Quick notes: AI Iceberg | Value of a degree...

• The AI Industry Is Steaming Toward A Legal Iceberg: Legal scholars, lawmakers and at least one Supreme Court justice agree that companies will be liable for the things their AIs say and do—and that the lawsuits are just beginning. Several legal experts say Section 230 will not protect firms from lawsuits over the outputs of generative AI, echoing SCOTUS Justice Gorsuch's 2023 statement.



• Overselling the AI hype: Copilot on Windows is no reason to buy a new PC. Just not useful



• Value of an Indian engineering degree: IIT-Bombay is yet to place almost 36% of its students in the ongoing placement season. Other IIT campuses in Delhi and Kanpur have reported similar problems in the last few years. This has raised questions about the condition of India's job market and the value of an engineering degree in these changing times. United Nations data suggests that India's graduate unemployment has reached almost 30%. Is it time for you to rethink your degree?




• Enemy within: Building spree in the Himalayas is increasing the risk of disaster on the tense China border
  
  'People for Himalaya' Issues 5-pt charter of demand for political parties: A complete ban on all mega infrastructure projects, such as those related to the railways, dams, hydro projects and four-lane highways in the Himalayas, and have urged for referendums and public consultations to be made compulsory for all development projects.
  
  India: No country for a Green Party? Mainline political parties have maintained a deafening silence on environmental issues even as the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign gains momentum and fury.



• Politicians feasting off Hindu devotees' offerings: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has expedited the distribution of house site pattas and registration process for employees and workers. The TTD had sanctioned funds and allocated more than 1,000 acres of land for houses to as many as 14,500 employees.



• 'How to love in Sanskrit' (HarperCollins): A collection of Sanskrit love poetry, translated and edited by Anusha Rao and Suhas Mahesh.



• How China's BYD Overtook Tesla:




• China's sponge cities: Making cities 'spongy' could help fight flooding — by steering the water underground



• Climate change hypocrisy: Guyana President wrecks BBC reporter trying to lecture him on climate change.

Quick notes: Sanskrit connection | Coaching hub...

• Similarities Between Sanskrit and Lithuanian: Video explores some of the commonalities between Sanskrit and Lithuanian.
Here's a post from 2011 on this topic.



• Kota: From Coaching Hub To Suicide Cluster. "After 12 hours of study a student gets depressed and feels humiliated when s/he fails in the periodic tests. The coaching institutes should evolve a better teaching system to make studies stress free".



• Canada panics as Indian students look elsewhere for education. International students from India contribute $19bn+ to the Canadian economy.

Canada Panics as Indian Students Look Elsewhere for Education

Following 🇨🇦 PM Justin Trudeau's allegation of Delhi involvement in the murder of a Khalistani separatist, diplomatic relations between the countries have hit an all time low - threatening Canada's education… pic.twitter.com/hI2SV9tmjR

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) October 6, 2023




• Canada apologizes for awarding one of nation's highest honors to Nazi soldier



• Declining support: US public support declines for arming Ukraine.



• Different kind of Vikas: Some 47 percent of the 'garden city' of Singapore is now covered in vegetation. The city-state champions natural ventilation, tree-lined streets and more energy-efficient buildings. This policy is supported at the highest levels of government, making Singapore the greenest metropolis in the world and a laboratory for the city of the future.
Meanwhile Bangalore succumbed to car-craze.

Quick notes: Namaste is in | Man-made Islands...

• Ahead of the curve: Trump endorses 'Namaste'.
  
  



• Sunk: How China's man-made islands are falling apart and sinking into the ocean.



• Hans know rumours work: "Might be US Army who brought virus epidemic to Wuhan".



• Experts: China carving lungs out of political prisoners to treat Coronavirus



• Facebook 'container': Firefox update blocks Facebook tracking



• Story of a clever jackal from Panchatantra's Kakolukiyam:

Quick notes: Dark net | Anti-satellite weapon...

• Credit, debit card details of 4 lakh Indians up for sale: A whopping 98% out of a large packet of sensitive credit and debit card details, that have been put up for sale on the dark net, are those of Indian customers



• Anti-Satellite Weapon: India proudly showcases its anti-satellite weapon at an arms bazaar... 13-meter-tall, three-stage missile with solid-rocket motor propulsion.



