Week Ending Jan 30, 2022

New Scorpions Song: The first single that I heard from hard rockers Scorpions was Still loving You followed by the smashing Sails of Sharon. Meanwhile, the new single Rock Believer turned out to be disappointing.

Setback to AI Hype: IBM's decision to sell off parts of its Watson Health business has come as a setback to AI nerds. In a tweet, Gary Marcus termed the decision as a "staggering collapse of its ambitious artificial intelligence effort".

Another War: The Ukraine-Russian tangle dominated the week's headlines indicating the probable beginning of another cold war.

Indian Cricket in Trouble: India lost the ODI cricket series against South Africa after a promising first test win in one of the final frontiers. The loss triggered the speculation that all is not well in the team. The series saw some poor batting, especially the middle order, and some pointless bowling.

Neil Young Rocks Spotify : Alleging that Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines, rocker Neil Young asks the streaming service to remove his songs. Supporting him, in an open letter., Joni Mitchell also asked Spotify to remove her songs from the streaming site. 

Republic Day: India celebrated the 73rd Republic Day with the beating ceremony not featuring Mahatma Gandhi's favourite song, Abide With Me. The withdrawal sparked public outrage. 

Week Ending Jan 23, 2022

From this year, I have decided to post weekly updates about things that I have noticed more than others. 

Joe Satriani's New Single

Virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani is back with a new single and new album. I and my friend watched the song, Sahara's, premiere on YouTube. The new single was an OK one similar to the songs in the Strange Beautiful Music album with the typical Satch flourishes, but it fell short of some strange expectations. The new album is titled The Elephants of Mars.

Covid-19: Kerala Imposes Sunday Lockdown

My home state of Kerala went to a complete lockdown on two Sundays starting today after the Covid-19 positive infections spiked dramatically in many districts. The state capital and Ernakulam fared the worst, as there were reports and group messages of entire families getting infected. Meanwhile, Karnataka lifted the weekend curfew from Jan 22, but decided to continue with the night curfew. 

Jacinda Postpones Marriage 

New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, postpones her marriage as Covid-19 cases mount in the country. This is a rare show by a PM at this age of pandemic. 

Indian Cricket in Trouble After Losses in South Africa

Indian cricket started 2022 with a test series loss to relatively weak South Africa after some poor batting and clueless bowling in both the tests as well as the ODIs. The series was marred by Kohli's resignation as Test captain. The side lost the ODI series also under the captaincy of K L Rahul casting doubts over coach Dravid's efficacy and needless controversies over the skipper. The last match is on today. 

Past Comes Back in le Carre Classic

Finished John le Carre's Legacy of Spies novel. The past catches up with Pete as the wards of past bloopers approach the legal system for justice. The Spy Who Came Out From The Cold comes back strongly in this novel.