Quick notes: Western diet, Ionic wind...

• Western diet triggers microbial extinctions: Burgers and fries have nearly killed our ancestral microbiome.



• Ionic Wind: First ever plane with no moving parts takes flight. How the world’s first solid-state aircraft used ‘ionic wind’ to fly




• Secular BJP: Bawakhaleshwar temple, Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai: Bawakhaleshwar temple being demolished. A big Hindu temple being brought down using brutel force citing land legality reason.

How many "intolerant" Hindus created ruckus across India? pic.twitter.com/mrpKAzZTKN

— Kiran Kumar S (@KiranKS) November 21, 2018




• Murder??? Wait, what?! Christian Colonizers Demand Justice for Christian Who Attempted to Colonize an Indigenous Tribe



• Leave the Sentinelese alone: The quality of life among the Sentinelese and others is not “primitive” and is very refined. When a tribal Jarawa gives a gift to anothers, something like a bow and arrow or a shell-necklace or some food, the gift-giver presents the gift with great reverence. The other man does not take it straightaway. He takes his own time. Are we like this? Social mores are such that an individual knows that when he commits a wrong, he has to punish himself. There is no tribal chief, council or panchayat to enforce anything. Such an individual isolates himself. The community indicates its disapproval by not looking at him, not talking to him. If food is in short supply, they will share. Nobody starves. If there is plenty, they will feast. Those who bring a hunted turtle, wild boar or honey, do not advertise their claims over it. Selfishness is unknown. The clans follow monogamy. There are no free-for-all sexual orgies. Close relatives do not marry each other. The absence of attire does not mean anything to them. They believe that the body is nature’s gift and should be treated with respect. 



• Insight into the Sentinel Island:

There's been a lot of talk about the missionary killed by the natives of North Sentinel Island. They're probably so aggressive because of this weirdo, Maurice Vidal Portman. So here's a big thread about this creep and some facts from my decade-long obsession with the island. pic.twitter.com/rfOVjfU2ZY

— Respectable Lawyer (@RespectableLaw) November 23, 2018




• Devotion with Sri Mooji:

Sentinelese demonstrate survival skills

A selection of comments from WaPo and other sources on Missionary intruder killed by Sentinelese tribe:

So the Sentinelese kill a missionary the moment he lands. No wonder this tribe has successfully survived 60,000 years on their own. They know trouble when they see it.

Someone forgot to tell this guy that historically if you’re going to bring Jesus to a new people you’re supposed to bring an army, and lots of blades and guns to help convince the new people how much Jesus loves them, in case they can’t see clearly on their own or have any silly attachments to any other gods they may have been worshiping for a few thousand years or so

By spreading the word, Christian missionaries think they're saving "primitive" tribes from going to Hell. What kind of God would send people who have never even heard of Chistianity to Hell?

Not only did he break the law, but this man was holding out a hope that he could single handedly convert an entire island to Christianity. However unlikely that would have been, he basically dreamed of carrying out a cultural genocide and erasing beliefs these people may have held

Reading that the Indian govt had created a "buffer zone" to protect these last few indigenous tribes from outside influences gives me a lot of respect for the Indian govt. The Indian govt also gave Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people a santuary in their country in 1959. Deeds are stronger than words indeed!

A willful intruder into the sanctity of the home of other people for thousands of years.

Misguided Christian colonization attempt ignores tribe's collective, resounding "Not Interested."

You're freedom of religion should never effect My freedom from your religion

Christianity depends heavily on dividing humans into the saved and the damned, with the saved free to do pretty much whatever they want to the damned. Scapegoating is built in.

Arrogant evangelical risks killing an entire Neolithic people with diseases to which they have no immunity. The Sentinelese clearly don't want your civilization or your gospel. Unless invited, stay the f off indigenous territory. #AbolishProselytism https://t.co/5cYzyUQg1J pic.twitter.com/M9jISUq9IE

— The Decolonial Atlas (@decolonialatlas) November 21, 2018

Prof Harari on lies and the Bible:

He's a missionary, not a tourist.

And the first time they met a colonizer, the British kidnapped six Sentinelese, two elders and four children.

The entire group of abductees fell ill. The elders died and the sick children were abandoned with "gifts". https://t.co/vfv1Lg9KeA

— Andrew Parsons (@adrparsons) November 21, 2018

Gunmen Attack China's Consulate in Karachi

Gunmen have attacked China's consulate in Karachi:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-blast/gunmen-attack-chinese-consulate-in-pakistans-karachi-sources-idUSKCN1NS0AM

Quick notes: Rafale configuration, Rice straw...

• Courting trouble on the Rafale: The detailed configuration of weapon systems on the Rafale needs to be a closely guarded secret. Giving out the details of pricing will surely help our adversaries to guess the configuration and take countermeasures......... A small piece of advice to the legal fraternity. Now that you have entered the dangerous terrain of security policy making, educate yourself by at least reading these two books -- Arms and Influence and Strategy of Conflict.



• A market for straw: Ikea wants to turn rice straw into household wares in a move that could end up reducing a major source of pollution in India.



• Dieselgate: NGT directs Volkswagen's India unit to deposit Rs 1 bn in emission case



• Inaction by BJP is deplorable:

Inaction by BJP is deplorable. https://t.co/aN9wTemacY

— राजीवः श्रीनिवासः (@RajeevSrinivasa) November 19, 2018




• Education:
  Prashanth and Anuradha Palakurthi: Indian couple from US donate $1 Million To BITS-Pilani.
  
  Serving the master race: Infosys begins construction on its $35M U.S. Education Center in Indianapolis
  
  How many IIT students devote energy for research, asks Pranab Mukherjee.



• O Ranga Sayee: Master Anantharaman and other child prodigies.

Who Gave Him the Sign?

Twitter CEO has posed with sign saying "smash Brahminical patriarchy"

https://www.opindia.com/2018/11/jack-dorsey-poses-with-a-placard-that-declares-smash-brahminical-patriarchy-netizens-furious/

Trump Says Pakistan Does Nothing for US

Trump again doubled down on his criticism of Pakistan, saying he ended aid for them because they do nothing for the US:

https://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-pakistan-knew-about-laden-s-hideout-ended-aid-as-they-don-t-do-anything-for-us-trump-2687118

GSAT-29 Raised into Final Orbit

GSAT-29 has been raised into its final orbit, enabling it to provide high-speed laser communication links to both J&K and the Northeast. It's also equipped with a special "geo-eye" camera, which allows continuous visual surveillance of the region from high in geo-stationary orbit (basically able to monitor large objects like foreign naval ships in the area):

https://www.deccanherald.com/national/gsat-29-placed-final-703583.html

Quick notes: Kaangress manifesto, J-20 payload...

• Kaangress manifesto for MP: From Sanskrit to cow shelters, Congress manifesto for MP reeks of soft Hindutva



• Kaangress manifesto for Telangana: Govt land for churches, subsidy for Christian pilgrims, taxpayer funded salaries for Padres.. Yay, Bible Raj!!




• China's stealth fighters show off missile payload: "J-20 breaks the monopoly in arming stealth fighter jets."




• Growing the future: High-tech farmers are using LED lights in ways that seem to border on science fiction



• Delhi's air toxic: But these 5 Indian cities are even worse



• Paris plans to build the world’s largest fleet of electric bicycles: European countries and cities are promoting bikes as a commuting option.



• Salil Parulekar: Former Tesla employee indicted in $9.3M embezzlement scheme 



• Yuval Noah Harari discussing Vipassana:




• Pico Iyer: How Can We Find More Time To Be Still?

GSLV MkIII Launches GSAT-29 Successfully

GSLV-MkIII D2 flight has been  carried out successfully:

The GSAT-29 satellite will be able to provide various new capabilities, including fast-throughput connectivity using laser communications.

With the successful completion of this 2nd developmental flight of the GSLV-MkIII, this rocket is now operationalized and a full working member of ISRO's launch vehicle family, allowing ISRO to undertake bigger things.

India's fully indigenous micro processor Shakti RIMO from IIT Madras

Quick notes: Placebo effect, Wind damage...

• What if the Placebo Effect Isn’t a Trick? New research is zeroing in on a biochemical basis for the placebo effect — possibly opening a Pandora’s box for Western medicine.






• Ecological imbalance from Wind Farms: In the Western Ghats, wind farms have reduced the abundance and hunting activity of predatory birds like raptors. As a result, wind turbines are creating a “predation-free environment” that is changing the behavior and even the form of creatures lower down the food chain.



• China Telecom's Internet Traffic Misdirection: The improper routing caused some US domestic Internet communications to be diverted to mainland China before reaching their intended destination.



• Democrats will back Trump on Trade war: “Even though Democrats and Republicans disagree on many issues, they hold exactly the same negative opinion of China.” 



• Widebody jet: China, Russia unveil life-size model of planned widebody jet.... Question: Why is China the only country that seems to be challenging the USA for global dominance?  




