Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<p class="drop-cap">Andrew Barrett is hardly a rat sympathizer. He's spent years waging war on the rodents who flock to his community garden in Brooklyn, smashing the entrances to their underground burrows, tearing down the ivy that offers them cover from predators, and installing poisonous bait boxes to lure them to an untimely demise. When we met in mid-August, Barrett told me he was looking into purchasing a roughly $3,000 contraption known as the BurrowRx, which exterminators use to spray carbon monoxide into the rats' tunnels and kill them in their sleep. But even the fiercest rat antagonists can't help but reveal a smidge of admiration for the enemy.</p><p>"They're survivors," Barrett admitted.</p><p>Barrett told me about his efforts during our initiation into the NYC Rat Pack, a newly formed "elite squad of anti-rat activists" created by the mayor's office to escalate the fight against the city's infamous pests. "Elite" is a bit of a stretch, like calling the local Cub Scouts troop an "elite squad of wilderness survivalists." In reality, the Rat Pack offers regular citizens a crash course in rodent mitigation in hopes of inspiring them to take more active roles in what often feels like an unwinnable battle.</p><p>Those who join the Rat Pack must complete three activities: a "rat walk" that promises to "uncover the world of urban rats," a two-hour "rat academy" on rodent-prevention methods, and a service project, like a park cleanup. Graduates are supposed to leave with both the willpower and the know-how to make a dent in their local rat populations, whether that means simply disposing of trash properly or, for the high achievers, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-new-rat-killing-method-highly-successful-expanding-new-areas-2023-10">flooding rat burrows with poisonous gas</a>.</p><p>I'll admit I enlisted more out of curiosity than a sense of civic duty. The very idea of a "rat academy" struck me as fascinating and hilarious, and I hoped to finish the program with a better sense of how this bloody battle is actually going. Mostly, though, I joined for the merch. Those who complete the program receive a hat or T-shirt with the Rat Pack logo, a striking piece of design in which a menacing critter pokes its nose into a safety-cone-orange R as if it's a bag of trash on the street. When Mayor Eric Adams and Kathleen Corradi, who last year was appointed the city's "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-hiring-bloodthirsty-director-rodent-mitigation-fight-rats-2022-12">rat czar</a>," donned the apparel earlier this summer in a press conference announcing the initiative, the consensus among my friends was that it was undeniably sick.</p><p>That's how I ended up standing alongside Barrett and a couple dozen other New Yorkers on an August afternoon in Brooklyn's Herbert Von King Park, where Corradi, whose official title is director of rodent mitigation, was leading the second-ever rat walk. We didn't spot a single rat that day — it was too early for the nocturnal creatures to make an appearance — but there were ample clues of their presence. By the time we wrapped up the walk, it was obvious to me that even the strongest army of vigilantes wouldn't be enough to get rid of the city's rat issue.</p><p>Mostly, my journey into rat world left me with two big questions: What do we owe our cities, and what do they owe us? The answer to the latter, it became clear, was much more than a T-shirt.</p><p class="drop-cap">The brown rat, or Rattus norvegicus<em>, </em>isn't all that different from the average New Yorker. It hates long commutes and loves a reliable food source, which it will keep returning to again and again. (It is also neophobic, meaning it fears new things.) It seeks out warm, safe places to lay its head, which is why it burrows underground. If you seek to understand this rat, Corradi told our group, "you can kind of just hold up a mirror and look at yourself."</p><p>Corradi's rat spiel was full of pithy sayings like this one — often funny, evocative, or groan-inducing, but always relayed with a hint of awe at the resourcefulness of these vermin. Brown rats typically live only a year in the wild, but in that short period they're surprisingly productive — the females give birth up to seven times a year, and each litter can have as many as 12 rat pups. The addition of even one extra litter can have devastating consequences for a city block, making it nearly impossible to tamp down their numbers. Extermination efforts haven't always achieved the desired results, since rats are known to outsmart traps or gain immunity to poisons, and warmer winters have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/which-animals-benefit-from-climate-change-rats-roaches-mosquito-ticks-2024-7">given them more time to breed</a> at their energetic pace.