This year's Stress in America survey by the American Psychological Association might make you feel not so all alone.

A new report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation outlines steps to a circular fashion economy.

A competition invites designers to come up with ideas, but really, it's old news. They have been disappearing for years.

New York City water doesn't need to be filtered and citizens have already paid for it, that's what.

The US federal government announced a big bet on big data today. What is Big Data, what does the government have to do with it, and where could this lead?

Many in-home drinking water filters may not remove the most concerning contaminants.

"Naked wine," "raw wine," "biodynamic wine" have reached a feverish peak among trend-setting oenophiles. But what do all these labels mean, and are they actually better for the environment?

There is an alumina crisis right now. Making it is dirty and polluting, and it's back in the USA.

It's impossible for a human to know all of the hundreds of thousands of species of flowers on our planet, so Microsoft has developed flower learning software.

It's one of the few areas where people buying a home have a lot of choices. Here's a Pecha Kucha look at how to make the right one.

A new report from the NRDC has some surprises.

We usually just talk about the plane, but it is a lot bigger than that.

In spite of snow and freezing winds, the bicycle season officially opens and we check out the trends and innovations for 2013.

It turns out that it's probably beef fat.

Enough toxic stuff that you should get out your vacuum cleaner.

Yet another study weighs in on the most efficient way to clean dirty dishes.

Probably, the decade of e-mobility

If you've ever seen a colony of bats on the move and wondered what they're up to, this is the billboard for you. The "Bat Billboard," a collaboration of designer Chris Woebken and artist Natalie Jeremijenko, is a

The e-behemoth has just announced (IN SEPTEMBER) that it will be selling and shipping 7-foot trees this year. Here are the problems with that plan.

Much depends on how you define "safe"

Mighty Earth has released a scorecard for chocolate brands and retailers to help you make a good choice.

We are in the middle of a mass timber construction revolution. What is everyone talking about here?

It all adds up to a huge amount of electricity consumption and carbon emitted, both embodied and operating.

Another way that the coronavirus is bad for the environment.

The Atlantic writer challenged the notion that scented means clean.

We found some really wonderful new devices at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, and it's hard to decide which is coolest!

Keeping up with all the recent twists and turns in the oil market is difficult. Here's where things stand as what could be a pivotal week gets underway.

How closely have you been paying attention to what's been going on during the past seven days?

The next time you pack your loved ones a gift, how about doing it in a way that brings a smile to their face even before they open it?

In a gift-wrapping workshop on Friday, participants will learn to wrap presents in attractive and efficient ways using Japanese techniques that cover box making, box wrapping, and ribbon handling. There will also be a discussion on the choice of materials.

A tousseau packaging workshop on Saturday will cover techniques on the wrapping and presentation of bridal paraphernalia including sarees, cosmetics, footwear and flowers. The workshop also covers hamper making and basket decoration.

While both workshops by Vesture will provide relevant materials for the respective sessions, participants must carry their own tool-kit consisting of scissors, glue guns, tape, boxes and the items to be wrapped. All participants leave with a certificate, goodies and their very own wrapping project.

AT The Sahil Hotel, 292, Bellasis Road, RBI Staff Colony, Mumbai Central.
ON April 27, 10 am to 1.30 pm; April 28, 11 am to 6 pm
CALL 9818442805
COST Rs 5,500; Rs 8,999

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illustration/RAVI JADHAV

There are many reasons to feel ambivalent about having family members as Facebook friends. One of them is almost certainly the fact that they are constantly outing your childhood pet names with alacrity, calling you Pappu, Bobby, Guddu, Noni, Chintu, Tumpa, Monu and so on in public, as if you are the chillar party in a family wedding.

While my immediate family members have been trained in this matter, those in my extended family have failed me hazaar times. "Very nice article, beta (insert pet name)" they will say. I heartlessly and instantly delete these comments. You might say this is draconian. I could just ask them not to. Anyone who has tried this will know it is useless. First, they will be wounded and utter filmi dialogue like "I am sorry I have done something improper. I won't darken your Facebook wall again." A few days later they will comment on your profile picture, "looking very nice (insert pet name)."

Why does this bother us so much? After all, it is the most natural thing to give silly names to people we love. Diminutives, nonsense words, private jokes, comical qualities that fill us with affection all make up the galaxy of nicknames. We don't seem to care when names our friends called us in youth emerge. It is the family pet name, yaniki ghar ka naam, that seems to mortify us.

Perhaps it is just the strangeness of being returned to childhood states that some don't like, a reminder of a time when we were taken less seriously and had little autonomy.

Maybe it is something about having the private emerge in the public, without our consent that makes us feel vulnerable. This may seem strange in times when privacies are constantly shared online, but it reveals how public privacies might be as much a construction as public selves. Perhaps there is an uncertainty, hovering on the edge of shame, about that private 'home' identity. Pet names are a reminder of the time before we learned to see our family as part of social hierarchies of caste and class, language and provinciality. For most, in a society as hierarchical as ours, the transition from childhood to adulthood is also one of painful realisation of difference, about our tastes and habits not always aligned to the social norms of upward mobility. A reminder of the first time someone mocked us for something unfashionable about our families.

This discomfort is far more prevalent among English speaking Indians, because it also exposes a certain sub-Englishness in our Englishness, the kitsch elements of families' aspirational cosmopolitanism. The careful facades dissolve as we build as adults suddenly seem like glass houses. Our insecurities that we will never really fit in, never be cool enough swirl up to the surface. We may develop ironic, even affectionate distance from many parts of the past, but the pet name is too earnest for that.

Only two types of people are not embarrassed by their pet names. Royal family types who go by Bubbles and Toffee and other names from P G Wodehouse, reeking of English aristocracy wannabe-ness. That tells us much about the casual confidence of class and caste. The other, are people supremely self-confident and secure about being loved. They are happy to be everyone's children, always, lucky things.

Paromita Vohra is an award-winning Mumbai-based filmmaker, writer and curator working with fiction and non-fiction. Reach her at www.parodevipictures.com

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Revising the COVID-19 lockdown guidelines further, the state government has allowed stand-alone liquor shops to reopen in Mumbai and its metropolitan areas from Monday.

However, shops in the demarcated containment zones in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), will remain shut. Permit rooms and restaurants serving alcohol have not been allowed to operate.

The order for liquor shops also applies to Pune Metropolitan Region and other red zones. The shops will have to comply with strict measures such as social distancing.

The local authorities like municipal chiefs and district collectors have been tasked with deciding the number of shops in each area for preventing mass gathering.

This information is subject to guidelines/conditions in the state government's notification dated 02.05.2020. Imaging/Uday Mohite/Suhas Kale

Sources said the state government has convinced the Centre despite national restrictions on non-essential business in red zones.

The Centre was told red zones had non-containment clusters that were unaffected. Liquor production and sale will also replenish the state's depleted coffers.

Several ruling leaders and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray have been demanding the opening of liquor shops for revenue's sake.

Alcohol retail shops will be open from 10 am to 6 pm. Only sealed (bottled) liquor is allowed to be sold. The shops will have to work on 50% staff strength and the employees will have to be tested for body temperature and other symptoms.

Liquor factories, which give maximum revenue on site, have also been allowed to start production. Thermal screening of staff and access control will be required.

In addition, urban standalone shops selling non-essential commodities like clothes, footwear, stationery, electronic and electrical/domestic appliances will be opened in non-containment zones, but only 5 shops will operate in one lane/street. Spas, barber shops and salons will not open in red zones.

"Medical shops and and grocers will not have a five-shop restriction and no restrictions on business hours," said Bhushan Gagrani, principal secretary, in-charge of media relations for COVID-19 mitigation plan.

Travel by air, train and metro, inter-state road movement, opening of educational institutions, hotels and malls, places of worship and large gathering will not be allowed anywhere.

However, goods supply will not be affected. Industry with access control and urban industry have been allowed in orange and green zones.

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Mika Singh and Chahatt Khanna shocked and surprised a lot of people when they took to their respective social media accounts to announce to the world they are quarantined together. You all must have seen that post where the actress even used the hashtag #Quarantine Love to express her feelings for the singer. But is this the entire story? Is there's something more than what meets the eye? Yes, there is!

In a video chat with Bollywood Spy, she spilled the beans on what the truth actually is. This is actually for their single that's going to come out soon that's been titled, Quarantine Love. She's promoting the same with the singer. She said, "People are eating my head, literally. People are like, 'Do not date him! You broke our heart.' Today only, I was having a laugh with my friends about this."

They are quarantining together only to shoot for the song. " We shot it at home only, we are next-door neighbours. I just hopped into his house. The two of us shot it on the phone," she said. And then came the reveal, " People don't know I am promoting the song. They think we are dating. That's what the whole promotion plan was, to do something that creates a question in everyone's minds."

She also said Mika is a very nice person and doesn't know why people have problems with him. Now let's see what the song has in store for us. Bring it on!

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Highlights: The Union Budget has been presented in Parliament on Friday 1 st February, 2019 In the health sector,

Postmodernism defined itself against the stifling clarity and seriousness Modernism. It put style before drab functionality. It embraced pop culture and garish colour. But it got a bad rep. “PoMo” was called vacuous and kitsch, and in the 1980s it became associated with corporate culture and consumerism. Now this controversial cultural movement is the subject of a major exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert museum, "Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990". Neville Hawcock talks to Glenn Adamson, co-curator of the show, and to FT columnists Edwin Heathcote and Peter Aspden. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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The Cultural Olympiad spans four years and encompasses more than 500 events – culminating with the current London 2012 Festival. This unprecedented artistic marathon has cost a reported £97m – but is it worth it? Jan Dalley puts this question to Sarah Weir of the Legacy List, a post-Olympic charity for arts, culture, education and skills; William Sieghart, founder of the National Poetry Day and of Winning Words, a national project to incorporate poetry in the games; and Peter Aspden, FT arts writer. Produced by Nicholas Spencer  

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The "Instagram generation" are more famous for sharing consumption-driven images than being savvy with money - but the social media platform is increasingly providing the "inspo" for young people looking to save money, learn to budget, start investing or get out of debt. Presenter Claer Barrett talks to FT Money writer Katharine Gemmell and FT columnist Jason Butler. 

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The disputed Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir is in lockdown after India revoked its special status following a long running insurgency that led to thousands of deaths. Jyotsna Singh discusses what India plans to do next, and how neighbouring Pakistan, which also claims the territory, has reacted, with Amy Kazmin the FT's South Asia bureau chief.

Contributors: Jyotsna Singh, Delhi reporter, and Amy Kazmin, South Asia bureau chief. Producers: Jyotsna Singh and Fiona Symon

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On her Instagram Live show Bright Minds, Miley Cyrus, 27, told Hilary Duff, 32, this Wednesday that she only bothered auditioning for Hannah Montana 'to copy you no matter what.'

PETE JENSON: In the big games Messi now seems to cut the same forlorn, powerless figure in the Barça shirt as he does for Argentina. There is an over-reliance on him and no one to give support.

The president's spokesman said this afternoon that the Obama does not have the ability to alter the program with a swish of his pen as Paul demanded.

Tammy Hebrow has set tongues wagging after liking and commenting on rapper Tyga's Halloween post, after it was reported that he had recorded a sexually-explicit remix about her. 

Q: For months I've had a sore tongue, and can't eat hot food, citrus fruit or spices. My GP prescribed drops, followed by a mouth gel, for thrush, but neither helped.

Binky has started her Christmas shopping early this year to avoid the rush. Here she shares what the stars of MIC can expect to receive under the tree, whether scented candles or sexy lingerie.

Rugby World Cup tournament is two weeks away with Japan currently being hit by typhoon Faxai. Find out the rules in place should games be disrupted by weather meaning they have to be cancelled.

Time was when an avocado-green bathroom marked you out as someone with dreadful, stuck-in-the-70s bad taste. Oh, how things have changed…

It is important to keep in mind the old saying, “This too shall pass.” We need to keep our hopes high and pray with faith and belief in the Gods we trust.

While Atletico are still keeping pace with La Liga's top two, their performances have left fans frustrated with three of their last four league games ending as goalless stalemates.

'This idea that America is somehow on the verge of collapse, this vision of violence and chaos everywhere doesn't really jive with the experience of most people,' Obama stated.