Quick notes: AI Iceberg | Value of a degree...

• The AI Industry Is Steaming Toward A Legal Iceberg: Legal scholars, lawmakers and at least one Supreme Court justice agree that companies will be liable for the things their AIs say and do—and that the lawsuits are just beginning. Several legal experts say Section 230 will not protect firms from lawsuits over the outputs of generative AI, echoing SCOTUS Justice Gorsuch's 2023 statement.



• Overselling the AI hype: Copilot on Windows is no reason to buy a new PC. Just not useful



• Value of an Indian engineering degree: IIT-Bombay is yet to place almost 36% of its students in the ongoing placement season. Other IIT campuses in Delhi and Kanpur have reported similar problems in the last few years. This has raised questions about the condition of India's job market and the value of an engineering degree in these changing times. United Nations data suggests that India's graduate unemployment has reached almost 30%. Is it time for you to rethink your degree?




• India moved fewer people to non-agri jobs than neighbours: India has managed to move a smaller share of its working-age population away from farm-related work than Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka”.



• Enemy within: Building spree in the Himalayas is increasing the risk of disaster on the tense China border
  
  'People for Himalaya' Issues 5-pt charter of demand for political parties: A complete ban on all mega infrastructure projects, such as those related to the railways, dams, hydro projects and four-lane highways in the Himalayas, and have urged for referendums and public consultations to be made compulsory for all development projects.
  
  India: No country for a Green Party? Mainline political parties have maintained a deafening silence on environmental issues even as the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign gains momentum and fury.



• Politicians feasting off Hindu devotees' offerings: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has expedited the distribution of house site pattas and registration process for employees and workers. The TTD had sanctioned funds and allocated more than 1,000 acres of land for houses to as many as 14,500 employees.



• 'How to love in Sanskrit' (HarperCollins): A collection of Sanskrit love poetry, translated and edited by Anusha Rao and Suhas Mahesh.



• How China's BYD Overtook Tesla:




• China's sponge cities: Making cities 'spongy' could help fight flooding — by steering the water underground



• Climate change hypocrisy: Guyana President wrecks BBC reporter trying to lecture him on climate change.

Quick notes: Sanskrit connection | Coaching hub...

• Similarities Between Sanskrit and Lithuanian: Video explores some of the commonalities between Sanskrit and Lithuanian.
Here's a post from 2011 on this topic.



• Crushing blow to Breaking-India forces: Governor vetoes California's caste discrimination bill

We dedicate this victory and the #vetoSB403 to our hero Milind Makwana our Dalit American sweet brother who died in the cause fighting the imposition of #SB403 on the Indian Americans pic.twitter.com/PCw5TDjwBd

— castefiles (@castefiles) October 7, 2023




• Kota: From Coaching Hub To Suicide Cluster. "After 12 hours of study a student gets depressed and feels humiliated when s/he fails in the periodic tests. The coaching institutes should evolve a better teaching system to make studies stress free".



• Canada panics as Indian students look elsewhere for education. International students from India contribute $19bn+ to the Canadian economy.

Canada Panics as Indian Students Look Elsewhere for Education

Following 🇨🇦 PM Justin Trudeau's allegation of Delhi involvement in the murder of a Khalistani separatist, diplomatic relations between the countries have hit an all time low - threatening Canada's education… pic.twitter.com/hI2SV9tmjR

— RT_India (@RT_India_news) October 6, 2023




• Canada apologizes for awarding one of its highest honors to Nazi soldier



• Different kind of Vikas: Some 47 percent of the 'garden city' of Singapore is now covered in vegetation. The city-state champions natural ventilation, tree-lined streets and more energy-efficient buildings. This policy is supported at the highest levels of government, making Singapore the greenest metropolis in the world and a laboratory for the city of the future.
Meanwhile Bangalore succumbed to car-dependence and lost its charm.

Quick notes: Namaste is in | Man-made islands...

• Ahead of the curve: Trump endorses 'Namaste'.
  
  



• From the Han playbook: Beijing is trying to paint itself as a global hero and is peddling conspiracy theories that the US started the Wuhan Virus. It is going so far as to demand a thank you for containing the Wuhan Virus as long as it did.

