Quick notes: Brain-scale AI | Sperm count...

• China builds brain-scale AI model using ExaFLOPS supercomputer: The work to create an AI training model with 174 trillion parameters is gargantuan.



• Dystopia : China’s surveillance state is growing. Here’s how.




• 24-hour Solar power: China tests technology that could beam solar power from space to Earth



• Sperm count collapse: Research into falling sperm counts finds alarming levels of chemicals in male urine samples. . . . . . . . . Plastic Planet



• So rice! Malayalis off paddy fields, Bengal workers step in. Migrant workers charge much less than what local labourers charge.



• Kalaripayattu: India's martial art and the world's oldest




• Lethal accuracy, drone assisted: Discover Russian artillery tactic to destroy Ukrainian M777 howitzers using drones



• Replacing Kurds with Arabs: Erdogan trains his sights on Kurdish northern Syria



• Doing nothing can be harder than doing anything: How to Do Nothing is not about inaction, staring at the ceiling or relocating to an isolated cabin on the beach or the hills; rather the contrary. It is an active “act of resistance”, an “action plan”, skewed to free people from the shackles of the attention economy and vulgar capitalism.
  
  It is indeed high time to drop off the high-tech social-engineering assembly line, away from the herd mentality. Technology, like money, is a “useful servant but a bad master”.
  
  You cannot 'do' meditation:

Quick notes: Transit corridor | EV landscape...

• North-South Transit Corridor: Iran tests new trade corridor to ship Russian goods to India and other Asian markets. The plan will eventually build a railroad line that can transfer goods arriving at Iranian Caspian Sea ports to the southeastern port of Chabahar.



• Rise of Chinese EVs rattles Europe: Batteries are the pillar of China’s competitive advantage. China is also pushing the frontier of EV software. Today, some of China’s largest tech companies provide the digital backbone of China’s electric vehicles. . . . . . . once a non-entity in global autos, China is now threatening the mighty Germans



• China-plus-One strategy: Why more European firms are choosing Vietnam over China.. "(However) Vietnam is not yet on par with China as far as education level, skilled labor and infrastructure, and logistics are concerned.". . . just like India



• Nalanda: India's ancient university rising from the ashes




• "Agnipath": Govt announces 4-year military recruitment scheme.
  
  Colonel Anil Athale (retd): Military needs soldiers, not contract labour
  
  'Indian soldier costs minimum, delivers maximum': "Experience matters in soldiering and a contractual soldier may not have the stomach to take risks. Soldiers know that their officer will move ahead and they behind him. The officer knows that his men will never let him down. This feeling of camaraderie and trust comes after years of training in the unit".
  
  भारतीय सेना को क्या “Kindergarten Army” बनाना है?



• Jalandhar diocese: Pro-nun group appeals to Pope not to reinstate Bishop Franco



• Polluted air cuts life expectancy: India's PM2.5 levels exceed WHO guidelines by 10-fold. About 51 crore people living in north India are on track to lose 7.6 years of their life if the current air pollution levels persist. One country that has seen major improvements is China.



• Zeer pots: The coolest way to keep food cold without refrigeration



• Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan: 2020 Ashden Award Winner




• 'Toxic for teenage girls': Facebook hit with 8 lawsuits for exploiting young people for profit.



• Energy hog: Bitcoin can (theoretically) handle 7 transaction per second, at the cost of 2,500 kWh (an average home uses about 1,000 kWh per month)

The more I read about crypto, the more I realise how useless they are. Bitcoin can (theoretically) handle 7 transaction per second, at the cost of 2,500 kWh (an average home uses about 1,000 kWh per month). A transaction takes about 10 minutes to be settled.

— Pontus Rendahl (@pontus_rendahl) June 8, 2022

Quick notes: Tech heist | Paki bots...

• China stole the Kohinoor of advanced semiconductor tech: One engineer stole all 2 million lines of source code for critical ASML software. “It’s not an accident. It’s not anything else. But it is a plot to get technology for the Chinese govt.”
  
  TSMC coveted by the CCP: "We must seize TSMC" urges senior Chinese economist
  
  Semiconductor subsidies: Intel Germany mega site gets €6.8bn in European Chips Act funding



• Paki bots instigated Islamic world: India’s intelligence agencies have verified 750 unique bot accounts behind anti-India campaigns with the backing of Pakistan’s PTI party.



• Cycling to Work in Bengaluru: Several tech companies are offering parking amenities and incentives to employees for commuting via #CycleToWork campaign. However, cycling for many, is still a daredevil task.




• Anand Malligavad's Miyawaki forest in Bengaluru: “The aim is to plant about 2 lakh saplings and make it the Miyawaki forest model of Japan. We also have hired people to water the saplings and take care of them". Anand, a mechanical engineer, was widely acclaimed for successfully rejuvenatiing lakes around Bengaluru.



• Dr K Sudheendran: Kerala doctor's ‘sapling treatment’ turns Adimaly green. From erecting fences to watering the plants occasionally, Sudheendran himself cares for the plants until they attain maturity



• pSeculars versus Mother nature in Kerala: KKKaangress, CPM rage against Supreme Court directive for eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around wildlife sanctuaries.



• A new low: India is last in environmental performance index for 2022 . “This is fundamentally a question of the development model and pathways we want to pursue and the lifestyles that we as citizens want to adopt. Destroying the environment and nature in the name of ‘development’ should no longer be the path, whatever might be the justification".



• Running out of black gold: Global soil shortage. The impact of soil degradation could total $23 trillion in losses of food, ecosystem services and income worldwide by 2050



• 'Chadariya Jheeni Re Jheeni': Mukhtiyar Ali




• Bending Apple: EU to require single charger for all smartphones to combat electronic waste. Apple is the only major smartphone maker to continue to use a proprietary port called Lightning.



• Low-fat products misperceived as healthier: Low-fat chocolate milk is still given to schoolchildren under the misguided belief that it is a “health food.” Give priority to whole-fat dairy products over those that may be lower in fat but higher in sugar.

Quick notes: Food vs Fuel | Europe's problems...

• Food vs. fuel: Biden chooses ethanol interests in the face of global food shortages.



• Tumhara Khoon Khoon, Hamara Khoon Paani: "Europe has to grow out of the mindset that its problems are the world's problems but the world's problems are not Europe's problems. It has been singularly silent on many things which were happening, for example in Asia, you could ask why would anybody trust Europe on anything at all".



• Indo-Pacific Economic Framework: Two years after walking out of RCEP, the China-centric free trade pact, India is embracing the chance to become a founding member of another grouping — this one led by the U.S. "A major flaw of RCEP was the inclusion of China. China agrees to everything on paper, but has no compunctions about evading rules in practice. IPEF is very attractive to India because it includes east & southeast Asian countries but excludes China".



• You can be both "cool" and sober: Young women are using Instagram to show others you can be both "cool" and sober. Retired Party Girl and No Booze Babes are online communities for those rethinking their relationship to alcohol. Alcohol alternatives, like kava seltzers and CBD drinks, are getting popular on the heels of this sober curious movement.



• Plastic pollution is ubiquitous: Indian elephants are getting too much plastic in their diets. Plastic comprised 85 percent of the waste found in the elephant dung from Kotdwar. The bulk of this came from food containers and cutlery, followed by plastic bags and packaging.



• Basant in Georgia: Russians singing Om Namo Namah Shivaya




• Sridhar Vembu brings clarity:

We need a strong targeted program in India with the explicit goal of reaching & exceeding the state-of-the-art in all of the essential production technologies we depend on for modern life.

Government must push this hard and private sector must lead the effort.

We can do this.🙏 https://t.co/R5ukwj81QC

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) May 29, 2022




• RISC-V: Intel to explore RISC-V architecture for Zettascale Supercomputers



• Big-pharma's big mystery: Why boosted Americans seem to be getting more COVID-19 infections.



• Gravitricity: Gravity "batteries" for energy storage?



• Make the most of it: Japan to enable fighter jet and missile exports to 12 nations. India, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines among destinations... "Deterrence against China".



• Lessons learnt: Nepal has become increasingly wary of China's expansive Belt and Road Initiative amid Sri Lanka's financial collapse, fresh loans from the US and a shift towards India.

Quick notes: Battery fires | Renewable power...

• Why are electric two-wheelers in India catching fire? Still blaming "inflammable Lithium" when the rest of the world mastered battery/thermal management.. "short circuits and fuses malfunctioning". . Sarkaar bleating



• Coal comes at a "massive, massive cost to the Indian people": While power from domestic coal is being sold at 4-5 rupees/kwh, that goes up to 5-8 rupees/kwh for power from imported coal (and went up to as high as 12 rupees/kwh on the spot market one day last week). Power from wind and solar, in the meanwhile, is at 3 rupees and 2.5 rupees, respectively.
  
