Taliban advances, everyone else retreats
The Taliban has been steadily taking control of key cities—capturing seven in just five days. The latest city teetering on the brink: Mazar-e-Sharif. The Pentagon has washed its hands of the situation, saying bluntly: “It's their country to defend now.” Washington has been reduced to issuing diplomatic threats—warning the Taliban that they will become international pariahs if they take power by force. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani has made it clear that any prospect of peace talks with the Taliban are dead, and he is now preparing for civil war. And India pulled out everyone at its consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif on a special flight—shutting down the last of its four consulates. All that’s left open now is the embassy in Kabul, which issued this urgent call:
“Indian companies operating in Afghanistan are strongly advised to immediately withdraw their Indian employees out of project sites in Afghanistan before air travel services get discontinued.”
Yup, everyone is getting the hell out—except of course the Afghans who don’t have that option.
The big IPCC report: An India update
Yesterday, a global group of 234 experts released their big Assessment Report—commissioned by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (explained at length here). The takeaway for the world: climate change is accelerating and the window to prevent a catastrophic future is closing. We now have a better sense of what it means for India: “Glacial retreat in the Hindu Kush Himalayas; compounding effects of sea-level rise and intense tropical cyclones leading to flooding; an erratic monsoon; and intense heat stress.”
More specifically: 90 to 120 days in a year will see maximum temperatures above 35°C in case of 1.5 to 2°C warming and over 180 days in case of 4°C warming. Also: The Indian Ocean, which includes the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, has warmed faster than the global average—which will push up sea levels faster than the rest of the world. Hindustan Times has more details. Indian Express looks at why India has to revise its climate change goals—and commit to a net zero future.
Twitter prefers skinny people
The company recently announced a ‘bug bounty’ that promises thousands of dollars to researchers who can demonstrate ‘harms’ caused by the company’s image cropping algorithm. For example: cropping out the person of colour in the image preview. A Swiss graduate student has become the first to win $3,500 by proving that the Twitter algorithm prefers younger, slimmer faces with lighter skin. A Twitter official said:
“I use the phrase ‘life imitating art imitating life’. We create these filters because we think that’s what ‘beautiful’ is, and that ends up training our models and driving these unrealistic notions of what it means to be attractive.”
In other Twitter-related news: The company’s big feud with the Indian government has ended in a whimper—with the government telling the Delhi High Court that Twitter is now in compliance with the revised digital media rules. Mint has more details.
TikTok rules the world
A global survey shows that TikTok is the most downloaded app in the world (except for India, of course)—followed by Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. It has moved up from #4 in 2019. Lagging at #10: Twitter. Telegram is doing better at #7. (Nikkei Asia)
Also doing well: Lionel Messi who is headed off to Paris St. Germain—after an emotional exit from Barcelona. He will earn 53.8 million pounds per season as part of his two-year contract—with an option to renew for 2023-24. (Telegraph UK)
Middle age shrinking is a problem
Height may be a marker for premature death in women. Each centimetre of height lost by women in middle age makes them 21% more likely to die within two decades—especially from a stroke or heart attack. What may help minimise height loss: more exercise. FYI: People tend to start losing height in their fifties and the process speeds up in their seventies—and women tend to lose more height than men. (Times UK)
Two Olympics things
One: Barbie released an Olympics collection that reflects five new sports added to the Olympic program this year—baseball/softball, sport climbing, karate, skateboarding and surfing. But a certain something is glaringly absent in this diverse line up: an Asian doll! And this in a collection honouring the Tokyo Olympics? Shabaash! OTOH, Barbie’s separate doll commemorating Naomi Osaka sold out within hours. (CNN)
Two: This is about a different kind of bias. A new report documents the level of sexism in the coverage of the Olympics. And here’s the good news: Women athletes received a staggering 59.1% of screen time in primetime coverage. But the rest is kinda dismal:
- Men narrate most of the stories, making up 82% of live commentators.
- Athletes in men’s sports are referred to as “male” just 2% of the time, while athletes in women’s sports are given the “female” qualifier 13.6% of the time.
- Athletes in women’s sports wear revealing outfits in competition more than their male counterparts—69.9% compared to 53.5%—and are 10 times more likely to be objectified by camera angles.
The elephants are going home!
The wandering herd in China has travelled for 17 months over 500 km (300 miles)—given birth to two babies while being shepherded by 400 emergency personnel, 120 vehicles, and an armada of drones. The good news: They are now 200 km (125 miles) from home—i.e. the wildlife reserve from where they first started. And authorities are confident they will be able to safely get them through that last stretch. Scientists still don’t know why they undertook such a gruelling journey. They may have been looking for a better habitat or just led astray by an inexperienced herd leader.
In other animal-related news: A new study shows that polar bears use rocks and chunks of ice to bash in the head of walruses—which are often too big and powerful to bring down. Why this matters: “The most significant part of this is that a bear is able to look at a situation, think of it in a three-dimensional sense, and then figure out what it might have to do to be successful.” In other words, bears can figure out how to use tools. (Smithsonian)
Dine With Data: All About Plaza 📹🛒
Company: Plaza 📹🛒
About: Plaza is building a commerce platform that enables brands and retailers to connect with customers over live video, helping drive authentic engagement at every step of the customer’s journey.
The company is currently piloting an early access program for brands called First Look, that gets them on to the platform. If you're looking to launch a virtual shopping service soon—this is something you should definitely check out! 🎯
Food For Thought: Their virtual showroom has all the features of high-end video commerce, with the simplicity of a Zoom call. The pandemic forced quite a few retailers to switch to video, but given the high costs, a platform solution became imminent!
DWD Take: Enterprise solutions that help make our shopping experience better will always be a hot favourite with retailers. DTC funding has been on a high as well, and we can see that money flowing to tools such as this. Strongly bullish! 🤞🏻
URL: https://useplaza.com
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