Thursday, October 31, 2019

Quick notes: Malware attack | Secular BJP...

  • Paki-North Korean connection? Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant's network was hacked, officials confirm... KKNPP said that the plant "and other Indian Nuclear Power Plants Control Systems are standalone and not connected to outside cyber network and Internet... Any Cyber attack on the Nuclear Power Plant Control System is not possible."


  • Lessons from Maharashtra: Voters have not forgotten the state govt's proposal to set up a Muslim burial ground near the 11th century Shiv mandir in Ambernath and a Ganapati immersion ghat. At various times, the Fadnavis govt proved itself more 'secular' than the Congress-NCP.


  • God save this nation: India keeps buying pig extract from China to make drugs despite swine flu in the dragon's belly.


  • Bringing Cauvery Back: Efforts of local youth raise the hope of a bumper crop in Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery delta. “While some made fun of us, others tried to discourage us, saying we will not be able to go on with our initiative beyond a week, as only the PWD was best equipped to do the work,” says Nimal Raghavan, a techie by profession and a resident of the area.



  • The economic value of birds: Seed Dispersal and Pollination, Pest Control, Scavengers and Sanitary Services


  • Amazon: 11.2 BILLION in profit, $0.00 paid in federal tax.


  • Czechs get a taste of Han "friendship": "It was quite obvious that the only thing that the Beijing side was focused on was their propaganda, and not the political or cultural exchange we were interested in".


  • There's Just Nothing: "There is no such thing as a person. The person merely appears to be, like the space within the pot appears to have the shape and volume and smell of the pot".



  • Housing crisis and corporate responsibility: While Google is showing responsibility for the Bay Area housing crisis, Apple built its 175-acre “Spaceship” campus with no housing or access to major transit lines. Not everyone thinks Google is doing enough, but few housing experts have any kind words for Apple. “They have walled themselves inside their mini-Pentagon as if they don’t participate in community life here. So I welcome Apple to come to the table and be part of the community that they benefit from.” . . . . . . atleast Apple paid market rate for the land unlike Infosys in Karnataka.


Friday, October 25, 2019

Pak Govt Trying to Poison Nawaz Sharif?

Is Pakistan's govt trying to poison Nawaz Sharif to eliminate him from politics, and thus free Punjab's politics from his grip?



Turkey's Political Compulsions on Syria


One of the reasons why Turkey's Erdogan is attacking India, is because he's battling for his political life at home.


Quick notes: Train-18 | Game changers...

  • Train-18 success story: The real importance of Train 18 lies in the lessons it holds for frugal engineering, project management and empowering managers who dare to dream big.. General manager S Mani conceptualised the project and tenaciously followed up for getting the Railway Board to approve for the ICF to build two prototype train-sets.  With just about 18 months left for his superannuation, Mani put together a key team at the ICF with a remit to “design and manufacture the best train ever made in India,” matching world standards.


  • Taking baby steps: Apple starts selling 'Assembled in India' iPhone XR model


  • Kanwal Sibal: “China did not play by WTO rules, so will it play by RCEP rules?”

    RCEP will bypass WTO and offload excess agricultural produce from China, like grains, seeds and milk, into the Indian markets freely. Shifting our balance of payment and food sovereignty into the hands of China will be detrimental to the nation.


  • Indian tech needs State-Capitalism: Within Banglore there must be enough knowledge to build what Huawei has. But they all sit in US cos.


  • Game Changers: Netflix documentary aims to convert body-builders and athletes to plant-based diets



  • Reject Halal food:


  • Car-free cities are picking up speed . . . . . Car ownership is a trap that can be prevented.
    https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/11/london-oxford-street-pedestrian-plan-buses-car-ban/545171/


  • Someone talking sense: Install solar power panels on rooftops, not in large farms or power plants. The main advantage of solar is that they can be installed at a micro level even on the rooftop, but the govt is more focussed on larger plants.


  • Uighur Gulag: Did a Muslim slave make your Chinese shirt?


  • China is developing 'Magnetized Plasma Artillery': The magnetized plasma layer protects the gun barrel from wear and heat, and allow the projectile to achieve a higher launch velocity.


  • Egg on their face: Exit polls way off mark


  • Inequality For All: Something skewed about India's "growth story"
https://twitter.com/business/status/1173099540393672705


Monday, October 21, 2019

Quick notes: Digital colony | Arms race...

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Pak Student Youth Convention for Conquering India

So this is an actual video and not some fake parody - apparently conquering infidels can be something to look forward to, like going to Disneyland:




Sunday, October 13, 2019

Quick notes: Kurd slaughter | RCEP bait...

  • Kurds may be wiped out before Turkey sanctions happen: “Reestablish safe zones to protect Kurds and prevent the reemergence of ISIS before it’s too late”.


