Quick notes: TTP attacks | Sober tourism...

• A taste of its own poison: Al-Qaida, Afghan Taliban assist TTP with attacks in Pakistan



• The Rise of Sober Tourism: 50% of travelers were likely to opt for a non-alcoholic drink over a beer or a cocktail. Booze-free vacations gaining momentum.



• Nonalcoholic beers: The hottest beer in America doesn't have alcohol. Athletic Brewing has become the king of nonalcoholic beers.



• The easy way to explain lift : Forget Bernoulli and Newton




• Satya Nadella's first decade as CEO : When he took over as CEO in Feb 2014, Microsoft was mired in mediocrity. Its market cap was just over $300 billion. A decade later, Microsoft's valuation has swelled tenfold, to $3.06 trillion making it the world's most valuable public company.



• Anywhere but India: U.S. plans to invest CHIPS Act money in Vietnamese semiconductor industry



• Defender: India deploys unprecedented Naval might near Red Sea



• “Flip Phone February”: Readers who have taken the plunge said it had improved their lives, marriages and mental health, and offered advice to those going without their smartphones for “Flip Phone February.” “Having the phone away from me has almost made my brain more open to information”. A Practical Guide to Quitting Your Smartphone.



• Ancient Vegetables: What did Indians Eat Before Colonisation?

Quick notes: 5G hype | Sobriety is in...

• 5G was an overhyped technology bust: We can’t trust companies to be honest about how today’s buzzy technologies, including AI, driverless cars and the metaverse, will or won’t change our lives. The real world impact of technology aren’t always relevant to you.



• Nonalcoholic Beer Sales Are Soaring: Sobriety is in! New, better-tasting zero-alcohol beers are experiencing explosive growth as alcohol consumption by young adults declines



• NaMo's faux pas: Modi's claim that KCR wanted to join NDA, seems to have amplified anti-incumbency in Telangana to the benefit of Kaangress



• Video Analysis shows Gaza hospital hit by failed rocket meant for Israel. . Greta Thunberg's friends! . . .NYT cannot make up its mind




• Japan's return to big league? Canon Prepares Nanoimprint Lithography Tool To Challenge EUV Scanners. Canon says that further refinements of its technology, its tool can achieve finer resolutions that can enable 3 nm and even 2 nm-class production nodes.



• Defying US Restrictions: China's Phytium Launches 64-Core Server CPUs



• Cancel Harvard: Israeli billionaire quits Harvard board after school’s response to Hamas attacks



• Dr. Larry Goodson: Kautilya - Noon Time Lecture




• The 2,500-year-old sport: Wrestling, in its rawest form, continues to flourish in the rural heartland of India.



• Roundup herbicide ingredient connected to epidemic levels of chronic kidney disease



• Using toilet paper is grosser than you think: The hands of people who use bidets have profoundly fewer microbes than those who wipe.

Quick notes: Vanadium batteries | Mud architecture...

• Vanadium redox flow batteries: The U.S. made a breakthrough battery discovery — then gave the technology to China.. The Chinese company didn't steal this technology. It was given to them — by the U.S. Department of Energy. First in 2017, as part of a sublicense, and later, in 2021, as part of a license transfer.



• China Using Sri Lanka's Indebtedness to Show Military Muscle: China has refused Sri Lanka’s request to reschedule project loans amounting to nearly $10 billion that have fallen due. Without China's cooperation, Colombo would be unable to obtain IMF financing and sink deeper into a financial mire.



• Pornhub: Visa can be sued in abuse claim. "Visa is not alleged to have simply created an incentive to commit a crime, it is alleged to have knowingly provided the tool used to complete a crime".



• Biju Bhasker's Thannal: Reviving zero-cement mud buildings using traditional wisdom.




• AI to help protect India's tigers: Uses the data collected by cameras and rangers, but in addition uses data gathered from satellites and information collected from the local population.



• The purest food on Earth: "Ghee is the final and purest form of milk – the last extract. It was considered the purest offering to the gods and the medium by which prayers were carried to the heavens."



• Taiwan-China trade: Taiwan's trade with China is far bigger than its trade with the U.S. In all, Taiwan exported $188.91 billion in goods to mainland China and Hong Kong in 2021. More than half were electronic parts, followed by optical equipment



• Plastic pollution: Birds all over the world are living in our rubbish



• Global culture a threat to local symbols, identities: Half of the languages spoken in the world today could disappear by the end of the century and with loss of each language, people are not only losing considerable literature and folklore, but also losing wisdom inherited through generations.
  
  As the market is driven by demands of the global economy, more and more farmers are moving beyond indigenous crops for short-term gains and this change in cropping pattern is altering the character of soils, thereby reducing its capacity to support biodiversity.



• Ragam Hamsadhwani: U. Srinivas - Paahi Paahi Bala Ganapathim

Quick notes: ONDC | EV power suit...

• Open Network for Digital Commerce: ONDC plans to level the playing field between small retailers and e-commerce behemoths such as Amazon and Flipkart.



• Dr Jayan Thomas: Spearheading research on 'EV power suit'-- body shells with built-in super-capacitors for storing energy



• Selling EVs without batteries: The draft battery-swapping policy spoke about the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) model that will allow users to buy EVs without batteries and then sign up for battery subscription services. This will reduce EV costs as batteries account for 40-50 per cent of their price tags.



• Does time really exist? Investigations on 'time' yield lots of surprising and counterintuitive lessons. Time is relative, not absolute. Time always marches forward, not backward, but we still lack an explanation for the arrow of time.



• Regional, official and national: There is a persistent push from the Centre to steer a pro-Hindi course in non-Hindi states. Karnataka is more prone to this problem than many other states, because it is -- and has been -- governed mostly by national parties.



• Millets for global food security: Millets require little by way of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and can boost soil quality through intercropping with other plants. State intervention currently favors rice and wheat.



• Subhashita 5: Factors behind the real prosperity of nations.




• Brain drain to China: Taiwan cracks down on China poaching tech talent. Targets Chinese investing and hiring.
  
  “There is a very big fear that if top engineers are being lured away to China, they will take some trade secrets with them and that could damage the competitiveness of the Taiwanese economy.”



• Atmanirbhar China: China orders government, state firms to dump foreign PCs



• ‘30% tax on the Internet’: Elon Musk compares Apple's App Store tax to having a 30% fee for using the internet, 'definitely not ok'.

Literally 10 times higher than it should be

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2022




• How to Tell Google to Forget Your Data: Simply follow this link and click on the button stating “Start removal request.”



• Organizational behavior:

Quick notes: Research funding | Hydraulic city...

• CAG report: IITs unable to generate sufficient internal receipts, remain dependent on govt for grants: . "IITs received very low levels of funding for research projects, sponsored from non-government sources. Thus, they remained dependent on the govt for funding of their research activities. There was also a large variance between the patents filed and obtained by all the eight IITs and no patents were obtained during the five-year period, indicating that the research activities could not bring out fruitful results".



• Angkor - Ancient Hydraulic City: As well as ensuring a year-round water supply in a monsoon climate to support the population, agriculture and livestock, the hydraulic system feeds the foundations that have kept the temples standing for centuries. The sandy soil alone is not enough to withstand the weight of the stones. However, master engineers discovered mixing sand and water creates stable foundations, so the moats that surround each temple were designed to provide a constant supply of groundwater. This has created foundations strong enough to keep the temples stable and prevent them from crumbling all these centuries later




• Char Dham Highway: With hill cutting being done in a vertical manner, basic norms of road construction have not been followed, thereby only serving to worsen the situation. Destabilising these slopes is only going to cause irreversible damage.



• China Replacing Soldiers with Robots in Tibet Due to Poor Performance: The PLA has moved 88 Sharp Claw unmanned ground vehicles into Tibet for reconnaissance, patrolling and transportation of weapons and logistical work in difficult terrain. Also in Tibet is the robotized Mule-200. It has a range of 50 km, can navigate difficult terrain and also, carry about 200 kg of ammunition, supplies or even weapons at a time. Remotely controlled by wireless, it can perform combat tasks if fitted out for fire-support activities.



