Quick notes: Russia's real threat | Heat insurance...

• Why Russia's Biggest Threat is Actually China: The stronger China becomes, the greater the imbalance grows, and the more Beijing may prod Moscow to align its interests with China’s.




• EV dominance: Ford gets $9.2 Billion to help US catch up with China.



• Stop spam calls: WhatsApp announced a new feature, "Silence Unknown Callers", allowing users to automatically mute incoming calls if they are from an unknown number. When enabled, the app will silence all the signs of incoming calls from unknown numbers.



• The individual self is a myth: It is the process of thinking that creates the self, rather than there being a self having any independent existence separate from thought. The self is more like a verb than a noun. To take it a step further, the implication is that without thought, the self does not, in fact, exist. . . . . The 'self' here is the 'individual self' or 'separate self' or 'ego'. Not to be confused with Max Muller's 'Self', his word for Atma.



• Heat Insurance: Help for livelihood loss for outdoor workers due to extreme heat.
  Ahmedabad's Heat Action Plan: In addition to parametric insurance programs for outdoor workers, there are efforts in Ahmedabad to cover roofs with heat-reflective paint, implement early-warning systems and establish hospital heat wards in the city of more than 8.5 million people. The proactive approach has become a blueprint for other cities in developing countries who have accepted that record temperatures aren’t just freak weather: they’re the new reality as the planet continues to warm.