Quick notes: Rogue drones | Planet plastic...

• Securing air space from rogue drones: IIT-M develops AI-powered drones to counter 'rogue' ones



• Planet Plastic: We are ingesting nearly 2,000 particles of plastic a week. “Plastics recycling is a myth”. . . Deadly attraction: Sea turtles mistake the scent of plastic for food



• Chinese coronavirus lives on some surfaces for up to 3 days : Viable virus could be detected up to three hours later in the air, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.



• Mind-blowing: Chinese semiconductor fab SMIC to start 7nm production in the fourth quarter of this year!



• F-16 lost: Pakistan F-16 crashes in Islamabad, pilot dies




• Holi: Excellent Holi pictures in a Pakistani daily.




• Better, cheaper super-capacitors: Jackfruit waste produced aerogels with excellent energy storage properties.



• Save the spiders: Spiders regularly capture nuisance pests and even disease-carrying insects – for example, mosquitoes. So killing a spider doesn’t just cost the arachnid its life, it may take an important predator out of your home. Spiders are not out to get you and actually prefer to avoid humans. Bites from spiders are extremely rare. If you truly can’t stand that spider in your house, instead of smashing it, try to capture it and release it outside.



• Bernie rally: "It is our chance to elect someone who will advance our rights as Moslems and as Arabs"

In other news, this was a Bernie rally in Michigan last night.

pic.twitter.com/8u4YVI1tPE

— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) March 10, 2020

Quick notes: Amazon's next move | Tulsi rising...

• Amazon's quest to rule India: Amazon in talks to buy stake in India's Reliance Retail. . . . .  We love our East India overlords



• Lockheed may fly with Bengaluru startup's nanotech: “Modern fighter aircraft, including Tejas, are created from composites which cannot conduct electricity. Lightning strikes can destroy the aircraft.  Aircraft are equipped with a wire mesh to channel the lightning strike to ground but it adds to the weight of the aircraft. Nanotubes served the same purpose but at a significant weight reduction”.



• Tulsi Gabbard: The most-searched candidate following primary debate... MSNBC trying to pull her down.




• Sino-imperialism: Why China Is Taking over Africa's Resources One Country at a Time. . .  . Six million rosewood trees have been cut down in Ghana for illegal export to China. Investigations found massive institutionalised timber trafficking scheme, enabled by high-level corruption and collusion.



• Sign of the times: China's capital orders Arabic, Muslim symbols taken down. . . . . How do the Chinese make a profit on eBay selling items for 99p with free postage?



• Water Stress Index : India’s large cities staring at water crisis. . . . Ancient Water Management System at Mandu, Madhya Pradesh
  



• Mother Teresa: Turns out she was a child trafficker, selling babies and funneling between $50-100 million/year to the Vatican.



• The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small Minority by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

We are effectively moving towards a situation where one community will enjoy complete monopoly over the whole meat industry worth billions of dollars based on religious identity.https://t.co/h3NF1neQd3

— Amar Govindarajan (@amargov) August 2, 2019

Quick notes: Loan waiver for all, Laundry business...

• Populism gone wild: Kangress promises 'farm loan waiver for all'.

Rahul Gandhi slams govt’s cash transfer scheme, promises farm loan waiver across Indiahttps://t.co/SgTjMu4zKC pic.twitter.com/toCU3R7jiE

— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) February 3, 2019




• RCom Bankruptcy: How India’s banks ran up a $7 Billion phone bill



• Urgent need to connect bank databases: Shell companies have been used extensively for laundering the proceeds of crime. They thrive as bank databases are unconnected. In the Nirav Modi case, there was a Swift database, Punjab National Bank’s core banking system and the foreign exchange transactions database. All the three databases were not automatically connected.



• How London's streets are paved with dirty money.
  . The City of London: Capital of an Invisible Empire.
  . London’s Laundry Business: Billions of pounds of corruptly gained money has been laundered by criminals and foreign officials buying upmarket London properties through anonymous offshore front companies – making the city arguably the world capital of money laundering.

. The tax haven in the heart of London: It is the hub of a global network of tax havens sucking up offshore trillions from around the world and sending it, or the business of handling it, to London. 



• Hats-off to whoever made this possible: Bengaluru’s 75-year-old Selvamma goes high-tech using a solar-powered fan to grill corn on the roadside.

pic.twitter.com/8mQOts7maK

— Raghurama Sastry M (@raghu_madgula) January 24, 2019




• 'Complete Streets': Planning should factor in all people using our streets, not just drivers. "When you plan just for cars, you get cars, and we now have so many that traffic is horrendous and getting worse, it just won’t work anymore". It translates to roads being reduced and lanes narrowed, parking spaces eliminated, bike lanes added and the walk from curb to curb shortened.



• China Is A Naval Powerhouse: China shipyards build civilian and military ships at the same time and most if not whole R&D and staff cost is dumped on civilain market. US navy shipiards not only don't do civilian ships but mostly have narrow specialization.



• Why our screens make us less happy:

Quick notes: Horse domestication, Karnataka bungle...