  China should pay the rest of the world reparations for causing a global pandemic

  — Greg S. (@GS_CapSF) March 12, 2020

  
  

  15. China had silenced the doctor who identified COVID-19 and he died 6 weeks later. China let this brew. On the other hand, when Nipah virus was found in India in 2018, 3 doctors identified it and authorities immediately reported it to WHO. 2000 quarantined and 17 died in total.

  — Shacind Ananthan (@shacindananthan) March 13, 2020

  
  


• Sunk: How China's man-made islands are falling apart and sinking into the ocean.



• Experts: China carving lungs out of political prisoners to treat Wuhan virus?



• Islamic invasion of Europe: Afghans and Pakistanis are at the Greek border pretending to be Syrian refugees



• Facebook 'container': Firefox update blocks Facebook tracking



• Story of a clever jackal from Panchatantra's Kakolukiyam:

Quick notes: Dark net | Anti-satellite weapon...

• Credit, debit card details of 4 lakh Indians up for sale: A whopping 98% out of a large packet of sensitive credit and debit card details, that have been put up for sale on the dark net, are those of Indian customers



• Data analytics, AI helped improve GST collections: Data from income tax, GST, customs, export and import is being mined. A red flag report on areas of mismatch was prepared. Such targeted measures helped the govt improve tax collections by scrutinizing only a fraction of GST payers.



• Anti-Satellite Weapon: India proudly showcases its anti-satellite weapon at an arms bazaar... 13-meter-tall, three-stage missile with solid-rocket motor propulsion.



• Over 10% of the population? Not a minority!. . . kindly support her idea.

World's third largest and Indians second largest majority. So again, why are they being given minority status????@AmitShah @sambitswaraj @harrywakh
Mazak bana rakha hai https://t.co/TBvYUainoI

— apoorva kulkarni-team modi-shah (@EkAur_ModiBhakt) February 8, 2020




• Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: To the broad-minded, the whole world is family.




• Just What the Doctor Ordered: Take a Yoga class and depression, anxiety improve



• Calibrating Ketosis: If you give your body any more than the absolute minimum amount of protein that it needs, it will immediately break it down into carbs. The point of keto is to force your body to deplete its glucose so it will have to use body fat as a fuel source.



• Indian cities are turning into "urban heat islands": Potential health hazards due to heat waves apart from pollution.



• Why is India exporting granite? China’s coronavirus crisis rattles granite barons.



• Rattled by China Inc: Attorney General thinks US should buy controlling stake in Nokia, Ericsson. "From a national security standpoint, if the industrial internet becomes dependent upon Chinese tech, China would have the ability to shut countries off from technology and equipment upon which their consumers and industries depend". . . . . White House dismisses the idea.

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

India among world's most protectionist nation. The new investment rules for e commerce sector had slowed expansion of Amazon and Walmart in India. Wilbur Ross.
Fact : Amazon and Walmart has no entry in China.

— Nilesh Shah (@NileshShah68) October 4, 2019




• 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:.

You aren't stuck in traffic, you are the traffic. pic.twitter.com/LycuxN8aYe

— Roche Mamabolo (@rochemamabolo) October 2, 2019










• 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'

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.

...cont'd

A drone gun is capable of jamming radio, GPS & mobile signal, forcing the drone to ground in good time before damage.

A Bengaluru-based private company, BEML & ECIL working on counter-drone weapons. ATHENA or Advanced Test High Energy Asset, will soon be operational.

— Kiran Kumar S (@KiranKS) September 30, 2019




• 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!

Friends #Diwali and #Dussehra is around. Buy from people who in return can celebrate their festival. Go local. pic.twitter.com/yLRf8GKC2d

— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) September 29, 2019




• 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:

Proposal to make Sanskrit more popular in colleges:

Devise an undergraduate degree in Sanskrit that has 4 courses on applied computer science:

1. Python and PHP
2. Discrete structures
2. Databases
3. Networks

Graduates will be able to work at many jobs in the IT field.

— Subhash Kak (@subhashkak1) September 25, 2019




Constructive idea to revive Sanskrit in India:

Produce abridged versions of 100 world classics (novels and stories) in सरल संस्कृत and publish them on the Web & in print. (with a glossary)

That would allow students to immerse themselves in Sanskrit in an enjoyable way.

— Subhash Kak (@subhashkak1) September 29, 2019




• 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

Quick notes: Sunni rule | AI crown jewels...

• The other side: Ladhakis celebrating independence from Sunni rule

#Article370
The celebrations haven't stopped in Ladakh.

This video was posted by a friend, Joshna Sharon Johnson, I met on Facebook. She says this is happening EVERY DAY.

No MSM will cover this. So Make them famous. #KashmirMeinTiranga pic.twitter.com/fbn6txxPpO

— RSS - Ready for Selfless Service (@PartyVillage017) August 11, 2019




• Google is sharing the 'crown jewel' of its AI efforts with China: Peter Thiel. "AI is a military technology.  Starting an AI lab in China while ending an AI contract with the Pentagon is shocking... By now we should understand that the real point of talking about what’s good for the world is to evade responsibility for the good of the country". . . . . Sentient, the classified artificial brain behind US intelligence.



• 5G Hype: China warns India of 'reverse sanctions' if Huawei is blocked



• Han tricks: Chinese companies are funneling made-in-China products through Vietnam to avoid tariffs, a practice known as transshipment.



• China's pharma dominance is a "National security risk":

Speaking of China, there's a good chance the medicine you take originated there. The Defense Department is flagging this as a national security risk after pills made there were found to contain carcinogens https://t.co/TqX0xLdr6w

— Anna Edney (@annaedney) August 5, 2019




• People-focused innovations: e-slippers, gliding platforms and more: meet the student innovators of Maddur  



• 'Dangerous Korean cult':  A lot of youth from the Northeast have fallen for the Christian cult from South Korea, Shincheonji, led by Lee Man-Hee.



• Beef ban: UK university banning beef burgers and introducing a levy on plastic bottles as part of a wider drive to tackle climate change.



• Water can act as a battery, too: It’s called pumped storage and it’s the largest and oldest form of energy storage in the US, and it’s the most efficient form of large-scale energy storage.



• Kauai's Hindu Monastery:




• Why does my child study Sanskrit? You will find universities from many countries having a Sanskrit faculty. Although India has been its custodian, Sanskrit has had universal appeal for centuries.



• Historical map of India:

Hats off to the creator of this video.. The entire history of our civilization in 5 mins. And we are only taught of Mughals in our history books... pic.twitter.com/hHnSwntYSI

— 〰ಶಂಕರ〰 (@PRO_Shankar) August 6, 2019

Quick notes: China border, Tariff battle...

• India-China border: China is digging for gold right next to its disputed border with India. “Extensive power lines and communication networks have been established, while construction is under way on an airport that can handle passenger jets.” 



• Tariff battle: In a retaliatory move, India proposes to raise duties by up to 100% on 20 products such as almonds, apple and specific motorcycles imported from the US



• Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft: Tamil Nadu to build India’s next generation defence aircraft



• George Sudarshan: A Lifelong Pursuit Of Science And Vedanta... Even non-Hindus will find refuge in Vedanta if they are sincere in their quest for Truth.



• Punyakoti - First Sanskrit Animated Movie:




• Dear #googletranslate, please add Sanskrit:

Dear #googletranslate, you do 98 languages, including #Hawaiian which has only 2000 speakers but not #Sanskrit, which has vastly more speakers.

Sad @sundarpichai

Please Retweet if you agree.

— Subhash Kak (@subhashkak1) May 6, 2018

Quick notes: Exit tax, Friend of my enemy...

• Exit tax on fleeing millionaires: There is an exodus of millionaires from India, and the govt suspects the rich are trying to escape scrutiny and tax liability.



• Strategic loss for India? Iran invites China for Chabahar development. "Any Chinese presence at Chabahar, even if not involved in the operation of the port, could be used as a way of undermining India’s influence with local authorities".



