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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Biden White House Is Tossing Obamas Economics Playbook</strong> - Joe Biden and Janet Yellen are proving to be far bolder than past Democratic Administrations. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-biden-white-house-is-tossing-obamas-economics-playbook">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Can Biden Reverse Trumps Damage to Latin America?</strong> - The new President has vowed to end his predecessors “incompetence and neglect” in the region, but first he must convince allies to trust Washington again. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/can-biden-reverse-trumps-lasting-damage-in-latin-america">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Trumps Impeachment-Trial Lawyers Refuse to Seriously Engage with the Constitutional Issues</strong> - What looks like incompetence by Bruce Castor and David Schoen may be better understood as contempt for the process. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/trumps-impeachment-trial-lawyers-refuse-to-seriously-engage-with-the-constitutional-issues">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>When Climate Change and Xenophobia Collide</strong> - During a hurricane, migrants in the Bahamas were told that they could seek shelter without fear. More than a thousand were deported, reflecting a global trend. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/when-climate-change-and-xenophobia-collide">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Survival Center Tries to Survive the Pandemic</strong> - Bobby Simpson has been distributing food in Kentucky for decades. Now the people who usually help him help others are hurting, too. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/a-survival-center-tries-to-survive-the-pandemic">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The best 70€ I ever spent: An old German sideboard</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KrBJjfiKkY0dl7o_-uEgZGCglJA=/500x0:3500x2250/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68823989/Furniture.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Dana Rodriguez for Vox
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
After an adulthood spent moving around, I decided it was finally time to make an apartment a home.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p89lv0">
Over my first two years in Berlin, I moved house seven times and never owned a bed.<em> </em>Buying furniture takes time, money, or both, I reasoned, and moving with furniture is even more work<em>. </em>Instead,<em> </em>I hailed standard yellow cabs to shuttle me between sublets with my possessions in boxes, bags, and suitcases. It seldom took more than one trip.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RqwpVR">
Like many people, I find it easier to leave than to ever settle down. I believe its a form of pragmatism. In my early 20s, I made too little money to have long-term plans. I found myself at the mercy of landlords, bureaucrats, and employers who made it clear that any contracts and permits I received were acts of profound charity. I spent these years listless, and ready to leave if or when I was told to. I refused to buy furniture because it was more convenient to inherit what others left behind, because someone was always leaving something behind, which meant that I could do the same without thinking about where it came from, or where it was going.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="heembN">
Instead, I nursed a found collection of IKEA bookshelves and cheap wardrobes alongside the detritus from my day-to-day life that lined my suitcases. I honored my bric-a-brac as sentimental and my furniture as functional until it all became too unbearable or illogical to carry it with me. Last summer — my seventh in Berlin — I gave away so much of what I owned that when I most recently moved house, it took the movers under an hour to gather everything I had and bring it to my new apartment, where I have lived alone since last July, and where I intend to stay for as long as I can.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0VVm74">
The night that I moved in, I could hear bar hoppers making the most of the summer evening in the distance. My thoughts turned to the stack of boxes that were still piled up in the next room where Id abandoned them for a Zoom call shortly after I arrived that morning. As I nodded off, I caught myself apologizing for leaving my things everywhere. With no one to inconvenience, I let go as the sound of the streets pushed me deeper and deeper asleep instead. When I woke up, I dumped every box out on the living room floor and broke them all down, then frogmarched them to the recycling bin.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UcF62q">
Now in lockdown, to fill the nameless, anxious void that spans between working and sleeping, I search for second-hand furniture online. It started out of necessity: I surveyed the apartment when I signed the lease, and noted which pieces of furniture would be temporarily loaned to me. Then, I made a list of the things that I would be most devastated to live without. I had brought a bookshelf, a sofa, a desk, a chair, and a clothing rack with me; I decided that replacing the trash cans could wait, and that I didnt need any more lamps for now. I also conceded it was time to give up the bit: After seven years in Berlin, I finally bought my own bed.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HkMANc">
Something had changed: <em>This space is mine</em>, I decided with conviction. I wasnt going to leave. I bought two matching chests of drawers from the 1960s, in which I could decant my suitcases. And I bought a 70s bar cart next, which now only holds a dish of candles and a splinter of sandalwood. I put an offer in on a narrow highboard from the 50s that had just enough storage space for a few binders or files, but it was already spoken for.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q3dmx0">
On my favorite second-hand furniture sites, the search function is limited, ranking posts only by time published, distance from your area code, and price. Sometimes, you can explore categories and subcategories, but the overlap between disparate branches in the same taxonomic tree is not intuitive to navigate — is a vintage flowerpot an antique (<em>Hobby</em>), an interior decoration (<em>Furniture</em>), or a garden accessory (<em>Garden and Pets</em>)?