• DNA Study Pokes Holes in Horse Domestication Theory:  “A lot of what we’ve published (on horse breeding and Eurasian population shifts) is probably going to be thrown out.”.



• In 're-education' program, China incarcerates thousands of Muslims: The program forces captives to renounce their religious and ethnic ties in favor of broad nationalism



• Karnataka bungle: “Once Modi and Shah left, the leaders here went into sleeping mode. The induction of former CM S M Krishna was not used for the benefit of the party. If the party had issued a ticket to Krishna’s daughter Shambhavi from Maddur, a better show would have been possible”.



• Caste math: A profile of the new Karnataka assembly



• Battery powered: Ola to add electric three-wheelers to fleet.... Honda may set up electric car battery plant in India.... Electric bicycle and motorcycle sales soar in Europe.



• NASA satellites reveal freshwater decline: In northern India, groundwater extraction for irrigation of crops such as wheat and rice have caused a rapid decline in available water, despite rainfall being normal throughout the period studied. The fact that extractions already exceed recharge during normal precipitation does not bode well for the availability of groundwater during future droughts.



• Diabetes type 2: Beans in diet could prevent high blood sugar.... Early time-restricted feeding improves blood sugar control and blood pressure.

Quick notes: Smart cities, Twitter's troubles...

• Smart cities: What next for the 20 cities?



• Embarrassment: In U-turn, Centre may allow FDI in multi-brand retail  



• Schlonged: During a speech in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump said Hillary had been “schlonged” by Obama in the 2008 race. In response, the Clinton campaign called Trump a sexist. It’s a charge Hillary has leveled against virtually every opponent she’s faced, but Trump responded differently. Instead of scrambling to donate to breast cancer research, he pointed out that Hillary spent years attacking the alleged victims of her husband’s sexual assaults. That ended the conversation almost immediately.



• Twitter's troubles: Twitter faces mortal danger from Facebook.




• Diesel scandal: Volkswagen May Buy Back Diesel Cars It Can’t Fix





• Obama's Hanuman: Watch from 44 minutes on

Quick notes: Rally mystery, Colonizers face the heat..

• Whose rally? Anna Hazare was told it was Mamta's rally and Mamta was told it was Anna's rally.. so, who organized it? The CIA? 



• Raksha for women: BJP launches Raksha app to aid women's security in the country.



• Jayalalitha is watching you: For all sycophants, here is your next PM.



• 14 Caribbean Nations Sue Former Colonizers for Slave Trade: The lawsuit will demand reparations from the governments of Britain, France and the Netherlands



• Asus Chromebox: A Tiny, Cheap, Very Useful Computer



• Perfect Spot:




• Dr Spine
  :

Jairam Ramesh's building priorities

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Rameshs-toilet-temple-remarks-draw-BJP-flak/articleshow/16704670.cms

Why does the Nehruvian Stalinist have to pick on Hindu Temples? A recent survey that I read delineated the number of religious places in India by faith.
Hindu Temples were outnumbered - both by Christist churches and Islamic mosques.

Would the minister dare to apply his derivation to those places of worship?

Actually, toilets *are* important and open defecation is a blot on the country. Nehruvian Stalinist policies alone are to blame, if Indian citizens have no recourse
but open defecation - 65 years after achieving "freedom".

Kaangress thugs have ruled India for close to 55 of those 65 years and indulged in wanton
"defecation" by littering the length and breadth of the country with memorials to members of the Nehru-Ghandi family. I suggest that the honourable minister launch an initiative, in the interest of public hygiene - to reclaim all these public places from the adverse possession of Nehru- Ghandi IDOLS - for the construction of modern amenities, Shauchalayas - for defecation in private. India is a land deficient country - with one seventh the land area of the USA and four times the population. We can ill afford this encroachment of our public spaces for hideous mausoleums to the Nehru family!

Dhimmi Raman sings for his supper

Dhimmi Raman does his job as a faithful retainer of Chacha Nehru's dynasty, in this piece
with a justification for keeping the Empress's travel expenditure classified:

http://m.rediff.com/news/report/why-sonia-s-foreign-trip-details-should-not-be-revealed/20121002.htm#

Even more interesting to inquiring minds would be:
- the itinerary for her covert international journeys.
- what passport was used, if any
on these covert travels.
- identity of corporate entities fueling, literally, the private jets
because these entail an indirect cost to the national exchequer.

US House Resolution Against Gujarat

Keith Ellison, Democratic Congressman from Minnesota who is a Muslim convert, has introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives calling for Gujarat to "restore religious freedom". The resolution has been endorsed by the "Indian American Muslim Council".

I hope that one day India gets the chance to deny a visa to Keith Ellison, and to the "Indian American Muslim Council" as well.

Top Scientists Resigns in Protest Against Nair Blacklisting

Eminent space scientist Roddam Narasimha has resigned from the Space Commission over the govt's blacklisting of G Madhavan Nair and 3 other scientists due to the Antrix-Devas scandal.

