% more likely, on average, to die during the 32-year-long study than others of their age who were satisfied. Fatal strokes were 69% more common among those who felt they had an unsuccessful marriage compared to those who indicated a very successful marriage.”
Two: Coffee is excellent for your liver. New research shows that drinking up to three or four cups of coffee a day decreases the risk of developing or dying from chronic liver disease:
“Coffee drinkers were 21% less likely to develop chronic liver disease, 20% less likely to develop chronic or fatty liver disease, and 49% less likely to die from chronic liver disease than non-coffee drinkers.”
No, this does not mean you can up your kaapi intake to compensate for that two-peg whiskey. And no, you can’t pile the milk or sugar either:
“Most studies are done on drinking black coffee. However, many people add dairy, sugars, flavors or non-dairy creamers that are high in calories, added sugar and fat. That likely negates any heart-healthy benefits.”
Sad! CNN has more details.
Two race things
One: Billie Eilish is in trouble again. First, there were allegations of ‘queerbaiting’—i.e. acting queer for attention. And now there is a TikTok video that unearthed old videos of her mouthing an anti-Asian racist slur and in another video where she allegedly imitated an accent. She has since apologised, saying she was “13 or 14” at the time and this: “It is absolute gibberish and just me goofing around, and is in no way an imitation of anyone or any language, accent, or culture in the slightest… and it absolutely breaks my heart that it is being labeled now in a way that might cause pain to people hearing it.” It doesn’t break her heart to be labeled ‘racist’? Hmm. Watch the compilation below to make up your own mind:
Two: Marks & Spencer has released a new lingerie collection inspired by the death of George Floyd (who was killed by white cops). Ok, underwear and race-consciousness don’t exactly belong in the same sentence. But hey, we now have an “inclusive” line of lingerie that comes in five shades designed for different skin tones—with M&S saying its previous products were “inconsistent and inadequate for all ethnicities.” Daily Mail has the story. See the campaign below (which to us reads as perfect corporatespeak but we’re cynical like that):
Speaking of diversity: Organiser of Euro 2020 UEFA has denied Munich’s request to light up its stadium in pride colours during the Germany vs Hungary match on Wednesday. The reason: It is intended as a protest against new anti-gay laws in Hungary. UEFA said: "UEFA, through its statutes, is a politically and religiously neutral organisation. Given the political context of this specific request – a message aiming at a decision taken by the Hungarian national parliament – UEFA must decline this request." (Reuters)
The most expensive city in the world
If you are planning to relocate, you’d better check out Mercer’s list that maps the cost of living in cities around the world. Oddly, the most expensive city is not London or New York but Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat—which is very good news unless you have an affection for Turkmenistan. Next in line: Hong Kong; Beirut, Lebanon; Tokyo, Japan; Zurich, Switzerland. If you want to go super-cheap, you may want to consider Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek, which is at the bottom of the list. Just saying… (BBC News)
The perfect hiccup cure ever
You are going to laugh at this but scientists have engineered the perfect straw that will get rid of those annoying hiccups. It’s called ‘HiccAway’ which is a “forced inspiratory suction and swallow tool” or FISST—which is a fancy way to say that it forces the nerves that trigger hiccups to do something else other than annoying you. It worked for 92% of the test group so that’s very good news. The Guardian has more details. Promo video below.
Also out-of-the-box: Pakistan’s roller-skating cops. The 20-member unit carries out counterterrorism surveillance and community policing—but on skates. Even more shocking: it has an equal number of male and female officers. New York Times has the story on this PR push to give the police a more friendly image—though they still do a real job, including making arrests, improving the response rate at crime scenes and protecting several high-profile officials, including Prime Minister Imran Khan. Translation: perfect Amazon Prime material! Just watch the clip below lol!
Also kinda cool: The #ShowYourStripes campaign to promote awareness of climate change. It’s a set of colour stripes that has become short-hand for rising temperatures around the world:
“From left to right, each stripe in the design represents a year's worth of temperature change since the early 20th century. The blue shades indicate cooler-than-average years, while the shades of red are hotter-than-average years. The images show a significant shift from blue to red in recent years, signaling an alarming rise in temperatures around the world. The deep red stripes on the right side underscore how human activity has contributed to planet-heating emissions over time.”
Politicians are wearing it as a badge, flaunting it on the high fashion runway, putting it on a teddy bear, and even on a sweater:
In our gratitude jar…
Yes, we know you are probably tuning this item out by now lol! But we can’t begin to express how critical it was and is for our founding members to whip out their wallet and say ‘I believe’. It gets us through the hardest days as a bootstrapped startup. So a big thank you to Geetika Varshney, Riniki Sanyal, Amruuta Pawar, Nandan Srinath, Ankur Shah, Ronit Bhat, Tvisha Dholakia, Akash Gehani, Sravya Movva and Sarayu Natarajan.
Dine With Data: Inspo
Company: Inspo
About: For most creatives, it's tough to get started on a project. Inspo makes that part easier.
A search engine for inspiration, the product sources results from meme pages, poetry websites, quote directories, stock image databases, and other creative content repositories. Moreover, its GPT-3 engine, trained on more than 100M lines of poetry, generates thought starters for your idea.
The company has raised funds from Lightbox Ventures, Social Capital, and more.
Food For Thought: With its in-built social media calendar and moment marketing suggestions, Inspo has become a favourite for social media handlers. Schbang, Tinder, Ogilvy, and Royal Enfield have already signed up as users!
DWD Take: Inspo has evolved to become a powerful companion for any creative looking to be consistently inspired. We're betting big!
URL: https://getinspo.co (Access on web)
About DWD: Dine With Data🍴sends you a short summary of one new startup every day, delivered straight to your WhatsApp inbox!
