Saturday, September 27, 2025

Emboldened Evangelists

Evangelists try to conquer Silicon Valley: Many in the tech-Christian nexus are vocal Trump supporters – or at least sceptical of the more excessive liberal tendencies of Silicon Valley.


Christianity Was “Borderline Illegal” in Silicon Valley: To have two of the world’s richest technologists, worth a recently estimated $400 billion (Elon Musk) and $14 billion (Peter Thiel), speak admiringly about biblical teachings challenges the view that Christianity is anti-capitalist or even anti-intellectual.


Antichrist, yeah! Peter Thiel, the gay billionaire Christian evangelist CEO of Palantir is spreading the word about the rise of the Antichrist. This week, Thiel launched the first of a four-part lecture series he’s doing about the Dark Lord.


"Moral crisis in tech industry": The Silicon Valley Christians Who Want to Build ‘Heaven on Earth’


Meanwhile...: AI Startup Founders Tout a Winning Formula—No Booze, No Sleep, No Fun... going San Francisco-sober to 'lock in' for 'grind mode'


The Stupidity of GDP per Capita: What does GDP NOT tell us?



Ye nahi sudhrega: India seeks people access in US trade talks after H-1B visa row. . . . . "the less Modi talks of the H1B visa the better. Everybody and his proverbial uncle in the leadership circles in the US and the West has about had it with the Indian PM’s pleadings to let in more Indian engineers and science grads as a way of pleasing his middle class voter base".

Modi’s effusive response to Trump sets India up for more humiliation


Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Quick notes: Agrivoltaics | Outsourcing tax....

  • Farming under solar panels: "It reduces irrigation needs, shields crops from heat stress, and stabilizes incomes by diversifying revenue streams for farmers".


  • Let MAGA eat soy: America’s latest farmer crisis is Government-Grown. Steep losses could fuel farm bankruptcies around the United States.



  • Waiting for socialist bailouts: China’s snub of U.S. soybeans is a crisis for American farmers


  • Forever dependent on foreign tech: India's IT sector nervous as US proposes 25% outsourcing tax. Navarro reposted a call from far-right activist Jack Posobiec for tariffs on services, not just goods.



  • Trump attacks his cash cow: Hundreds of U.S. colleges poised to close in next decade. “Over the next decade, we’re going through a very painful but necessary re-balancing in supply and demand.”


  • Ashtavakra Gita: The Perfect Spiritual Guide to Enlightenment



  • Wi-Fi signals used to measure heart rate accurately: Signal variations caused by a beating heart enable determining beats per minute. The UCSC team, which included Professor Katia Obraczka, Ph.D. student Nayan Bhatia, and high school student and visiting researcher Pranay Kocheta, used a low-cost ESP32 chip and paired it with a machine learning algorithm to detect changes in the Wi-Fi signal caused by the heart. They then run it through a machine learning algorithm, which can estimate the heart rate with an accuracy of around half a beat per minute


  • "Strength of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship": US firm makes a $500 million investment deal with Pakistan for critical minerals



Sunday, August 31, 2025

Quick notes: China threat | MAGA backlash...

  • Conjoined enemies: Lessons From Op Sindoor. "So far we used to say that look China would assist Pakistan during operations, during a conflict, etc. But I think this time it came out loud and clear that it is more like they are conjoined".

  • Beware Of China Threat In North East: China is extremely proactive in politics in Shan state (and indeed in many other parts of Myanmar) as a study about China's overt and opaque role in South Asia reveals.

  • India-China trade: Deficit widens to $99.2 bn. "India is an iron ore seller but not a high-quality steel exporter".

  • Will BRICS boom under Trump's watch? "The dollar would stay "dominant for years, but parallel settlement systems in yuan, rupee and ruble will grow. This won't dethrone the dollar but will steadily chip away at its monopoly."

  • Why the thriving Indian diaspora in the US is not an asset anymore: The excessive publicity about Indian success stories and their high income and wealth levels has begun to breed envy and resentment in non-elite sections of the American populace.