• 10 Indian workers die in Gulf every day: At least 24,570 Indian workers have died in six Gulf countries, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE since 2012 till mid-2018



• KK Mohammed ex Regional Director, ASI: Temple existed

I was the only muslim during excavation of Ayodhya. I wrote there was a temple, shd be handed over to Hindus. Left historians made hue and cry. I was suspended.. 😬
KK Mohammed ex Regional Director, ASI pic.twitter.com/FNG8Tbr7U0

— SahaJio (@oldhandhyd) November 6, 2018




• Rafale deal: 36 Rafales cost 40% more than Dassault’s earlier offer





• World University Rankings 2019: IISc, IIT Indore top Indian institutes for physical sciences. NO Indian institution finds spot in top 200 globally



• Sai Nikhil Reddy Mettupally: Indian student’s algorithm helps in leading driver directly to empty parking spot 



• 'Chiplets', the future of processor fabrication: Instead of printing a whole circuit on a single chip, a number of chiplets can be put together in various configurations allowing multi-die processors tailored for specific tasks such as machine learning or cloud computing.

Quick notes: RuPay, Vanishing Aravalli...

• Mastercard lodged U.S. protest over Modi's promotion of RuPay: Mastercard told the U.S Govt that Modi was using nationalism to promote the use of RuPay, which levied half the transaction fee charged by Mastercard and Visa... Modi in June said foreign card companies take their transaction fees abroad and as “everyone cannot go to the border to protect the country, we can use RuPay card to serve the nation”. This year, U.S. tech companies have protested against an Indian law that would require them to store more data locally.

Well, in light of this, @mastercardindia, I'm going to stop using your card & shift to @RuPay_npci. You can't make money off my country & abuse it. https://t.co/PaL1uwvHnz

— Sandeep Balakrishna (@dharmadispatch) November 2, 2018




• Greed-driven economics: Toxic air killed over 1 lakh children in India in 2016.



• Vanishing Aravalli hills affecting air quality in Delhi: 31 out of 128 Aravalli hills in Rajasthan have disappeared due to illegal mining activities.... What Delhi can learn from Beijing.



• Political ego: Statue of Unity could have paid for 2 IITs, 5 IIMs and many agri projects

#India owes its existence to Sardar Patel but the Iron Man of India would have strongly disapproved this flamboyant show of strength when millions still struggle to earn enough for a square meal a day. Where are we heading to as county? #StatueOfUnity #StatuePolitics pic.twitter.com/A7D8bWeQdA

— Sweta Raghavan (@raghavansweta) November 3, 2018




• India's art of simple living -Michel Danino:

  Strabo, the Greek geographer and historian of the first century BCE noted, “All Indians live a simple life,” which surely requires some qualification: as we know from Kautilya and others, or from the artha-kama-dharma-moksha quadruple objective of life, wealth was not looked down upon; it was however to be used in a dharmic way, not merely for oneself but for the good of the society around. Thousands of inscriptions from all periods of Indian history testify to rulers, merchants, ordinary men and women, donating temples, icons, wells, ponds and other irrigation works, or endowments for centres of learning. Artistic depictions of village life point to comfortable but simple lifestyles. Barring the very wealthy, “Be happy with little” seems to have been the dominant line.
  
  Today, we have perfected the art of being unhappy with much—or too much. Out of selfish greed rather than higher values, in search of petty pleasures rather than worthwhile accomplishments, we have critically jeopardised the planet’s lifecycles and caused species to fall extinct at a frantic pace. We must return to ancient India’s philosophy of simple living, else the collapse of our artificial system may one day force us to it. Our small everyday choices are blind and mechanical; let us make them enlightened and we can yet change tack.
  
  “Greed is good” has been de facto the motto and prime mover of the world economy, especially of the US kind: let greed drive your growth; instil the same greed in others so as to boost consumption. The consumer is not a human being with free will, but a cog in the wheel whose choices can and will be oriented. Nobody needs processed or exotic foods, ten pairs of shoes, torn jeans, piles of electronic gadgets or diamonds—never mind, the obedient consumers will buy all those and more, even if they cannot afford them.
  

  

  German economist Ernst Schumacher realised that this greed-driven economy could not last. He pioneered the concepts of appropriate technologies and unsustainable exploitable of resources, and authored the best-seller Small Is Beautiful in which he advocated a radically different philosophy: why not place the human being at the centre of the economy, rather than the consumer? “In Buddhist economics since consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption. Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity.”

• Cardiac risk increased with increase in wealth: Heart disease now kills twice the number of Indians it did in 1990



• How to make cities more walkable: Walking costs the city very little, unlike cars and even public transit. Cities with high walk scores also have high property values.



• Dark day for Android flagship phones: “Entry-level” iPhone XR is far more powerful than even the most expensive 2018 Android flagship phones. 



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