Our Diwali sale is going, going…
Last call is at midnight on Sunday. So you have until then to take the following off your to-do list:
- Upgrade from a monthly to a yearly subscription at a massive 50% discount. Just go to your account page and hit upgrade!
- Use your referral link to pass on the 40% discount to friends and fam—or with folks who follow you on social media, or on your WhatsApp groups.
- Write to us at talktous@splainer.in if you want to add another 12 months to your current annual subscription at this discounted rate.
- Do the exact same if you want to reserve a Christmas gift at this price in advance before the sale runs out.
- Not a subscriber? Sign up for our one-month free trial!
Also: Thank you all for making this sale a huge success. It’s been a truly festive Diwali for us:)
The great pandemic: A quick update
- A new study in Pune shows that areas with the highest number of previous infections have the fewest number of new cases. What it means: They may be attaining some level of ‘herd immunity’. The Telegraph explains.
- The latest data from late-stage trials shows that the Oxford vaccine triggered a strong immune response in folks in their 60s and 70s—i.e. those most vulnerable to infection. And that’s very good news for India since the vaccine is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India—which has also announced the likely price of the vaccine: Rs 500-600 per dose for individual consumers. The government will pay half that price.
- South Australia has gone into one of the most stringent lockdowns in the world after 23 news cases were detected. Local officials say they have detected a “particularly sneaky” strain that shows few symptoms but spreads far more rapidly. Many experts think the claim is “rubbish.”
- BBC documentary shocker: At the start of the pandemic, the UK’s top scientific advisors were scouring Wikipedia for data—and didn’t have a single virus expert among them.
- Nearly 1 million people in China have received Sinopharm’s vaccine—which is authorised for emergency use even though there is no trial data that confirms its effectiveness.
In related news: China has a mysterious new travel policy. Until now, international arrivals had to take a Covid test at the airport and do a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Now, there’s an added requirement: a negative IgM antibody test result:
“These tests detect disease-fighting molecules called antibodies, in particular one called immunoglobulin M, or IgM, which is usually the first type of antibody roused against infectious invaders. IgM’s presence is ephemeral; eventually, two other types of antibodies that are much longer-lived, called IgG and IgA, take over.”
The problem: our bodies can take up to two weeks to produce these antibodies—and we may be infected and infectious way before then. Some US experts think this is useless “security theater.” Others argue that maybe China knows something about the virus the rest of us don’t. Forbes has that theory.
And the Booker goes to…
Scottish-American Douglas Stuart who won the top honour for his debut novel ‘Shuggie Bain’—“a story based on his own life that follows a boy growing up in poverty in 1980s Glasgow with a mother who is battling addiction.” The Guardian has more. Indians are sad because he beat out Avni Doshi whose ‘Burnt Sugar’ was on the shortlist.
Finally, some relief for manual scavengers
For years, newspapers have been filled with horror stories of the working conditions of manual scavengers—who often pay with their life for the ‘honour’ of cleaning our sewers. The government is finally mandating the use of machines to clean sewers and septic tanks—and setting up a 24X7 hotline to report violations. The aim: to eliminate the use of human labour by April, 2021. (Indian Express)
Vatican is mad at Instagram
Some eagle-eyed users recently noticed that the Pope’s official account ‘liked’ a particularly raunchy photo of a Brazilian model. The screenshots went viral, and the post was quickly ‘unliked’. But now the Vatican is demanding answers, insisting that “we can exclude that the ‘like’ came from the Holy See.” To be fair: Pope Francis is no Donald Trump and rarely manages his own social media accounts. Our guess: a horny employee who forgot to switch from the official handle to their personal account. (The Guardian)
Buzzfeed is buying Huffington Post
The company is presently owned by Verizon Media and will now be owned by Buzzfeed—whose Chief Executive Officer Jonah Peretti was also co-founder of Huffington Post back when it started. Point to note: This raises questions about the future of Huffington Post India. New rules cap foreign investment in Indian digital media at 26%—and require that the CEO be an Indian citizen (explained here). But it isn’t clear whether this will apply to HuffPo’s India operations. TechCrunch has more on the US deal.
Wonder Woman heads to HBO Max
In an astonishing decision, the next, highly anticipated installment of the superhero franchise will hit theatres on December 16—and then stream on HBO Max. Why this is surprising: “Wonder Woman 1984” was expected to be one of the biggest films of 2020 and had the potential to surpass $1 billion in ticket sales. So streaming it on a platform for no extra cost is kinda a big deal. Many expected that the movie—which cost $200 million to make—would be pushed to 2021 like other big releases. Reminder: We don’t know when we will get to see the movie, as we do not have HBO Max in India. Also: there have been no big releases in theatres as yet. (Variety)
Madagascar is falling apart
A new study shows that Madagascar—an island nation off the coast of Africa (and sadly made most famous by Disney)—is breaking up into smaller bits. And this is part of a bigger process: The entire continent of Africa is splitting into two, which will likely create a new ocean. The good news: It will take another ten million years. Neat fact to know: Madagascar used to be part of the Indian subcontinent until it split off and drifted away 88 million years ago. (Quartz)
Our craziest dreams, explained
When we dream, we're sorting through our experiences of the last day or so—saving the important stuff as memories, and discarding the rest. But why are some of our dreams so strange? A new theory offers a very nerdy AI-driven explanation.
In machine learning, programmers deliberately feed an algorithm all sorts of unrelated data—think of it as ‘noise’—so it learns to focus on genuinely relevant information. And the wacky parts of our dreams serve the same function:
“Put plainly, our dreams are just realistic enough to engross us and carry us along, but are just different enough from our experiences—our ‘training set’—to effectively serve as noise.”
And that “off-pattern nonsense” forces our brains to see the forest and not the trees in our daily experiences. So just remember that the next time you’re soaring like an eagle in your dreams. (Big Think)
Wanna stay in SRK’s home?
Well, you can if you are one of two lucky winners of Airbnb’s ‘Home with Open Arms’ contest. No, not the fabulous Mannat in Mumbai, but his Delhi bungalow which has been decorated by wife Gauri. What you have to do to make this little dream true: share what an “open arms welcome” means to you by November 30 on Airbnb’s website. Good luck with that! Remember what is at stake:
“During their stay, the guests will experience a curated itinerary developed by Gauri, enjoy a meal, including Shah Rukh’s favourite dishes, watch the superstar’s favourite films and his biggest hits as well as receive personalised souvenirs from the family.”
An early Christmas tale
The giant tree at Rockefeller Center in New York city is an iconic Christmas emblem. But this year’s edition is looking a little, er, lame—and getting a lot of flak for it. But turns out it was hiding a tiny miracle. To be exact: a tiny saw-whet owl that clung to its branches for three days over 170 miles. According to one of his rescuers, "It's amazing he didn't get crushed." He has since been discovered and moved to a wildlife center to recover. Oh, he also has a name now: Rockefeller, of course.
