Quick notes: Bagram airbase | Mineral treasure...

• Who Abandoned Bagram Air Base? Biden essentially blamed his generals. “They concluded—the military—that Bagram was not much value added, that it was much wiser to focus on Kabul. And so, I followed that recommendation.”
  
  Black Hawks and Humvees - Taliban's military gains



• Can China tap Afghanistan’s lithium treasure? An internal U.S Department of Defense memo in 2010 described Afghanistan as "the Saudi Arabia of lithium" .



• Delete Chrome: “Chrome is the only major browser that does not offer meaningful protection against cross-site tracking... and will continue to leave users unprotected.” Having promised to ditch tracking cookies, Google changed its mind. “If you use Chrome, you give up your privacy”.
  
  Google “has trackers installed on 75% of the top million websites,” several times as many as Facebook. Similarly, just look at the recent reports suggesting Google will pay Apple some $15 billion this year to be the default search engine on its devices.



• Light pollution from street lamps linked to insect loss: Artificial street lights disrupt the behaviour of nocturnal moths, reducing caterpillars numbers by half. Modern LED streetlights appeared to have the biggest impact.



• ब्रह्मज्ञानावलीमाला: Sung by Swami Brahmananda, Chinmaya Mission




• China blasts '996' excessive work culture: Jack Ma called 996 culture a "huge blessing." Chinese labor law already prohibits employees from working that long.
  
  Exhausted: Youth in China, Japan and South Korea are 'lying flat' because they're exhausted and without hope



• Sharia hasn't changed:

Tamal Bhattacharya returned from Afghanistan, and said Taliban in 90's and Taliban now are different. But Sharia law in 90's and Sharia law now are not different.

— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) August 24, 2021




• Pakistan’s hybrid war:

If you served in Afghanistan with ANDSF, OEF, ISAF or NATO’s training mission, you were fighting Pakistan’s hybrid war.

It’s not over.

— Chris Alexander (@calxandr) August 28, 2021




• India gets the refugees: While Pakistan gets celebrating Jihadis

#Pakistan in denial #Taliban gets warm welcome |

Watch | Pak-based militant organisations carrying Taliban flags take out victory rallies as they return home after Talibs take over Kabul |@AsYouNotWish @RomeshNadir @upma23 @centerofright pic.twitter.com/01b7KEcPug

— INDIA NARRATIVE (@india_narrative) August 24, 2021

Quick notes: Space station | High-speed rail...

• China’s rival to ISS: While the future of International Space Station remains uncertain after 2024, China says its newly equipped Tiangong station will be up and running by next year.



• How China built the best high-speed rail ever: How did China do it? And at what cost?




• ASML: The most important company you've never heard of.

ASML is the most important company you've never heard of.

The $300B+ Dutch firm makes the machines that make semiconductors. Each one costs $150m and access to them are a huge geopolitical flashpoint.

Here's a breakdown 🧵 pic.twitter.com/pARj3x7Kwo

— Trung Phan 🇨🇦 (@TrungTPhan) August 22, 2021




• Why People Who Brush Still Get Cavities: Cavities are a microbiome problem



• From Kannada medium school to NASA's doorsteps: Karnataka village thrilled by local lad's feat whose entire schooling was in rural areas in Kannada medium.



• Women persecuted for suspected witchcraft: Raipur-based doctor and rationalist, who has been relentlessly raising his voice against the practice of women being beaten ruthlessly and socially boycotted for suspected witchcraft, was thanked by the victims a day after Raksha Bandhan.



• Liz Cheney: Pompeo's surrender agreement with Taliban started it all




• Ungrateful Indians:

More proof that Indian Journalists are better than American ones.
The Americans need their Government and Air Force to evacuate from #Afghanistan. Indian journos outrun Talibs, swing their khadi jholas over their head making it into a makeshift helicopter and take off for India. pic.twitter.com/CNzpMkgiBU

— Manoj Rawat 🇮🇳 (@SeaSkipper) August 21, 2021




• Afghan MP: Uncertain if Sikhs, Hindus will have any rights under Taliban: Afghan MP

Quick notes: US weaponry | Booster shots...

• The right way: “First you bring out all of the American citizens. Then you bring out ALL equipment. Then you bomb the bases into smithereens — And then you bring out the military. You don’t do it in reverse order like Biden and our woke Generals did” -- Donald Trump



• Billions in US weaponry seized by Taliban: Among the items seized by the Taliban are Black Hawk helicopters and A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft. Photos have also circulated of Taliban fighters clutching U.S.-made M4 carbines and M16 rifles instead of their iconic AK-47s. And the militants have been spotted with U.S. Humvees and mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles.



• Worrying drop in vaccine efficacy over time: Pfizer and BoiNTech eye profit windfall from Covid booster Shots.



• Nirvana (Atma) ShaTkam: Music: Deva Premal - "Chidananda".

Quick notes: Electric scooter | Manual washer-dryer...

• Ola Electric Scooter: 3.97 KWH battery. 180 km range. Ola building the world's largest two-wheeler factory and an ancillary park at Hosur.



• Woke and Woker: Netflix wants you to believe that we are living in some ‘Hindu dystopia’.



• Naveen Patnaik: “This bronze medal may have been won by us as players, but in truth, it equally belongs to India, a gift from the honourable Shri Naveen Patnaikji whose vision and constant encouragement helped us achieve our dream”: Hockey captain Manpreet Singh.



• Pledging state assets: Andhra Pradesh govt availed Rs 56076 crore loans from various banks since 2019



• Chennai zoo lions saved from Covid-19: Doctors and animal keepers spent 50 sleepless nights to save the lions that tested positive for the novel coronavirus.



• Raga Gaud Malhar: Ayaan Ali Bangash




• Han games: Huawei stealing trade secrets, spying in Pakistan



• Trick or treat? Eastern Europe turns cautious on Chinese "corrosive capital" investment.



• The zero-power sewage plant inspired by cows: Bengaluru startup ECOSTP Technologies designs biomimicry STP (sewage treatment plant) .
• Navjot Sawhney's hand-cranked washer-dryers: Manual washer and dryer designed to be "robust, simple to use and easily repairable".

Quick notes: Chip manufacturing | Open streets...

• Tata group keen to enter chip manufacturing: "A domestic electronics industry could unlock $1 trillion in GDP and create millions of jobs,”



• Free-for-all 'moment-marketing' : Brands hijacking PV Sindhu's Tokyo win.



• Salicylanilides: A modified drug prescribed to treat tapeworms may protect against cytokine storm and viral replication.
  
  Possible side-effects of mRNA COVID-19 shots.



• Nirmala Sitharaman: Proving to be a better finance minister than initial expectations. Encouraging picture on tax administration, revenues, and the macro-economic situation.



• Vishwa-coolie mindset: Eternal phoren dependence.

.@RajivMessage explains the shortcomings of exporting India's manpower to help build foreign technology companies. He also emphasizes the need for #atmanirbhar in #research & #development as well. #aiandpower @NITIAayog
Watch the full conversation here- https://t.co/O0Y4HjKPKf pic.twitter.com/pSdZzh1N7W

— Infinity Foundation (@InfinityMessage) August 4, 2021




• "Spiritual opium": China brands online games 'electronic drugs'



• Cycling tracks: Govt to build cycling track in four directions of Bengaluru



• Open streets: Revolution in New York City transforming public spaces that have long been the domain of cars.

There is a growing revolution on the streets of New York City. It is transforming public spaces that have long been the domain of cars and may turn out to be one of the most important legacies of the pandemic. https://t.co/YhsgnYJYoM

— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 9, 2021




• Drones on Indian farms: Countering labor shortage plus 30% saving on pesticide.



• Farm pesticides killing more bees: Pesticides sold to farmers ready-mixed into "cocktails" can kill twice as many bees.



• Male fertility is declining: Endocrine disrupters throw off the fragile hormonal balance of reproduction. These include plasticizers, pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, toxic gases and other synthetic materials.



• Chhattisgarh to experiment offering surplus paddy to wild elephants: “We have surplus paddy and there is no harm in carrying such experiment to minimise man-animal conflict”