  “50-degree heat shows that infrastructure doesn’t work. Coal power plants can’t run above 50 degrees. They break just when you need them.”



• India's savage heat exacts heaviest toll on those working outdoors: “More than 20,000 people have died in last 20 years because of heat stroke and over half of them are men aged between 30 to 60 who are working outdoors. This is not just exhaustion or discomfort. It is actually killing people.”



• Bengaluru couple living the Amish lifestyle:




• Obesity spreading rapidly in India: Phoren diet and bingeing on Netflix.



• Opposite of what Gadkari is doing: Paris plans to remove two beltway lanes to cut pollution. It would transform the highway “from a grey belt to a green belt,” by reserving one lane in each direction for taxis, buses, car-pooling and emergency access. Overall, the highway would shrink to three fully accessible lanes in each direction, from a current norm of four.



• Huge blow for Visa, MasterCard:

Apple drops card payments, switches to @UPI_NPCI payments for subscriptions and App Store purchases in India! pic.twitter.com/ABWGYQU1o3

— Rajeev Mantri (@RMantri) May 19, 2022




• How about practising what you preach? Europe admits it'll have to burn more coal as it tries to wean itself off Russian energy



• Western propaganda: America "intervenes", Russia "invades".

Quick notes: Tibet policy | Battle tank...

• India's Tibet policy: It is not that India did not have excellent strategic thinkers at the time, but Nehru decided not to use their competence. Tibet would never be discussed as a result. Today, one priority for Delhi is to have an in-depth discussion with Dharamsala as soon as possible.



• Russian weaponry: This war has revealed a major design flaw, for instance, in the T-72 main battle tank -- the wrong placement of the ammo storage compartment under the crew cupola, which tends to blow up with the first guided anti-tank munition hit midship.
  
  It is a matter of grave concern to the Indian armoured forces featuring the T-72. Maybe, this will finally convince the army headquarters to take ownership of the indigenous Arjun MBT (which handily beat the Russian T-90 and T-72 tanks in test trials). If the Ukraine crisis proves anything it is for the Indian military to 'Buy Indian'.



• Farm machinery exacting heavy toll on soil: In soil that has been squashed by heavy weight of farm machinery, air is forced out and the soil becomes compacted, leading to flooding and poor harvests. "Compaction can happen within a few seconds when we drive on the soil, but it can take decades for that soil to recover".



• Machine learning for farming applications: John Deere's autonomous tractor will usher in a new era of farming. Farmers are losing control of their machines and accuse John Deere of creating a monopoly in farm equipment manufacturing.



• Netflix losing its grip: Cancellations rise among long-standing subscribers



• Raag Nayaki Kanada (Alap): Shashwati Mandal




• When Shiva appears, Chandala disappears: The disappearance of the Chandala therefore marks the disappearance of the whole ideas he represented. The ‘meaningful nonsense’ of the Chandala of the local myth is thus changed — while the former questions the caste system, the changed version makes such an illusion, but behind it, it in fact seeks to revitalise and legitimise caste.



• Recipe for disaster: English-medium in rural primary = recipe for complete destruction of Indian talent.

Absolutely. And this policy is being pushed when the data clearly shows that Telugu medium students outperform English-medium students at primary level, *despite* Engish apartheid set against them.

English-medium in rural primary=recipe for complete destruction of Indian talent. https://t.co/cfaYxsg7pK

— Sankrant Sanu सानु संक्रान्त ਸੰਕ੍ਰਾਂਤ ਸਾਨੁ (@sankrant) May 16, 2022




• Cities markedly warmer than the countryside: "Heat islands" in and near Delhi, with nighttime temps up to 102° (40°F hotter than nearby fields).


Cities are often markedly warmer than the countryside, and that's critical in a heat wave. This image, taken by @NASA's ECOSTRESS instrument on the @Space_Station, shows "heat islands" in and near Delhi, India, with nighttime temps up to 102° F (40° hotter than nearby fields). pic.twitter.com/yjzkdjDYev

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 12, 2022




• But wait, there's a solution: Shade from street trees reduced surface temperatures by an average of 12°C. Concrete surfaces shaded permanently by a bank of trees were cooled by up to 20°C in the summer.

What if I told you there was a single intervention we could deliver in our cities that would cool them during heatwaves, reduce flooding, scrub pollutants from the air, boost biodiversity, improve public health, and even reduce crime? You wouldn't believe me. But it's true. pic.twitter.com/W1KWm6RHFk

— Jon Burke FRSA 🌍 (@jonburkeUK) May 28, 2021