Four gifts for the festive season
Splainer almost never goes on sale except during this time of the year. So we hope you will take full advantage of our big discounts—available until November 7. Here are four wonderful deals for you:
- Gift friends, colleagues and relatives an annual subscription at a whopping discount. It now costs only Rs 1000. Click ‘Gift a friend’ on our ‘subscribe’ page.
- Add 12 months to your own subscription by heading over to the ‘subscribe’ page—and hitting renew.
- Use your magical referral link—available in every daily email and your account page—to offer a free month to anyone you want.
- That same link also offers that sweet Rs 500 discount on our annual subscription.
Want a bulk Diwali discount? If you plan to gift splainer to a bunch of people in your organisation or family, be sure to email us at talktous@splainer.in.
Priyanka Gandhi sparks a UP row… again
She was once again stopped by the Uttar Pradesh police yesterday. The reason: Gandhi wanted to visit the family of a sweeper who died in police custody. This confrontation was not quite as angry (clip here) as the last time—when she was arrested on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the farmers. In fact, the biggest controversy to come out of the incident is a selfie—taken by police women with Gandhi. The Lucknow Police Commissioner is now investigating whether the women violated police regulations. See the selfie moment below:
A big kidney transplant breakthrough
Scientists successfully attached a pig’s kidney to a human body—and it worked:
“Surgeons attached the pig kidney to a pair of large blood vessels outside the body of a deceased recipient so they could observe it for two days. The kidney did what it was supposed to do — filter waste and produce urine — and didn't trigger rejection.”
It is being described as a “significant step” toward animal-to-human transplants. (Associated Press via NPR)
Covid crimes of Jair Bolsonaro
A congressional panel is getting ready to recommend charging the Brazilian president of “crimes against humanity”—for seriously mishandling the pandemic and causing the deaths of 300,000 Brazilians (which is 50% of the total death toll). FYI: They were originally planning to charge him with mass genocide of the country’s indigenous populations—which have been decimated by the disease. If the report is approved by the committee, the Brazilian attorney general will have 30 days to decide whether to pursue the charges. (New York Times)
In important Covid-related news: It is highly possible that India will not experience a third wave this winter. The reasons: widespread use of masks, increased number of vaccinations in big cities, and wide exposure to the Delta virus during the second wave. By July, nearly 70% of Indians over the age of six were found to have antibodies for Covid. (Quartz)
Facebook by any other name…
Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly hit on a novel solution for his many PR and legal woes: a new name! According to The Verge, he will unveil it next week at an annual company conference. The reason:
“[It] is meant to signal the tech giant’s ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail. The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company overseeing groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more.”
This is similar to Google creating the parent company Alphabet to signal that it isn’t just a search engine company. But in Zuck’s case, a rebranding may also help ease the baggage attached to the name ‘Facebook’—which has become synonymous with fake news, toxic content etc. FYI: The news has sparked great amusement and trolling. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s suggestion: Central Intelligence Corporation. (The Verge)
Aryan Khan is still in jail
A special court judge denied Shahrukh Khan’s son bail—claiming he was potentially guilty of “conscious possession” even though no drugs were found on his person. The reason: Khan knew that his buddy Arbaaz Merchant was carrying six grams of charas. Watch lawyer Sanjay Hegde explain why this is absurd:
Climate change is a ‘no-brainer’
A survey of 90,000 studies between 2012 and 2020 has found that 99.9% scientists believe that human activity is altering the climate. That’s right! Only 0.1% of experts today disagree with that basic fact—compared to 3% in 2013: “It is really case closed. There is nobody of significance in the scientific community who doubts human-caused climate change.” And yet the political debate does not reflect this unanimous scientific consensus. (The Guardian)
UP’s airport bonanza
The government just unveiled the third international airport in Uttar Pradesh in Kushinagar. This is the ninth in the state and the government plans to set up 17 more “in the near future.” We have no comment. A related read: Indian Express on the significance of Kushinagar—which is a revered Buddhist pilgrimage site but also one of UP’s poorest districts. (Mint)
Three gender things
One: The greatly beloved author Margaret Atwood is the latest feminist to be accused of being transphobic and “essentialist.” The reason: She tweeted out an op-ed that argues that gender-neutral language, such as “pregnant person,” equates to “an erasure of women.” Newsweek and Daily Mail have more on the backlash.
Two: The Colombian government has unveiled a new anti-machismo hotline that aims to fight violence against women. Men can call the ‘Calm Line’ to talk through their feelings of jealousy, fear and rage: "By pushing men to focus on how that often unexamined attitude [of machismo] is hurting their lives and the lives of those around them, the program seeks to inspire a profound cultural change." (New York Times)
Three: Netflix employees staged a walkout to protest the company’s continued support for Dave Chapelle’s comedy special—where he made controversial jokes about transgender people. Meanwhile, co-CEO Ted Sarandos has issued a non-apology—which clearly hasn’t helped. (Deadline)
Four things to see
One: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a massive collection of floating trash—roughly three times the size of France—located between California and Hawaii. A contraption called Jenny has been deployed to clean it up—and it pulled a whopping 20,000 pounds of plastic on its test run. The goal is to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic in the Pacific Ocean by 2040. Smithsonian Magazine has more on the project and its critics. The video below explains how it works.
Two: At its recent product rollout, Apple unveiled something very, very special: The Polishing Cloth! Priced at $19 (Rs 1,400)—and made with “soft, nonabrasive material”—it even comes with a long list of Apple devices that it is compatible with… yes, really. No, that’s not the really funny part. This is: The Polishing Cloth is already sold out in the US, and is backordered until November. Also: Why the rest of the world hates Americans. We insist you gaze upon this marvelous iCleaning device—and read Mashable’s hilarious takedown of it.
Three: Sapien.Network is a social networking platform “dedicated to putting the needs and welfare of human beings first.” And its founders found a novel way to highlight income inequality. They installed a 7-foot bronze statue of Harambe the gorilla facing down the famous charging bull—who is surrounded by 10,000 bananas to signify that Wall Street has gone “bananas.” FYI: Harambe was shot by zookeepers in 2016 when a four year old child fell into his enclosure—provoking outrage over the injustice and animal cruelty. (Market Watch)
Four: Last not least, we present the very strange face masks of Ye—the man formerly known as Kanye West. Exhibit A is a prosthetic mask—which makes him look like a creepy mannequin:
Exhibit B: This one that makes him look like the scary cousin of Shrek:
