A Pakistani Hindu girl holds an earthen lamp while decorating an area of her house to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

HERE ARE THE things you need to know as we round off the day in three easy steps.

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#GAY MARRIAGE: The Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has called for a referendum on gay marriage to be held as soon as possible, saying that he didn’t believe Ireland should “postpone what is a human right”.

#GRANTS: An Oireactas Committee is to question representatives of the new grant-awarding body for third-level students over the major backlog in the system. Around 48,000 students were still waiting for their grant applications to be processed as of last Thursday, and just 18,000 out of 66,000 applications have so far been completed.

#HSE: The newly-released financial report for the HSE for September shows that its deficit is now almost €400 million – and this is the first time it has seen a reduction in its deficit. The figures also show that the spend in the year to date is €9,453 million.

#SPOTIFY: London-based music streaming company Spotify has launched in Ireland for the first time. Founded in 2006 by Stockholm native Daniel Ek, Spotify allows users access to more than 18 million tracks.

#WORDPLAY: What have the words GIF and omnishambles got in common? They’ve both been picked as words of the year by Oxford University Press.

Workers from Telefonica phone company take part in a demonstration blocking the traffic and protesting against the unjustified dismissals at their company ahead of a general strike in Barcelona Spain, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

THINGS WE LOVED:

• If you’re an aspiring novelist, feeling disheartened, and you need to cheer yourself up, then bear in mind that you’re probably a better writer than these people: 10 totally bizarre questions asked by aspiring novelists.
• Buzzfeed’s photo list of 29 couples swapping oufits. (Trust us, it’s weirdly compelling.)
• Sorry to break it to you, but not everything you learned in science class was correct. So, finally, here’s the truth. If you think you can handle it…

10 common science myths

Uploaded by alltime10s

THINGS WE SHARED:

• Higher wages due to the one-child policy and growing affluence in China has led to higher wages and a population that doesn’t much care for lower-paid jobs. The solution? Robots. And lots of ‘em.
• Is your eyesight failing? A new study has shown that, in the case of macular degeneration, reading speed and comfort is drastically improved for people who use backlit e-readers.
• Annie Murphy Paul writes in the New York Times about why old school teaching methods – like learning cursive handwriting, learning word roots, and recitation – have real value.

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