The Word: On Eric Garner, kalettes, and WhatsApp

On the front page:

Justice for Eric Garner. Mostly peaceful protests erupted across New York City last night after a grand jury failed to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the choking death of 43-year-old Eric Garner. Pantaleo alleged that Garner (who was unarmed) was selling individual cigarettes on Staten Island last July. Video footage captured by a bystander shows Pantaleo putting Garner in a chokehold and wrestling him to the ground, which ultimately resulted in Garner’s death. Just last week, a grand jury failed to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Commenting on the Garner decision, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday that “the way we go about policing has to change. It has to change in this city, it has to change in this country.”

Flu shot fail. This year’s flu vaccine may not prevent you from getting sick, warn the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The shot typically guards against three flu strains, but it just so happens that one of them—the very sneaky H3N2 strain, “A/Texas/50/2012”—has mutated, rendering our collective immunity a little bit weaker. Of course, doctors still recommend that patients get the flu shot. (And the good news is, they’re not anticipating this year’s flu season will be a disproportionately bad one.)

Paid menstrual leave! It may not be a pipe dream after all, ladies! London gynecologist Gedis Grudzinska preached the choir recently, saying, “Some women feel really grotty when menstruating. Coming into work is a struggle and they feel lousy.” He recommends workplaces across the globe take a page out of the period playbooks of South Korea and Indonesia, where paid menstrual leave already exists. The actual likelihood of our bosses paying us to bury ourselves in Caramilk bars and hot-water bottles is slim, but it’s still nice to know someone’s got our uteruses on their mind.

On health:

Bad news for southpaws. Left-handed people may be less intelligent, have more behavioural problems, and achieve fewer career successes than righties. (Sorry, Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Oprah.)

On business:

Starbucks gets boozy. Beer, wine, and an “evening snack” menu are coming to the ubiquitous premium coffee chain. Hello, Friday night!

On food:
Introducing: kalettes. A U.K. vegetable-breeding company has mated Brussels sprouts and kale to create the world’s newest superfood, high in vitamin K. On culture:

Bond. James Bond. Monica Bellucci, Lea Seydoux, and the expertly sinister Christoph Waltz have join the cast of the spy series’ 24^th installment, Spectre. Daniel Craig’s back, too.

On tech:

'Til WhatsApp do us part. The chat app has been cited in almost half of Italy’s divorce cases, surpassing email—and even amorous handwritten letters—as the adulterer’s preferred communication medium.

Grand Theft Not-O. GTA 5 has been banned in Australia due to the game’s graphic depictions of gender-based violence.

On chimpanzee rights:

In a landmark ruling delivered Thursday, a New York court declared that Tommy, a 26-year-old chimpanzee, is not entitled to the same legal protections afforded to humans.

The final word…

“This earthy red has wine and a very warm brown underneath, which gives the feeling of groundedness, strength, and confidence.” Marsala is Pantone’s 2015 Colour of the Year.