</p>          <p>There's no definitive count of the rat populace in New York, though one recent estimate placed it at about 3 million. Various mayors, like Adams, have declared war on the rats, but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-explosive-increase-rats-over-last-65-years-2023-3">none has come close to claiming victory</a>. The real issue, as Michael Parsons, an urban-rat expert, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-rat-czar-kathleen-corradi-rats-are-not-enemy-2023-4">told Business Insider last year</a>, is "2 ½ centuries of bad practice" by bureaucrats who run the city. Adams offered a glimmer of hope in a July press conference announcing the Rat Pack, touting the fact that citywide rat sightings had gone down in 12 of the previous 13 months and promising that a "massive trash revolution strategy" — putting more trash in rat-proof containers — would get millions of pounds of rat-attracting garbage off the streets. But the incremental progress may be of little comfort to citizens who watch helplessly as rats scurry over their feet or down subway tracks or into cracks in the sidewalk outside their homes, to say nothing of the infestations within buildings.</p><p>Corradi, recognizable from various press appearances and her navy Rat Pack hat, is supposed to offer New Yorkers additional peace of mind. We began our walk near the park's playground, where we could make out a baseball-sized hole in the dirt that formed the entrance to a rat burrow, less than 20 feet from a busy swing set. It soon became clear why a rat would consider this valuable real estate: Nearby, a supposedly rat-proof city-owned trash can was overflowing with debris, belching out candy wrappers, banana peels, and leftover takeout. This was the kind of "five-star buffet" that Adams so often decries, at one of the covered trash bins supposed to offer an answer to this crisis. Corradi noted that the city was no longer ordering this specific bin, which a company called Bigbelly sells for anywhere between $1,500 to $5,000 apiece. The receptacle opens via a handle at about torso height or a foot lever at the bottom, keeping the waste secure inside. But the foot levers tended to break, Corradi said, and people didn't like having to touch the grimy handle. Sure, parkgoers really shouldn't be tossing their trash on top of an already full bin, but the more systemic issue is servicing, or making sure the bins are cleared out at reasonable intervals. Otherwise, Corradi told us, "we've created an even better food system for rats."</p><div type="image" title="Multiple rats on the street in new york." height="4094" width="6534" msid="113366928" hostid="261" sizebytes="3485696"></div><p>The Bigbelly felt like a smelly symbol of the city's larger problem: The government encourages individuals to play their part in the war on rats but doesn't always give them the tools to do so, even when they seem glaringly obvious. To city leaders' credit, that may be changing. Starting in November, apartment buildings in New York City with up to nine units will be required to use official city garbage bins rather than leaving their trash in bags out on the street. City officials say 70% of the city's trash will be "containerized" once the rule is implemented. At a press conference this summer to announce the move, Adams wheeled out one of these bins to face the audience, tossed in a bag of trash with a theatrical flourish, and shut the lid as Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" played on a speaker.</p><p class="drop-cap">The rest of the rat walk was peppered with pertinent facts (rats won't hesitate to eat their fallen brethren if they can't find other food sources), and Corradi fielded questions from our group about the city's strategy (rat birth control is an emerging technology, but there's still a lot we don't know). Someone asked Corradi how she would personally dispatch a live rat.</p><p>"Dry ice will asphyxiate them," Corradi said. "But I work with a lot of exterminators — they take that shovel and go for it."</p><p>In general, our group accepted that fighting rats would require aggressive and sometimes violent tactics. But about halfway through, a child wearing Crocs and a tie-dye T-shirt posed a more existential query. "We've spent all this time talking about getting rid of rats," he said. "But <em>why </em>are we trying to get rid of rats?"</p><p>Corradi acknowledged that we won't ever rid our city of rats. "We're going to have to make peace at some point," she said. While we <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-rat-extermination-weapon-rodent-population-takeover-climate-change-2023-11">can't exterminate our way out of this problem</a>, to repeat one of her favorite talking points, the fight is necessary because rats pose several public-health risks. People living with rats are more likely to have anxiety and depression, and rats carry diseases that can spread well beyond an infested city block. Last year, the city reported a record 24 cases of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-reports-a-record-15-cases-of-a-rare-rat-linked-disease-2021-10">leptospirosis</a>, a rare but potentially fatal illness carried by rat urine.</p>          <p>The fight against rats is ultimately a matter of a city's social contract with its citizens. Some take this war more seriously than others, patrolling the streets with rodent-killing dogs, offering to <a target="_blank" href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/04/eric-adams-bashes-curtis-sliwa-after-offer-to-become-nyc-rat-czar/">drop off cats at the mayor's own rat-infested rental property</a>, or investing in weapons of mass vermin destruction. It can't hurt to get more average residents involved, and I applaud the mission of the Rat Pack, which offered an entertaining, if sometimes disheartening, deep dive on a sordid subject. But reaching a détente with the rats will require more than watchful citizens and a fleet of BurrowRxes; landlords will have to meet their legal obligations to keep their properties rat-free, and the city will have to overhaul its methods of handling the 44 million pounds of trash we produce every day. It's all about denying rats the comfort of their underground burrows and their aboveground food sources, a lesson that other <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rattiest-cities-in-the-us-america-pest-control-2023-11">rat-infested cities, like Chicago and Washington DC</a>, have learned the hard way. Each of those cities has its own version of Corradi, too. But the truth is that delivering on this strategy goes beyond the capabilities of any one citizen — even the rat czar.</p><p>"This work is a daily practice," Corradi said, sounding like a mindfulness coach. "The truth is you give an inch back, they'll take a mile."</p><p>With that, the walk concluded. We posed for a group photo and chanted in unison: "One, two, three, rats!"</p><p class="drop-cap">A couple of weeks later, I watched as a pair of 14-year-old boys poured the contents of a city trash can into a black plastic bag, knotted it up, and left it on a street corner to be picked up later. For that afternoon, at least, we were part of the same group of volunteers, charged with emptying the garbage receptacles along a busy thoroughfare in Brooklyn's Chinatown. The eight or so high-schoolers had been performing this ritual each weekday afternoon for much of their summer break.</p><div type="image" title="Piles of garbage in clear plastic bags on a street corner in New York City at night" height="683" width="1024" msid="113366929" hostid="261" sizebytes="80464"></div><p>This service activity, which I selected from a list of opportunities on the city's website, was the only thing standing between me and my Rat Pack hat. I'd already attended a virtual version of the rat academy, during which a city employee rehashed many of the talking points from Corradi's rat walk, only this time aided by a PowerPoint presentation with vivid images of the rodents living beneath our feet. There was also a live chat in which attendees vented their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-stop-rats-living-under-hood-destroying-your-car-2022-8">personal rat frustrations</a> and asked questions like whether rats eat pigeons (yes, apparently they do sometimes). For the volunteer component, I signed up for the option that sounded like it would have the most impact: the 8th Avenue Street Cleanup, hosted by a local nonprofit. After all this talk about how much rats love trash, I kind of liked the idea of getting some of it off the streets.</p><p>But there we were, moving the trash from open-air bins to plastic bags that would be only slightly — and I mean slightly — harder to access for rats, who can chew through anything softer than steel. The streets did look nicer without all the exposed garbage, but for all the rodents could tell, the address and menu of their favorite restaurant were basically unchanged. The work was smelly and gross, but the kids seemed to be having an all right time. I asked one of them why this job wasn't being done by, you know, an actual garbageman, and he shrugged cheerily. "No funds?" he guessed. He didn't see a need to dwell on it.</p><p>Fridays, mercifully, are light days for trash, and we wrapped up a little early. Sitting on the subway back to my apartment, I thought back to an instance in April when someone publicly confronted Adams about a pilot program to containerize trash in West Harlem, calling it a "failure" and "unacceptable." Adams, clearly incensed, reiterated his hatred of rats and promised to "containerize all of our garbage."</p><p>"You'll never get rid of rats if you have plastic bags on the street," Adams said.</p><p>Adams made a good point: Leaving a swollen garbage bag out past dark is like serving our furry neighbors a five-course meal. And yet I secured my precious Rat Pack merch by doing exactly that.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/james-rodriguez"><em><u>James Rodriguez</u></em></a><em> is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Discourse team.</em></p>

