The Third Slip: Issue 82 - The hilsa have ayes
Hello, Slippers! Welcome to The Third Slip - the weekly newsletter that honestly didn’t expect to last so many issues because the extent of our knowledge wouldn’t even get past a Wikipedia editor. Yet, here we are trying to parse the world and give hot takes on things that we barely understand. Wait, what’s Nitin Gadkari’s explanation of how the Maharashtra government came to power in our intro section?
This is issue 82. Eight-two, of course, is a phrase made famous by emperor extraordinaire Julius Caesar when his best friend asked him what the record of the number of matches played to the number of draws was for the top 3 teams in the EPL season was as on 14th October 2018. "8-2 Brute", he had said. Who said we don’t cover sports? On with the rest of the news then...
At Home
Go fish!: There’s only one way to segue into news from that intro… this week in outrageistan, some extreme Hindutva outfits lost their shit at an ad targeted at Bengalis during pujo which showed them eating fish and meat during this holy period. In turn, the Bengalis were equally outraged at said loonies, saying that you guys can eat dhokla all season long, no one’s taking that away from you, but as far as we’re concerned we love our hilsa.
A Dassault on the senses: After it was confirmed that the NDA forced French defence planes manufacturer Rafale to use Anil Ambani’s never-made-planes-before company instead of the experienced-af HAL, the government retaliated by saying even the UPA gave Anil Ambani many deals, falling back on their strategy of “we’re less guilty if others were also guilty”. Anyway, the only one who wins in all this is… Anil Ambani.
Still no clever headline: The #metoo movement gained momentum this week with several women calling out sexual harassment by men in positions of power at the workplace, across industries. The accounts ranged from cinema and media to advertising agencies and corporates. And it has triggered conversations which will hopefully lead to a more inclusive, less-hostile work environment for women in the long run.
Misogyny United: Progressive Kerala is known for its love for football, and being a model secular state. It seems that’s so because all its religions are united by a common thread - misogyny. This week, the Catholic Federation of India threatened to oust the nuns who had spoken up against Bishop Franco. And, not to be left behind there was also a mass protest by some devotees against the Supreme Court ruling permitting the entry of women into Sabarimala.
I am being used by WhatsApp: The fake news problem is massive in India given how there are enough mischief makers, and how callous most of the population is with forwarding information onwards. And so, the most joyful thing this week is seeing Whatsapp do skits in villages about the dangers of fake news.
WHO let the dogs out: Finally an explanation to the general tone of this newsletter - India is the most depressed country in the world, according to the WHO, which is not related to UNESCO which has no doubt, named India the happiest in the world.
Around the world
UN-break My Heart: Worried about a future with ultra-nationalism, nuclear war, a new cold war or more EDM? Don’t worry! Because there’s unlikely to be a future now - the UN put out a comprehensive climate change report whose TL;DR is basically: “We’re screwed”. While change is still technically possible, it’s politically unlikely. So yeah, might as well forget segregated bins and crank up that coal-powered AC - if religious fundamentalist loonies / Russians don’t get ya, greenhouse gases will!
Getting Riyadh of dissidents: Last week, a Saudi journalist who had less than flattering things to say about his homeland was killed (most probably by his own people) in Turkey. And Silicon Valley should probably have a think about a country that’s one of its biggest investors (when you take an Uber, you’re pretty much supporting a regime that still beheads people).
Barista at law: It seemed ridiculous at one point that a WWE-fighting, reality-show-hosting, real estate magnate would run for president of the United States, so it now seems less absurd that the founder of Starbucks is serious about challenging him in 2020. We think his biggest problem is going to be his largest voter base spelling his name correctly on the ballot.
Putting the rump in Trump: Hello history books, here’s a week without much Trump news. Except, there are now mini Trump statues all over Brooklyn for your dog to pee on. Oh, and one of the few credible people in his administration finally quit (Nikki Haley).
From Silly Con Valley
Spotty track record: Happy 10 years, Spotify. We still can’t agree whether you ruined music or made it awesome.
Google Minus: Google+ shut down after they realised that it apparently still existed… Oh, we mean… it was hacked.
Pack to the future: Google released a new set of Pixels which will screen “telemarketing” calls for you. And Facebook made Portal, a tablet-speaker thing, while over in South Korea, Samsung’s hard at work on that foldable phone. And Apple bought a chip making company, its biggest acquisition, headcount-wise.
Not so Luckey: Last week, in our video (see it!), we spoke about how ex-founders of now-FB companies Whatsapp & Instagram quit because they were pissed off with Zuck. We wondered if the same would happen to Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, and this week - it did!
LinkedOut: Super things we read this week
As weed becomes legal, it’s likely there’ll be a gourmet market, and a ‘Big Cannabis’ market soon (think craft beer vs (ugh) Kingfisher).
Giving money to people might be a decent idea in the age of automation (Universal Basic Income). But giving it to entrepreneurs might be an even better one, as Nigeria - yes, of scamming prince fame - is finding out.
Apparently Harvard discriminates against Asians (but it’s probably still easier for Indians to get into that than IIT Madras or a train at Dadar at 7 PM).
A lovely piece: In praise of mediocrity (well, whaddya know, TTS might have found its masthead slogan).
That’s it for this week. If you like what you see here, please subscribe so you can play a weekly game of 'find something useful in my spam folder'. If you’d like to get in touch with us or say something nice send us an email. We have a 100% response rate. (Wait, how do we divide by zero again?). We are also on twitter (Chuck | Tony). Until next week, may your weighing scale make you double-check the number it displays, and then make you smile.