The Mars Underground

An interesting tale of a quest to get to Mars and humanity's future:

CAG Publishes Report On Devas Wrongdoing

The Comptroller-Auditor-General's office has come out with its report on the wrongdoing in the Devas-Antrix deal. I have to admit, Nair's conduct looks less than stellar. At minimum, Nair appears to have committed a lot of negligence. Maybe that's an occupational hazard for high-flying self-absorbed scientists. Nair himself is now admitting to lapses. I'm really hoping he didn't pocket money from this deal. But it's hard to believe that politicians weren't involved in the wrongdoing, especially since the Indian system always spares politicians from indictment.

Protests Awaken Sleeping Giant: India's Middle Class

The recent protests that have gripped India show that the sleeping giant of India's middle class has been awakened politically.

Historically, the middle class has been the agent of democratic change around the world.

Hazare Stares Down Govt; Rahul's Emergence Disrupted

Anna Hazare has stared down the govt in what is being described as a surrender by the ruling party and the disruption of the ascent to power by Rahul Gandhi.

Anna Health Deteriorating, Wants Direct Talks with Rahul

Now we cut to the chase. There aren't too many good options for Congress -- with Hazare's health going downhill, the novice Rahul could end up with a death on his hands, which would destroy his political aspirations forever. Or else Rahul "saves the day" -- after meeting directly with Anna, the young prince has a "change of heart" and feels moved to present to parliament an anti-corruption bill satisfactory to critics -- in which case, Manmohan, Chidambaram & Co get ditched.

That latter option would be more Congress' style, preserving the Family's future, while its generals have to fall on their swords, and bow out into the shadows. But we know from Indian and even Japanese politics, that tainted and unpopular politicians still get to remain powerful backroom men. The problem for Congress is that without corruption and black money to keep it alive, Congress could gradually be marginalized and superceded by more populist Leftist/casteist parties, just like its old opponent Janata Dal. That could one day lead to BJP aligning with Congress in the far future, like it supports Nitish in Bihar.

Team Anna Rejects Govt Proposal

What's important to stay focused on, is the need to ensure the govt's crooked bill doesn't get passed. Hazare's group are amenable to negotations on the bill, as long as it's not the watered-down ineffectual version made by the govt.

Hopefully, we all see the need to make the PM's Office accountable. It's not necessary that it be accountable via the same Lokpal body, just as long as there's some effective mechanism for accountability that can't be bypassed.

Mr. Hazare's Iftar appeasement

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Slowly-Muslims-are-shedding-Anna-apathy/Article1-735931.aspx

.........
“During his fast in April, Anna shared stage with Hindu fundamentalists, with people chanting Vande Mataram. This put us off,” says Maulana Umer Illyasi, head of the All-India Imams’ Organisation. That may now be changing.
Mufti Noorullah Yusuf Zai, the chief imam of Guna, Madhya Pradesh, is headed for Delhi’s ground zero. On board a Delhi-bound train are several fellow imams.....

Back in April, Mr. Hazare - Mark I, consciously decided to remove a picture depicting Bharat Mata (Mother India)from his stage, lest the tender iconoclastic sentiments of Mohammedans be "offended".

"Bharat Mata" is an icon venerated by infidel Hindoos, therefore, it is inherently "communal". Vande Mataram is a song dear to the idolatrous Hindoos. They sing it to glorify their "idol" Bharat Mata. Therefore, that too is "communal", "right wing" and unacceptable.

However, Iftar parties, Mullahs and Namaaz - these are all intrinsically "secular" in the perverted political parlance of Nehruvian Stalinist India. They
conform to the best ideals and personal practices of Mohandas Gandhi - exalted as a "Mahatma" by the dhimmis - and
the so called "freedom movement" staged by the Gandhian Congress.

To be fair, Mr. Hazare is only emulating the lofty traditions of
Gandhi, Nehru and the Congress. Indeed, the divorce of
Hindu symbology from the "freedom movement" was accomplished approximately a century ago by Gandhi and his band of dhimmis - to assuage Mohammedan intransigence.

A comical and humilating "Lucknow pact" was signed by Congress dhimmis - ostensibly on behalf of the entire Hindu community. Gandhi pandered to pan-Islamic bigotry with his idiotic "Khilafat movement" which was a precursor and catalyst for partition.

Does anyone among the Facebook addicted, urban middle class Twitterati take cognisance of Mr. Hazare's double standards and naked appeasement of Moslem fundamentalism? Does anyone care?

Mr. Hazare's two-faced, toothless activism
and the gullibility of the middle class Twitterati has the potential to inflict huge calamities on the Hindu nation, as yet unawakened after 1300 years of involuntary servitude to foreign invaders.

Where Do You Stand, Economically and Politically?

Where do you stand, economically and politically? Take this test and find out.

TV Debate on Anti-Corruption Movement

Here's a televised debate held by Nidi Razdan of NDTV. Present were a member of BJP, Team Anna, that jackass Manish Tiwari from Congress, the Lokpal member from Karnataka, and the editor of Business Standard.

Sonia Mata

BBC's Mark Tully writes a decent piece on Sonia Mata:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9562806.stm