Seize The Day

Second Presidential Debate Canceled

On Friday, the Commission on Presidential Debates officially canceled the second presidential debate scheduled for Oct. 15th (read the announcement). President Trump and Joe Biden both made plans to host their own respective events that day - Biden with a town hall in Philadelphia, and Trump with a rally in Florida (though his campaign is reportedly in talks to host a town hall that night). The third debate is still scheduled to take place on Oct. 22 in Nashville, TN.

More: President Trump’s physician said “he is no longer considered a [COVID-19] transmission risk to others” in a memo published Saturday. View it here.

Hurricane Delta Makes Landfall

Hurricane Delta made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane near Creole, Louisiana, on Friday. The storm boasted sustained winds of over 100 mph at its peak before weakening as it moved inland. According to the latest data, ~370k Louisiana homes and businesses were without power, in addition to 100k in Texas and 63k in Mississippi. Louisiana reported its first and second storm-related deaths on Sunday.

Armenia & Azerbaijan Reach 'Ceasefire'

After negotiating a ceasefire with Russia's help, Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of breaching the truce after it was initiated at noon on Saturday. Armenia claimed that Azerbaijan bombed the city of Stepanakert, which lies in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, while Azerbaijan alleged that Armenia conducted airstrikes against Ganja, its second-largest city.

More: Armenia & Azerbaijan: What's Going On?

🎾🏎️🏈🏀 Sports Update: Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek took home the Men’s and Women’s French Open tennis titles over the weekend. | Lewis Hamilton tied Michael Schumaker’s all-time record with his 91st Formula One victory on Sunday. | The NFL moved Monday’s Broncos v. Patriots matchup to next week due to COVID-19, along with several other schedule changes. | The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat 106-93 to claim their 17th NBA championship on Sunday, tying the Boston Celtics for the most titles in league history.

The Saga Continues

A California judge denied Epic Games’ request to force Apple to allow Fortnite back on the App Store in a ruling published Friday. The court also reaffirmed its August decision protecting Epic’s developer accounts - which maintain software used by millions of developers - from retaliation by Apple.

More: In August, Epic Games filed lawsuits against Google and Apple after the tech giants pulled Fortnite from their respective app stores. This was in response to Epic introducing a payment system that denied the companies their 30% cut on in-app purchases.

Microsoft Assigns Homework

Microsoft permanently adopted a hybrid working model for its workers on Friday. Effective immediately, Microsoft employees will be allowed to work from home freely for less than 50% of their work week, with managers allowed to approve permanent remote work. (Read the company’s announcement)

More: Microsoft is not alone in its shift towards remote work. Twitter implemented a permanent work at home policy in May, while Facebook and Google employees are working from home until at least July 2021.

Game Changer

Twitter announced a slew of upcoming changes to its platform, including how the 'retweet' option works when sharing posts. Starting October 20th, Twitter will add a pop-up encouraging users to add their own commentary before retweeting a post, along with fact-checking prompts when trying to retweet posts that Twitter has marked as containing misleading information. The social giant will also update its guidelines regarding election content and restrict users' ability to claim an election win before it is authoritatively called. Read the full list of changes.

‘Dreams’ Come True

Nathan Apodaca of Idaho Falls, ID, was on his way to work last week when his truck died. Without any other mode of reliable transportation, the nonchalant Nathan grabbed his longboard. He began riding it down the highway to work, all the while drinking from a jug of Ocean Spray brand cranberry juice and jamming along to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac – a moment which Nathan captured on video and uploaded to TikTok.

The mesmerizing video has since garnered more than 27 million views for Nathan, who has been living out of an RV with no running water. Upon hearing of Nathan’s living situation, generous TikTok users donated $10,000 to the sudden social media star. The laid-back longboarder also received a new Nissan pickup truck from Ocean Spray, complete with dozens of gallons of cranberry juice.

Midfielder Pays It Forward

For the last 27 years, a man named Jerry Quy has played the role of Gunnersaurus, a giant green dinosaur that serves as the official mascot of the Arsenal Football Club, a soccer team based in Islington, England. However, Gunnersaurus has not performed at any matches since the club implemented its pandemic regulations this spring. Last Monday, Arsenal announced that Jerry Quy was being let go due to COVID-19 budget cuts.

Disappointed with the football club – which is laying off a total of 55 employees despite signing several multimillion-dollar contracts with players over the summer – midfielder Mesut Özil stepped in and offered to pay the mascot’s salary. Although Arsenal has not confirmed whether the club will accept Mesut’s offer, a spokesperson assured fans that “Gunnersaurus is not extinct.”

Her Biggest Fan(ny)

In her spare time, classical violinist Esther Abrami enjoys fostering cats for the Association Féli-Cité shelter in Aix-en-Provence, France. Nevertheless, when Esther began fostering a young feline named Rémila in September, the musician soon found it very difficult to practice her instrument, as the clingy kitten would cry whenever she was not being held.

Fortunately, Esther quickly developed an ingenious method of keeping the young cat calm while she played the violin, placing the cuddly kitten in a fanny pack that the foster mom wears around her waist as she practices. In an adorable video posted to Esther’s Instagram, the fascinated feline can be seen intently listening to Esther’s soothing music from her seat in the fanny pack, slowly drifting off to sleep.