Afghanistan: A longish update
One: President Biden has rejected the demand of European allies to extend the August 31 deadline for withdrawal—to buy time to get their citizens and Afghan allies out. Meanwhile, the Taliban announced they will block Afghans from travelling to Kabul’s airport—and will reject any plans to extend the deadline. Not helping the Afghans: Anonymous US sources indicate that Afghan allies are being turned away by the US troops in favour of US citizens and green card holders.
Two: In the midst of all this, CIA director William Burns held a secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban’s de facto leader Abdul Ghani Baradar—or so says Washington Post. If true, it will mark the highest level meeting between the two sides since the Taliban took control.
Three: The Taliban are now pushing for control over the last bastion of resistance in Panjshir Valley—and have sent hundreds of fighters to get the job done. All eyes are on Ahmad Massoud who wrote a defiant Washington Post op-ed vowing to fight. But latest reports suggest he is “looking for a way to capitulate with his honour intact.”
Four: Speaking of evacuation, six countries—United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, France, Germany and Qatar—have agreed to evacuate Indian citizens who worked with them. Also: we now know the name of India’s evacuation mission: Operation Devi Shakti. And this: Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister claimed that a passenger plane meant for evacuation of Ukrainians was hijacked by armed gunmen and redirected to Iran. Both Tehran and Kyiv have vehemently denied the claim.
Five: A detailed report from Reuters meticulously documents the days of Danish Siddiqui—the photojournalist who was killed by the Taliban in July. The most eyebrow-raising bits relate to Reuters’ own decisions on Siddiqui’s safety. It is definitely worth a read.
Six: Former British Marine Paul Farthing runs an animal welfare organisation in Kabul—and has booked a charter flight to evacuate 69 employees and 100 animals to the UK. But the aircraft is being denied permission to fly because—as the Defence Secretary puts it: “I’m not prepared to prioritise pets over people.” Farthing’s response: “If they won't allow me on to that aircraft then I'll have to put all my dogs and cats to sleep on the runway.”
A strange twist in Indore lynching
On Sunday, a Muslim bangle seller was badly beaten without provocation. A police case was registered—but only after hundreds of people gathered outside the police station demanding action against the accused. By Monday three men had been arrested as well. But now the victim has been charged with molesting a young girl—who claims he assaulted her in the same neighbourhood on Sunday. He is also accused of forgery and fraud—for possessing three separate voter ID cards. NDTV has more details.
Pfizer vaccine has a new name
And everyone is making fun of it. Now that it is the first Covid vaccine to get full approval, the company decided to christen their creation. The name: Comirnaty as in ‘Koe-mir'-na-tee’. The inspiration for this absurd name:
“According to Pfizer, the pharmaceutical companies wanted to emphasize COVID-19 immunization and the vaccine's core mRNA technology. They also wanted to encompass ‘community’ and ‘immunity’ into the final product.”
Okaaay… except the aam janta was not impressed. Best take on this bizarro name: “Every vaccine should get a name like someone pronouncing ‘community’ with three or four deviled eggs in their mouth.” FYI: The Moderna vaccine is set to be called SpikeVax… so there’s that. (NPR)
Also getting a name: Heatwaves in Greece. Authorities are planning to name them just as we do cyclones and hurricanes. And they will also come with a ranking to indicate severity. The reason:
“Heatwaves cause a lot of deaths; they don’t make noise and they may not be visible but they’re a silent killer. We believe people will be more prepared to face an upcoming weather event when the event has a name.”
Speaking of Covid: A government report predicts that the third wave will hit India between September and October. And it warns that children will be just as much at risk as adults this time around. An IIT Kanpur model—which the report borrows from—predicts three possible scenarios: One, an October peak with 3.2 lakh cases/day; two, September peak with 5 lakh cases/day; three, late October peak with 2 lakh cases/day. The numbers could hit six lakhs/day if vaccinations are not ramped up. (MoneyControl)
Also related: This very useful thread that shows you how to delete the Unique Health ID created—without user consent—for anyone who has been vaccinated.
Two key studies to note
One: Researchers have come up with a Health Nutritional Index—which measures the damage/benefit of each thing you put in your mouth. For example: eating one hot dog will cost you 36 minutes of “healthy” life. OTOH, you gain 25 minutes if you eat 30 grams of nuts and seeds. The Conversation has more on this fascinating (and alarming) index.