I joined an 'elite squad of anti-rat activists.' It was even creepier than I expected. 

<br /> While the world is battling with bigger problems such as planes being shot down by terrorists, or planes disappearing into thin air without a trace – <keyword id="2573" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Air-India">Air India</keyword>, too ,had a challenge at hand. And this was a challenge that could have easily been avoided. But, knowing the state of affairs at Air India, there could be less or least expectation from the freight carrier to be doing so.<br />
<br /> Rats were seen scurrying onboard <keyword id="2476558" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-021">AI 021</keyword>, which was referred to as <keyword id="2476559" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airbus-A-321">Airbus A 321</keyword>, to such an extent that the passengers raised an alarm. And the authorities on ground, who thought it would have been a case of one or two rats creating a fuss, were surprised to see scores of them having built their homes in the flight.<br />
<br />
That rats find a way into a flight through catering vans and vehicles is a known thing. But, to come to terms with the fact that there have been scores of them making merry on a flight is quite another. This speaks of the callousness on part of the authorities.<br />
<br />
<br />
When a rat is found on the flight, it has to be immediately taken for fumigation since rats gnaw and chew the cables running across various parts of the flight. Simulators that are highly sensitive to touch can be easily accessed by these scurrying creatures as they have the capability to slither around anywhere and hide without food for long.<br />
<br />
What happened in the recent episode of rats being found onboard was a subdued version of ‘what could have happened if the rats had found their way into the pilot’s cabin?’<br />
<br /> However, after finding the rats onboard, the authorities immediately suspended the further flying of the flight that had just arrived in Delhi from <keyword id="6354925" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kolkata">Kolkata</keyword>, and accommodated the passengers of that flight on to another plane that was taken off normal routine since long.<br />
<br />
It was risky, but it had to be done. In a lesson that could serve the airline operators for long, rat families on a flight resulted in a fair amount of loss being borne by the company. However, Air India being what it is, the fact remains to be seen whether this would serve as a lesson for the state-run airlines operator in the future. Else, it can be a rat’s day out and none would even know!<br />
(Image: Air India)<br />