• Over 10% of the population? You are not a minority. . . kindly support her!

World's third largest and Indians second largest majority. So again, why are they being given minority status????@AmitShah @sambitswaraj @harrywakh
Mazak bana rakha hai https://t.co/TBvYUainoI

— apoorva kulkarni-team modi-shah (@EkAur_ModiBhakt) February 8, 2020




• Rattled by China Inc: Attorney General thinks US should buy controlling stake in Nokia, Ericsson. "From a national security standpoint, if the industrial internet becomes dependent upon Chinese tech, China would have the ability to shut countries off from technology and equipment upon which their consumers and industries depend". . . . . White House dismisses the idea.



• Mike Pompeo: "China’s propaganda starts even earlier than college. China has targeted K-12 schools around the world. Do you know that we have no ability to establish similar programs in China? We should have reciprocity in all things. Today they have free reign in our system and we're completely shut out from theirs... Beijing knows that today’s kids are tomorrow’s leaders." . . . China is also trying to recruit U.S. scientists and academics to share vital secrets, in exchange for monetary gain through their "Thousand Talents Plan," a campaign that has already targeted scientists and professors on campuses such as Virginia Tech and Harvard.



• Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: To the broad-minded, the whole world is family.




• Just What the Doctor Ordered: Take a Yoga class and depression, anxiety improve



• Calibrating Ketosis: If you give your body any more than the absolute minimum amount of protein that it needs, it will immediately break it down into carbs. The point of keto is to force your body to deplete its glucose so it will have to use body fat as a fuel source.



• Why is India exporting granite? China’s coronavirus crisis rattles granite barons.



• Indian cities are turning into "urban heat islands": Potential health hazards due to heat waves apart from pollution.

Quick notes: Auto jobs | Army pensions...

• Job losses coming to auto-sector: The average combustion engine takes about 3.5 hours to make, while an electric motor takes about 1 hour.. A combustion-engine car has 1,400 components in the motor, exhaust system and transmission.. An electric vehicle’s battery and electric motor has only 200 components.. Around 410,000 German jobs are at risk by 2030.



• Vengeful CM: Kia looking to move $1.1 billion plant out of Jagan's Andhra.



• No use in real combat? China says India can’t build an effective missile defense system. "Inadequate capital, unsmooth R&D process, heavy reliance on other countries for key technology and incomplete systems" 



• Populism bites: Army to spend more on pensions than on salaries. Rs 111,294 crore for army salaries, Rs 113,278 crore for army pensions. Funds that could otherwise go towards equipment modernisation



• Ashtavakra Gita: It is in the infinite ocean of myself that the mind-creation called the world takes place.
  
  



• Be Modern and Use Sanskrit to Decolonize Your Mind:  Sanskrit is a wonderful tool to liberate our mind from the two of the most pressing problems of the modern world: addiction and depression. Sanskrit is an analytical and a holistic language. It is both argumentative and sacred. It is good for singing and reciting. Be modern and use Sanskrit to decolonize your mind.



• Slave Thinking: Children penalised for speaking in Kannada 



#Karnataka
Beauty of Govt schools !! It's a government school in one of those remote lambani Hattis in chalkere taluk of chitradurga District. Loved the style of teaching Kannada Gaadegalu using Akshara Maale. 👏👏👏
(2nd half of the video in the thread)@nimmasuresh pic.twitter.com/hBfAGCuLun

— Ashwini M Sripad (@AshwiniMS_TNIE) January 8, 2020





If only I was taught 3-Table like in this #Kannada school.
Not sure about my #math, would have at least got good in #dance by now:).
Wonder which #Karnataka school this is?@readingkafka @neeleshmisra pic.twitter.com/RaUKrFZfFL

— Vasanthi Hariprakash (@vasanthihari) January 21, 2020





• How to end traffic  European cities offer a roadmap for life with fewer cars.. . . . Better bus lanes can fix everyone’s commute

Quick notes: Drone wars | Go Local...

• Drone wars are here: Do we expect China to sit on the fence, like in 1971? China produces 1000 drones every day and we don’t even make 100 in one year that too mainly assembled by private firms.

...cont'd

A drone gun is capable of jamming radio, GPS & mobile signal, forcing the drone to ground in good time before damage.

A Bengaluru-based private company, BEML & ECIL working on counter-drone weapons. ATHENA or Advanced Test High Energy Asset, will soon be operational.

— Kiran Kumar S (@KiranKS) September 30, 2019




• Behind India's rotten economy: India has had to forego revenue to the tune of Rs 7,327 crore for its FTA with South Korea and Rs 4,053 crore for the trade deal with Japan. Total revenue foregone may hit as high as Rs 60,000 crore for the proposed RCEP deal once it goes live. Who is benefitting from India's Free Trade Agreements? Go Local!

Friends #Diwali and #Dussehra is around. Buy from people who in return can celebrate their festival. Go local. pic.twitter.com/yLRf8GKC2d

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) September 29, 2019




• Bypassing Belt and Road: EU, Japan sign deal to link Asia. Setback for China's debt-trap diplomacy



• Prof Subhash Kak's brilliant ideas to promote Sanskrit:

Proposal to make Sanskrit more popular in colleges:

Devise an undergraduate degree in Sanskrit that has 4 courses on applied computer science:

1. Python and PHP
2. Discrete structures
2. Databases
3. Networks

Graduates will be able to work at many jobs in the IT field.

— Subhash Kak (@subhashkak1) September 25, 2019




Constructive idea to revive Sanskrit in India:

Produce abridged versions of 100 world classics (novels and stories) in सरल संस्कृत and publish them on the Web & in print. (with a glossary)

That would allow students to immerse themselves in Sanskrit in an enjoyable way.

— Subhash Kak (@subhashkak1) September 29, 2019




• Gene mutation: The modern humans who came out of Africa to originally settle Europe are presumed to have had dark skin. Then, the first farmers from the Near East arrived in Europe; they carried both genes for light skin. As they interbred with the indigenous hunter-gatherers, one of their light-skin genes swept through Europe.
  
  Another mutation took place about 6,000-10,000 years ago that resulted in the emergence of blue eyes.
  
  Interestingly, both these gene mutations can be traced to India and Middle East. So, it’s fair to ask if people with light skin and blue eyes did originate from India or Middle East some thousands of years ago?



• “World’s largest fighter jet ecosystem” : Lockheed to begin supplying F-16 wings from Indian plant in 2020

Quick notes: Sunni rule | Crown jewels...

• The other side: Ladhakis celebrating independence from Sunni rule

#Article370
The celebrations haven't stopped in Ladakh.

This video was posted by a friend, Joshna Sharon Johnson, I met on Facebook. She says this is happening EVERY DAY.

No MSM will cover this. So Make them famous. #KashmirMeinTiranga pic.twitter.com/fbn6txxPpO

— RSS - Ready for Selfless Service (@PartyVillage017) August 11, 2019




• Google is sharing the 'crown jewel' of its AI efforts with China: Peter Thiel. "AI is a military technology.  Starting an AI lab in China while ending an AI contract with the Pentagon is shocking". . . . Sentient, the classified artificial brain behind US intelligence.



• 5G Hype: China warns India of 'reverse sanctions' if Huawei is blocked



• Han tricks: Chinese exporters dodge tariffs with fake made-in-Vietnam labels



• China's pharma dominance is a "National security risk":

Speaking of China, there's a good chance the medicine you take originated there. The Defense Department is flagging this as a national security risk after pills made there were found to contain carcinogens https://t.co/TqX0xLdr6w

— Anna Edney (@annaedney) August 5, 2019




• Water can act as a battery, too: It’s called pumped storage and it’s the largest and oldest form of energy storage in the US, and it’s the most efficient form of large-scale energy storage.



• Beef ban: UK university banning beef burgers and introducing a levy on plastic bottles as part of a wider drive to tackle climate change.



• People-focused innovations: e-slippers, gliding platforms and more: meet the student innovators of Maddur  



• 'Dangerous Korean cult':  A lot of youth from the Northeast have fallen for the Christian cult from South Korea, Shincheonji, led by Lee Man-Hee.



• Why does my child study Sanskrit? You will find universities from many countries having a Sanskrit faculty. Although India has been its custodian, Sanskrit has had universal appeal for centuries.



• Kauai's Hindu Monastery:




• Historical map of India:

Hats off to the creator of this video.. The entire history of our civilization in 5 mins. And we are only taught of Mughals in our history books... pic.twitter.com/hHnSwntYSI

— 〰ಶಂಕರ〰 (@PRO_Shankar) August 6, 2019

Quick notes: Superconductivity, Bank information...

• Superconductivity at room temperature and pressure:  Did IISc team just make the 'greatest Indian discovery after Raman effect'?



• Facebook wants your banking information, too: Banks are worried about the breadth of information being sought.



• Indra Nooyi: “Whether you are from the IITs or the IIMs, the Indian education system dishes to foreign companies the best and the brightest. In today’s world, as we CEOs look for truly global leaders who can pilot through all of the volatility in the world, Indian leaders are rising to the top. So every time we go out to look for leaders there are usually four or five people who have been educated in the IITs or the IIMs that show up.
  
  So the big question that I keep asking myself is if people who have been educated in India always bubble up to the top then why is it that these leaders want to leave India? Doesn’t India need these leaders? Even if they leave India, shouldn’t there be a round trip ticket for them to come back to India, so they can help India get to a better place. So I think one of the big issues we should talk about is not just lessons in leadership or what the leaders need to do today but what can India do to bring those leaders back to India, so India itself can become an even more powerful economy going forward.” 



• Certified pSecular: Andhra govt officially organizing Jesus event..?

Andhra government officially organizing Jesus event in Delhi and resident commissioner is actively involved in the event.#Secularism is at peak. pic.twitter.com/lTMyEAL5sr

— Shubham Verma ( आर्य शुभम् वर्मा ) (@THESHUBHAMV) August 7, 2018




• Lithuanian and Sanskrit:
  Sanskrit: Kas tvam asi? Asmi svapnas tava tamasi nakte. Agniṃ dadau te hridi tada viśpatir devas tvam asi.
  Lithuanian: Kas tu esi? Esmi sapnas tavo tamsioje naktyje. Ugnį daviau tau širdy, tada viešpatis dievas tu esi.
  English: “Who are you? I am a dream in your dark night. I gave you fire in heart, then you become a God”.



• Bolava Vitthal - Ranjani Gayatri

Quick notes: Fugitive shelter, Groundwater economy...

• Rogues' gallery: List of Indian fugitives sheltered by the UK.



• Harmful profits: Philip Morris to target Indian smokers with pen-like iQOS device, aims to “win the hearts and minds” of people between 18 and 24.



• India is a groundwater economy: India must treat groundwater as a common resource, not private property 



• Invented at Duke, financed in China: After failing to win financial backers, hitech spy camera startup moves to China. The technology, never picked up by the US govt, is being used by Chinese police to identify people from nearly a football field away. Chinese emergence pioneering technologies.



• Trump Saves China's ZTE for some reason.... For Sale: U.S. Rule of Law: ZTE the first customer.... The bipartisan bashing of Trump’s ZTE deal



• Zuck's minting money: Facebook gave user data to the Chinese company at the heart of US-China tech tensions 



• Recipe Tutorial in Sanskrit:

Quick notes: China border, Tariff battle...

• India-China border: China is digging for gold right next to its disputed border with India. “Extensive power lines and communication networks have been established, while construction is under way on an airport that can handle passenger jets.” 



• Tariff battle: In a retaliatory move, India proposes to raise duties by up to 100% on 20 products such as almonds, apple and specific motorcycles imported from the US



• Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft: Tamil Nadu to build India’s next generation defence aircraft



• George Sudarshan: A Lifelong Pursuit Of Science And Vedanta. Even non-Hindus will come back to Vedanta if they are sincere in their quest for Truth.



• Punyakoti - First Sanskrit Animated Movie:




• Dear #googletranslate, please add Sanskrit:

Dear #googletranslate, you do 98 languages, including #Hawaiian which has only 2000 speakers but not #Sanskrit, which has vastly more speakers.

Sad @sundarpichai

Please Retweet if you agree.

— Subhash Kak (@subhashkak1) May 6, 2018

Quick notes: Train-18, Biohacking...

• 'Train-18', an indigenous “engine-less” train: The indigenous train designed to run at a top speed of 160 kmph will be free of locomotive since traction motors will be fitted underneath each coach to render them self-propelled. To be rolled out from the Integral Coach Factory by July end.



• Pay me for not eating: Intermittent fasting is getting Silicon Valley startup treatment. Some Silicon Valley execs swear that a form of fasting they call “biohacking” makes them more productive. Several startups are working to commercialize the tech world’s latest health craze. 



• Lockheed offers F-35 radar tech to India: Advanced radar fitted on their fifth-generation F-35 combat jets will be offered on the F-16 jets



• Moong over Microchips: All the sowing, watering, weeding, harvesting and cleaning are done at the farm. The cost of labour, seeds, water and electricity is borne by the farmer. But the bulk of the profits go to the trader who just packs the material and charges a bomb from unsuspecting city dwellers. 



• Samskrita Bharati Teacher:




• Cybersecurity vacancies: India has over 30,000 cybersecurity job vacancies, but hardly any takers. Companies willing to pay nearly twice as much as they do to other tech professionals. 



• Beijing’s big chip push goes into hyperdrive: China makes substantial strides in semiconductors

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: Fund crunch, Saving democracy...

• Proud of you, but no funds for you: Fund crunch hits ISRO programmes. The shortfall is so stiff that the Department of Space does not have enough money at the moment to "initiate advance actions for procurement of materials and renewal of fabrication contracts" for the next phase of PSLV missions.



• AI - comparing India and China: India's policy initiatives are not comprehensive yet and lag other G20 countries. China, on the other hand, today harbours one of the biggest clusters of AI scientists. "China's AI programme is highly structured and driven 'top down' whereas India's approach is more 'organic, driven largely by the private sector and driven by their unique needs for AI".



• Digital India blunder: Modi govt involved FB and Google on hundreds of initiatives under the Digital India programme.“We have to understand these are all data intermediaries. It is but natural that they will use data in every manner. India does not have a privacy law and a data protection law.” 



• Saving democracy from Facebook: The govt should stop using FB, Google and Twitter for e-governance, and thereby stop providing free advertising for these companies for print and broadcast media.



• Reality or perception? As Dalit anger grows, RSS warns Modi-Shah to step up



• Samskrutam: Ananda Himani




• RBI survey: More than half the people surveyed expect no improvement in their incomes, job prospects or the economy a year from now.

Quick notes: IITM, Fighter aircraft...

• India's best: How IIT Madras beat all the odds to become India’s top engineering college... Keep those Periyarites and Leftists out!.



• Dud assets: Indian banks stare at $38-bn new bad loans from power sector



• What aircraft is this RFI for? It is obvious the option IAF would prefer is to add 110 more Rafales. Dassault having pocketed $12 billion for 36 of these would be happy to sell the rest for another $20-$30 billion with TOT (transfer of technology). And well connected Reliance Defence is already chosen as its strategic partner. As with TOT provisions in past contracts, Rafale TOT will come with the advanced technologies as “black boxes” — which is not helpful.



• MMRCA redux? “In the MMRCA tender, vendors promised capabilities that were still under development. This time, they are aware of the stringency of Indian weapons procurement”. The RFI emphasises the need for significant transfer of technology to build the fighters in India.



• Sanskrit: Vanessa Acevedo




• Kerala church: "Yoga and Christian beliefs cannot go hand in hand. Yoga believes in oneness and does not differentiate between the creator and creation"....essentially, the church does not believe in your innate divinity.



• The church doesn't get it: "What difference does it make to you whether Jesus Christ lived at a certain time or not? What has it to do with you that Moses saw God in the burning bush? The fact that Moses saw God in the burning bush does not constitute your seeing Him, does it? If it does, then the fact that Moses ate is enough for you; you ought to stop eating. Each one must experience it himself." --Swami Vivekananda.



• Language of access: Chinese is the second most popular language on the Internet after English. In contrast, Indic content accounts for barely 0.1 per cent of the worldwide Internet content.... MNCs understand the value of the vernacular, unlike NRN who wanted us to abandon our languages.

Quick notes: Amazon model, Russian moves...