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5L3N7S">
Six times a day, I run through a list of search terms that sort furniture by form (<em>sideboard</em>), by function (<em>cabinet</em>), by age (<em>70s</em>), by taste (<em>mid-century modern</em>), and by the owners sales pitch (<em>high-quality)</em>. I learned a new language for furniture — one that describes its features, its history, and how people understand it. There are no fewer than 12 words in German for a small pedestal on which you can stand a plant, so I learned all of them, and four common misspellings. I hold deep, almost prejudicial beliefs about how much a kitchen table should cost, despite having never shopped for one. I can clock sellers with a penchant for gouging prices by their VSCO filters alone.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5afl8W">
My searches follow me, with targeted advertisements blooming across my Facebook and Instagram feeds. One appeals to my values with a bamboo TV console, prioritizing its sustainability over any details on its price, size, or what makes it sustainable. Another ad appeals to my taste, selling designer hairpin legs that upgrade flatpack furniture into thoughtful, considered homeware.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pYa44O">
Some people might confuse my labored, inefficient searching for a daily meditation, or a deliberate form of resistance against the attention economy in which competing vendors anticipate my desires to offer something that I might want, or something I should want, or both. This is not the case.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4HSSYD">
My hunts are furious, and cathartic. I scroll angrily until I reach the timestamp where I last ended. I am powered by adrenaline and cortisol, playing a game of chance, of timing, of instinct, and of last-minute planning that seems so foreign and distanced from the life Ive lived since the start of the pandemic. Against the backdrop of the last year of restless, aching sanctions, I can understand why someone would bet their life savings on the word of Reddit prophecies because regardless of the outcome, it is a choice that they can say they made, and a decision that was their own. If I see furniture I want, I find a way to make it mine.
</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside id="FcbxSb">
<q>If I see furniture I want, I find a way to make it mine</q>
</aside>
</div>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M2W2cP">
On a Sunday morning, in a lull during an otherwise work-heavy weekend, I came across a gorgeous East German sideboard from 1970 with glass windows to show off stemware that I dont own. I acted before thinking, and showed up two hours later with a moving trolley and belt that were comically undersized for the sideboards breadth and depth.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X9hX5f">
As the owners helped me load it into the elevator in their well-groomed new-build apartment complex, they told me how much theyd loved the sideboard, and how sad they were to part with it, but their first child was on the way and needed the space. They were happy, they said, to see it was going somewhere it would be well tended to.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aZgg2S">
They offered me a ride home, but their car doors had frozen shut, and I really couldnt ask them to go so far out of their way for me, a stranger. So I handed over 70€ in cash and stood outside their apartment in the ice and the snow with my sideboard. I called every number in my phone until I made it back to my apartment thirty minutes later with the sideboard in tow. Upon my return, I stood in the hallway, eyeing it and necking a bottle of water as the adrenaline left my body. Then, I returned to my desk and went back to work.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LGoSRe">
Sometimes, I find furniture that I dont buy because its too big, too ostentatious, too close to what I own, or too far from my apartment. I post this furniture on Twitter in hopes that someone else can see what I see in it. Recently, two friends sent me a picture of a cupboard in their bedroom. Its their first home together, and the cupboard is one of the many things I found in my searches that will remain with others even if I choose to leave.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IGkDHz">
As I cycled through commonly misspelled search terms, I came across two blumenständer<em> </em>that had been mislabelled. They went to an author Ive never met and a week later, I received a copy of her first book in the mail in return. So many people chased a glass table that I found that when it resurfaced a week later on one of my favorite sites, it was 100 euro more. Its owner hadnt seen its worth until other people did first.