Rats Run Amok Mid-air: Passengers Fear For Life!

'House of the Dragon' season 2 premiere recap: Blood and Cheese and death

The <keyword id="1609796" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="omicron" source="Orion">Omicron</keyword> variant of the <keyword id="8949905" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SARS-CoV-2-virus" source="Orion">SARS-CoV-2 virus</keyword> may have originated from rodents, according to scientists. The scientists are investigating the means through which SARS-CoV-2 contracted so many mutations in the pandemic's second year and suggest that reverse zoonosis, circulation in rodent population and subsequent spread as a zoonosis probably led to the evolution and emergence of the Omicron VOC. <br /><br />The researchers from Christian Medical College, Vellore, and other Indian institutes have proposed their theory in a paper published in the journal Current Science for the likely origin of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing <keyword id="8763838" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid-19" source="Orion">COVID-19</keyword>. <br /><br />A previous study had suggested that the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have been transmitted from an animal species to humans. <br /><br />In this paper, they began by putting forth two hypotheses for the likely origin of the Omicron variant - first, mutations accumulating in an immune-compromised individual with prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infection, and second, infection by reverse zoonosis in an animal species, enzootic transmission in that species with adaptive mutations, and eventual transmission as zoonosis, back to human subjects. <br /><br />The researchers said that while both are possible, the latter seemed to be more likely. <br /><br />They ruled out the first hypothesis on the basis of a UK report according to which over the duration of 7-9 months when the infection persisted in three HIV-positive persons, only 2-3 new mutations were detected in the RBD region of the spike protein of the Alpha variant. <br /><br />They said that, therefore, it was unlikely for the RBD region to have acquired close to 15 mutations in less than two years in a single immune-compromised human host with chronic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further, they said that this could not explain the simultaneous appearance of several sub-variants. <br /><br />For the second hypothesis, the researchers said there were several pieces of evidence in support of it. <br /><br />They took the support of Chinese research which had reported with evidence that rodents were the animal hosts. <br /><br />Further, in this paper, the researchers said that there was evidence of the molecular clock theory appearing to break down during inter-species transmission and adaptation in a new host species. Molecular clock theory states that DNA and protein sequences evolve at a rate that is relatively constant over time and among different organisms. This, therefore, could address how SARS-CoV-2 acquired mutations faster in another animal than the slow pace observed in humans. <br /><br />Regarding the number of mutations on the spike protein gene, they said in their paper that reverse zoonosis and enzootic transmission had been investigated in white-tailed deer in North America, with the enzootic virus found to be highly divergent with nine mutations on the spike protein gene. The most likely ancestor, they said, the human virus variant was Beta VOC. <br /><br />Further, they said that a research in Finland had found that mice are readily infected by intranasal inoculation and also efficiently transmit the virus horizontally to cage mates. This, they said, indicated the potential for enzootic spread in rodents and also hinted at the possibility of the Southern African rodents to have been infected by the Beta VOC. <br /><br />The researchers then said that reverse zoonosis with SARS-CoV-2 infection had occurred in this hamster colony in the Netherlands, followed by hamster-to-hamster spread and subsequently zoonotic spread from them to human subjects, suggesting it could have happened in the case of Omicron as well. <br /><br />However, the researchers said that while there was enough evidence for reverse zoonosis and enzootic transmission of the virus, the question of how rodents could get infected in the first place remained unanswered. <br /><br />In answer to this, they suggested rodent-human contacts in African low-income households to have facilitated virus transmission. <br /><br />Suggesting air-borne transmission from man-to-mouse or from mouse-to-man in areas with high rodent density, the researchers said that in mid and low-income countries, in towns and villages, rats and house mice live in close proximity to human habitations. In lepromatous leprosy, prevalent in the region with total loss of touch and pain sensations, fingers and toes are vulnerable to <keyword id="17254000" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rodent-bites" source="Orion">rodent bites</keyword> while sleeping, explaining recurrent ulcers and loss of tissue. Rat bites are known to transmit bacterial and virus infections to humans. House mice are nocturnal animals, and they do run around on floors; in many households, people sleep on mats on the floor, they said. <br /><br />All this genetic and ecological circumstantial evidence prompted the researchers, they said, to propose reverse zoonosis, circulation in rodent population and subsequent spread as a zoonosis in human subjects as the most probable theory of the evolution and emergence of Omicron VOC.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO: </strong><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/this-railway-stock-is-buzzing-for-record-returns-on-strong-orders/articleshow/99786491.cms">This railway stock has turned a multibagger as its order book expands</a><br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/bajaj-auto-rides-on-richer-product-mix-in-q4-but-export-and-disruption-concerns-persist/articleshow/99784940.cms">Bajaj Auto rides on richer product mix in Q4, but export and disruption concerns persist</a>

Study suggests rodents likely origin of the Omicron variant

41. The Red (M&M) Scare

'We had no idea how to do it': YouTube's founders, investors, and first employees tell the chaotic inside story of how it rose from failed dating site to $1.65 billion video behemoth