Two: A new study found that people who have had same sex encounters share genetic similarities to heterosexuals who have had lots of sexual partners. And there is a similar overlap with those who described themselves as risk-taking and open to new experiences. Not everyone agrees with this finding, but here’s the paradox scientists are trying to solve:
“In theory, humans and other animals who are exclusively attracted to others of the same sex should be unlikely to produce many biological children, so any genes that predispose people to homosexuality would rarely be passed on to future generations. Yet same-sex attraction is widespread in humans, and research suggests that it is partly genetic.”
Say goodbye to the Insta swipe up
The platform is retiring the feature that allows you to visit an external URL by swiping up on a story. It will be replaced by link stickers that you can tap. The reason: “[T]o ‘streamline the stories creation experience’ and offer more ‘creative control,’ given that users can format the look of stickers and not the swipe up.” FYI, the stickers will only be available to accounts that had swipe up privileges—i.e. they either have a verified account or over 10,000 followers. (The Verge)
New rules to protect elephants
Sri Lanka has introduced a wide-ranging animal protection law—which includes a number of clauses to better protect its 200 domesticated elephants. They must receive a 2.5 hour bath every day, and a medical check up every six months. Baby elephants can’t be separated from their mother—or put to work. Elephants in the logging industry can’t be worked more than four hours a day—and never at night. But most importantly: The mahouts cannot ride the elephants when high or drunk. (France 24)
This roller coaster breaks bones
The Do-Dodonpa roller coaster in Japan is the world’s fastest accelerating roller coaster known for its “super death” speeds—going from zero to 112 miles per hour in 1.56 seconds. It also results in broken bones—specifically, at least four people said they broke their neck or back. Yes, it’s that crazy, and yes, it has now finally been shut down. (Newsweek)
An incendiary op-ed on Indian food
ICYMI, Washington Post published a column by Gene Weingarten—which was an extended and entirely uninformed rant on foods he will not eat. On the list, alongside hazelnut and balsamic vinegar: Indian cuisine:
“The Indian subcontinent has vastly enriched the world, giving us chess, buttons, the mathematical concept of zero, shampoo, modern-day nonviolent political resistance, Chutes and Ladders, the Fibonacci sequence, rock candy, cataract surgery, cashmere, USB ports ... and the only ethnic cuisine in the world insanely based on one spice. If you like Indian curries, yay, you like one of India’s most popular class of dishes! If you think Indian curries taste like something that could knock a vulture off a meat wagon, you do not like a lot of Indian food. I don’t get it, as a culinary principle. It is as though the French passed a law requiring a wide swath of their dishes to be slathered in smashed, pureed snails. (I’d personally have no problem with that, but you might, and I would sympathize.)”
That one paragraph ignited a worldwide Twitter tsunami of outrage. The best response belonged to Padma Lakshmi, who tweeted: “On behalf of 1.3 billion people, kindly f**k off”. Alarmed by all the unhappiness, the Post issued a correction that made no one happy. They simply deleted this glaring bit of inaccuracy: “and the only ethnic cuisine in the world insanely based on one spice”—and said:
“A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Indian cuisine is based on one spice, curry, and that Indian food is made up only of curries, types of stew. In fact, India’s vastly diverse cuisines use many spice blends and include many other types of dishes. The article has been corrected.”
Meanwhile, Gene is still trying to dig himself out of this particular hole:
“From start to finish plus the illo, the column was about what a whining infantile ignorant d—head I am. I should have named a single Indian dish, not the whole cuisine, & I do see how that broad-brush was insulting. Apologies.(Also, yes, curries are spice blends, not spices.)”
Our take on Gene is best summed up by this video:
Dine With Data: All About Swiggy Labs 🔬
Editor’s Note: Here is DWD’s weekly installment of one cool, innovative or just plain quirky startup from around the world.
Company: Swiggy Labs 🔬
About: The name says it all. Labs is Swiggy's experimentation arm for taking new initiatives from zero to one.
The Labs team comes up with new products, tests them with a sample population, and fine-tunes them to send to the parent company to be executed nationwide.
Food For Thought: The team works with a single principle—max convenience for the customer. Genie, Instamart, even alcohol deliveries—these are all products that were born in Labs and then pushed to Swiggy.
DWD Take: For a behemoth like Swiggy, managing the day-to-day is their biggest task. Labs is then their much-needed outfit that can provide long-term ideas and test them while the main team works on maximising efficiency. Quite a few companies today could benefit from such a setup!
About DWD: Dine With Data🍴 sends you a short summary on one new startup every day, delivered straight to your Whatsapp inbox!