A list of intriguing things

One: Have you heard about Footpool or Snookball? This may be the most fun way to play pool. No cues required—only your foot. Stand on a giant table and just kick that ball into the pocket. The most popular tournament is played in the UK. And it looks something like this.

Two: Here’s something very cool: fish leather. Sounds ominous but it is an innovative solution to invasive species like the lionfish—which can devour around 79% of young marine life within five weeks of entering a coral reef system. Inversa turns lionfish into leather—which is more sustainable than the kind that requires vast swathes of green pasture. And each hide can save up to 70,000 native reef fish—and help create pretty (and seriously expensive) wallets, belts and handbags. Check out Inversa’s website. (The Guardian)

Three: How We Feel is a project created by scientists, designers, engineers and therapists to help you understand your own emotions. The free journaling tool helps you spot patterns and trends in your moods—and practice strategies to manage them better. FYI: This is a non-profit project out of Harvard that started out as a health tracking tool during the pandemic. Fair warning: It requires downloading an app. Check it out here. Note: It is available only on iOS. 

Four: These are the Two Hands of Fatimah—stunning pieces inlaid mainly with rubies, interspersed with emeralds and diamonds. The exact lineage is unknown, but they date back to the late 18th/early 19th century Deccan India—and are part of the Khalili Collections—one of the largest private collections of Islamic art. 

So what do these hands symbolise?

“The four fingers and the thumb represent the Prophet, his daughter Fatimah, his son-in-law ‘Ali, and their sons Hasan and Husayn—the five members of the Ahl al-Bayt. In the royal ‘ashurkhanah of Hyderabad in the Deccan, there are a number of ‘alams or standards [flags or banners], some of them gigantic, in the form of hands. The projecting rectangular flange on both hands suggests that they may have been intended to be placed upright as a pair, back-to-back, probably for use as the finial of an ‘alam’.”