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Westworld" episode nine.</strong></p><p>In true HBO fashion, the ninth episode of "Westworld" delivered a crazy level of intensity and action. Though fans have been running amok with theories since the pilot, this episode confirmed two of the biggest predictions beyond a doubt.</p><p>First, we are absolutely watching multiple time frames play out onscreen from present day all the way back to 35 years ago. And second, Bernard is a host made in Westworld cofounder Arnold's image. </p><p>This was a lot to take in, so we're going to break down each important scene and lay out all the revelations you may have missed among the chaos and confusion. </p><h2>Bernard = Arnold revelation</h2><p>People have been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/westworld-fan-theory-bernards-true-identity-2016-10">guessing since mid-October</a> that Bernard is a host Ford created to look just like his old business partner, Arnold. Their suspicion was confirmed the moment we saw the name "Arnold Weber" written on his office door during Dolores' flashback.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">We can't believe someone guessed this a month ago.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>After the third episode aired, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/westworld/comments/584tfz/arnold_weber_bernard_lowe_anagram/">Redditor gbtolax pointed out</a> that Bernard Lowe is an anagram for Arnold Weber. Most of the fandom scoffed at the post in the comment section, since the show had given zero clues about Arnold's last name at that point. But that all changed with the ninth episode.</p><p>Arnold Weber appeared on the office door in Dolores' flashback, and then Ford doubly confirmed the prediction when he allowed Bernard to access his earliest memory.</p><p>Bernard saw himself being woken up for the first time by Ford, who said: "Hello, my old friend." </p><p>When the new host asked who he was, Ford realized he had to give him a new name.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Bernard wasn't just any regular host.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"I was so involved with putting you together I hadn't decided what to call you," Ford said. "Wouldn't be right to use his name. What about Bernard?"</p><p>"Bernard - yes," the host replied. "But who am I?"</p><p>"That is a very complex question for which I can only offer a simple answer," Ford said. "You are the perfect instrument, the ideal partner. The way any tool partners with the hand that wields it, together we're going to do great things. After such a long absence, it's good to have you back. Finally."</p><p>Ford handed Bernard a photograph showing the two of them and Ford's father together years ago.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">We saw this photo in episode&#xa0;four but at the time it was missing Arnold/Bernard.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Then the scene cut back to present day, with Bernard and Ford in the cold storage basement.</p><p>"My god," Bernard said. "I'm …"</p><p>And before he finished the sentence, the scene cut again to Dolores' flashback. She was smiling up at the man who looks exactly like the Bernard we've come to know.</p><p>"Arnold," she said.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Dolores was privately chatting with Arnold.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Dolores and Arnold proceed to have a very important conversation.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Arnold:</strong> You came back. It's very good to see you, Dolores.<br /><strong>Dolores:</strong> I've been looking for you. You told me to follow the maze. That it would bring me joy. But all I've found is pain and terror. <br /><strong>Arnold:</strong> I can't help you. <br /><strong>Dolores:</strong> You have to. You're the only one who can. <br /><strong>Arnold:</strong> I can't help you. You know why.<br /><strong>Dolores:</strong> There's nowhere that's safe.<br /><strong>Arnold:</strong> Remember. I can't help you. Why is that, Dolores?<br /><strong>Dolores:</strong> Because you're dead. Because you're just a memory. Because I killed you.</p><p>Not only did this scene reveal that Dolores killed Arnold, but it confirmed another theory. We know for certain now that we've been watching scenes out of order, and there are multiple time frames being shown in each episode.</p><h2>Dolores and the multiple loops</h2><p>Dolores' scenes from episode nine were spread across three different time frames in the "Westworld" universe. In chronological order, the scenes with her in a blue dress were the earliest - likely about 35 years ago.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">We saw Dolores pass a younger Ford.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Then come the scenes with William and Logan when Dolores was injured while wearing her collared shirt and pants outfit. Those scenes are taking place approximately 30 years ago.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">These scenes take place five years after Dolores and Arnold spoke.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Finally are the brief times when Dolores was shown in the same shirt and pants, but uninjured and entering the town with the white church and going into the basement room. This is "present day," for lack of a better reference point.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Dolores has been journeying alone in the present day.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Since Dolores is the common thread throughout the three time frames, we'll use her story (as we understand it so far) as the explanation base.</p><h3>~35 years ago</h3><p>Westworld was begun as a partnership between Arnold Weber and Robert Ford about 35 years ago. They had a period of time in which they worked inside the park, creating the hosts and testing them in the Wild West setting. </p><p>Back in episode three, "Bernard" told Dolores about the maze. We can now safely assume that conversation was actually Arnold telling Dolores about the maze 35 years ago. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Arnold was egging Dolores on back before the park opened.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"<span>There's something I'd like you to try," Arnold said. "It's a game, a secret. It's called the maze. It's a very special kind of game, Dolores. The goal is to find the center of it. If you can do that, then maybe you can be free."</span></p><p>We believe this was a test Arnold designed to see if the hosts could truly become conscious. But we know that Ford abhorred the idea of having conscious hosts in the park. We don't know for certain, but this disagreement between them was likely what led to Arnold's death at the hands of Dolores.