LyrArc Article Gist
The first home testing kits approved by the FDA are on their way in coming weeks to healthcare workers from LabCorp, says this report in NYT. A test is done at home and returned in an insulating packet to the lab. Cost $119. President Trump says the testing costs will be reimbursed.

LyrArc Article Gist
At a time in Jan. 2022 when 73% of Americans have received two dose vaccines and 39% have a booster shot according to the CDC, the US Supreme Court is deliberating on the Biden vaccine mandate that seeks to get the rest of the people vaccinated.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Classic Learning Test is an alternative to use of ACT and SAT. It includes Christian thought and classic writings from English and American literature and culture. It tests reading comprehension in different ways than the ACT and SAT to make certain key concepts in an essay are correctly understood. Today two thirds of American 4th grade children do not pass the ACT reading comprehension test making a campaign for reading comprehension practice essential.

LyrArc Article Gist
Just as with the huge Indian score at Edgbaston Test of 578, England at Old Trafford put up 669. Stokes and Root both with centuries take England to 669 1st Innings vs India, Old Trafford, July 2025. At Edgbaston Gill broke records with 269 and 161 runs in each innings. At Old Trafford Root gets to being the batsman with the most runs in Test cricket except for legendary Tendulkar. And Stokes get record of 5 wicket and a century in one Test.

In this Test series with India one record after another is broken. The Test that England won at Lord's was close India conceding by only 20 runs with one extraordinary catch by Archer of Pant making the difference with Sundar's overconfidence playing a part.

LyrArc Article Gist
Why the lessons of Wuhan have not been understood correctly says this WSJ report. Merely putting lockdowns is not enough, systematic testing and quarantining of the affected persons is needed for controlling the outbreak. The outbreak in Wuhan was controlled by sending affected persons to makeshift hospitals and temporary quarantine centers. Two hospitals were quickly setup in Wuhan in 2-3 days to isolate affected people from the rest.

It is slow but this is being done as New York sets up a makeshift mobile hospital with 1000 beds at the Jacob Javits Convention Centre. And London sets up 4000 beds at a conference centre in the city.

LyrArc Article Gist
Superb batting by Elgar in the second test, Peterson in the third test and bowling performance of Rabada, Ngidi and Jansen, take South Africa to a 2-1 win in three Test series against India. The resilience of Dean Elgar, the South African captain in facing a good Indian team was evident throughout the Test series. Elgar had to build a team from players coming from different racial backgrounds, the Afrikaans, English Afrikaans, Black, Colored, Indian, and listen, empathize with these players to get them to work as one team. It is a statement on the new South Africa, that struggles hard to build a new multi-racial society through sports.

LyrArc Article Gist
UK Reform Party has taken large donations from cryptocurrency companies. Reform leader Nigel Farage has received a 5 million pound gift from a cryptocurrency firm. What does this mean for cryptocurrency regulation in the UK as a world financial center, if Reform wins a general election and appoints the next Governor of the Bank of England when Andrew Bailey retires in 2028. This is discussed in The Guardian. The banking system of the US, UK and large countries was set up over many years and currency is only issued by a central bank with the financial backing of the nation. Cryptocurrency cannot on the basis of technology take that role without posing risks and destabilizing the financial system. The gradual splitting of society by the information economy, neglect of infrastructure, pharmaceutical pricing, banking speculation as in 2009 crisis, have been eroding some of the basic structures of democracy for the last two decades from within.  The wars in the Middle East policies, and the open borders migration policies, were effects from outside. What this has led to is counter to what one would expect. To fight open borders and the marginalization of some parts of the working class DJT Republicans have used whatever resources were available at the time in the 2024 presidential election. The cryptocurrency firms used this in opportunistic fashion to affect regulation of this currency by supporting the reelection bid of DJT in 2024 by making large donations. This has led to less regulation of cryptocurrency firms. Is this in the best interests of the Nation? Will this destabilize the banking system in ways that have happened before in the deregulation of banks before the 2009 financial crisis? In Britain a new Bank of England governor will be appointed after Andrew Bailey's term expires in 2028. Reform party in UK if elected as government would appoint the next Governor of the Bank of England. Reform's growing popularity is a result of Conservatives and Labour failing to take action on open borders, asylum hotels, and migration policy, following an ECHR code of rights that is inappropriate to such migration. What this means is that unexpected things happen as a result. Cyrptocurrency risks of destabilizing the banking system increase as a result of failure of parties on migration. This could be more destabilizing for Britain because of its role as a financial centre than the industrialized  economies such as Germany, China, and industrializing economies such as India. It poses risks in the US yet Federal Reserve Governor Walsh can exercise his own judgement about cryptocurrency and Congress can exercise oversight, the large banks can act to show the risks of destabilizing that cryptocurrency can pose. For Britain it is particularly dangerous as the US is also an industrialized power compared to Britain's focus on finance alone. Andrew Bailey can ignore lobbying by Reform Party in 2026 (Farage met with the Governor of the Bank of England), yet what happens if Reform appoints the next Governor in 2028? These are questions Britain needs to ponder. It is also why Andy Burnham is Britain's last chance to get things right on migration to the point that the British people feel good and proud of their heritage and history, British neighborhoods across the country feel safe and secure, and Britain shifts to reindustrialize its economy with partners in China and India, the European Union, and the US. A former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Charlie Bean told the BBC about donations of Christopher Harbonne, who has a 13% ownership interest in cryptocurrency firm,Tether. "Stablecoins are only stable if they have the appropriate regulatory environment… But there is right now an unsurprising regulatory race to the bottom amid the potential for greater profits." He added: "When funds are coming from major shareholders of such large financial institutions, there is a clear potential conflict of interest here, for example, in the appointment of a new Bank of England governor. Transparency is one solution." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The huge surge in demand for coronavirus testing equipment that has results provided in a short time. The nasopharyngeal swab test is the most in demand. The inability of the manufacturing system to deliver these tests in large enough numbers is still a major problem in fighting coronavirus.