  • 'You are leaving us to be slaughtered': Military leader of Syrian Kurds tells US


  • Did we betray the Kurds for Trump Towers?: Donald Trump's longtime business connections in Turkey back in the spotlight

  • - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


  • India rejects RCEP e-commerce chapter: Acceptance would have prevented it from implementing the rules on data localisation. . . . “No Party shall require a covered person to use or locate computing facilities in that Party’s territory as a condition for conducting business in that territory,” reads the wording in the draft chapter.


  • Swadeshi Jagran Manch Is Right: The RCEP is not for India. Very often, we get into bad deals because of the fear of being left out in the cold. In theory, FTAs are good for everybody; in practice, they are often tilted towards manufacturing powers to the detriment of services powers. India has a huge trade deficit of over $50 billion with China precisely because of this. We export only low-value added products, while we import higher-value products, and our services industry has been kept out substantially through non-tariff barriers.

    FTAs are not an either/or option for us. We can substitute FTAs with bilateral deals that are renegotiable based on actual results over the coming years. These can later be converted to FTAs once the benefits are seen as two-way.


  • Xi in Nepal with promises and pressure: China has been pressuring Nepal to sign an extradition treaty, one that leaves Tibetans fleeing Chinese oppression via Nepal with less hope of escape.


  • Affordable EV? Tata Nexon EV gives India an affordable domestic-brand electric car


  • Women transform rural Vellore: How an army of women in Vellore resurrected a river that once served as their lifeline



  • US sanctions Gupta family over widespread corruption: Ajay, Atul, and Rajesh Gupta immigrated to South Africa (from Uttar Pradesh) in the 1990s, and due in large part to their generous donations to a political party and their reportedly close relationship with former South African President Jacob Zuma, their business interests expanded. The family has been implicated in several corrupt schemes in South Africa, allegedly stealing hundreds of millions of dollars through illegal deals with the South African govt, obfuscated by a shadowy network of shell companies and associates linked to the family.

Wednesday, October 09, 2019

Quick notes: Drone catcher | Indian students...

  • Another Paki Drone Entered Punjab: Heavy-duty drones had dropped AK-47 assault rifles, satellite phones and grenades meant for terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir in eight sorties last month.




  • Indian students flock to China: China restricts teaching of MBBS in English to 45 colleges amid big surge of students from India. At present over 23,000 Indian students are studying different courses in Chinese universities.


  • East India Company is laughing: Amazon, Flipkart sales generate Rs 19,000 crore in six days


  • Sober is the new black: Startup offers to help people get sober.. “We are in a time that we think drinking alcohol is natural, that we are supposed to do it. We are approaching this tipping point of realizing how toxic and unnecessary it is.”... India’s Coolberg Beverages, which makes non-alcoholic beer, recently raised VC to cater to a similar demographic


  • PDF link: English-Sanskrit dictionary of computer terms


  • You aren't stuck in traffic, you ARE the traffic:.

  • https://twitter.com/rochemamabolo/status/1179443470227951618
    https://twitter.com/rochemamabolo/status/1179443470227951618
    https://twitter.com/rochemamabolo/status/1179443470227951618
    https://twitter.com/rochemamabolo/status/1179443470227951618


  • Cycle Superhighway: When can we in India bike 18km without having to stop once for cars?



  • What causes Solar Power fires?: DC Arc Faults


  • Priti Patel tells Zuckerberg: Facebook encryption threatens public safety. . . . . FBI director warns Facebook could become platform of 'child pornographers'


The Great Indian Streaming Wars

India's large viewing market is the new battleground for streaming services trying to gain new growth and an edge over each other, as competition heats up. Streaming services have also become a new weapon in India's political culture wars:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/09/27/the-great-indian-streaming-wars/


https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/rss-wants-streaming-platforms-to-nix-anti-india-anti-hindu-content/amp_articleshow/71485819.cms


The Indian Right need to seize the opportunity to help get their narrative across, and to deny the Left-dominated Bollywood from gaining new wings to spout its Left-slanted narrative. Streaming services could be used to provide the likes of Republic TV, NewsX, Zee News, etc newer distribution platforms to help their content reach more viewers.

Sunday, October 06, 2019

Bhutto Positioning Himself as Next Favourite

After Imran Khan's flop performance at UN, the Pak Army are showing their significant displeasure. Meanwhile, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is yet another mullah politician patronized by the military, has now announced his party JUI's plan for a massive protest march against Imran's "illegal govt from a rigged election". Former PM Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party also plans to participate.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/pakistan-fazlur-rehman-announces-october-27-for-freedom-march-1.66905083

Against this backdrop, Benazir's son Bhilawal Bhutto of the Pakistan People's Party has said he won't participate in the protest march. He obviously feels that he's the next in line for a shot at PM, following Nawaz and Imran:

https://www.dawn.com/news/1504613

Wednesday, October 02, 2019

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.


  • 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!


  • 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:



  • 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?


  • Excessive Hype : Just because something is new it doesn’t mean it will change your life or alter the tech landscape entirely. One example of this is the new 5G wireless service.


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