• The Friend of My Enemy: Iran is not comfortable with India because of its strategic partnership with the US and the new India-Israel relations. Ali Khamenei mentioned the Kashmir issue in some of his sermons for the first time, comparing it to the injustice meted out to Palestinians.



• Uprising? New nationalist movement emerges from Pakistan’s Pashtun protests



• Trump flirts with re-entering TPP: “If you want to send a message to China, the best way to do that is to start doing business with their competitors”



• Death: Whatever is, is you. You are the unlimited, which is not susceptible to the senses. By limiting yourself to the body, you have closed yourself to the unlimited potential which you really are




• A Challenger to Silicon Valley Emerges: The U.S. approach is “We’ll build a better product and just win over all the countries”. The Chinese approach is “we’ll fund the local partner to beat off the American companies”. All the rest of the world will basically be a land grab between the U.S. and China. Chinese-led venture funding is about 15 times its size in 2013, outpacing growth in U.S.-led financing, which roughly doubled in that time period.
  



• Brain drain: Taiwan battles a brain drain as China aims to woo young talent away 



• From Sanskrit to Macedonskrit: "Stop translating, I understand what you are saying. You are speaking here some corrupted form of Sanskrit".

Quick notes: Fund crunch, Saving democracy...

• Proud of you, but no funds for you: Acute fund crunch hits ISRO programmes.



• AI - comparing India and China: India's policy initiatives are not comprehensive yet and lag other G20 countries. China, on the other hand, today harbours one of the biggest clusters of AI scientists.



• Digital India blunder: Modi govt involved FB and Google on hundreds of initiatives under the Digital India programme.“It is but natural that they will use data in every manner. India does not have a privacy law and a data protection law.” 



• Saving democracy from Facebook: The govt should stop using FB, Google and Twitter for e-governance, and thereby stop providing free advertising for these companies for print and broadcast media.



• Reality or perception? As Dalit anger grows, RSS warns Modi-Shah to step up



• Samskrutam: Ananda Himani




• Break Free from Endless Materialism and Outwardly Seeking: Our sense organs are designed to face outwards. So they will perceive and interpret all external stimuli. Following a path which shows us how to direct our attention inwards lessens the stronghold that the senses have on us. In the Bhagwad Gita, Lord Krishna describes the senses as powerful horses, which drag our mind. The reins of the horses which are five in number are the five senses, while the reins are in the hand of Lord Krishna. He is the intellect, which helps us to discriminate between what is needed by me versus what my wants are.



• RBI survey: More than half the people surveyed expect no improvement in their incomes, job prospects or the economy a year from now.

Quick notes: IITM, MMRCA redux...

• India's best: How IIT Madras beat all the odds to become India’s top engineering college...... keep those DMK and JNU types out!



• MMRCA redux? It is obvious the IAF would prefer to add 110 more Rafales.. Having pocketed $12-bn for 36 of these, Dassault would be happy to sell the rest for another $20-$30-bn with TOT (transfer of technology). And well connected Reliance Defence is already chosen as its strategic partner. As with TOT provisions in past contracts, Rafale TOT will come with the advanced technologies as “black boxes” — which is not helpful.



• What technology will India get? “In the MMRCA tender, vendors promised capabilities that were still under development. This time, they are aware of the stringency of Indian weapons procurement”. The RFI emphasises the need for significant transfer of technology to build the fighters in India.



• Unending misery: Indian banks stare at $38-bn NEW bad loans from power sector



• Samskrutam: Vanessa Acevedo



• Language of access: Chinese is the second most popular language on the Internet after English. In contrast, Indic content accounts for barely 0.1 per cent of the worldwide Internet content..... MNCs understand the value of the vernacular, unlike NRN who wanted us to abandon our languages.



• Kerala church: "Yoga and Christian beliefs cannot go hand in hand. Yoga believes in oneness and does not differentiate between the creator and creation"...... essentially, the church does not believe in your innate divinity.



• The church doesn't get it: "What difference does it make to you whether Jesus Christ lived at a certain time or not? What has it to do with you that Moses saw God in the burning bush? The fact that Moses saw God in the burning bush does not constitute your seeing Him, does it? If it does, then the fact that Moses ate is enough for you; you ought to stop eating. Each one must experience it himself." --Swami Vivekananda.

Quick notes: Amazon model, Russian moves...

• Call to split up Amazon: "Amazon has operated its retail segment at a loss for decades, subsidizing the retail portion of its business with profits from other areas, such as web services. It's anti-competitive, it's predatory, and it's not right. They're not making money in retail, and they're putting retailers out of business"..... Lesson for India!



• Russia is arming the Afghan Taliban.... Putin tightens Turkey alliance with nuclear project... Yazidis remain in fear on Iraq's Mount Sinjar after attempted genocide



• Wide-body jets from China? Can a trade war now defer the day when China makes competitive wide-body jets?




• Abhinav Seetharaman: The beauty that is Sanskrit




• Doubtful intent: A questionable new study "explains" the origins of ancient Indians



• Breakfast cereal: Why cereal is NOT your best breakfast bet



• Dumping pesticides: Ducks are the future for pesticide-free rice farms

Quick notes: Digital tax, Renewable natural gas...

Digital tax on "Big Tech": EU to tax US tech titans not just on their profits but on their overall revenue in the bloc. Tax-avoidance strategies used by the tech giants like Google and Facebook deprives EU of billions of euros.


Natural gas from cow dung: Natural gas is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel.  Extracting methane from cow manure could create fuel without fracking. “The potential is huge.”


China's agricultural miracle: The scale of the project has stunned international scientists. A landmark project to make agriculture more sustainable in China has significantly cut fertilizer use while boosting crop yields on millions of small farms. The study involved some 1,000 researchers and 21 million smallholders.


Lifespan gains: China’s air quality has improved so significantly in recent years that citizens can expect to see their lifespan increase by 2.4 years.


Gabriella Burnel: Pūrṇamadaḥ Pūrṇamidam


Monotheism and its Weapons: Early Christians were much more likely to close down the academies, shut temples, loot and destroy artwork, forbid traditional practices and burn books. They believed that the world we inhabit is a perilous place, crowded with malevolent supernatural beings, who sometimes manifest themselves in the form of fake gods. It's the Christian’s duty to root these out. 'The Christian destruction of the classical world'.

Neodämmerung

“Neodämmerung” from Matrix Revolutions

• असतो मा सद् गमय ।
  तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
  मृत्योर्माऽमृतं गमय ॥
  From the unreal (delusion) lead me to the real (truth).
  From the darkness lead me to the light.
  From death lead me to immortality. -- Brihad Aranyaka (1.3.28)



• विद्यां चाविद्यां च यस्तद्वेदोभयँ सह ।
  अविद्यया मृत्युं तीर्त्वा विद्ययाऽमृतमश्नुते ॥
  Pursuing both Vidya and Avidya, he overcomes death by transcending them -- Isha Upanishad (11)   .. (pursuing Vidya alone leads to pride/delusion)



• यस्मिन् द्यौः पृथिवी चान्तरिक्षमोतं ।
  मनः सह प्राणैश्च सर्वैः ।
  तमेवैकं जानथ आत्मानमन्या वाचो ।
  विमुञ्चथामृतस्यैष सेतुः ॥
  In him are woven the sky and the earth and all the regions of the air.
  And in him rest the mind and all the powers of life.
  Know him as the One and leave aside all other words.
  He is the bridge of immortality -- Mundaka Upanishad (2.2.5)



• इन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मनो मनसः सत्त्वमुत्तमम् ।
  सत्त्वादधि महानात्मा महतोऽव्यक्तमुत्तमम् ॥
  Beyond the senses is the mind, and beyond the mind is reason, its essence. Beyond reason is the Spirit in man, and beyond this is the Spirit of the Universe, the evolver of all. -- Katha Upanishad (6.7)



• यदा पञ्चावतिष्ठन्ते ज्ञानानि मनसा सह ।
  बुद्धिश्च न विचेष्टते तामाहुः परमां गतिम् ।
  भिद्यते हृदयग्रन्थिश्छिद्यन्ते सर्वसंशयाः ॥
  When the five senses and the mind are still. And reason itself rests in silence, then begins the Path supreme -- Katha Upanishad (6.10)



• भिद्यते हृदयग्रन्थिश्छिद्यन्ते सर्वसंशयाः ।
  क्षीयन्ते चास्य कर्माणि तस्मिन् दृष्टे परावरे ॥
  And when he is seen in his immanence and transcendence, then the ties that have bound the heart are unloosened. The doubts of the mind vanish, and the law of Karma works no more -- Mundaka Upanishad (2.2.8)






The Matrix Wiki

Quick notes: Temple lands, Dharma lesson...

• Hindus robbed by 'Vikas': BJP-led Maharashtra govt to sell vast tracts held by temple trusts. The State Cabinet amended existing laws, allowing transfer of Devasthan Inams land held by individuals and 4,000 temple trusts, including the ones at Shirdi, Siddhivinayak, Pandharpur and Mahalaxmi in Kolhapur.... vikas gando thayo chhe



• Muslims rewarded by 'Vikas': Same govt increases the budget of Haj Committee.

BJP-led Maharashtra govt says #budget of State Haj Committee will be increased.

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) January 11, 2018




• Shia board's warning: Shia Central Waqf Board urges govt to shut down madrassas in the country, alleging that education imparted in these Islamic schools encouraged students to join terrorist ranks.



• Chinese H1-B: China is issuing long-term visas to lure highly skilled people from abroad to work in the country. Technology leaders, entrepreneurs and scientists from in-demand sectors are among those eligible to apply.



• Growing innovation back home: Chinese workers abandon Silicon Valley for riches back home



• Dharma lesson by Max Muller:  What India teaches us is that in a state advancing towards civilization, there must be always two castes or two classes of men, a caste of Brahmans or of thinkers, and a caste of Kshatriyas, who are to fight; possibly other castes also of those who are to work and of those who are to serve. Great wars went on in India, but they were left to be fought by the warriors by profession. The peasants in their villages remained quiet, accepting the consequences, whatever they might be, and the Brahmans lived on, thinking and dreaming in their forests, satisfied to rule after the battle was over.
  
  And what applies to military struggles seems to me to apply to all struggles—political, religious, social, commercial, and even literary. Let those who love to fight, fight; but let others who are fond of quiet work go on undisturbed in their own special callings.



• AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda

Quick notes: Moringa craze, Clean meat...

• Moringa craze takes over: Drumstick leaves, the superfood of 2018... soon, poor Indians won't be able to afford it



• Why fiber is good for you: Dietary fiber = undigested by humans = food for gut bacteria. Byproduct is short-chain fatty acids, absorbed by intestinal cells, which use it as fuel.



• Clean meat: Cell-cultured “clean” meat is grown by extracting cells from an animal and then growing those cells in a bioreactor filled with a high-tech nutrient-dense liquid. The cells feed on the liquid and proliferate, producing chicken meat that’s molecularly identical to conventional meat without having ever slaughtered an animal.



• Tax on disposable coffee cups: Bengaluru should consider this.



• Maneeshaa Panchakam: He who is firmly established in the Pure Consciousness – be he a Chandala (outcaste) or a Brahmana, such a one is indeed worthy of being a Guru.
  
  ..dridha prajna api yasya asti chet, chandaalah astu sah tu dvijah astu guruh iti..




• Bollywood's lack of ideas: What happened to all those life-changing films like V. Shantaram's Do Aankhen Barah Haath (about prison reform), Mehboob Khan's Mother India (about matriarchal pride and dignity), Bimal Roy's Sujata (about eradicating the caste system).....?



• Slam vs Slam: Islamic State declares war on rival Hamas with video execution



• It's Time to End Pak's Double Game: Pakistan concocted a complex strategy of cooperating on logistics and occasional help with hunting Al Qaeda leaders in exchange for massive U.S. aid, while simultaneously building out a clandestine program to reconstitute the Taliban.

President @realDonaldTrump’s first tweet of 2018. A promising message to Afghans who have suffered at the hands of terrorists based in Pakistan for far too long. https://t.co/NJdYB5qOWl

— Hamdullah Mohib (@hmohib) January 1, 2018

Quick notes: Gwadar's future, Iran's rise...