LyrArc Article Gist
Tour de France director tests positive. French prime minister takes test after sharing car with the director of Tour de France.

LyrArc Article Gist
Same store sales continued to drop for the fifth consecutive quarter for Best Buy electronics retail stores. Best Buy shares have declined by 32% as of September 14, 2011. Best Buy has 1,100 stores in the U.S. and competes with online retailer Amazon for electronics sales. Investors see Best Buy management's plans to reduce square footage by 10% as too slow a response to a developing crisis for big store sales. Best Buy CEO, Brian Dunn, says about 40% of online purchases from Best Buy are picked up at its stores. He sees a role for retailers with physical store space because, as he sees it, customers still want to see, touch and feel the latest tablet or other electronic gadget. Critics say customers are prone to use the stores to look at products, and make the actual purchases online at Amazon, where no sales tax is paid.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Kamo river, the Heian shrine, and the Kiyomizu Temple, best places to see cherry blossoms and feel the tranquillity in the ancient city of Kyoto, Japan. And the Kodaiji Temple, the Sanzen-in Temple, are other locations to feel the serenity of the landscape in this ancient city with centuries of Buddhist culture and religion.

LyrArc Article Gist
The S&P 500 index gained 5.9% the week of October 29th for its best gain since November 2022. For 2023 it has gained 14%. A jobs report showing less job growth of 150,000 slightly higher unemployment at 3.9% and slowing inflation, led the US Fed to pause raising interest rates. This has created optimism that inflation would gradually decline which is good for the economy.

LyrArc Article Gist
Mike Atherton looks at how England played against India in the Second Test at Lord's in 2021, starting the fifth day in a strong position but losing by 151 runs. A ninth wicket partnership between Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami for 89 runs and loss of 2 early English wickets for a duck changed everything. Atherton says one bad hour as Bumrah and Shami put off the English bowlers changed the emotional aspects of the game for England. 

LyrArc Article Gist
The average monthly mortgage payment is 52% higher than the average apartment rent making the highest since 1996. Even during the mortgage housing crisis in 2008 this did not exceed 33%.

LyrArc Article Gist
Klopp in this video in The Guardian says Manchester City is the best team in the world and Haaland the best striker. To close Haaland down would mean other opportunities would be created for Manchester City with its other world class players, says Klopp as his team Liverpool faces Manchester City this week.

LyrArc Article Gist
Crowds breaking through the barricades, people without tickets storming the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, lack of safety for player's families, delays in the game time, and other problems made the US look bad for staging soccer games. A new test looms in 2026 with the World Cup Soccer to be played in the US.

LyrArc Article Gist
Another pitch for spin bowlers at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds in India before the 2nd cricket Test against Australia.

LyrArc Article Gist
An excellent midlife health test for checking physical health, mental health and cognitive health. This can be done by anyone at home and is fairly simple to take. Also suggested are exercises that may help in each of 9 categories of the test. This includes the well known standing on one leg in yoga pose, press-ups, sitting and standing from a chair, linking fingers behind your back, calf raises. And for mental health drawing a clock face with the numbers, jotting down fruits and vegetables you can in 60 seconds.

LyrArc Article Gist
France's rail strike goes into its second day with large stations such as the Gare de Lyon deserted, stations empty, platforms deserted and millions of travelers unable to get to work. French unions are testing the French government's effort to change the generous benefits granted in a different era for rail and other workers. Workers at SNCF France's rail system can retire in their fifties even as workers now live longer lives, as early as at age 52.  Workers are hired for life. Pensions are given at the highest salaries and housing is subsidized. SNCF is $68 billion in debt. Costs are much higher to run the system than in Germany. The unions are intent on preserving these benefits from a different period.  This issue came up in the election debates about how the pension system can be put on a good basis with proper funding. Macron has taken a firm stand and the centrist parties in parliament see this as a symbolic fight to changing the future of French society and the economy. The reforms will raise age for pensions, and affects only future hires not the current ones. Yet the unions have chosen to fight this.  Everything depends on how the public and commuters see this. One sign of the changes this time compared to successful strikes by unions in the nineties is that the percentage of employees of SNCF declined on the second day from 33 percent to 29 percent. Polls show a small majority of the French sees the strike as unjustified and Macron's popularity ratings going up slightly. The prestige of the labor union CGT and its strategy is also at risk. Macron's view is that overprotected entities in the French system- the "Statutory Society" referring to the Statute of Railway Workers from a different era- block changes in social and economic life that would increase social mobility. This and France's future is being put to the test.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Test cricket attendance record of 91,000 set at the MCG grounds in Australia for the 2013-14 Ashes cricket is likely to be exceeded for the Fourth India Australia Test match. It will be played at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, India, on Thursday. Both the Australian pm Albanese and India's pm Modi will be in attendance and hand out bats before the match.

LyrArc Article Gist
The CUET, Common University Entrance Test will provide a uniform test for all parts of the country. It is now required for all 45 Central Universities to admit undergraduate students. The computer based test offered in July each year will be conducted by the National Testing Agency based on the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus for Class 12. It will replace institution specific exams.