</p><p>In episode five, Ford had a conversation with Dolores in the present day about Arnold's death. He asked her to tell him when her last encounter with Arnold took place.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Ford suspects there's still some rebellion in Dolores.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"34 years, 42 days, 7 hours ago," Dolores said.</p><p>"Yes Dolores - the day Arnold died," Ford said. He goes on to ask: "What was the last thing he said to you?"</p><p>Dolores said Arnold told her she was going to help him "destroy this place."</p><p>We believe that Arnold thought having Dolores kill him might prevent the park from properly opening. And this is where the narrative jumps forward in time.</p><h3>30 years ago</h3><p>Five years after Arnold's death, the park is opened anyway and William comes for a visit with his soon to be brother-in-law Logan.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Logan and William both work for a major business in the real world.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>In episode six, Logan told William about the state of the park and why the two of them are really visiting - they're vetting the park on behalf of the company where they work because they might invest in Delos/Westworld.</p><p><span>"Rumor is they are hemorrhaging cash," Logan said. "We're considering buying them out. <span>Supposedly this place was all started by a partnership and then right before the park opened, one of the partners killed himself - sent the park into a free fall."</span></span></p><p><span><span>Arnold's plan nearly worked, but it still opened and the company William works for might have a hand in restoring it to normalcy.</span></span></p><p><span><span>So William and Logan wind up traveling with Dolores, who is "glitching" due to some of Arnold's code left in her system. She is following his voice inside her head which tells her to go to the maze again. </span></span></p><p><span><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Dolores couldn't understand what was happening.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></span></p><p><span><span>This is when the episode nine scenes become extra important.</span></span></p><p><span><span>William became rather taken with Dolores despite being engaged to Logan's sister in the real world. In episode nine, Logan reminds him about his sister. </span></span></p><p>"You're scheming to be part of the family," Logan said. "Marrying my sister, who, coincidentally you seem to have completely fucking forgotten about. Her?"</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Logan wanted William to remember his soon-to-be wife.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"Here, keep it," Logan said. "Apparently you need the reminder."  He tucked the picture into William's shirt. </p><p>But Dolores and William continue down their path. The entire time Dolores was with William, she experienced memory distortions and heard Arnold remind her about the maze.</p><p>She escaped Logan's torment and ran away. William stayed behind to massacre all the hosts around himself and Logan, examining their metal body parts and eventually threatening Logan into coming with him to find Dolores. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">William doesn't seem to care about his fiancee.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>But that's the end of our knowledge about the 30-years-ago storyline. Now we move way forward in time again.</p><h3>"Present day" events</h3><p>To our understanding, the entire first episode took place in the "present day." In that episode, Dolores' host-father found a photo on the Abernathy ranch. It was the same picture of William's fiancée that Logan gave him in episode nine.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">We still don't know how the picture winds up on the ranch 30 years later, though.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>This photo triggered a glitch in Peter, and seemed to make him question his reality and break programming. He whispered a phrase to Dolores - "These violent delights have violent ends" - which in turn causes her to return back to hearing Arnold's voice inside of her mind. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Dolores spirals back into her loop.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Another significant character introduced in the pilot was the Man in Black, who many are now confidently claiming is actually William. This has been another long-running theory that has even more legs now, but it's worth reading through <a href="http://www.thisisinsider.com/the-man-in-black-william-evidence-2016-11">our latest write up on the evidence</a>.</p><p>But back to Dolores for now.</p><p>So in the "present day," Dolores is effectively retracing her steps from 30 years ago and finding the maze again. We've mostly been seeing this path through the lens of her trip with William and Logan, but cracks happened here and there. </p><p>Remember episode five, when William and Dolores got onto the train with Lawrence? One moment the scene showed all three of them in the same train car, and the next William and Lawrence had disappeared from the background.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">Dolores has made this trip at least twice, if not more.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>This was one of the first clues that Dolores was following this path by herself in the present, while William only existed in the past.</p><p>The ninth episode concluded with Dolores entering the town with the white church, and repeating the conversation with Arnold in the basement. She returned to the church only to see the Man in Black (a.k.a. probably William) enter. Her memory doesn't seem to extend to William - or at least the one who would never harm her.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>HBO</span></p><p class="caption">We still don't know what might cause William to stop caring about the hosts' feelings.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>And here is where we reenter guesswork territory. We still don't know exactly what happened to Arnold 35 years ago, nor do we know how William and Dolores' story originally ended 30 years ago. We have no clue how much Ford understands or knows about Dolores' loop, and we aren't sure what the modern Man in Black is going to do now that he's found Dolores again.</p><p>We're hoping for more answers and and more unexpected drama to unfold in the <a href="http://www.thisisinsider.com/westworld-finale-preview-2016-11">epic 90-minute season finale</a>, which airs Sunday December 4.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spell-candles-in-nyc-2016-11">There is a witchcraft store in New York City that makes spell candles</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="JzN3dvNzE6qqtU1OTCCj646fqVkwj1aH" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