• Former Walmart CEO wants Amazon split up:  "They're not making money in retail, and they're putting retailers out of business. Amazon has operated its retail segment at a loss for decades, subsidizing the retail portion of its business with profits from other areas, such as web services. It's anti-competitive, it's predatory, and it's not right.".... Lesson for India!



• Putin tightens Turkey alliance with nuclear project... Russia is arming the Afghan Taliban.... Yazidis remain in fear on Iraq's Mount Sinjar after attempted genocide



• Breakfast cereal: Why cereal is NOT your best breakfast bet



• Abhinav Seetharaman: The beauty that is Sanskrit




• Who sponsors these studies? A questionable new study "explains" the origins of ancient Indians



• Dumping pesticides: Ducks are the future for pesticide-free rice farms



• Breakfast cereal: Why cereal is NOT your best breakfast bet

Quick notes: Digital tax, Renewable natural gas...

Digital tax on "Big Tech": EU to tax US tech titans not just on their profits but on their overall revenue in the bloc. Tax-avoidance strategies used by the tech giants like Google and Facebook deprives EU of billions of euros.


Natural gas from cow dung: Natural gas is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel.  Extracting methane from cow manure could create fuel without fracking. “The potential is huge.”


China's agricultural miracle: The scale of the project has stunned international scientists. A landmark project to make agriculture more sustainable in China has significantly cut fertilizer use while boosting crop yields on millions of small farms. The study involved some 1,000 researchers and 21 million smallholders.


Lifespan gains: China’s air quality has improved so significantly in recent years that citizens can expect to see their lifespan increase by 2.4 years.


Gabriella Burnel: Pūrṇamadaḥ Pūrṇamidam


Monotheism and its Weapons: Early Christians were much more likely to close down the academies, shut temples, loot and destroy artwork, forbid traditional practices and burn books. They believed that the world we inhabit is a perilous place, crowded with malevolent supernatural beings, who sometimes manifest themselves in the form of fake gods. It's the Christian’s duty to root these out. 'The Christian destruction of the classical world'.

Quick notes: Moringa craze, Dietary fiber...

• Moringa craze takes over: Drumstick leaves, the superfood of 2018... soon, poor Indians won't be able to afford it



• Why fiber is good for you: Dietary fiber = undigested by humans = food for gut bacteria. Byproduct is short-chain fatty acids — absorbed by intestinal cells, which use it as fuel.



• Clean meat: Cell-cultured “clean” meat is grown by extracting cells from an animal and then growing those cells in a bioreactor filled with a high-tech nutrient-dense liquid. The cells feed on the liquid and proliferate, producing chicken meat that’s molecularly identical to conventional meat without having ever slaughtered an animal.



• Tax on disposable coffee cups: Bengaluru should consider this.



• Maneeshaa Panchakam: He who is firmly established in the Pure Consciousness – be he a Chandala (outcaste) or a Brahmana, such a one is indeed worthy of being a Guru.
  
  ..dridha prajna api yasya asti chet, chandaalah astu sah tu dvijah astu guruh iti..




• Bollywood's lack of ideas: What happened to all those life-changing films like V. Shantaram's Do Aankhen Barah Haath (about prison reform), Mehboob Khan's Mother India (about matriarchal pride and dignity), Bimal Roy's Sujata (about eradicating the caste system).....?



• Slam vs Slam: Islamic State declares war on rival Hamas with video execution



• It's Time to End Pakistan's Double Game: Pakistan concocted a complex strategy of cooperating on logistics and occasional help with hunting Al Qaeda leaders in exchange for massive U.S. aid, while simultaneously building out a clandestine program to reconstitute the Taliban.

President @realDonaldTrump’s first tweet of 2018. A promising message to Afghans who have suffered at the hands of terrorists based in Pakistan for far too long. https://t.co/NJdYB5qOWl

— Hamdullah Mohib (@hmohib) January 1, 2018

Quick notes: Gwadar's future, Iran's rise...

• China in Gwadar: Indigenous residents’ fear of becoming a minority is inevitable with Gwadar’s population expected to jump more than 15-fold in coming decades. China will receive 91% of revenues until the port is returned to Pakistan in four decades’ time.