</p>
<p class="c-end-para" data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0NuXPg">
I search for furniture, then send side table recommendations to a man with whom I shared two chaste dates after meeting him on Bumble, and I send furniture I find in London, New York, and Philadelphia to friends in these cities, as well as in cities that Ive never visited myself. I search for furniture because it is a way to spend my time (of which I have plenty) and not money, of which I have less and less. I search for furniture because Ive made a choice to stay and that choice was my own. I search for furniture because I do not know what I want until I know what I can have.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LhqH5C">
<em>Nathan Ma is a Berlin-based writer and critic for the Believer, the Baffler, and other outlets.</em>
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gdEQRs">
</p></li>
<li><strong>The many ways Muslim prisoners are denied religious rights in prison</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="A prison door." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vk4mwbe7wFTVVX57qiHlq5ihiw8=/188x0:3632x2583/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68820926/GettyImages-89662507.0.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
From high-cost Qurans to ignored dietary requests, Muslim inmates face discrimination. | Matias Nieto/Cover via Getty Images
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
Capitol rioter Jake Angeli, the so-called “Q Shaman,” was given organic food in prison, revealing a double standard for Muslim prisoners.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8ZjHB8">
Rick, an African American and Muslim prisoner, was in a correctional facility in a Midwestern state when he tried to obtain a Quran for worship. His request to the officer in charge was denied. But when he was told the price for it, he was shocked — it was far more than he could afford, and, significantly, was two to three times more expensive than a Bible.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BdXTMA">
“I just couldnt afford to buy the Quran, or anything else, for that matter,” he says, as he was denied a Quran multiple times.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z9t0Kn">
Rick, whose last name is being withheld to protect his privacy, resorted to secretly borrowing a copy of the Quran from another inmate. When guards were passing by, he had to quickly make sure they did not see it.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zLSnxF">
“The discrimination is so real. All that matters is your background and the color of your skin,” he says.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gb6c95">
The United States <a href="https://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/">currently incarcerates more than 2 million people, who are predominantly Black and Latinx</a>, with almost half a million of these people being held on pretrial bond known as bail. Unfortunately, Muslim prisoners in particular are largely left out of the conversation. Muslims are overrepresented in state prisons, making up <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/25/745226402/muslims-over-represented-in-state-prisons-report-finds">9 percent</a>. The significant presence of Muslims in prison <a href="https://muslimadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FULFILLING-THE-PROMISE-OF-FREE-EXERCISE-FOR-ALL-Muslim-Prisoner-Accommodation-In-State-Prisons-for-distribution-7_23-1.pdf">stands in stark contrast to Muslims share of the US population as a whole</a>, which is just 1 percent.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gxOXr4">
Muslim prisoners face many of the same issues as other incarcerated people, including hindrances to basic necessities and hygiene such as toothpaste, deodorant, or <a href="https://www.publichealthpost.org/news/sanitary-products-women-state-prisons/">female sanitary products</a>. But they also face unique discriminatory practices, such as lack of fair access to religious material in prisons. This is <a href="https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/religious-freedom/#im-facing-religious-discrimination-in-prison">despite federal laws that require equal access to religious materials</a>. Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/25/745226402/muslims-over-represented-in-state-prisons-report-finds">discrimination in prisons has been a longstanding issue</a>, with multiple lawsuits attempting to resolve this; nevertheless, Muslims continue to face difficulty.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kQ0uUd">
Yet earlier this month, a federal judge affirmed that Jake Angeli, the Capitol rioter known as “Q Shaman,” should be granted his request for organic food while being held in a Washington, DC, jail, citing his religious beliefs. It is puzzling that Angelis accommodations were met, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/03/politics/q-anon-shaman-judge-organic-food/index.html">not only because the DC jail found no research to show that an organic diet was a tenet of Shamanism</a> but also because its deeply hypocritical given the treatment of so many Muslim prisoners in this country who are denied, among other things, <a href="https://harvardcrcl.org/the-right-to-eat-halal-often-stops-at-the-prison-gate/">halal food</a>. This demonstrates how so many white practitioners of faith are not just immune to discrimination, but are even awarded favors when it comes to treatment in prison.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HVCEYd">
Rami Nsour, founding director of the <a href="https://www.taybafoundation.org/">Tayba Foundation</a>, a nonprofit that aims to provide services to those incarcerated, says that providing incarcerated Muslims with the basics necessary to practice their faith is extremely low priority for most prisons.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dKAx52">
“If not all basic necessities of hygiene are not afforded to prisoners, and that is not high on the budget list, then religious material is also not going to be high,” said Nsour.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rJAV2Z">
