Quick notes...: June 2023

Monday, June 26, 2023

Why Russia's Biggest Threat is Actually China: The stronger China becomes, the greater the imbalance grows, and the more Beijing may prod Moscow to align its interests with China’s.

Stop spam calls: WhatsApp announced a new feature, "Silence Unknown Callers", allowing users to automatically mute incoming calls if they are from an unknown number. When enabled, the app will silence all the signs of incoming calls from unknown numbers.

The individual self is a myth: It is the process of thinking that creates the self, rather than there being a self having any independent existence separate from thought. The self is more like a verb than a noun. To take it a step further, the implication is that without thought, the self does not, in fact, exist. . . . . The 'self' here is the 'individual self' or 'separate self' or 'ego'. Not to be confused with Max Muller's 'Self', his word for Atma.

Heat Insurance: Help for livelihood loss for outdoor workers due to extreme heat.
Ahmedabad's Heat Action Plan: In addition to parametric insurance programs for outdoor workers, there are efforts in Ahmedabad to cover roofs with heat-reflective paint, implement early-warning systems and establish hospital heat wards in the city of more than 8.5 million people. The proactive approach has become a blueprint for other cities in developing countries who have accepted that record temperatures aren’t just freak weather: they’re the new reality as the planet continues to warm.

Brain-drain: A third of India's most sought after engineering graduates leave the country. Nine out of 10 top scorers in the annual joint entrance examination held nationally for admission to the IITs and other reputed engineering colleges have migrated. Up to 36% of the top 1,000 scorers, too, have taken this path.

India to lose 6,500 millionaires in 2023: Dubai and Singapore remain preferred destinations for wealthy Indian families..‘Millionaires’ or ‘high-networth individuals’ (HNWIs) refer to those with investable wealth of $1 million or more.

Germany's BIG FAT Churches: The two main churches have total assets worth about €300 billion with combined annual turnover of €150 billion. State payments are only a small part of church income in Germany, with taxes to the tune of €13 billion annually making up the bulk of it.

In addition, there's a sizable amount of income from church assets about which the clergy keeps mum. The two churches are said to be the biggest landlords in Germany, owning forests, farmland and other real estate, as well as holding stakes in businesses such as publishing houses, breweries, banks and insurance companies.

Biggest losers of AI boom are knowledge workers: The transformation will pile pressure on higher-wage knowledge workers whose activities “were previously considered to be relatively immune from automation,” according to McKinsey study.

A few years ago, McKinsey had estimated that about half of worker hours worldwide were spent on tasks that could be automated. Now it’s raising the figure to as high as 60-70 per cent. Employees could find that their time is reallocated — or that their jobs disappear.

EU Hits Google with Antitrust Charges: Google faces EU break-up order over anti-competitive adtech practices. Google may have to sell part of its adtech business.

Organ donors: India has one of the world's lowest rates of organ donation. The current health system limits the health benefits of donated organs and allows private hospitals to profit without contributing much to the system.

Semi setback: Vedanta-Foxconn setback shows cracks in Modi's $24 bn manufacturing push... A $3 billion proposal that had Israeli foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd. as a tech partner has also stalled, while a third plan is stuck because Singapore-based IGSS Ventures Pte wants to re-apply

Stalled: Tower ISMC's India chip plan stalls after Tower-Intel deal in setback to Modi. . . "No country ever succeeded in launching a viable semiconductor industry without doing some research on its own". . . . . . busy in history research and debates.

U.S. Semiconductor Fab Boom Kicks Off: Thanks to the CHIPS Act and electric vehicles.

China’s EV Juggernaut Is a Warning for the West: China rocked the auto world twice this year. First, its electric vehicles stunned Western rivals at the Shanghai auto show with their quality, features and price. Then came reports that in the first quarter of 2023 it dethroned Japan as the world’s largest auto exporter.

Ford CEO On EVs: "We see the Chinese as the main competitor, not GM or Toyota"

Giga-factory in Gujarat: Tata Motors looking to increase localisation of EVs to 85%

No to Huawei and ZTE: India has no plans of providing trusted source certificates to Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers

India Pauses Plans To Add New Coal Plants: Indian govt will not consider any proposals for new coal plants for the next five years and focus on growing its renewables sector. “everything related to water, air pollution, resource management has been removed.

India Cuts Periodic Table, Evolution from School Textbooks: “Everything related to water, air pollution, resource management has been removed”.

Vital lessons for India: The real reason Egypt is moving its capital - Thwart anarchists. Watch from 7:30. . . . . . . . Remember Shaheen Bagh?

Using Islam to make Kurds kill Kurds: Erdogan backs Kurdish Islamist party. “This is the women’s last vote. Maybe we will lose our voting rights.”

"Vulgarity and violence": Utah primary schools ban Bible for 'vulgarity and violence'

Jaali buildings are gaining popularity globally: Jaali’s cooling feature relies on the Venturi effect in a similar way to an air conditioning unit. "When air passes through holes, it picks up velocity and penetrates afar. Due to the small apertures, air gets compressed and when released it gets cooler".

Could ultra-processed foods be harmful for us? Aimee, 24, has spent two weeks on an ultra-processed diet. Her identical twin, Nancy, was consuming raw or low-processed foods. Aimee gained nearly a kilo in weight - Nancy lost weight. Aimee's blood sugar levels also worsened and her blood fat levels - lipids - went up. "It's a bit scary isn't it after only two weeks to see those results."