• China Is Haunted by Its One-Child Policy : Decades of birth restrictions mean fewer women of childbearing age and a younger generation less eager to start a family.



• Apple sucking up to Xi: To cut costs and curry favor with Beijing, Apple is increasingly replacing Foxconn with Chinese manufacturers.



• Walled Garden: India orders antitrust investigation into Apple's business practices. Apple prevents app developers from using a third-party or their own payments system, making a significant dent in the revenues they generate.



• Russia to Require Netflix to Stream State TV Broadcasts: online streaming services with over 100,000 daily users are required to provide streams of 20 major Russian federal television channels.



• Hyundai stops developing IC engines: "Now, it is inevitable to convert into electrification".



• Technical post: The art of solving problems with Monte Carlo simulations

Quick notes: 1971 war | Chip ecosystem...

• US wanted China to intervene against India in 1971 War: After Indira Gandhi's visit to Washington; Kissinger said the 'Indians are bastards anyway. They are starting a war there [in Bangladesh] ... While [Indira Gandhi] was a bitch, ... she will not be able to go home and say that the United States didn't give her a warm reception.'
  
  The duo (Nixon, Kissinger) wanted China to put more pressure on India: 'I think we've got to tell [the Chinese] that some movement on their part ... toward the Indian border could be very significant.'



• Develop ecosystem for chip production: The US, South Korea and China have incentives totaling about $50 billion, $100 billion and $450 billion respectively, far higher than India's. So future chip production, if we are to have it, shouldn’t be a one-trick pony and must develop an ecosystem from design to fabrication, to packing and testing.
  
  Given the long gestation periods and rapid technology changes, India must out-strategise on design and functionality as the end product will be out only three-four years from the moment work begins, by which point the prevailing chip shortage would have been resolved, while technology would have advanced further.
  
  Designing is India’s advantage and while we leverage people skills, we must improvise research and development—an area that we are lacking in currently. Importantly, WTO-consistent tariff and non-tariff barriers should be resolved to ensure flow of goods, besides ensuring policy stability, without which our chip production prospects will remain empty.
  
  + Semiconductor capex to hit $152 Billion in 2021 as market on track for $2 Trillion by 2035



• India's Atlantis: Searching for the sunken kingdom of Dwarka




• Narinder Singh Kapany: The relentless innovator behind the science of fibre optics



• New Pfizer drug and ivermectin: Uncomfortable facts for Pfizer, Big pharma and Woke media



• Cryptocurrencies a challenge for emerging markets: "Because a lot of these crypto exchanges are offshore, they are not subject to regulation of a particular country... So, there is a need for a global policy on that front urgently".



• Why Pakistan may want the J-10: While a layperson may think the J-10 appears similar in layout to the F-16, the Chinese aircraft has a delta wing design with 'canards' forward of the fuselage. There is suspicion Israel transferred technology for the Lavi fighter to China.
  
  + Israeli companies exported cruise missiles to China without permit



• Chart buster: Bird songs bump stars off Australian music chart

Quick notes: Expired vaccines | Sigiriya...

• White man's generosity: Europe sent Nigeria up to 1 million near-expired doses of covid-19 vaccine



• Covaxin: Caught in western deviousness

💡[Whisper]… there is actually a proven vaccine for kids age 2-4 that is *CURRENTLY UNDER REVIEW* at the @US_FDA with an EUA app submitted on November 5th—but FDA has not moved yet on approval meeting. ➡️Why is the media not talking about this? #COVAXIN https://t.co/N0PmXMEWtT pic.twitter.com/szLEN8HQoK

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 11, 2021




• Harvard report: “In speech technology, Chinese firms are beating American firms in every language, including English. The world’s top voice recognition startup, China’s iFlytek, has 700 million users, almost twice the number of people who speak to Apple’s Siri.”



• StarFive: Chinese company delivers the world’s highest performance RISC-V CPU Core IP, codenamed “Dubhe”
  - 2GHz @ TSMC 12nm
  - SPECint2006: 8.9/GHz
  - Dhrystone: 6.6 DMIPS/MHz
  - CoreMark: 7.6/MHz.



• Ancient Engineering Marvel: Sri Lanka's ancient water gardens of Sigiriya are a complex masterpiece of irrigation engineering design. During excavation, water conduits were found at different depths, likely to achieve varying water levels; something that required a masterful knowledge of physics and engineering.




• Jugaad ain't no innovation, stop romanticising it: India cannot become a world-beating economic force by under-investing in fundamental scientific research and celebrating stop-gap survival mechanisms (jugaad) as path-breaking innovation. Such celebration and characterisation should be left to advertising agencies and other creative types looking for a story to tell.
  
  The state should commit itself to turning India into a magnet for top scientific talent from around the world, increasing investment in fundamental science and engineering and creating infrastructure which will give Indian scientists the choice of working in their home country instead of moving to more hospitable climes abroad.



• Socialization of losses: PSBs lost Rs 2.85 lakh cr due to loan default of 13 firms. "Time and again public sector banks have been used to bail out ailing private sector banks such as Yes Bank, Global Trust Bank, United Western Bank, Bank of Karad, etc. Private sector's largest NBFC, IL&FS, was bailed out again by public sector SBI and LIC".



• Semiconductor subsidies: "How do you compete with a 30 to 40% subsidy? Because that means we are not competing with TSMC or Samsung, we are competing with Taiwan and Korea. The subsidies in China are even more significant."



• Ban glyphosate: Glyphosate is "reportedly" being used both for weed control and to desiccate crops prior to harvesting. The weedicide and its adjuvants are absorbed by the plant and consumed by humans.



• Market Dominance: Italy fines Amazon $1.3 Billion for abuse of dominant market position.
  
  FTC complaint: Amazon misleading consumers with 'deceptive' ads in search results.

Quick notes: Origins of farming | Cost of parking...

• Origin of farming: “A mainstream view is that farming came to South Asia through the large-scale movement of Iranian farmers. But the absence of Iranian farmer DNA in the Indus Valley individual suggests instead that farming in South Asia arose on its own, either through local invention or adoption of ideas or some combination”. . . . . . . . . . Genome of nearly 5000-year-old woman links modern Indians to ancient civilization: “This research, for the first time, has established the fact that people of Harappan civilisation are the ancestors of most population of South Asia. For the first time, the research indicates movement of people from east to west.



• Finally, some sense: Nitin Gadkari says Hybrids must get same reduced GST benefit as EVs. . . . EVs not a panacea, can actually increase pollution where power gen is from coal.



• The high cost of free parking: Just because you don't pay anything for parking doesn't mean the cost is not there. It is still there, just the driver isn't paying for it. It is esitmated that in America, there are 8 parking lots for every car!




• Why India must prioritize Railways over Road transport: Railways require less land than most roads and that is visible even to the naked eye of an onlooker. This is especially important in the old world where many countries including India have dense populations and agricultural land is of great value.

Bankrupting nation going on full speed. Do we need the damn super expensive Nagpur Expressway? Or is it an ego trip of @nitin_gadkari and worse @Dev_Fadnavis at public cost. #MSRDC chairman under a cloud. Wake up people! pic.twitter.com/YOAJlujXoe

— Sucheta Dalal (@suchetadalal) September 1, 2019




• Kerala: Left Front shifts a little right on Sabarimala



• China 'hacked' Indian, other Asian telcos: To spy on Uighur travellers,  Chinese hackers have compromised telecoms operators in countries including India, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Malaysia



• Zao: China’s face-swapping app provokes privacy poncern



• How Britain's opium trade impoverished Indians: How a few thousand opium clerks controlled millions of peasants, forcing them to produce a crop that actually harmed them. The British Indian monopoly on opium continued until India won independence in 1947



• Insanity in the name of Vikas:

These are the ruins of the once-flourishing Dakhina Parswa Matha of Puri. Closely associated with Jagannatha Temple. A hub of the Maratha gurus. Half-faded murals & beautiful stucco— locals say all of it might be razed by the end of this week, for a wider road! 😭 #SaveHeritage pic.twitter.com/PPhZRnUO9w

— Prateek Pattanaik (@pattaprateek) August 22, 2019





ROFLMAO what did I predict would come out of samosaji's plans for vikas? This is what happens when u r too

Public Works Department's plan to axe trees planted by Padma Shri Thimmakka
to widen the road between Kudur and Hulikalhttps://t.co/FlzVTq5KhChttps://t.co/H8fPaCVwi3

— Spatel (@Rjrasva) June 3, 2019

Quick notes: Horse domestication, Karnataka bungle...

