“U.S. restaurants and stores are rapidly raising pay in an urgent effort to attract more applicants and keep up with a flood of customers as the pandemic eases. McDonald’s, Sheetz and Chipotle are just some of the latest companies to follow Amazon, Walmart and Costco in boosting wages, in some cases to $15 an hour or higher. Desperate for workers, US restaurants and stores raise pay. (If this trend continues, the person flipping your Big Mac may be able to afford one…)

+ “I was very happy that I won and that I got the title. I really love that I finally got it.” Tanitoluwa Adewumi finally became a Chess Master. He’s ten. He started playing while living in a homeless shelter.

+ “This week, the academic community provided a rather impressive example of the promise of neural implants. Using an implant, a paralyzed individual managed to type out roughly 90 characters per minute simply by imagining that he was writing those characters out by hand.”

+ “Tucked under a highway overpass in West Oakland, just beyond a graveyard of charred cars and dumped debris, lies an unexpected refuge. There’s a collection of beautiful, small structures built from foraged materials. There’s a hot shower, a fully stocked kitchen and health clinic. There’s a free ‘store’ offering donated items including clothes and books, and a composting toilet. There are stone and gravel paths lined with flowers and vegetable gardens. There’s even an outdoor pizza oven.” Homeless Oaklanders were tired of the housing crisis. So they built a ‘miracle’ village.

+ ‘This is just where I belong’: Drew Robinson’s return to baseball after suicide attempt. Plus, Giants’ Drew Robinson crushes home run year after losing his right eye. An eye for an I.

+ “I whittled 182 pieces from March ’til September,” Adkins says. “Then after that, I done 62 paintings.” NPR: During The Pandemic She Whittled Away At The Isolation By, Well, Whittling.

+ A cat jumps from fifth-floor of burning Chicago building, bounces once and runs away. (Meanwhile, a dog was like, “I wonder why it seems so warm in here?”)