Nsour explains that federal prisons allot a certain amount of money to buy books for the chapel. That means that the cost of practicing ones religion falls on inmates, who are forced to use money from their prison wages, which can be as low as 5 cents an hour. She explained that a Quran can run $20 in prison. “For some, that might be their whole monthly paycheck. This is for the people who dont have family or friends on the outside who can purchase a book for them. That is one hurdle,” Nsour adds. In many prisons, Bibles are far <a href="https://journaltimes.com/news/local/jail-chaplain-wants-more-quran-copies-for-inmates/article_ff951506-8f81-11e2-b97b-0019bb2963f4.html">more abundant</a>.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OmoEnh">
Even those who are able to successfully obtain a Quran face issues. Nsour said that many prisoners reported to her their religious books were thrown away after search or destroyed. “In one case, an office stomped on the students copy of the Quran. The student retrieved the copy of the Quran from the garbage can and the officers boot print was still clearly on the Quran,” Nsour explains. “We had one Muslim incarcerated student who told us that 17 prisoners were using one copy of the Quran. Note that the average Muslim house in the US probably has about four copies per household member,” he adds.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="olyHeh">
According to Rick, even obtaining something simple as a prayer mat was looked down on and not provided. “When trying to pray, we are not allowed to. The guards think we are making some moves to be part of a gang, and they dont let us pray,” Rick explains. He tells Vox how guards feel threatened with the growing number of people becoming Muslims and how the “technique” is scary to them. “Its like were doing something abnormal for them to think were being Muslims,” he says. “The white-centric world just criminalizes us for who we are. Whether Im wanting to pray alone or in congregation, its a no.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dBhOFo">
Unfortunately, prayer is not the only thing Muslim prisoners are denied. Fasting and breaking the fast is also a struggle for many. Rick tells us how he has needed food but was not given the time or resources to start or break the fast in a timely fashion. During Ramadan, Muslims fast before sunrise until sunset; with the dates of the holiday changing each year, the time also shifts. “When Im confined, the guards dont even give me any food when I need to start my fast since sometimes its as early as 4 in the morning,” he explains.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2bqV4O">
Similarly, Aishah — who was incarcerated for three years in a prison on the East Coast — recounts multiple forms of religious discrimination when she was incarcerated. She tells Vox how women used to fast long days during Ramadan and at times were denied iftar, the breaking of the fast, simply because “the kitchen didnt have food.” She says when a local mosque used to donate food, many Muslims were denied that food and told they had to pay for it. When it came to accessing Qurans, they were extremely limited in number and not readily available. Instead, a Bible was offered.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="D2h5Qr">
“It was clear that they were trying to make our lives more difficult because we were Muslim,” Aishah says. She also mentioned how churches used to donate food and that Christians readily accessed the food but Muslims were denied.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ITYCpo">
Even though federal laws are in place to protect individuals from religious discrimination, Muslim prisoners like Rick and Aishah are either charged more for resources or denied it altogether. Muslim Advocates, a group of lawyers based in Washington, DC, <a href="https://muslimadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FULFILLING-THE-PROMISE-OF-FREE-EXERCISE-FOR-ALL-Muslim-Prisoner-Accommodation-In-State-Prisons-for-distribution-7_23-1.pdf">reports there are rampant cases where many Muslim prisoners are simply not listened to</a> due to their religion.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oV2hwn">
“All too often, Americans who practice Islam or other faiths that are less common in this country face discrimination from those who are misinformed or bigoted,” says Matt Callahan, senior staff attorney for Muslim Advocates. “This problem is especially severe in prison, where Muslims are overrepresented and their power to stand up for their rights is weakest. Because of this power imbalance, it is critical that our courts and governments do everything in their power to protect the religious exercise of prisoners.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jyOxOj">
But the discrimination goes beyond treatment behind bars. In particular, <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aca7e8ae17ba38cfaad08b2/t/5ceefdff6770ed000177de0c/1559166468312/BBO+2019++5-29-19.pdf">Black people are twice as likely to be held pretrial as white people</a>. Muslims in pretrial incarceration face an increased risk of victimization, surveillance, and denial of religious freedom in the prison system due to Islamophobia. It also puts those who cant afford bail at a disadvantage.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ElGZpT">
Maryam Kashani, one of the cofounders of Believers Bail Out, a community-led nonprofit that aims to bail out Muslims in pretrial incarceration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, explained that funding is required as a mechanism to penalize poverty and promote racism. “Even though the criminal legal system proclaims the principle of innocent until proven guilty the reality is that people who have not been convicted of any crime can be jailed indefinitely because they cant afford bail,” she said. “As a result, those in pretrial incarceration can lose their jobs, their children, their homes, and even their lives.”
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TkMvMM">
Kashani explained that she sees Believers Bail Out as a form of zakat, or a tax on wealth and one of the five pillars in Islam that is outlined in the Quran. It is to help the poor and the needy and for the freeing of enslaved people or captives. “It is in our capacity and our duty as Muslims to be a part of ending this unjust bail system that criminalizes poverty and is inherently racist in nature,” Kashani explains.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cDkxPh">
Though Rick is now out of prison, he reflects on the time he spent there and how much discrimination he faced. “It is as if I was committing a crime, to be both Muslim and Black,” he said.
</p>
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RxuOQT">
<em>Tasmiha Khan has written for the New York Times, National Geographic, and Vanity Fair, among others. Find her </em><a href="https://twitter.com/CraftOurStory"><em>on Twitter</em></a><em> to learn more. </em>
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<li><strong>One Good Thing: How indie rock band Fever Dolls won my heart in just 9 songs</strong> -
<figure>
<img alt="The members of Fever Dolls wear matching outfits — white shirts and red pants — on a tennis court." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lZaUdDF4HNz-nzJmbudR7Ws85mw=/231x0:2898x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68820625/Fever_Dolls_Tennis_3171.0.jpg"/>
<figcaption>
Who doesnt love a band with matching tennis outfits? | Kayhl Cooper
</figcaption>
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The five-piece group might make you miss hearing a band youve never heard of in concert.
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If you were to ask me to name the qualities that unite most of my favorite bands, I think I would say, “a great bar band that sounds like it might write an amazing Broadway musical.” The New York-based rock quintet <a href="https://feverdolls.com/">Fever Dolls</a> meets and far surpasses that standard. Not only can I not wait for the bands first full-length album whenever it should arrive, but Im also very excited for the day when its members mount a musical adaptation of <em>No Country for Old Men</em> or something.
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Cofounders Evan Allis and Renn Mulloy, who started the Fever Dolls in 2018 in Burlington, Vermont, took the bands name from two seemingly opposing creative influences: proto punk band the New York Dolls and the disco-infused soundtrack to <em>Saturday Night Fever</em> (the film that made “Stayin Alive” famous). Yet listen to many of the Fever Dolls best tracks, currently available as a handful of singles and a five-song EP, and you might detect a hint of country and bluegrass poking through.
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This is to say that Fever Dolls seem to borrow from an entirely new set of artistic influences on each and every track, while still sounding like themselves. That “musical mishmash” quality can get exhausting, but the few bands whove figured out how to navigate it have often become my absolute favorites. (See also: the New Pornographers, for a band that blends a huge number of influences into something weirdly coherent and cohesive.)
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Sidebar: I wonder if musical eclecticism is a good thing for bands who might hope to find new listeners on Spotify. The streaming service served me three different Fever Dolls songs, in three very different contexts, before I put together that all of them were by the same band, whom I quickly became obsessed with. I have to imagine that incorporating several different influences helps bands reach lots of users who listen to different kinds of music.
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One nice thing about getting on board with Fever Dolls at this point in their evolution is that the group has just nine songs that have been publicly released. Their first full album (assuming they record one someday) is still somewhere in the hazy future. That fact makes it easy to consume the entire catalog of Fever Dolls music in an hour, to realize just how many different styles the group pulls into its music, while always remaining within the world of indie rock.