• DNA Study Pokes Holes in Horse Domestication Theory:  “A lot of what we’ve published [on horse breeding and Eurasian population shifts] is probably going to be thrown out.”.



• In 're-education' program, China incarcerates thousands of Muslims: The program forces captives to renounce their religious and ethnic ties in favor of broad nationalism



• Karnataka bungle: “Once Modi and Shah left, the leaders here went into sleeping mode. The induction of former CM S M Krishna was not used for the benefit of the party. If the party had issued a ticket to Krishna’s daughter Shambhavi from Maddur, a better show would have been possible”.



• Caste math: A profile of the new Karnataka assembly



• Battery powered: Ola to add electric three-wheelers to fleet.... Honda may set up electric car battery plant in India.... Electric bicycle and motorcycle sales soar in Europe.



• NASA satellites reveal freshwater decline: In northern India, groundwater extraction for irrigation of crops such as wheat and rice have caused a rapid decline in available water, despite rainfall being normal throughout the period studied. The fact that extractions already exceed recharge during normal precipitation does not bode well for the availability of groundwater during future droughts.



• Diabetes type 2: Beans in diet could prevent high blood sugar.... Early time-restricted feeding improves blood sugar control and blood pressure.

Quick notes: Exit tax, Friend of my enemy...

• Exit tax on fleeing millionaires: There is an exodus of millionaires from India, and the govt suspects the rich are trying to escape scrutiny and tax liability.



• Strategic loss for India? Iran invites China for Chabahar development. "Any Chinese presence at Chabahar, even if not involved in the operation of the port, could be used as a way of undermining India’s influence with local authorities".



• The Friend of My Enemy: Iran is not comfortable with India because of its strategic partnership with the US and the new India-Israel relations. Ali Khamenei mentioned the Kashmir issue in some of his sermons for the first time and comparing it to the injustice meted out to Palestinians.



• Uprising? New nationalist movement emerges from Pakistan’s Pashtun protests



• Trump flirts with re-entering TPP: “If you want to send a message to China, the best way to do that is to start doing business with their competitors”



• Death: Whatever is, is you. You are the unlimited, which is not susceptible to the senses. By limiting yourself to the body, you have closed yourself to the unlimited potential which you really are




• From Sanskrit to Macedonskrit: "Stop translating, I understand what you are saying. You are speaking here some corrupted form of Sanskrit".



• Brain drain: Taiwan battles a brain drain as China aims to woo young talent away 



• A Challenger to Silicon Valley Emerges: The U.S. approach is “We’ll build a better product and just win over all the countries”. The Chinese approach is “we’ll fund the local partner to beat off the American companies”. All the rest of the world will basically be a land grab between the U.S. and China. Chinese-led venture funding is about 15 times its size in 2013, outpacing growth in U.S.-led financing, which roughly doubled in that time period.
  

Quick notes: 5G network, Automotive liberation...

• A nationalized 5G network: Trump's national security team is looking at options to counter Chinese threat that include building a super-fast 5G wireless network. Beijing is pushing for a greater role in setting technical standards in the next-generation wireless arena. “What if China is so successful in a key 5G technology that the US military becomes reliant on it as a supplier?”.



• High Net worth Individuals: 7,000 ultra-rich Indians shifted overseas in 2017



• The Automotive Liberation of Paris: The city has waged a remarkably successful effort to get cars off its streets and reclaim walkable space. Driving within Paris city limits has dropped about 45% since 1990. Meanwhile, the share of cyclists has increased tenfold over the same period. Transit’s share has risen by 30%.



• Arara: A battery-free magnetically powered bicycle light.