• China in Gwadar: Indigenous residents’ fear of becoming a minority is inevitable with Gwadar’s population expected to jump more than 15-fold in coming decades. China will receive 91% of revenues until the port is returned to Pakistan in four decades’ time.



• Is Iran the Mideast's new superpower? “For stopping ISIS in Afghanistan, the best alternative is the Taliban, so it is easy for Iran to support the Taliban. The Taliban hung them, ISIS people, out on trees for weeks, and no one was allowed to take them down, When Iran hit them strongly, [the ISIS fighters] moved to the east.”  That narrative is borne out by a map used by Afghanistan’s intelligence service. It shows ISIS emerging at points along Iran’s border in 2014-15, and then shifting east toward Pakistan’s border. “It’s a smart policy, to be honest,” says a Western official in Kabul.



• France wants parental permission for kids under 16 to go on Facebook: "Exploiting human psychology by feedback loops, driven by dopamine and 'social validation'."
  



• India better be cautious: Uber accused of espionage, hacking and bribery in bombshell letter



• China's AI awakening: China’s AI push calls for homegrown AI to match that developed in the West within three years, for China’s researchers to be making “major breakthroughs” by 2025, and for Chinese AI to be the envy of the world by 2030. 



• Gabriella Burnel: Promoting Sanskrit




• Christian Nationalism: White Evangelicals voted en masse for Roy Moore in Alabama, to no one's surprise

Quick notes: GST pain, Faraday Future...

• Can our artisans survive GST? 'I don't know how long the small-scale handmade sector can survive'.



• Are Tatas so naive?  Rumor has it that Tatas are paying $900 million for a 10% stake in Faraday Future, thus valuing the electric car startup at $9 billion.. Ridiculously overpriced, if true.



• Bringing Bikes Back: Bikes are having a second coming in China — in the form of bike-shares.



• Nirvana Shatakam performed by school children in Dublin, Ireland:

मनोबुद्ध्यहङ्कार चित्तानि नाहं
न च श्रोत्रजिह्वे न च घ्राणनेत्रे ।
न च व्योम भूमिर्न तेजो न वायुः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥१॥

न च प्राणसंज्ञो न वै पञ्चवायुः
न वा सप्तधातुः न वा पञ्चकोशः ।
न वाक्पाणिपादं न चोपस्थपायु
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥२॥

न मे द्वेषरागौ न मे लोभमोहौ
मदो नैव मे नैव मात्सर्यभावः ।
न धर्मो न चार्थो न कामो न मोक्षः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥३॥

न पुण्यं न पापं न सौख्यं न दुःखं
न मन्त्रो न तीर्थं न वेदा न यज्ञाः ।
अहं भोजनं नैव भोज्यं न भोक्ता
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥४॥

न मृत्युर्न शङ्का न मे जातिभेदः
पिता नैव मे नैव माता न जन्मः ।
न बन्धुर्न मित्रं गुरुर्नैव शिष्यं
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥५॥

अहं निर्विकल्पो निराकाररूपो
विभुत्वाच्च सर्वत्र सर्वेन्द्रियाणाम् ।
न चासङ्गतं नैव मुक्तिर्न मेयः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥६॥



• 'What can India teach us' by Max Müller: I remember one of our masters (Dr. Klee) telling us, that there was a language spoken in India, which was much the same as Greek and Latin, nay, as German and Russian. At first we thought it was a joke, but when one saw the parallel columns of numerals, pronouns, and verbs in Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin written on the blackboard, one felt in the presence of facts, before which one had to bow. The concept of the European man has been changed and widely extended by our acquaintance with India, and we know now that we are something different from what we thought we were. The study of Sanskrit has not only widened our views of man, and taught us to embrace millions of strangers and barbarians as members of one family, but it has imparted to the whole ancient history of man a reality which it never possessed before.



• Consciously quantum: Perhaps the most renowned of Quantum mechanics' mysteries is the "observer effect" -- the fact that the outcome of a quantum experiment can change depending on whether or not we choose to measure some property of the particles involved. This deeply troubled the early pioneers of quantum theory. It seemed to undermine the basic assumption behind all science: that there is an objective world out there, irrespective of us. If the way the world behaves depends on how – or if – we look at it, what can "reality" really mean?