    There might be a campaign against H1B visas and even a gradual expulsion of persons stuck in a limbo with pending green cards and pending citizenship.

    The ground beneath our feet is shifting. And for the time being, the best strategy might be to stop crowing about us becoming a large economy (we are nowhere there in per capita terms anyway) or becoming a big power. We can lie low till our time comes.

  • 'Is it time to pause H1-B visas?': Debate intensifies over Indian tech hires

  • AI destroying careers: There is now clearer evidence AI is wrecking young Americans’ job prospects.

    AI is eating entry-level coding and customer service roles, according to a new Stanford study — junior job listings drop 13% in three years in fields vulnerable to AI

  • Raag MARU BIHAG: Shehnai - Pandit S. Ballesh & Krishna Ballesh



  • "Brahmins Profiteering...": Top Trump Aide On India's Russian Oil Trade. . . . . USA unhinged.. vinAshakAlE viparIta buddhi.

  • We should target Meta, X and Netflix instead: From Pepsi To McDonald's, US Giants Face Swadeshi Heat Amid Trump Tariffs

  • Trump faces MAGA backlash: Trump has opened the doors of American universities to six lakh Chinese students, even as his administration continues its crackdown on International students. "We're going to allow their students to come in. It's very important, 600,000 students. It's very important. But we're going to get along with China".

  • Flip-flopping approach: How Trump Reversed Course on Chinese Students

  • Imperialist: Meta's Zuckerberg pressed Trump on digital taxes before tariff threat. . . . Trump vows export curbs, tariffs in digital tax reprisal

  • Era of US industrial policy: Investors worry Trump's Intel deal kicks off era of US industrial policy.. Intel did not need the money. SoftBank poured $2 billion into the chipmaker three days before the Trump announcement.

  • Delhi pollution cutting life expectancy by 8 years: Delhi remains the most polluted city in the world, with average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels exceeding the WHO guideline by more than 20 times.

  • Integrated Air Defence Weapon System (IADWS): Chinese expert hails India's new laser-based weapon

Sunday, August 24, 2025

Quick notes: State capitalism | Fistful Of Dollars...


Saturday, August 9, 2025

Quick notes: Neglected ally | Cow abuse...

  • America returns to its neglected ally: For destabilising Iran, America needs land access. This is how the Pakistanis were used during the Afghan wars, targeting the Russians.

    From Iran's nuclear programme to Afghanistan's lithium reserves, Pakistan's unique positioning at the crossroads of America's most pressing strategic concerns has transformed it from a neglected ally into an indispensable partner
    . . . After 25+ years of progress, India-US ties take a U-turn, history repeats


  • "The U.S. is not an ally of India": "The U.S. is absolutely uninterested in India based supply chains. Trump is uninterested in that. He is incapable of long-term strategic relations and any of that. India should not presume that the U.S. will do great favors to India. Thats is not going to happen". . . . listen to him, India. Stop being naive.



  • Trump Wants Big Pie Of India's Economy: They want their companies like Amazon to have more facilities for operations. They want unlimited data flow for Google. So, it is beyond tariff, it is beyond trade. The US wants a big pie of the domestic economy.


  • Experts warn Trump: Caving on Nvidia H20 export curbs may disrupt his bigger trade war


  • Blessed to have engineers at the helm: China is developing nation-spanning network to sell surplus data center compute power


  • Cow abuse: Coca-Cola under fire after undercover investigation reveals disturbing scenes at farm: 'A habitual offender'. Investigators also recorded pregnant and sick cows being whipped, punched, kicked, and beaten with metal objects, including shovels, wrenches, and pipes. The abuse was carried out by various staff, including owners, managers, and ranch hands. . . . blacklist coke!


  • Shut humanities department in STEM institutions:


  • SEBI, Jane Street and India’s Regulatory Dilemma: Watch at 2x



  • Evangelicals lobbied hard for this: Texas law will require Ten Commandments to be posted in every public school classroom


Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Quick notes: Hiring Indians | Baloch and Israel...