• Super Wood! Simple processes can make wood stronger than steel, able to stop a speeding bullet



• China's got a Railgun?: Looks like China just installed a railgun on a warship, beating the U.S. Navy to the punch



• The battle against tech addiction: “Facebook appeals to your lizard brain — primarily fear and anger”. “It has never been easier to run away from ourselves.”



• Appropriating Indian knowledge base: Do read this whole thread. 

Naturally, the Jesuits had no qualms about amassing any astronomical & mathematical knowledge from the pagan lands they went to proselytize in. India was no exception. They were very active in Kerala, where they gained access to Yuktibhasa, the seminal manuscript of Calculus.

— Joseph T Noony (@JoeAgneya) October 19, 2017

Quick notes: Temple lands, Dharma lesson...

• Hindus penalized for 'Vikas Mandate': BJP-led Maharashtra govt to sell vast tracts held by temple trusts. The State Cabinet amended existing laws, allowing transfer of Devasthan Inams land held by individuals and 4,000 temple trusts, including the ones at Shirdi, Siddhivinayak, Pandharpur and Mahalaxmi in Kolhapur.... vikas gando thayo chhe



• Muslims didn't vote for Vikas, so reward them: Same govt increases the budget of Haj Committee.

BJP-led Maharashtra govt says #budget of State Haj Committee will be increased.

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) January 11, 2018




• Shia board's warning: Shia Central Waqf Board urges govt to shut down madrassas in the country, alleging that education imparted in these Islamic schools encouraged students to join terrorist ranks.



• Chinese H1-B: China is issuing long-term visas to lure highly skilled people from abroad to work in the country. Technology leaders, entrepreneurs and scientists from in-demand sectors are among those eligible to apply.



• Exodus triggered by growing innovation: Chinese workers abandon Silicon Valley for riches back home



• Dharma lesson by Max Muller:  What India teaches us is that in a state advancing towards civilization, there must be always two castes or two classes of men, a caste of Brahmans or of thinkers, and a caste of Kshatriyas, who are to fight; possibly other castes also of those who are to work and of those who are to serve. Great wars went on in India, but they were left to be fought by the warriors by profession. The peasants in their villages remained quiet, accepting the consequences, whatever they might be, and the Brahmans lived on, thinking and dreaming in their forests, satisfied to rule after the battle was over.
  
  And what applies to military struggles seems to me to apply to all struggles—political, religious, social, commercial, and even literary. Let those who love to fight, fight; but let others who are fond of quiet work go on undisturbed in their own special callings.



• AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda

Quick notes: Hybrid planes, Spewing power plants...

• Hybrid electric plane: The turbine powering the generator will run on jet fuel and provide power for the electric engine. Any excess power from the generator will be stored in banks of batteries in the fore and aft holds with the stored energy to be used during take-off and landing... Very much like the Serial Hybrid architecture in Chevy Volt.





• Surround Delhi with a deep ring of forests: Not only will this modify the weather within the city, but the forest will absorb a major portion of airborne dust from across the Thar Desert and from Pakistan. Without afforestation, even if you take all cars off road, it would just scratch the surface of Delhi's smog.



• Pollution from power plants: The worst of this pollution runs from north of Patna in the state of Bihar to south of Raipur in the state of Chhattisgarh.




• BJP feeds the hostile media: Modi govt spent Rs 3,755 crore on publicity blitz - 1,656 crore on electronic media and Rs 1,698 crore on print media. The govt's allocation for pollution abatement in the last three years has been only Rs 56.8 crore.



• Marxist-Leninist-Maoist: Left alliance sweep Nepal elections, Oli set to return as Nepal PM



• Oneness:




• Satya Nadella's off-break: Microsoft's Redmond campus to have a cricket field.



• You are being programmed: Facebook and others had succeeded by exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology... Facebook lies about its ability to influence individuals based on the data it collects on them.



• Sri Rama Setu is man-made:

Are the ancient Hindu myths of a land bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka true? Scientific analysis suggests they are. #WhatonEarth pic.twitter.com/EKcoGzlEET

— Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) December 11, 2017