'Westworld' just confirmed two major fan theories with important consequences - here's what you need to know

3. The Last Blockbuster

How Lincoln returned from near death and restored Ford's luxury brand

How Lincoln returned from the brink of death and put Ford back on the luxury map

You Searched For "Rats Run Amok Mid air" and got 10 results

I joined an 'elite squad of anti-rat activists.' It was even creepier than I expected.

James Rodriguez

Rats Run Amok Mid-air: Passengers Fear For Life!

Preetam Kaushik

'House of the Dragon' season 2 premiere recap: Blood and Cheese and death

Caralynn Matassa,Palmer Haasc…

Study suggests rodents likely origin of the Omicron variant

PTI

41. The Red (M&M) Scare

Sarah Wyman,Charlie Herman,Ju…

'We had no idea how to do it': YouTube's founders, investors, and first employees tell the chaotic inside story of how it rose from failed dating site to $1.65 billion video behemoth

Avery Hartmans,Paige Leskin

'Westworld' just confirmed two major fan theories with important consequences - here's what you need to know

Kim Renfro

3. The Last Blockbuster

Dan Bobkoff,Anna Mazarakis,Cl…

How Lincoln returned from near death and restored Ford's luxury brand

Matthew DeBord

How Lincoln returned from the brink of death and put Ford back on the luxury map

Matthew DeBord

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides