A few articles from topics that I follow:

‘Not just a drummer – a genre’: Stewart Copeland and Max Weinberg on Charlie Watts – Charlie Watts, the drummer of the Rolling Stones, sadly passed away last week. This article highlights what made him a special musician.

Is French cuisine forever changed? – The mention of French cuisine evokes a certain feeling – of delicious food, of course, but also presentation, ambience, style and many more. But it can also evoke a feeling of rigidity and formality. This article explores these concepts further.

The Strange Persistence of First Languages – We, in India, are very familiar with the concept of ‘Mother Tongue’. Unfortunately, for various reasons, I fear that we will see a steady decline in native speakers of our local languages. Articles such as this one give me some hope.

Why Does Liechtenstein Even Exist? – I have always been interested in Geography. And one of the questions I was pondering recently was how many countries in the world are doubly landlocked. This article provided me with the answer, but that’s not the only reason why I found this an interesting article.

This week’s list covers many different topics. I hope you enjoy reading them!

Seeing Red – A fascinating article about the rise of China and what the future might hold when it comes to geopolitics.

‘Roaring Twenties’: Are we entering a new age of hedonism? – The 1920’s are considered as the 20th Century (Western) world’s wildest and most creative era. There are some parallels with the 2020’s with the pandemics and economic depressions. This article looks back 100 years to speculate how the post-pandemic era might look like.

Ohio’s vaccine lottery saved more than $60m in averted healthcare costs – Results from an interesting experiment where Ohio state offered cash prizes to encourage tens of thousands of people to get jabbed, which resulted in nearly 5,000 days in ICU being avoided.

How to escape the ‘productivity trap’ – This article explores how ‘productivity’ became increasingly important, reasons many of us get sucked into this ‘trap’ and how we could break free from it.

A Dying Tradition: The Naturally Distilled Rose Water of Srinagar – Just one of the many fascinating aspects of our culture and heritage that are at risk of drying out…

A selection of interesting articles I came across last week:

How will the pandemic end? – I am sure many of us have wondered about this question. This article should provide all the answers.

How to Think: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught – Sounds like a strange statement to make, right? This article explains what is thinking, and how to do it right. ‘Good thinking is expensive but poor thinking costs a fortune.’

How to Get Up Close with India’s Indigenous Cultures – Monday, August 09, was celebrated as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Read more about some of India’s indigenous cultures in this article.

One Ladakhi Girl’s Journey from Darkness to Light – A truly inspiring story of a young girl from Ladakh who grew up in a village without electricity and is now spreading (solar) light across the country.

Here are a few interesting articles I came across over the past days:

Forward Thinking on measuring GDP and productivity with Diane Coyle – How do we measure the impact on GDP from doing things that you do not pay for? Should we include Nature in our definition of what counts as Economy? What about unpaid housework? Read (or listen to) this interview to find our more about these issues.

The birthplace of the US vacation – Have you ever thought of how the word ‘vacation’ originated? This article has the answer (it is connected with the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States).

Australia’s secret weapon at the Tokyo Olympics – Australia is a sport-mad nation. They do take it very seriously. As they do something else, which you will have to read the article to know more about!

How the Bugun Liocichla is Keeping an Indigenous Culture in the Northeast Alive – The Bugun Liocichla is a recently discovered species of bird, found in a small pocket in Northeast India. This article explores the linkages between the inhabitants of the land, the forests around them and the issues of conservation linked to this rare bird.