• A bitter harvest: Low prices leave farmers seething. “The farm crisis is worsening by the year”.



• Something In The Air: Why does India lead the world in deaths from TB? The rise of TB infections has coincided with the dismal air quality index in many Indian cities.



• Smog shortening lives. Patient numbers have more than tripled in Delhi hospitals since pollution levels spiked.

Quick notes: Bhutanese view, Reviving Chabahar...

• In Kaangress era: India never intervened or even raised its voice in the past, about numerous Chinese incursions into the Bhutanese side, including the more serious road-building activities. This is because they did not affect Indian security, unlike Doklam.



• Indian role in Afghanistan: An India-Japan-South Korea consortium (with the US as an absent partner) could revive the Chabahar route to Afghanistan and, perhaps, manage the crucial supply chain to support US operations in the region.



• Induced seismicity: A 2010 study by the China Earthquake Administration found that Three Gorges Dam had triggered about 3,400 earthquakes from mid-2003 to the end of 2009, as well as numerous landslides, representing a 30-fold increase in seismicity. Human induced earthquakes



• Nano EV: Nano not to be phased out; Tata Motors to re-position it as electric vehicle 



• David Shulman: The notion that there was a pure Tamil that had no Sanksrit in it is a complete fantasy. There are Prakrit and Sanskrit words in the earliest Tamil Brahmi inscriptions we have. The Tamil Brahmi script has some features peculiar to it, but it’s deeply interwoven with the Sanskrit system.”



• Padma Shri Aruna Sairam:  Darbar Music Festival




• Greece, China's colony in Europe: “While the Europeans are acting towards Greece like medieval leeches, the Chinese keep bringing money”
  
  “Unlike democratic nations that change politicians every few years, the Chinese have a long and steady strategic view. They know what they want”.
  
  Last summer, Greece helped stop the EU from issuing a unified statement against Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. This June, Athens prevented the bloc from condemning China’s human rights record. Days later it opposed tougher screening of Chinese investments in Europe
  
  As Greece struggles through record joblessness, Chinese companies use subcontractors on short-term contracts at wages far below what unionized Greek dockworkers are paid.



• Missionary schools will grab lakhs of poor students from Dera run schools:

Missionary schools will grab lakhs of poor students from Dera run schools. Anyone thinking of issues beyond one man's scandal?

— Rajiv Malhotra (@RajivMessage) August 28, 2017




• Jayanthi Sampathkumar, manager at Microsoft:.Ran a marathon in a saree to promote handloom.

Quick notes: Secular detonators, Sanskrit daily...

• Saved by Secularism: Daniel was involved in supplying explosives on three occasions: for planting a bomb below a bridge near Vellore in 2011 to target BJP leader L K Advani, the 2012 Tirunelveli blast and for the Malleswaram blast.



• High Time: Rajnath promises to bring back ‘quota within quota’ if BJP wins UP.
  
  As someone said, the Jat agitation stems from resentment about Yadavs pocketing all the benefits of reservation. Ensuring that no single caste can get more than a third of the available reservations will bring a measure of fairness to the system.



• India's only Sanskrit daily fights for survival: Sudharma was launched by Kalale Nadadur Varadaraja Iyengar, a Sanskrit scholar, in 1970 with the goal of propagating the language. 



• Paddy fields vanish in Kerala’s rice bowl: Real estate lobbies buy paddy fields from farmers at cheap rates and convert them to housing plots.



• Worth fighting for:

Britishers thru Land bill in 1894 gave land to church & Missionaries schools for 100 yr lease GOI shd get that land back
it is 2016

— No Conversion (@noconversion) June 11, 2016




• Ayigiri Nandini :




• India is building a $60 million supercomputer that will help predict monsoons: The dynamic, 3D modeling technique is far more high-tech than the statistical method, which sees Indian meteorologists collect data on things like sea-surface temperatures, wind direction, and wind speed before comparing this information to historical records of rainfall. The new supercomputer will work ten times faster than the one used in recent years.