• China's AI awakening: China’s AI push calls for homegrown AI to match that developed in the West within three years, for China’s researchers to be making “major breakthroughs” by 2025, and for Chinese AI to be the envy of the world by 2030. 



• Is Iran the Mideast's new superpower? “For stopping ISIS in Afghanistan, the best alternative is the Taliban, so it is easy for Iran to support the Taliban. The Taliban hung them, ISIS people, out on trees for weeks, and no one was allowed to take them down, When Iran hit them strongly, [the ISIS fighters] moved to the east.”  That narrative is borne out by a map used by Afghanistan’s intelligence service. It shows ISIS emerging at points along Iran’s border in 2014-15, and then shifting east toward Pakistan’s border. “It’s a smart policy, to be honest,” says a Western official in Kabul.



• France wants parental permission for kids under 16 to go on Facebook: "Exploiting human psychology by feedback loops, driven by dopamine and 'social validation'."
  



• Christian Nationalism: White Evangelicals voted en masse for Roy Moore in Alabama, to no one's surprise



• India better be cautious: Uber accused of espionage, hacking and bribery in bombshell letter



• Gabriella Burnel: Promoting Sanskrit

Quick notes: GST pain, Faraday Future...

• Can our artisans survive GST? 'I don't know how long the small-scale handmade sector can survive'.



• Are Tatas so naive?  Rumor has it that Tatas are paying $900 million for a 10% stake in Faraday Future, thus valuing the electric car startup at $9 billion.. Ridiculously overpriced, if true.



• Nirvana ShaTkam performed by school children in Dublin, Ireland:

मनोबुद्ध्यहङ्कार चित्तानि नाहं
न च श्रोत्रजिह्वे न च घ्राणनेत्रे ।
न च व्योम भूमिर्न तेजो न वायुः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥१॥

न च प्राणसंज्ञो न वै पञ्चवायुः
न वा सप्तधातुः न वा पञ्चकोशः ।
न वाक्पाणिपादं न चोपस्थपायु
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥२॥

न मे द्वेषरागौ न मे लोभमोहौ
मदो नैव मे नैव मात्सर्यभावः ।
न धर्मो न चार्थो न कामो न मोक्षः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥३॥

न पुण्यं न पापं न सौख्यं न दुःखं
न मन्त्रो न तीर्थं न वेदा न यज्ञाः ।
अहं भोजनं नैव भोज्यं न भोक्ता
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥४॥

न मृत्युर्न शङ्का न मे जातिभेदः
पिता नैव मे नैव माता न जन्मः ।
न बन्धुर्न मित्रं गुरुर्नैव शिष्यं
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥५॥

अहं निर्विकल्पो निराकाररूपो
विभुत्वाच्च सर्वत्र सर्वेन्द्रियाणाम् ।
न चासङ्गतं नैव मुक्तिर्न मेयः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥६॥


• 'What can India teach us' by Max Müller: I remember one of our masters (Dr. Klee) telling us, that there was a language spoken in India, which was much the same as Greek and Latin, nay, as German and Russian. At first we thought it was a joke, but when one saw the parallel columns of numerals, pronouns, and verbs in Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin written on the blackboard, one felt in the presence of facts, before which one had to bow. The concept of the European man has been changed and widely extended by our acquaintance with India, and we know now that we are something different from what we thought we were. The study of Sanskrit has not only widened our views of man, and taught us to embrace millions of strangers and barbarians as members of one family, but it has imparted to the whole ancient history of man a reality which it never possessed before.



• Consciously quantum: Perhaps the most renowned of Quantum mechanics' mysteries is the "observer effect" -- the fact that the outcome of a quantum experiment can change depending on whether or not we choose to measure some property of the particles involved. This deeply troubled the early pioneers of quantum theory. It seemed to undermine the basic assumption behind all science: that there is an objective world out there, irrespective of us. If the way the world behaves depends on how – or if – we look at it, what can "reality" really mean?



• A bitter harvest: Low prices leave farmers seething. “The farm crisis is worsening by the year”.



• Something In The Air: Why does India lead the world in deaths from TB? The rise of TB infections has coincided with the dismal air quality index in many Indian cities.



• Smog shortening lives. Patient numbers have more than tripled in Delhi hospitals since pollution levels spiked.