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Of these nine songs, I particularly enjoy the arena rock-adjacent “The Distance,” the acoustic lament “Mrs. Carver,” and the more straightforwardly danceable “Out of Vogue.” But by far my favorite Fever Dolls song — as in “this is basically the only song I have listened to for two straight weeks” — is “All the Best Debts.”
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“All the Best Debts” was <a href="https://atwoodmagazine.com/atbd-fever-dolls-all-the-best-debts-song-review/">consciously written by co-founder Allis</a> as a song the band could play at the start of sets during shows where they appeared in the lineup with other acts. The song was designed to be compelling to people who came to see someone else, in hopes of convincing them to stick around and listen to what Fever Dolls have to offer. As such, it starts small and gradually builds in intensity, finding ways to highlight each and every member of the five-piece ensemble, with particular highlights for lead singer Mulloy and bassist Mitchell Parrish. By the end, “All the Best Debts” has a vaguely operatic quality, while remaining the sort of song you might not be surprised to hear the worlds best band play in the worlds worst dive bar.
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The song also makes good on my “Ill bet Fever Dolls would write a good musical…” notion, because for all its indie rock trappings, “All the Best Debts” is structured almost exactly like the opener to a musical that slowly introduces its major characters across the course of its opening tune. Its a neat trick, and it strikes me as a near-perfect concert opener (though whos going to concerts right now?).
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But I have more personal reasons for recommending an obscure indie band, even one whose music I like as much as I like Fever Dolls songs. I have a firm belief that the right art finds us exactly when we need it most. Taylor Swifts “Mine” will always be the soundtrack to a rough spot in my marriage that my wife and I have since overcome, while Gang of Youths “The Heart Is a Muscle” was pretty much all I listened to in the month before I came out publicly as a trans woman. “All the Best Debts” has served a similar purpose.
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I first heard the song recently, while driving through the New Mexico desert on a trip I had taken to intentionally confront a difficult pain from my past. I listened to it one time. And then again. And again. And again. Im still listening to the song on repeat; somewhere inside of it, I can hear a vague reassurance that while my pain is real, and my pain is awful, and my pain feels like it will destroy me all too often, there are other people out there who are waiting to lift me up, even if they dont know they are.
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I have absolutely no idea what inspired Fever Dolls to write this song, but I know that when I hear the lyric “So when you tell them that you saw me tell them I took the long way out,” I feel a little bit more seen. And thats one of the most powerful gifts art can give us.
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<em>Music by Fever Dolls is available on all major music streaming platforms. For more recommendations from the world of culture, check out the </em><a href="https://www.vox.com/one-good-thing"><strong>One Good Thing</strong></a><em> archives.</em>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
<ul>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ind vs Eng | Root refuses to blame rotation policy, team selection after 317-run hammering</strong> - Root said it is the best they could have asked for under the current circumstances, brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Serena Williams tops Halep at Australian Open quarterfinal</strong> - Seeking a record-tying 24th Grand Slam title, Williams set up a showdown against No. 3 Naomi Osaka, who will carry a 19-match winning streak into Thursdays semifinals.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Sydney police say 1996 Olympic swimmer ran drug syndicate</strong> - Scott Miller was in custody and charged with drug trafficking after Australian police seized methamphetamine valued at 2 million Australian dollars</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Turn alone did not give me wickets, pace and guile did: Ashwin on Chepauk pitch</strong> - I try and load up differently, use the breeze, use different angles to release the ball, speed of the run-up,” says Ravichandran Ashwin</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India jump to second spot in WTC rankings after big win over England in 2nd Test</strong> - India were fourth on the table before Tuesdays result</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>SIT to probe grenade attack on newspaper office: Manipur CM</strong> - Newspaper publication and cable news broadcast have been suspended in the State to protest the attack on the office of Poknapham and its sister publication The Peoples Chronicle</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>No record of trusts headed by PM, says PMO</strong> - Compilation of data would divert resources, says response to RTI</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Watch | Disengagement of the Chinese army troops at Pangong Tso</strong> - A video showing the ongoing disengagement of Chinese army from the north and south banks of Pangong Tso</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>KFRI launches help facility for farmers</strong> - The on-call help centre will offer expert opinion on medicinal plant cultivation</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Odisha CM lays foundation stone of countrys largest hockey stadium in Rourkela</strong> - Odisha chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra had said that the proposed facility will be developed within one year.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Spain: Rapper Pablo Hasel who fled to university sent to jail</strong> - Pablo Hasel had defied a prison sentence for “glorifying terrorism” in lyrics and tweets.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Covid: Court orders end to nationwide curfew in Netherlands</strong> - Judges rule the measure should be lifted immediately because it breaches the right to free movement.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The hypercar maker who was told to give up his dream</strong> - Mate Rimac struggled to get anyone to believe that cutting edge sportscars could be made in Croatia.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Irish priest provides takeaway ashes</strong> - Fr Brian Brady teamed up with a shop to provide holy ashes in sauce containers for parishioners.</p></li>
