The formula for Coca Cola is it's secret sauce.

It has never been disclosed. It is the single most important thing that preserves Coke's legacy

But this directly conflicts with the results of blind taste tests.

Assuming there was a big difference, shouldn't you be able to tell two brands apart?

If Coke and Pepsi were poured into identical glasses out of your sight and then served, there's a 50% chance you'll be right.

And a 50% chance you'll be wrong as well.

So, why does this obsession with a secret sauce persist?

Because we want to believe that it exists.

Mystique sustains more brands than facts do.

We want a secret sauce that magically reduces our weight.

Or one that makes us attractive. And all powerful.

The magic potions that transform us. In our own eyes. And those of others.

The fantasy beckons. Superheroes who have the qualities we all desire.

Strength. The ability to do good at will.

The ease with which 'bad guys' are taken out.

Fixing things in an instant.

It's like living on the fringes of a fairy tale world.

And we're condemned to be on the outside looking in.

Is that pessimistic? Or realistic?

Video bandwidth just went on a crash diet

Nvidia has managed to do for video what mp3 did for audio back in the 90s.

Today's generation may not be familiar with the details, so we'll do a bit of time travel.

Back then, an audio file was just as heavy as video files today.

A 7-10 MB song would take forever to download.

The MP3 format was a godsend. It stripped out the higher and lower frequencies of sound not audible to the human ear and reduced file sizes by 80-90%

It's been the story of the internet.

Start with heavy file formats and slim them down progressively.

With the start of the pandemic, binge watching on streaming sites, gaming and video calls went into overdrive.

And strained the infrastructure of ISPs across the world.

What Nvidia has done is smart compression on video calls.

The first image of your face is sent across as a reference.

Then a neural network maps out the points on your face and sends across data in real time, compressing bandwidth requirements by 80-90%

Even with low bandwidth, faces look clear, though a touch artificial.

The applications of the tech are truly mind-blowing.

The murmurs about deepfakes have already begun

The spiky sweetness of community

The jackfruit will win no beauty contests.

It doesn't have the rich redness of strawberries

Or the yellow glow of ripe mangoes.

The symmetry of bananas curving around a central stem.

It hangs off the trunk of the tree, lumpy and ungainly.

But you'll know when it's ripe even when you're far away

The smell hits you hard. It's on the very edge of being unpleasant.

The durian and the jackfruit are united by smell. But apparently belong to completely different species.

And I found that liking the taste of jackfruits is no guarantee that you'll find durians palatable.

Jackfruits have a community characteristic that I don't see anymore.

Women and children gathered to individually pluck out each of the yellow, glistening and shapeless 'flowers', the part that is savoured the most

Everyone would prepare by rubbing their hands with coconut oil.

Or else, the white, sticky sap inside the fruit would be impossible to wash off.

A large, heavy fruit would easily take a couple of hours to pick apart.

Accompanied by conversations, good natured ribbing and the steady pile up of the yellow gobs of delight.

Like the coconut, the jackfruit can fill whole books of recipes.

And family memories

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