What’s going on? COVID-19 in India, the Middle East conflict, etc. I can’t wait for “white boy summer” to really start. Too much news.
What’s going on? COVID-19 in India, the Middle East conflict, etc. I can’t wait for “white boy summer” to really start. Too much news.
https://www.hindupost.in/terrorism/hindus-forced-to-pay-jizya-style-extortion-money-by-tmc-backed-islamists-in-wb/
Absolutely horrific
If the wicked witch of the east were tried in court, I could pretty much guarantee a fair trial would yield a death penalty verdict. She has so much proven blood on her hands.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-reason-for-the-Israel-police-to-clash-with-Palestinians-in-Jerusalem-in-May-of-2021/answer/V%C3%A9ronique-Bellamy?ch=10&share=79631fa0&srid=u6vS8
True
Any link to a nuanced pro-Palestinian perspective on the legality of the Sheikh Jarrah eviction?
https://www.dailywire.com/news/france-bans-use-of-woke-gender-neutral-language-in-schools-is-a-danger-for-our-country?%3Futm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dwtwitter
France Bans Use Of Woke Gender-Neutral Language In Schools: ‘Is A Danger For Our Country’
still Light years superior to nonsensical -by any objective standard of measure -the semite*schizo*scribblings that comprise bulk of biblical yehud*xianity; it might be A mistake , to revoke woke (no sarcasm ) given the dim forehead of pupils and masters alike muh iq
~bee nice
Rudra is Great
still Light years superior to nonsensical -by any objective standard of measure -the semite*schizo*scribblings that comprise bulk of biblical yehud*xianity; it might be A mistake , to revoke woke (no sarcasm ) given the dim forehead of pupils and masters alike muh iq
~bee nice
Rudra is Great
A friend of mine who works as a structural engineer for Thornton Tomasetti had once mentioned that there are hundreds of major bridges across the US that are past their life but local governments just do not have the money.
American executive has always been vain and unworthy. It wastes so much money in aid to hateful people while the infrastructure at home fails and public schools go unfunded. The scale of all around inefficiencies and wastage by government of the USA will make it into history books that would explain why the mandate of heavens was lifted.
####
@Prats
How are you?
https://swarajyamag.com/insta/pfizer-to-sell-50-million-covid-19-vaccine-doses-in-india-by-third-quarter-of-2021-report
Pfizer To Sell 50 Million Covid-19 Vaccine Doses In India By Third Quarter Of 2021: Report
What’s going on?
The quality of commenters (and comments) on BP has taken a nosedive in recent times.
Please elaborate oh quality one
“The quality of commenters (and comments) on BP has taken a nosedive in recent times.”
very true. also, there is too much of link spamming.
most discussions are over done-to-death topics. politics to covid to technology to politics again. wish there could be more discussions on arts and travels and cuisine and history and culture. movies any one?
Does anyone have any updates on upcoming ancient DNA from South Asia?
@DaThang
Sinauli aDNA extraction did not yield good quality samples. Just being discussed on Indian Twitter – a failure.
Urn Burials from 6th century BC in Konthagai, TN have been recovered intact. Should yield something.
There was also news about Keezhadi human remains being sent for DNA testing about a year ago. But I don’t expect a lot of surprises (like a pure AASI sample) from the Tamil samples, all of it is within the last 300 years..
Kumari kandam bitches ???
*3000
@DaThang
Even aDNA from 3000 years ago will throw much illumination. Reasons –
1. I don’t if you are following the epigraphist-archaeology fight over Brahmi in South India. Read up on it. It’s one of the current enduring mysteries.
2. The dating of the first and second Sangam ages are a riddle. Agastya, the Vedic sage played an important role in the formation of Tamil Grammar rules.
3. The two urn Burials found were those of warriors. If I may prophesize, they will turn out to be R1a. It might be the most ancient R1a in the Deccan to date.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaSpeaks/comments/ncv1pe/bharadwajspeaks_how_eid_was_originally_celebrated/
Disturbing
bangalore covid management has suddenly improved. the bbmp help line now calls positive cases at least 5-6 times a day, a far cry from last month, wherein the first call from them came after 6 days after the test.
it is a shame the ias needs to be prodded to do such simple things, the ward level politicians are doing a good job,
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livemint.com/v/s/www.livemint.com/news/india/india-readies-state-run-firms-to-manufacture-covaxin/amp-11621078961652.html%3famp_js_v=0.1&usqp=mq331AQHKAFQArABIA%253D%253D#ampf=
India readies state-run firms to manufacture Covaxin
https://swarajyamag.com/amp/story/insta%2Fmake-in-india-renew-power-to-set-up-solar-cell-module-manufacturing-unit-in-gujarats-dholera-with-rs-2000-crore-investment
Make In India: ReNew Power To Set Up Solar Cell, Module Manufacturing Unit In Gujarat’s Dholera With Rs 2,000 Crore
Chinese rover lands on Mars successfully!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t2LyC4sSV0
Brilliant! Just brilliant!
China ke aagaye hain acche din. Aur hum bas parson se vishwaguru ban-ne wale hain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ePgJAqhXgY
WSJ shitting their pants at Chinese Mars rover landing. Americans make up so much BS to appear unbiased… ‘No we may be second largest economy BUT we have larger per capita GDP, oh well … BUT we are the leading military power.’
###
Do you guys think China will steal Tesla’s processes and technology?
Except FSD (still in development), I’m not sure if there is anything Tesla is doing that can’t be copied, so yeah China will copy them. Infact Chinese EV makers are already competing with Tesla and they are far ahead than other traditional big names in auto.. If you are talking about SpaceX or Starlink, that’s another matter.
I am not sure what’s there to copy though. What Tesla had was a first mover advantage. Lot of European and American countries are already doing it. So not sure the technology is that advanced that China has to really ‘copy’ it.
To me the value of Tesla is in it’s Operations Research, organizational behavior and innovative-bold processes and systems engineering.
Autonomy is an intense field. A lot of different things are being tried for the first time. Two cars may look the same and both be autonomous but there are often big differences in safety, robustness and systems engineering. From the news it seems Apple’s car project seems to be quite bad. I had heard pretty bad things about Nio too from a classmate. Maybe some like Google are doing overkill and all people need is a minimum viable product, idk.
A general trend that I have seen over the years at Ford, GM, Cruise, Aurora etc is that now that they are out of prototype stage they are hiring for positions on functional safety, uncertainty quantification, explainable AI … earlier it used to be only hard core engineering like chassis controls, path planning, perception and behavior modelling.
Another interesting bit is the sensor ecosystem that has cropped up. OEM companies (like Aptiv in this case) are actually quite good at saving their IP from the Chinese. It is the integrator that gets screwed.
I was talking about just Tesla vs Xpeng, Nio etc.
Hardware wise I don’t think engineering an electric car would be that hard* for countries. It is the Processes (Giga press, Giga factories, Co-bot factories, etc) and Operations part of the business that is more valuable and would be stolen by China.
On software side I think Google’s endgame is releasing its self driving software to all it did Android with phones.
*I had seen TATA’s electric Nexon in India and it is a good product for the price. Didn’t get to drive it but the numbers look decent. Has anyone in India driven it or others like it? Do you guys think electric will take hold in India? I am sure full autonomy will not come for a long time but adaptive cruise control and lane following type ADAS stuff will become common.
@Qureshi
Is there any desire for cheap Indian cars/bikes among Pakistanis?
Agreed with this, there is a lot of dead weight dragging legacy automakers that Tesla does not have, and they have secured a vertical supply chain.. in this regard a lot of new upstarts may even have better EV products that companies like Honda or GM. However automotive sector runs on thin margin so most of these new upstarts rivaling Tesla will probably be the Chinese because they are backed and funded by the Chinese state. FSD however truly would set Tesla apart, their approach to autonomy is using neural networks/ computer vision, while everyone else like Waymo, Cruise etc are using LIDAR.. If Tesla pulls it off, they could have an advantage that won’t be beat for many years, not even by the Chinese.
I think there are electric bikes and electric conversion kits available for bikes in Pakistan, but at this point the cost does not justify the returns for most consumers. 70cc ICE engines in most bikes on the road are extremely fuel efficient and don’t hurt the wallet, and these bikes are easy to maintain and repair. However the government is pushing towards electrification as they see it as a long term play to wean off foreign oil and that constitutes most of the import bill.
“FSD however truly would set Tesla apart, their approach to autonomy is using neural networks/ computer vision, while everyone else like Waymo, Cruise etc are using LIDAR.”
This is not factually correct. I pay my bills by working in Autonomy. Tesla especially shuns Lidars but there are others too who make do without Lidars.
Vision, Radar and Lidar all have distinct advantages that cannot be recreated by any single one of them, newer mm-wave radars and solid state Lidars are quite leaps in performance/cost. Everyone including Tesla already relies on sensor fusion. There is no way around sensor fusion, no amount of signal processing can fight and win against information rich inputs.
Neural Networks is thrown around as an exotic term too much, in the broadest sense they are just functional approximators, that do high dimensional regression. Basic problems like classification cannot be done without them as there is no clear ‘logic’ that defines what a car or a horse looks like in a picture which to a computer is nothing but a big vector.
With simple OpenCV+Tensorflow+Keras any one can learn to do reasonable object tracking, classification type things in about a week so Computer Vision is not a big deal anymore especially for companies.
Also, Honda, Ford and GM are far ahead of the Chinese in electric as well as autonomy. idk where are you getting your information from. Check the hectic research activity at Cruise(GM), Ford or Honda Research.
On the Tesla’s automotive computing hardware I think people at Nvidia, TI, etc will own Tesla’s ass in a few years. These chip making companies are beasts, no one can beat them at what they do.
Actually if you read Elon’s tweets, Tesla may get rid of the radar sensors from its cars and only rely on camera vision going forward.. it’s not easy to integrate both camera and radar sensors for driving mode especially when they are giving conflicting information.
The thing with computer vision is that while everyone else can develop a system using it, you need millions of miles of data and a way to effectively curate that data to make the AI learn to make correct decision every time. The data is something others simply do not have and they are not even pursuing it because of logistical and time constraints. Humans drive using their eyes only, they don’t need LIDAR or HD maps fed into their brains, it’s based on vision alone and experience. A LIDAR car can’t operate outside geofenced environment without HD maps, but Tesla FSD would. FSD beta videos are out on youtube (check out this channel https://www.youtube.com/user/22v) and barring a few kinks here or there, it’s actually quite shocking to see the car picking up most objects correctly and making correct decisions. Almost every Tesla car sold from 2016 onwards had cameras fitted into them, so FSD can be even made to run in shadow mode in every one of those cars to accelerate learning.
No matter what Ford or GM or Honda or Audi may claim, they don’t have a product like this, speaking from personal experience, even their adaptive cruise controls pale in comparison to Tesla’s autopilot, which makes me look forward to FSD.
Also, with regards to hardware, you can check out Sandy Munro dissecting Tesla’s manufacturing and materials science employed in making its cars and batteries. I am no expert in the hardware side (Tesla interiors usually feels cheap for the its cost) but pretty much everyone agrees that are way ahead in software. Notice both VW and Ford Mach E are currently suffering from software issues in the EV offerings. W.r.t chips, I am sure NVIDIA will catch up to Tesla, but NVIDIA in my experience, intergrated hardware and software creates better synergy than putting together piecemeal from different producers. Apple iPhone experience for example is much more seamless than Samsung+Android, and Tesla seems to be copying this model.
“Actually if you read Elon’s tweets, Tesla may get rid of the radar sensors from its cars and only rely on camera vision going forward.”
I am no genius like him but the advantages of other sensors are obvious. There is no reason not to have them other than price and reliability.
“it’s not easy to integrate both camera and radar sensors for driving mode especially when they are giving conflicting information.”
No it is pretty straight forward. And no one resolves conflicting information
by throwing one sensor off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPQGtIXaXqA
“The thing with computer vision is that while everyone else can develop a system using it, you need millions of miles of data and a way to effectively curate that data to make the AI learn to make correct decision every time.
The data is something others simply do not have and they are not even pursuing it because of logistical and time constraints.”
Completely wrong.
https://www.wired.com/story/california-self-driving-cars-log-most-miles/
“Humans drive using their eyes only, they don’t need LIDAR or HD maps fed into their brains, it’s based on vision alone and experience.”
Does that make people without say GPS better drivers ? Or does driving in rain without a radar make an autonomous vehicle safer? These are not good arguments.
“A LIDAR car can’t operate outside geofenced environment without HD maps, but Tesla FSD would.”
I have no clue what this even means.
“FSD beta videos are out on youtube (check out this channel https://www.youtube.com/user/22v) and barring a few kinks here or there, it’s actually quite shocking to see the car picking up most objects correctly and making correct decisions.”
What they are showing is pretty routine. What did you find so impressive?
“Almost every Tesla car sold from 2016 onwards had cameras fitted into them, so FSD can be even made to run in shadow mode in every one of those cars to accelerate learning.”
That’s not how it works.
“No matter what Ford or GM or Honda or Audi may claim, they don’t have a product like this, speaking from personal experience, even their adaptive cruise controls pale in comparison to Tesla’s autopilot, which makes me look forward to FSD.”
idk man. To each their own. I had used Ford’s cruise control and it seemed alright to me, couldn’t have asked for more.
“Also, with regards to hardware, you can check out Sandy Munro dissecting Tesla’s manufacturing and materials science employed in making its cars and batteries. I am no expert in the hardware side (Tesla interiors usually feels cheap for the its cost) but pretty much everyone agrees that are way ahead in software.”
People who think like that are wrong. Tesla may be a better business, have first mover advantage and actually win but it is not ahead in perception + motion planning software. Waymo is far ahead, it may loose in the end but it’s tech is superior.
Notice both VW and Ford Mach E are currently suffering from software issues in the EV offerings. W.r.t chips, I am sure NVIDIA will catch up to Tesla, but NVIDIA in my experience, intergrated hardware and software creates better synergy than putting together piecemeal from different producers. Apple iPhone experience for example is much more seamless than Samsung+Android, and Tesla seems to be copying this model.”
again idk. don’t know what is happening now, but in yesteryears Dell XPS 13 used to beat Macbooks hands down. At the end of the day it is not my money and neither am I a spox for Waymo so why bother. Peace.
Your WIRED link about which car companies reported most amount of miles is a bit misleading. They got their numbers from DMV CA, and Tesla has reported no self driving miles to DMV California, so it won’t even show up in the top 30 autonomous driving companies. This is to avoid legal liability, Tesla even claims it’s FSD is Level 2 autonomous, rather than level 3 or 4 other companies are at. However Tesla has more than 5 billion miles of data, and will 2 million Tesla’s on the road at this very moment, they are collecting exponentially more data than their competitors.
https://www.theverge.com/transportation/2018/4/19/17204044/tesla-waymo-self-driving-car-data-simulation
And all the miles per human intervention stats are *self reported*, so take those with a huge grain of salt. Waymo is the foremost competitor of Tesla and they just fired their CEO last month (shows lack of progress).
Once you understand that Tesla is the only major company that is pursuing non-LIDAR autonomous driving, you will see why it is exception.
So now why is LIDAR bad? In Elon’s words “its a crutch” not true self driving. It’s not a viable tech for mass autonomous vehicles. At most, you can have a fleet of robotaxis driving around in geofenced areas. It’s sensors are expensive, it causes design issues in the cars makes them boxy and unappealing. Most people buy cars for their design/brand or the cost. Lidar wont commercially be viable either way unless in taxis. And it requires uptodate maps which makes it pretty impractical. Computer vision is the only way you can have 90% or more self driving in the future. It’s only limited by camera depth perception (and this tech is getting better and better), otherwise the AI is there for it to work.
Lidar vs vision are completely different approaches, lidar is a safe defensive option while vision is an aggressive one. This is why most companies have gone that route, but I simply don’t see how you can have an intelligent self driving car that can drive anywhere with lidar. With vision you can.
✌???
Are you an IT guy?
No. Why do you ask?
Meant Q. I think you said that you’re an engineer right?
Yes. Sorry, my bad.
No need to apologize man I appreciate the Tech discussions you guys have. that area just isn’t my forte so it’s good to learn a thing or 2
Yes the US reaction to China’s rise just feels like psychological coping and self-assuring rhetoric.
As far as large centralized government institutions go the Chinese government has already won. You can disagree with their vision of the world, but you can’t disagree with their sheer competence.
America’s centralized government institutions couldn’t even get cheques out to its people during the pandemic. I think everyone would agree on the incompetence but blame a different political tribe for the malaise.
America’s strength is in its decentralized, self-organizing capabilities, but it seems these have an increasingly adversarial relationship with centralized institutions which seek to stamp out threats to their power rather than creating an environment that fosters improvement and innovation.
Broadly the West hasn’t truly lost in recent memory so they take their status as top dogs for granted. Every discourse I hear is just dripping with arrogance.
One advantage of being an Indian origin guy, is we viscerally understand loosing is very much a possibility. lol.
I think lot of India’s self realization in the pandemic is due to the roaring 2000s when Indians started believing the hype that they have arrived. That we are indeed winning. That’s why are our recent incompetence has hit us hard more than it should.
Being born in the 90s we have seen a life without high speed internet or living cheek by jowl with the poor in small towns and license raj. That;s y we were always more sanguine about India’s underlying fault-lines.
I just can’t understand Chinese public sector’s competence. Not just the laggards like AI vs AC/CSA/CEA, even our champions look like jokers in front of them for example CRRC vs ICF/CLW. Their public sector is making a profit on selling cars! WTF is happening?
The scale of Chinese private sector’s ambition and action makes me gawk too.
Here we have people agitating and destroying multi-million rail-tracks on 3000 seats worth of caste reservation or unnecessarily roadblock farm reforms. Things will not change here, Indian people are unworthy, we want to talk our way into being a great power. We think we are so slick that other countries will toil in factories and we will just jump the queue to services. The stupid bit about all this is that Indians truly do not understand statistics, probability and scale. What is the point of working for KPMG or City Bank or Nomura or BCG if you can make 10X that by starting industry?
Unnecessary and avoidable state failure reinforces the over-hyping of the ideals of our parent’s generation who lets be frank were no achievers. The only ‘achievement’ most of them pulled off was maybe to immigrate to the US, or get a job at SBI. These were not very successful people, their achievements and struggle-stories were not stories of genuine growth with abundance mindset and perseverance but ones of forced self-denial and content-ness borne of fearfullness. The ones before them were even worse, raised by sheep we think our big flock will stumble upon next Uber just like that.
@Saurav
Indians think by eating INR 150 McPaneer Pattie at McD and buying C-rate American clothing brands we have arrived.
Indians are not making enough things, we are a nation of traders, only a few like banias, jains, sindhis and punjabis truly embrace business and even they aren’t all that good.
Koenraad Elst published a magnificient state-of-the-art on the OIT/AIT debate (his blog). Originally it was a tribute to his IE Linguistics professor. If you were/are in any manner entranced/possessed by this debate, then YOU must read it before passing out of this earthly realm. It is quite frankly, very good. Just a few highlights –
1. He has harsh words for OIT’ers – he notes the lack of respect for linguistics and less-than-respect for even OIT supporting Western Indologists.
2. A very fantastic timeline of the whole debate from the 1800s – he says that AIT was succumbing to skepticism during the 1990s in academia’s halls. But the California textbook controversy sucked in a whole level of political centrifugal forces into the debate and pushed OIT to the the margins – company of flat-earthers etc.
3. This one caught me in mid-stride. Elst says that the AIT advocates, perforce, apply the AIT paradigm to prove the AIT paradigm. The new oxygen (genetics) is not immune to this circular logic as well.
4. He makes another assesment – that people who use immigration in place of invasion are weaselling. He singles out David Reich on this. Especially when they insist that the proof lies in the identification of a language/culture/tech with a particular genetic component (master race, anyone?)
There are also tons of minutiae that will make you happy if you are trivia obsessed. Don’t miss out.
This will be a Chinese century. The US has to get its act together to try and even compete a little bit.
India is just…yeah there’s a lot of work to do
https://amp.scroll.in/article/993901/the-rise-of-political-sufism-poses-a-threat-to-liberal-politics-in-both-india-and-pakistan
The rise of Political Sufism poses a threat to liberal politics in both India and Pakistan
Sufism has been noted for its pacifism and otherworldliness. Two political parties on either side of the border undermine that image.
Author of this article starts with false premise that Sufism as a social policy is “good”. Either the author is ignorant or deliberately lying. Sufism is a POLITICAL ideology masquerading as a Social Policy. Sufism is the successful attempt to demarcate the Political supremo of Islam and Spiritual Supremo of ISLAM. Majority of Sufis are Syeds. When Turkic people adopted Islam and established Sultanates, these Syed people went in their kingdom and established that the Sultan is the political regent of Caliph while the same Sultan is moral regent of Sufi who is the friend of God. Sufism established Priesthood concept in Islam. And Sufis were merciless when the Sultan refuses to cater to his wishes and seldom planned to overthrow the Sultans.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/before-slamming-indias-handling-of-covid-lets-look-at-facts-and-not-twitter-noise/
An interesting take though i don’t agree ☝️
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/wheat-procurement-coronavirus-surge-direct-payment-punjab-farmers-7315628/
“In the midst of the second coronavirus surge and the agitation by farmers against agricultural laws that has been now on for five months, Punjab has surpassed all previous records in wheat procurement for the rabi season.”
Lot of Modi’s economic reform will unfortunately not yield political dividends to him, and he will be remembered like a Rao/Vajpayee who’s reforms helped their successors.
Hatred is irrational by definition. We can see some of the origins of hypocrisy through that basic principle. It applies especially clearly to this situation.
What do the Americans on this blog think of Andrew Yang and his chances in NY? He seems a genuinely refreshing chap in politics with new ideas and a new way of looking at capitalism.
His universal basic income scheme is premature. But not a bad idea. Other than that, he isn’t bad. But he caters to woke gang too much, especially on expanding stuff like our current broken race based affirmative action system.
@Siddharth
NYC registered. On a pure policy level, I’m ambivalent, but I’d vote for him. Don’t think he has a chance though. The city is very factional and I don’t see who his constituency is.
https://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/india-needs-policy-change-reforms-7315569/lite/
India needs policy-change reforms’
He cautioned, “India is de-globalising, not back to what it was before but more than the world is; owing to policy choices: increased protection and decreased attention to export competitiveness.”
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-trends/Top-Indian-IT-companies-struggle-to-retain-staff-as-demand-grows
They call it a “K-shaped recovery”.
@thewarlock
I disagree. The US possesses something China has been completely unable to copy, even at a low level: a massive diplomatic network of de facto puppet states (Europe, Korea, Japan etc). America also has huge cultural influence, for good or for ill. That Chinese pop culture is much less influential than Korean or Japanese pop culture (manga, K-pop, etc) despite being hugely more populated is not a sign of confidence, either from outsiders or of Chiense themselves.
In order to beat the US, China needs not only to become bigger economically than the US but bigger than the entire NATO block. China has only two real friends: North Korea and Russia. It is frenemies at best with Pakistan (refuses to lend to the broke Pakistanis) and has passive-aggressive relations with much of South-East Asia.
The US will never be as unilaterally powerful as it was during the 1990s and early 2000s, but there’s no inherent reason to think that China will displace it. China is as indebted as the US is (as a percentage of total GDP, private+public debt) but at 1/6th the income level. It has demographics which are terrible.
I think China will at best be able to carve out a space in SEA but unable to challenge US hegemony outside of its immediate littoral. I hope I am wrong! But I don’t think I am.
@Narasingha Deva
Much of “reforms” is just doublespeak for neoliberalism. Having read Ha-Joon Chang’s arguments, and knowing how List (Germany) and Hamilton (US) set the stage for their countries to get rich, I am unconvinced that India should just listen to the conventional Washington Concensus claptrap.
Thanks for checking Bhim bhai. I am doing better now.
Hopefully will be out of self-isolation this week. Just want to go out in the park and sit once and eat some biryani.
My comments might be stuck in moderation, it seems.
https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaSpeaks/comments/ndgl4m/bengal_governor_jagdeep_dhankar_meeting_the/
Another Kashmir. Just wow
https://www.quora.com/Is-Israel-technically-becoming-an-apartheid-state/answer/Alex-Gossland?ch=10&share=00f3e3dc&srid=u6vS8
Yup
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.timesnownews.com/amp/international/article/israel-palestine-conflict-pakistan-actress-veena-malik-quotes-adolf-hitler/756498
Very ironic. Her closest genetic relatives during that time were gypsies. She doesn’t realize she would also been raped and then gassed to death, if she were alive in Hitler’s Germany.
Regardless, completely idiotic statement. She is openly defending genocide. What a demonic woman
Quite a few hitler admiring posts from radical haleems. Goes to show who the real fascist Nazi admirers are, unsurprising given largest recent genocide in S Asia was committed by radical NW haleems with disproportionate Hindu targeting.
Warlock is this your twitter account in the reply? LOL
I don’t have a twitter
LOL
Hey TheWarlock, can we have a chat, bro?
Sure. What’s your question?
It’s me, Ziun. I want to invite you into an Anthropology community we made for South Asians.
Please, I hope you join – https://discord.gg/wTVxEePjWu
https://apnews.com/article/kashmir-india-middle-east-religion-israel-palestinian-conflict-8bc88c34a77992da7c6a96f39c598811
So unbiased lmfao
“Israeli defense officials said the building housed military assets belonging to Hamas and they provided advance warning to civilians in the building to allow evacuation. No casualties were reported in that strike.”
This is already being twisted. These jihadist militants are geniuses for hiding weapons in leftist news networks building
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/amid-covid-chaos-protests-indias-farmers-eye-record-wheat-crop-2021-04-29/
Socialism fails again as usual
“To appease protesters, the state grain purchaser is likely to have to procure large quantities of wheat at guaranteed prices, trade sources said, eating into the budget and bloating already high stock levels.”
This Netanyahu tweet should be embarrassing for the Indian IT cell.
https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/1393691936192712707
But what is funny are the replies begging him to include India.
BJP, especially under vajpayee, has historically played double games with “palestine.” This is not surprising. We have had radical mullah influenced foreign policy for some time
The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill
All pandemic long, scientists brawled over how the virus spreads. Droplets! No, aerosols! heart of the fight was a teensy error with huge consequences.
They ticked through a growing list of superspreading events in restaurants, call centers, cruise ships, and a choir rehearsal, instances where people got sick even when they were across the room from a contagious person. The incidents contradicted the WHO’s main safety guidelines of keeping 3 to 6 feet of distance between people and frequent handwashing. If SARS-CoV-2 traveled only in large droplets that immediately fell to the ground, as the WHO was saying,
Marr was no stranger to being ignored by members of the medical establishment. Often seen as an epistemic trespasser, she was used to persevering through skepticism and outright rejection.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/
@warlock
Do you think the former support India extended to the palestinian cause was a type of muslim appeasement? I feel this is projecting the current campus politics of *empowered* feminist hijabi girls onto the past. Rooting for palestinians was a true lefty, post-colonial, non-aligned stance. I don’t think indian muslims could have cared less in the 70’s. In fact there’s no irony that it was zia-ul-haq, the first fully realized islamist head of state in south asia, who became famous as the butcher of palestinians as a miltary attache to jordan in black september. Palestinians traditionally have been viewed with suspicion by islamists
Just like Indians went overboard with the Palestine case during the Cold War, when it didn’t need to, similarly now it’s going overboard with Israel.
Though at least going over board on Israel has some benefits for India. Unlike the earlier case.
Tech transfer and collaboration is a benefit, even if its value is being overplayed. But the corny celebratory pro-israel whatsapp forward culture is a liability. The artless pandering that indians would fancy as a charm offensive is buffonery to their sensibilities. Anything india benefits from can be achieved quietly.
Reading the shameless brown-nosing of Israel by Sanghis on Twitter is cringe inducing.
Blind support for causes people don’t understand is always cringe. The most cringe is leftist support, especially its disproportionate support in non BJP India, support for failed political policies, ones that have killed more people in the 20th century than any other.
@warlock
If a non-BJP state in India supports a leftist policy of a wider saftey net or more subsidies of some kind, how is this attributable to a misunderstanding? We may disagree with them, but they are choosing their own policies. If anything, we indian-amercians are closer to your example of being passionate about things we don’t understand, wrt to whats best for specific indian societies. Although well-intentioned, I see shades of it in your fixation on biradari self-regard and diaspora muslim hypocrisy. Formally agree with you on both counts in the US contexts, but you overestimate how they factor here in india. South-asian americans, by virtue of being well-educated and perhaps descended from influential people, aren’t regarded as thought leaders amongst real indians. We have neither the street-smarts of our co-ethnics nor the risk-taking rugged individualism of old stock americans. The subtle rivalries among desis in america are of no consequence.
“NEW DELHI: Calling for an immediate de-escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian situation, India on Sunday urged both sides to exercise extreme restraint and refrain from taking any action to unilaterally change the status quo, including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood. The government condemned all acts of violence and destruction and called for resumption of dialogue.
Participating in a virtual UNSC meeting on the situation, India’s permanent representative to the UN T S Tirumurti reiterated strong support for the “just Palestinian cause” and unwavering commitment to the two-state solution.”
And this is why Netanyahu won’t put an Indian flag in the tweet. India is still playing a double game. But I anticipated you ignoring that geopolitical nuance to try to score some troll points.
Here is the real reason why Israelis don’t warm up to Indians.
https://imgur.com/a/f1aGMyO
Obviously you may think this is extreme but this most definitely colors their thinking
I have to give Pakistanis some credit for being consistent on Israel even when many Arab(!) countries folded after Trump did a push/pull routine in order to normalise relations with the Jewish apartheid state. Pakistan’s finances are precarious, yet they did not budge despite the carrots.
The carnage we see playing out before our eyes is making that decision age very well. I find it hard to understand how so many Indians can reflexively support a state butchering families and innocent children in the hundreds without remorse or hesitation. Just a few days ago, the IDF was bombing the road to the hospital in Gaza to prevent the casualties from getting help, thereby drastically reducing their chances to survive. If that is not state terrorism, then I don’t know what is.
Pakistan non recognition of Israel is a no brainer. There are no upsides to it, and lot of downsides for Pakistan. There is nothing Israel can offer to Pakistan, unlike it can to Arabs against Iran. At best recognition would have been symbolic, while Israel would not dial down on arms exports to India. On the downside it would have led to major friction b/w Mullahs and Army/Pak Govt. A totally unnecessary step.
The only country which had that kind of pull to make Pakistan recognize Israel was the Saudis, and since Saudis themselves wont recognize Israel , this whole idea of Pakistan was under pressure to recognize Israel was a story which was floated by Pakistanis themselves. Just like Indians delude themselves that they are some sort of special friend to Israel, Pakistanis delude themselves with attaching undue importance to this whole ‘recognition of Israel’ thing. What Israel wants is recognition from Arab states , not necessarily every Muslim country on the planet.
For the Pak establishment aka the ISI army nexus and some of its radical haleem citizens, the level of radicalism which has led to immense amounts of hatred towards non Muslims fuels these situations. The only other hatred they foster which is greater is a special hatred for Hindus that supersedes their hatred for other non Muslims. Hence, why they get quite about their sugar daddy not treating Muslims well. They know that they cannot comprimise that relationship, in order to maximize their odds of destroying the Hindu majority state to East.
https://amp.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3133523/did-pakistans-top-army-chief-just-back-down-over-kashmir
Maybe some rationality lately though. But I doubt it. Too much historic double talk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njEeRTekraU
good video
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/university-california-schools-no-longer-234500941.html
Just awful
STEP 1 is now also gone for med school. We are moving towards more and more anti meritocracy
https://www.google.com/amp/s/energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/amp/news/renewable/forced-labour-from-uyghurs-in-xinjiang-behind-global-supply-of-solar-panels-investigation/82697865
Forced labour from Uyghurs in Xinjiang behind global supply of solar panels: Investigation
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.timesofindia.com/india/india-reiterates-support-to-just-palestinian-cause/amp_articleshow/82695418.cms
India reiterates support to ‘just Palestinian cause’
Opinion Carrying on accepting Modi now means accepting cruelty
Suggesting that the pandemic is the work of an ‘unseen enemy’ that the government is hapless against is but an admission that the State has failed.
Shruti KapilaSHRUTI KAPILA 17 May, 2021 9:58 am IST
Death has once again dominated the week. Pictures of bodies floating in the rivers of north India are now fast surpassing images of mass funeral pyres that became the global image of the pandemic only last week. There is no mistaking that what these images of dead bodies represent is cruelty.
Mass deaths and its imagery has rightly incited ire against the State.
Analysts were both quick and right to take this imagery of mass Indian deaths due to Covid as evidence of a failed State. Vaccine shortage, the lack of a public campaign on virus prevention and the failure to build medical and hospital capacity during the first lockdown — all point to the failure of the State. The utter dereliction of duty of political leaders and the casual neglect of danger in their holding mass public rallies and religious rituals has been lethal.
In the face of mass deaths, the powerful State and its otherwise popular leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi are missing in action. Instead, the various voices of the government are directing hapless and breathless citizens to remain positive and channel the power of prayer.
Silence of the state is but an act of cruelty.
Also read: Central Vista needs revamp. But here are 7 non-Covid reasons why Modi govt has got it wrong
Political rule and cruelty
Cruelty and the State are not disconnected. Far from it. Princes, philosophers, public moralists and political leaders over the ages have not only thought about the intimate connection between political rule and cruelty but also acted according to their beliefs on it.
Political philosopher Judith Shklar was the first in recent times to alert us to the fact that there was nothing natural about cruelty. In fact, cruelty was the vice above all vices.
In her pithy but powerful essay, Putting Cruelty First, Shklar made at least three big points. First, cruelty is important not because it is everywhere and ugly but because it is a human judgement on human behaviour. God, or even fate or destiny is not in the picture, so to speak. Second, cruelty degrades humanity like no other vice. Finally, but most importantly, cruelty ‘works’ because there are few safeguards against it. Ever since Machiavellian ideas became the model for rulers and princes, politics or power was separated from morals or ethics. The relentless pursuit of power and fame by rulers made them particularly cruel.
Cruelty in rulers is, however, possible only because of self-deception. We could simply call it delusions of grandeur that often inhabit the very powerful. Prime among such delusions is to mistake the torment of victims as love for their ruler. It is now neither uncommon nor irrelevant that Prime Minister Modi’s mass popularity has often been described as toxic love.
Modi too has pursued his legacy or his posthumous fame over the rapidly unfolding pandemic and deaths. The continuing work on $2 billion Central Vista project despite deaths due to covid crossing over 4,000 a day stands as sharp evidence of PM’s priority.
Floating bodies in rivers and burning pyres on ghats and elsewhere, it is perhaps projected, will fade. The new monuments to be cast in Modi’s mould in the political capital will be set in stone and it is assumed, will endure. As crematoria and graveyards run out of space, India’s premier location is being dug up day and night to undo the past and mark Modi’s presence in India’s long history. The Central Vista already feels like a memorial to the dead.
https://theprint.in/opinion/carrying-on-accepting-modi-now-means-accepting-cruelty/659592/
https://twitter.com/HTBrunch/status/1393781213144358915
First transgender woman starring in an Indian ad. I remarked some time ago how strangely tolerant much of South Asia is towards transgender people compared to, say, homosexuals. But razib pointed out that this is because transgenders don’t overturn traditional sexual norms the way homosexuals do. Nevertheless, in India at least, there does seem to be a movement towards acceptance vis-a-vis homosexuality as well.
I have a hunch that the reason transgeneders are more “acceptable” in subcontinent is due to Hindu mythos attributing divinity to them (Shiva-Shakti) or mentioning them in epics (Shikhandi) . This made them supposedly ‘normal’ and more acceptable. Had there been an overt Homosexual god perhaps that would have happened too.
Somewhat related, Hijras dancing and blessing the bride-groom and new born babies is considered auspicious among Hindus. People bicker about the money to be given for their service but no one doubts the need of this ritual. At it worst there is dislike, disapproval, revulsion but not the hatred that is reserved for gay men.
Yeah i think it has to do with the idea that they are mystical. And not to be messed with.
Sometime back i read this book by a Pakistani author, who mentioned that the same idea abt Transgenders exist in rural Pakistan as well, which used to still practice some forms of folk Islam and shrine culture. When he studied this events he found that it tied back to Shiva-Shakti and the idea of transgenders possesing mystical powers. Just the backstory was erased and muslim-ized to make it more palatable to the audience.
It may be true that’s it is because of that, but it could also be much older than that.. Trans are recognized as separate gender in Iran as well. Even homosexuality and pederasty was commonplace and accepted in Iranian and central Asian culture.
Well the mythos themselves derive from on ground realties.
thank god, bill gates is a man of flesh, albeit feets of clay. so as someone said, power the the most powerful aphrodisiac!!
https://twitter.com/miakhalifa/status/1393961739885023236
https://twitter.com/kaushikcbasu/status/1394273810225025025
“Almost all Indians, certainly all who care for the country, are waiting for 2024 the way Indians once waited for 1947.”
As i have said before, communities/ethnicities who were once the alpha collaborators during the Brits rule (and in result got undue advantages) also have this self perception that they were the ones who really ‘cared’ for the country.
2 ministers arrested and then bailed out in bengal. the center’s game plan will be to tie down mamta in bengal and not let her any leeway in national politics. also the more she is cornered, she will take up the bengali pride stance, which will hurt her in her “all india avatar”.
@Brown
I personally dont see her having a pan India appeal in any case
I am not sure Mamta would have had any impact in national poltics anyway. To have any impact outside one’s state they have to converse in Hindi, and the less said abt Mamta’s hindi, the better. She actually has tried to become national once before, after the 2016 elections, when she came to Delhi and held a rally, where no one showed up. Even though it was in a Bengali dominated area. The only other way to become national is to be either appointed by Congress , or be in a Janta Dal type formation.
I think the BJP has given up on Bengal for the middle term and wants to use whatever remaining strength they have in the state, as cannon fodder , to destroy Mamta. A sort of scorched earth policy. They know that they can come back and again build from ground up. That way they have a chance to hold on to those 18-20 seats they have in state.
https://warontherocks.com/2021/05/how-china-views-the-u-s-withdrawal-from-afghanistan/
” In the short term, Beijing is concerned that without the U.S. military, Afghanistan will soon descend into chaos and will inevitably serve as a haven for Islamic extremism. But in the long run, the Chinese policy community remains deeply skeptical of U.S. intentions, and it assumes the United States will retain and use its influence in Afghanistan to advance its interests. Moreover, Beijing fears that the United States — freed from its on-the-ground military commitment in Afghanistan — will now use the country to undermine China’s regional position and key interests.”
If there is one thing which might upset China’s apple-cart it would be Afghanistan. Just like it did for US.
https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia/status/1394333766143778817
“Malicious messages threatening to “report me” & well intentioned givers of “career advice” –
I am unconcerned by ‘career advancement,’ nor threatened by snitches.
Unequivocally here for Free Palestine; for armed resistance; for death to imperialism, capitalism & colonialism.”
Ufffff !!
To live in the heart of ‘imperialism, capitalism & colonialism’ and espouse their death. Woke-whites dont even get what they have unleashed….
Never underestimate the ignorance of a radical leftist. They hate humanity. Thankfully they reproduce a lot less than others do.
https://twitter.com/nehadixit123/status/1394490617716043776
“The story of dead bodies floating in Indian rivers is also the omnipresent Indian story of oppressive Brahminical practices-the greed of Pandits asking for astronomical amounts to conduct cremation rituals and the inability of people to afford them.”
As Omar Bhai rightly pointed out, the war on Brahmins is also led by Brahmins 😛
Exactly! Communism is nothing but establishing Brahminical supremacy again as most comrade leaders are Brahmins! I have been meticulously arguing with non Brahmins to look at the paradox but i meet with zero success. They accuse me of Brahminical supremacist ideology.
Radical Leftist movements have this covert elitism as a thread all over.
https://twitter.com/darshanpathak/status/1394342198057963521
BMC’s ‘Global Vaccine Tender’ for 1Cr Vaccine is yet to receive a single bid and tomorrow is the last date.
India’s richest city fails to get one even bid for its global tender for Vaccine. This is what opposition states and political parties have been hankering for ‘decentralization’ of vaccination program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iO8acK2JJw
good video
https://theprint.in/opinion/army-doctor-transferred-in-pandemic-says-lot-about-india-civil-military-ties/659486/?utm_source=izooto&utm_medium=push_notification&utm_campaign=ThePrint&
A top Army doctor transferred in middle of pandemic says a lot about India’s civil-military ties
https://theprint.in/opinion/next-gen-ftas-are-all-about-labour-environment-protection-only-way-india-can-edge-china-out/660341/?utm_source=JioNews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=JioNews&
Next gen FTAs are all about labour, environment protection. Only way India can edge China out
https://www.opindia.com/2021/05/latest-congress-toolkit-paint-kumbh-as-covid-superspreader-and-eid-as-happy-gathering-social-media/
Latest Congress toolkit: Paint Kumbh as Covid superspreader, and Eid as ‘happy gathering’. Here are the details
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2021/5/18/bjp-expresses-solidarity-with-israel-as-gaza-bombing-continues
Al Jihada biased as usual but does give a fairly ok hx of India’s idiotic historical support of “Palestine.”