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Frozen canals attract ice skaters in the Netherlands</strong> - Freezing temperatures in the Netherlands have made its famous waterways ideal for outdoor skating.</p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
<ul>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Neanderthals used stone tool tech once considered exclusive to Homo sapiens</strong> - A childs molar from an Israeli cave links Neanderthals to the caves stone tools. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1742441">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>VLC 4.0 sneak peek—a look at its work-in-progress new interface</strong> - VLC 4.0s brand-new interface abstracts media files away from their content. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1742413">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Parler says its back without “Big Tech” after being kicked off Amazon</strong> - Parler said its using “independent technology” to get online after Amazon ban. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1742438">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Texas power grid crumples under the cold</strong> - Competition for natural gas and frozen wind turbines are only some of the problems. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1742426">link</a></p></li>
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Astronomers: A comet fragment, not an asteroid, killed off the dinosaurs</strong> - Jupiters gravity pushed comet toward Sun; comet was ripped apart by tidal forces. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1742303">link</a></p></li>
</ul>
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><strong>I yelled “COW!” at a woman on bike</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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I yelled “COW!” at a woman on a bike, she flipped me off and then ran straight into the cow.
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I tried!
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/jetsknight"> /u/jetsknight </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lkss0o/i_yelled_cow_at_a_woman_on_bike/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lkss0o/i_yelled_cow_at_a_woman_on_bike/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by. He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says, “Perfect timing. Youre just like Frank.”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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Passenger: “Who?”
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Cabbie: “Frank Feldman… hes a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank Feldman every single time.”
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Passenger: “There are always a few clouds over everybody.”
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Cabbie: “Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone, and danced like a Broadway star. And you should have heard him play the piano! He was an amazing guy.”
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Passenger: “Sounds like he was something really special.”
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Cabbie: “Theres more. He had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybodys birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order, and which fork to eat them with. And he could fix anything. Not like me -I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman, he could do everything right.”
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Passenger: “Wow, some guy then.”
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Cabbie: “He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back, even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too. He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Feldman.”
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Passenger: “An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?”
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Cabbie: “Well… I never actually met Frank. He died, and I married his bloody widow…”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/OwenJthomas89"> /u/OwenJthomas89 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lkt28a/a_man_walks_out_to_the_street_and_catches_a_taxi/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lkt28a/a_man_walks_out_to_the_street_and_catches_a_taxi/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Today, my wife apologised to me for the first time ever…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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She said, shes sorry she ever married me.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/VERBERD"> /u/VERBERD </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lkmxz9/today_my_wife_apologised_to_me_for_the_first_time/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lkmxz9/today_my_wife_apologised_to_me_for_the_first_time/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>Had a girl try to choke me during sex recently.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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I was like woah woah woah, who kidnapped who here?
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/PenguinAreCake"> /u/PenguinAreCake </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lkbz3q/had_a_girl_try_to_choke_me_during_sex_recently/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lkbz3q/had_a_girl_try_to_choke_me_during_sex_recently/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
<li><strong>If any of you on this sub are thinking of getting married soon, consider this carefully before you do.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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On the one hand, you get to wear a really cool ring.
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On the other hand, you dont.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/porichoygupto"> /u/porichoygupto </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lktm14/if_any_of_you_on_this_sub_are_thinking_of_getting/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/lktm14/if_any_of_you_on_this_sub_are_thinking_of_getting/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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