Video quotes: If you were

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 If you were....

One of NASA's human "computers" has died (audio)

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A man in India owns 2,371 cell phones (video)

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El Cholo and Atlético Madrid

MADRID — Diego Simeone loved the way the sunlight hit the stands at the Vicente Calderón. First as an Atlético Madrid player, and then as its manager.

Simeone took charge of Atlético a few days after Christmas in 2011. He understood, he felt, what the club’s fans wanted, what sort of team would be in line with Atlético’s history, its identity, what style of play would win the backing of the Calderón.

His team  would have to be built on a strong defense, a deadly counterattack and an unyielding work ethic. Simeone, the player known as El Cholo, was creating his own philosophy: Cholísmo. “The only thing that is not negotiable is effort,” he told his players in their first meeting.

He and his team have delivered on that promise. By almost any metric, Simeone’s tenure as Atlético’s manager has been a spectacular success. The trophies are, of course, the most obvious proof. Under Simeone, Atlético lifted the Europa League and the European Super Cup twice, in 2012 and 2018. He won the Copa del Rey, against Real Madrid, in 2013, and led the club to the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016.

Most important, of course, he led Atlético to the Spanish title in 2014. It was the club’s first championship for almost two decades, and the first time in 10 years that a team other than Barcelona or Real Madrid won the Spanish crown.

It is remarkable for a team that was, until recently, known for its ability to fall at the last, for its perpetual disappointment. Atlético has long been known, by fans and foes alike, as El Pupas: the Jinxed. The nickname does not come up so much, these days.

Simeone is the longest-serving manager at any major club in Europe, and at a club that until he arrived had been allergic to stability. Before Simeone, Atlético had employed 12 coaches in a decade.

Simeone's success has wiped out the club’s soaring debts, and attracted the kind of deep-pocketed foreign sponsors  that helped pay for a new stadium, for higher salaries, for new players. Last summer, Atlético spent $142 million on a single player — João Felix — and a further $100 million on strengthening the squad.

Atlético, in other words, is no longer the poor relation: it has paid more for a player than Real Madrid, and it reportedly pays its coach more than any team in the world.

Atlético is now part of Europe’s elite. The question most are asking, now, is where that leaves the coach who took it there.

 “In Cholísmo, the result is God,” the former Argentina forward Jorge Valdano — now a columnist for El País, and one of Spain’s most erudite soccer observers — wrote last year. 

In recent years, Simeone has lent his name to two books, in collaboration with the journalist Santi Garcia Bustamante. Both sit more comfortably on the lifestyle shelves than in the sports section.

In the second, longer edition — entitled simply “Creer,” or “Believe” — Simeone writes: “When the opposition team sense that there is fear, they take advantage without mercy.”

Simeone retains his aura and the faith of most of his players, though those inside the club admit that perhaps the squad’s dynamics are suffering because so many of his most trusted lieutenants — the likes of Diego Godín and Gabi — have departed. His aura has not dissipated. As one player noted, Atlético is still the sort of club where nobody is ever late for a team meeting. A year ago, the manager extended his contract until 2022.

But there is a feeling that change is coming. Germán Burgos, Simeone’s longstanding assistant, is keen to start his own managerial career; it was telling that he did not sign a new contract when Simeone did.

Atlético’s identity is now fused with Simeone’s. It is hard to imagine one without the other. But Simeone, for one, has never believed in his own immutability. “I always leave before they kick me out,” he once said. “And I always believe they can kick me out tomorrow.” After almost nine years, that moment  may be coming.

From The New York Times (edited)

Solve this math problem and......

A sandwich, a soda or maybe even a chocolate bar to satisfy a midnight craving. These are some of the many things you expect to find at a New York deli and convenience store.

But customers at Lucky Candy in the Bronx get an entirely different experience, and it's all thanks to cashier Ahmed Alwan, a 20-year-old college student, who 2 weeks ago, decided to start playing a game with shoppers -- and has gone viral.

The rules are simple: if you can solve a math equation, you get five seconds to grab anything you want off store shelves and have it for free.

The one thing you're not allowed to grab? His cat. (Yes, someone tried.)

"All I wanted to do was to help people," Alwan told CNN. "But I wanted to make it fun. So I made a TikTok and chose a challenge, asking them a math question. It's a way to entertain and educate people in need while putting a smile on their face, too."

Two weeks and 13 videos later, Alwan has become an internet sensation, gaining more than 300,000 followers on Tik Tok  and 17,000 on Instagram. In his videos, Alwan can be heard asking customers simple questions such as, "What's 5 times 5?" or "9 times 9 minus 5?"

Those who answer correctly use their five seconds to grab anything from chips and ice cream to speakers. But no matter how much they grab, or how valuable the items are, their cost is always the same: $0.

Alwan pays for everything out of his own pocket. His main concern isn't money, but helping low-income community members save for higher priority expenses, such as rent and utilities.

Saleh Aobad, the store's owner and Alwan's father, said he's "very proud" of his son. "It's great to see him do good and help out the community, and most importantly represent Islam," Aobad, an immigrant from Yemen, told CNN. 

Many of the store's customers are familiar faces, people Alwan has known since he was 13 and began working in the family business. Others are strangers. But they all get a fair shot at solving a math problem.

Alwan, who's studying at Bronx Community College to become a pharmacist, has a history of being charitable. He often gives customers food and household supplies on credit. And on cold mornings when he spots people sleeping at the nearby train station, he offers them free coffee, bananas and muffins.

Alwan plans to continue making videos, and even getting more creative with his questions. He even started a GoFundMe  to support the game and enable him to help more people. The money will go towards products and food that will be used for the challenges and even simple donations for customers in need.

The goal, he explained on the GoFundMe, is "to inspire others to always be kindhearted."

Article from CNN (edited)

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How to make faster decisions (TED)

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"Parasite" Oscar in South Korea (audio)

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Lost but not found (video)

• A -  Read the article and reword the underlined expressions

When young Grayson lost Teddy, his favorite teddy bear, on a recent Southwest flight to New Orleans, his mother Chrissy Mulligan tried to locate it to no avail.

She reached out to Southwest on social media about the missing bear but the airline couldn't find it either.

But almost a month later, she posted good news.  

"I received a call last week from a gentleman at Southwest Airlines corporate office. He said that my Facebook post on Southwest’s  page caught a lot of attention ... Internally they talked about the next steps and came up with an idea to send Grayson a new bear along with a picture book explaining how he was coming to live with Grayson."

The bear says, "It's been a busy season here at Southwest Airlines, and I'm almost all done with my work here. Guess what!? I get to come live with you! I'm so excited about meeting my new best friend. I wanted to share some pictures of what I do at Southwest and my trip to meet you!"

The bear can be seen doing everything from working on the tarmac, inspecting the cockpit and getting the plane ready for passengers.

Mulligan wrote a thank you message on Southwest’s Facebook page.

"You have some very special people who work for this airline, with some of the kindest hearts," she wrote. "This story alone is adorable! I know Teddy was never found and we know there were so many people involved in finding him and our other post was shared over and over again to try and find him. We were very overwhelmed with the response it received."

She also revealed the new bear's name: Jack.

Southwest spokesperson Derek Hubbard said in a statement: "Ready for a new friend and loving home, our Southwest Airlines teddy bear made his trek across the friendly skies, making sure to document every step of the way. Grayson and his new friend 'Jack' have been inseparable ever since.

• B - Please ask questions so as to get the following answers

1.       Teddy, his favorite teddy bear.
2.       To New Orleans.
3.       She couldn’t.
4.       A month later.
5.       A new teddy bear and a book.
6.       Jack.
7.       Yes, he will.
8.       I don’t think so.

• C - How about finishing these sentences?

1.   When Grayson realized he had lost Teddy, his favorite toy, he couldn’t help _____
2.   As Grayson was so sad, his mother Chrissy Mulligan ._____
3.   She tried to find the bear by phoning several areas and contacting many Southwest offices.  However. _____
4.  Since her Facebook post on Southwest’s  page caught a lot of attention _____
5.  As soon as Southwest came up with the idea of sending Grayson a new bear _____

Article from USA Today (edited)

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Bill Gates orders superyacht

Bill Gates has ordered the world’s first hydrogen-powered superyacht, worth an estimated $644m and featuring an infinity pool, helipad, spa and gym.

The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft has commissioned the Aqua ship – a 112-metre  luxury vessel completely powered by liquid hydrogen – which was publicised last year at the Monaco yacht show by the Dutch design firm Sinot.

The boat has five decks and space to accommodate 14 guests and 31 crew members. 

Its most cutting-edge feature is below decks - two 28-ton vacuum-sealed tanks that are cooled to -253C and filled with liquid hydrogen, which powers the ship. 

The vessel will take to the seas in 2024. It will be able to the potential to travel 6,035 kilometers (or roughly London to New York) before it needs to refuel. The boat will  have a “diesel back-up” due to the scarcity of hydrogen refuelling stations.

Gates, 64, who is currently ranked as the world’s second-richest man with a $118bn fortune, is a regular superyacht holidaymaker who has not previously owned his own vessel. Typically renting yachts for his own use, in the past he has holidayed off the coast of Sardinia onboard the $330m yacht Serene, which is owned by the Stolichnaya vodka magnate, Yuri Scheffler.

The investment underlines Gates’s long-standing interest in alternative fuels, and his enthusiasm for new technology.

He is an investor in Heliogen, a Californian startup that aims to turn sunlight into a source of heat exceeding 1,000C that could help replace fossil fuels. It is the first company in the world to concentrate sunlight to reach temperatures that are high enough to power heavy industry without carbon emissions.

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Article from The Guardian (Edited)

Sandra, the Argentine orangutan

A 33-year-old orangutan who was granted 'legal personhood' in Argentina has been relocated to a new home in Wauchula, Florida.

Patti Ragan, director of the Center for Great Apes where Sandra the orangutan is now living, told CNN she has been "inquisitive, calm, engaged and interested in her new surroundings" since her arrival on Tuesday.

"She was shy when she first arrived, but once she saw the swings, toys, and grassy areas in her new home, she went out to explore," Ragan said in a press release.

The orangutan captured the world's attention when she was at the center of a 2015 Argentina court case.

After living in captivity for 20 years at the Buenos Aires Zoo, Sandra was declared a "nonhuman being" by Judge Elena Liberatori, an unprecedented ruling that gave the orangutan basic rights including life, freedom, and a premise of "no harm" either physically or psychologically.

But one problem: there were no orangutan sanctuaries in Argentina, so Judge Liberatori asked the Center for Great Apes to take in Sandra as they are the only accredited sanctuary for orangutans in the Americas.

Sandra was sent to the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas for a month-long quarantine before arriving at the center in Florida, where she was promised lifetime care.

There are 22 orangutans, including Sandra, and 31 chimpanzees at the center. The apes were rescued from circuses, stage shows, roadside attraction, labs, and the exotic pet trade, the Center for Great Apes said.

"Her fame will help to bring more awareness of how very special and sentient great apes are as well as the terrible threats facing their species in the wild in Borneo and Sumatra," Ragan told CNN. "Habitat destruction caused by logging, mining, and palm oil farming is causing the loss of hundreds of orangutans just as smart and lovely as Sandra."

The Zoo, meanwhile, was closed down in 2016 and is now being converted into an Ecoparque, a facility for Argentine native wildlife that will open in 2023.

Sandra settling into her new home at the Center for Great Apes in Florida.

From CNN

A brief history of chess (TED Ed)

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19th century palace, now a homeless shelter (audio)

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New Barbie doll

Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls, has released new designs to broaden the diversity of its range, including a doll with no hair and one with the skin condition vitiligo – which causes patches of skin to lose their pigment.

The company behind the popular toy wants to showcase "a multi-dimensional view of beauty and fashion" through new additions to its Barbie Fashionistas line.

Mattel said in a statement that a prototype of the vitiligo toy, which debuted on the Barbie Instagram page last year, became its most "liked" post ever.

Speaking of the Barbie with no hair, the company said: "If a girl is experiencing hair loss for any reason, she can see herself reflected in the line."

Last year, a doll with a prosthetic leg and another with a wheelchair joined the Fashionistas range.

The company has expanded its range of dolls with prosthetic limbs, adding another model this year to its collection.

Other dolls in the 2019 Fashionistas line offered a variety of appearances, including braided hair texture and more realistic body types (smaller bust, less defined waist and more defined arms).

Mattel worked with Jordan Reeves, a 13-year-old disability activist who was born without a left forearm, to create the doll with the prosthetic limb, which can be removed for a "more realistic" play experience. 
The toymaker also worked with UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital and wheelchair experts to design a wheelchair, which the company said has been one of the most requested accessories from Barbie fans.

It's symbolic that "a big icon of society like Barbie now demonstrates or shows that there are different types of people who can be attractive and something kids want to play with," said Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network.

Decker said he hopes the new dolls can remove stigmas surrounding disabilities and show kids that there is "nothing wrong" with people who have them.

More than 1 billion people in the world have a disability, according to Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, president of RespectAbility, an advocacy group for people with disabilities.

"We want to see ourselves reflected in the culture, toys, products and everything around us," Mizrahi said. "Barbie joins a number of powerful companies who also understand that marketing, and including, people with disabilities is both the right thing to do and the profitable thing to do."

From CNN (edited)

New rules for naming a disease (audio)

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"Frozen" fans and a small Austrian village

They arrive by the busload and on ferries, many in pursuit of the perfect photograph for Instagram, others seeking the transcendence of a fairy tale land.

Each year, one million travelers visit Hallstatt, Austria, a picturesque 16th-century hamlet that inspired the fictional kingdom of Arendelle in the Disney animated blockbuster  “Frozen”.      

 Hallstatt is embarking on a campaign to focus on quality — not quantity — tourism, according to local officials. Tour buses, which tally as many as 90 on the busiest days, will be capped at 50 and will have to register with the tourism office. Groups that arrange lunches at local restaurants, sign up for boat cruises or visit Hallstatt’s famous salt mines will be given preference.

Visitors, too, will be asked to stay more than two hours, said Michelle Knoll, office manager for Hallstatt’s tourism board. The goal is to get people to spend time and money in Hallstatt’s restaurants and shops.

“Many visitors only have a short time and only come to take some pictures,” Ms. Knoll said.“The number of tourists is simply too much.”

Elizabeth Becker, the author of “Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism,” said that tourists should manage their enthusiasm after seeing exotic locales in movies and on television. “Even nice people start to act like barbarians,” she said of overcrowded tourist spots.

That’s particularly true in communities that are ill-equipped to handle the tons of additional garbage that tourists bring with them. Then there is the surge in water usage, Ms. Becker said.

It’s especially troublesome if there are not enough hotels, bathrooms and grocery stores to handle the crowds. She noted that even established tourist destinations, like Dubrovnik, Croatia, which saw a flood of visitors with the popularity of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” buckle at first when the large cruise ships arrive.

Hallstatt, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was popular before the release of “Frozen,” particularly among Asian tourists. But Hallstatt’s prominence grew with the movie and the ascendance of Instagram.

Last year, Harper’s Bazaar named Hallstatt one of the 10 most “Instagrammable” cities in the world. The hashtag #Hallstatt has more than 618,000 posts. One Instagram account dedicated to the village, @hallstatt_gram, has more than 16,000 followers. Its tagline: “Hallstatt is awesome.”

Sure, it may be awesome. But Hallstatt is overburdened too, according to Ms. Knoll. “Hallstatt doesn’t need so many tourists,” Ms. Knoll said, “but rather those who really enjoy the time.”

From The New York Times (edited)

The treadmill's dark past (TED Ed)

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Racist responses to coronavirus (audio)

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