Quick notes: Erdogan's terror, E-commerce norms...

• Erdogan's Turkey is Islamic State: Syria’s Kurds, betrayed by the U.S., ask Assad for protection.... U.S. commanders recommend letting Kurdish fighters in Syria keep weapons. The recommendation “is a rejection of Trump’s policy to withdraw from Syria”.



• Govt tightens e-commerce norms: Forces e-commerce companies to become ‘genuine marketplaces’. "FDI rules do not allow inventory based model of e-commerce".. Move may end Amazon, Flipkart flash sales and discounts.. Amazon may have to sell Cloudtail, Appario stakes.

E-commerce firms and traders hail new norms but small vendors fret over 25% limithttps://t.co/K8sqGvH90y

— moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) December 27, 2018




• The War on Cars Is Real: It's being led by congested cities. Congestion pricing is just one way cities are actively engaged in reducing the number of cars and the amount of driving.



• Jobless growth: Manufacturing may not generate jobs at the expected rate. 'The policies were put in the hope that growth of the manufacturing sector will lead to increased employment'.



• David Godman on his spiritual journey:

Quick notes: Kurds abandoned, A2 milk...

• Trump throws Kurds under the bus: Almost immediately after the decision to pullout American troops from Syria, Turkey masses troops near Kurdish-held town in northern Syria. Without U.S. soldiers as a buffer, the Kurds are now stuck between Turkey, Assad and ISIS



• On A2 milk: Indian native breeds of cows and buffaloes are of A2 milk type and hence are a source for safe milk. The frequency of A2 allele was 100% in the five high-yielding milk breeds — Red Sindhi, Gir, Rathi, Shahiwal and Tharparkar, meaning that these breeds do not have A1 allele or A1A1/A1A2 genotype. In the remaining breeds, the availability of A2 allele was 94 per cent.



• Christians Groups oppose Meditation, Yoga In Schools: The groups claim children in public schools across the U.S. are being “indoctrinated” by “Buddhist-based mindfulness methods in an “outright unconstitutional” practice.. Missouri megachurch pastor John Lindell similarly blasted yoga for its “demonic” Hindu roots in November. He added the “spiritually dangerous” practice was “ “diametrically opposed to Christianity.”



• EV rentals in Pune: Zoomcar will offer 500 Tata Tigor EV for rent.



• Chinese colony: Uganda is adding compulsory Chinese lessons to its high school curriculum



• Shiva Tandava Stotram – Chong Chiu Sen aka Sai Madana Mohana Kumar:



• जटाटवीगलज्जलप्रवाहपावितस्थले
  गलेवलम्ब्य लम्बितां भुजङ्गतुङ्गमालिकाम् ।
  डमड्डमड्डमड्डमन्निनादवड्डमर्वयं
  चकार चण्डताण्डवं तनोतु नः शिवः शिवम् ॥ 1 ॥
  
  जटाकटाहसम्भ्रमभ्रमन्निलिम्पनिर्झरी-
  -विलोलवीचिवल्लरीविराजमानमूर्धनि ।
  धगद्धगद्धगज्ज्वलल्ललाटपट्टपावके
  किशोरचन्द्रशेखरे रतिः प्रतिक्षणं मम ॥ 2 ॥
  

Quick notes: Racial bias, Politicized loans...

• Harvard Racial Bias: According to school policy, Asian-American males living in rural states need to score a 1370 on the PSAT to get a letter. White males, however, only need a 1310. "That's race discrimination plain and simple".



• Rich Indians continue to support them:

Did you know that India's Mukesh Ambani family has "generously donated to the Clinton Foundation"? India's super-rich donate millions to U.S. institutions that are already flush with funds, while ignoring needy institutions in their home country. https://t.co/uE8QcEe8nM

— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) December 11, 2018




• Only 10% of farmers gain from loan waivers: Some farmers know when elections are due. Before that, they take loans. They then ask their farmer unions for loan waivers and the political party who shouts first about a loan waiver (gets the votes).



• Farm-loan waivers - waste of time and money: “The percentage of farmers availing bank loans is not even 50%. So, you are spending lakhs and crores of rupees and not even half of the farmers are benefiting. In some of the states, not even 25% of farmers avail institutional credit”.



• Bruhi Mukundethi : IndianRaga Chicago Advanced Labs:




• Shared Mobility Is Cheaper: The car you just bought might be the last one you’ll own. Folks living in urban and suburban centers are already shifting away from buying a second car in order to get around. 



• MIPS Goes Open Source: Allows users to access “the most recent versions of the 32-bit and 64-bit MIPS ISA free of charge — with no licensing or royalty fees.”



• Plants don’t like being touched: A plant can’t flee threats, unlike mobile organisms. Instead, they have a highly sensitive threat-response system—like a plant’s version of an immune system 

Quick notes: Tulsi 2020, Loan mela...

• Tulsi Gabbard For President?: ‘I Am Seriously Considering It’



• Loan Mela: The new governments will have to spend more than Rs 220 billion in Rajasthan, more than Rs 160 billion in MP, and nearly Rs 30 billion in Chhattisgarh to keep the promise.

The *political cost* of keeping BJP away from power by promising 'impossible' dreams and creating 'unsustainable' coalitions should soon play out, whether in Karnataka or Madhya Pradesh, one needs to have patience to wait out for it

— Dr Praveen Patil (@5Forty3) December 12, 2018


Modi seen forgiving farm loans as he seeks to win back rural voters.



• Land of the pure: The TRS will hike reservation for minorities from the current 7% to 12% in education and jobs.



• Vikas Gando Thayo Che:

We saw industry after industry violating every pollution control norm - this sort of growth they said, nobody wants, when locals cannot get clean air or clean water. Every river we crossed was a dry bed and often the river bed was being drained of water by mafia https://t.co/YmOxXCVdma

— viva kermani (@vivakermani) December 11, 2018




• Mobility: Mahindra Electric is betting big on e-rickshaws



• “Ancient Modalities”: Meditation is the fastest growing wellness activity in the US



• Tao Te Ching: “Clay is made into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness that use depends. The door and windows are cut out to form a house; but it is on empty space, that its use depends. It is the empty space in the room that gives its function. Everything is shaped by nothing”.



• The Extraordinary Life of Maurice Frydman: Virtually nothing is known about this most extraordinary man. He was in all the right places in all the right times to get the maximum benefit of interaction with some of the greats of Indian spirituality -- Sri Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Mahatma Gandhi and J. Krishnamurti… He was a Gandhian, he worked for the uplift of the poor in India, he worked with Tibetan refugees, he edited extraordinary books [like] “I am That,” probably one of the all time spiritual classics. Ramana Maharshi said of Frydman “He belongs only here to India. Somehow he was born abroad, but has come again here”.
  
  “We ripen when we refuse to drift, when striving ceaselessly become a way of life, when dispassion born of insight becomes spontaneous. When the search ‘Who Am I?’ becomes the only thing that matters, when we become a mere torch and the flame all important, it will mean that we are ripening fast. We cannot accelerate that ripening, but we can remove the obstacles of fear and greed, indolence and fancy, prejudice and pride.” Maurice Frydman, April 1976 The Mountain Path

Quick notes: Evaders list, Security nightmare...

• Tax evasion: People who owe $15,000 in taxes won’t be able to leave China



• Kill switches and data snooping: China could exploit Huawei’s gear to wreak havoc in a crisis.



• Climate action: India's CO2 emissions grew 6% a year over 16 years, faster than China's 3.2% and the world's average 1.3%



• Massive impact on health: Bad air cutting 5.3 years from the average Indian’s life span.



• An Anglican Priest's Experience of Arunachala Shiva:




• David Godman on Papaji, Ramana & Nisargadatta: At the very moment that each thought rises, if one vigilantly enquires ‘To whom did this appear?’ it will be known ‘To me’. If one then enquires ‘Who am I?’ the mind will turn back to its source and the thought that had arisen will also subside. By repeatedly practising in this way, the mind will increasingly acquire the power to abide at its source.

Quick notes: Church planting, Spider friends...

• Church planting: All Nations, the group that backed a missionary’s trip to Andaman, claims that every year, its representatives train around 3,500 missionaries in 35 cities to learn “church planting,” so that “churches rapidly multiply through people groups” across the world.



• File criminal charges:

Why haven't Indian authorities filed criminal charges as yet against the U.S.-based All Nations missionary agency that broke Indian laws in sending evangelist John Allen Chau to his death? His exploits may have imperiled a highly endangered tribe's future. https://t.co/o4GMU4wSBa

— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) November 28, 2018




• S Gurumurthy shaking up RBI: "Shift the West-centric narrative into a world-centric and Asia-inclusive one".



• Remembering UPA: The Praful Patel Guide to destroying Air India



• OK to have spiders at home: Spiders regularly capture nuisance pests and even disease-carrying insects. If you truly can’t stand that spider, instead of smashing it, try to capture it and release it outside.



• Dr Dolittle and his orphanage for wild animals:

"I feel very lucky to have these animals in my life"

Meet India's Dr Dolittle who runs an orphanage for wild animals.
pic.twitter.com/ltXebuCW2y

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) November 25, 2018




• Huawei: NZ bars Chinese firm on national security fears



• Multiple worlds: Where Our Views of Reality Go Wrong



• Your Brain Perceives Reality By Hallucinating: