Miscellaneous Topics thread

[Amber G.]

^^^Pranav is an Indian citizen who is completely blind. He’s an exceptionally bright young man — he was accepted to Stanford University, though his family couldn’t afford to send him there. My son met him accidentally a year or so back.

His company, Meta, supported him, and he demonstrated the Meta AI glasses to Narendra Modi. The glasses use AI vision to describe surroundings — including identifying colors, but *much* more — effectively acting as real-time visual assistance.

I’ve seen firsthand how transformative this kind of device can be for blind individuals.

[Tanaji]

Genuinely curious: how does a completely blind man understand colour?

[Amber G.]

Genuinely curious: how does a completely blind man understand colour?

A person who is completely blind doesn’t “see” color the way sighted people do. But color is also information — and information can be described.

Assistive AI glasses convert visual input into spoken description. So when the device says “These socks are navy blue” or “The mango is mostly yellow with some green,” it’s doing the same job our eyes do for us — just through audio instead of vision.

In practical terms, it helps with all the everyday things sighted people do independently:
- buying and matching clothes, - checking how ripe a mango is by its color, reading a restaurant menu, road signs, big colorful poster... even reading physics books or lecture 'reading the black-board.


In other words, it reduces dependence on a human assistant and gives real-time access to visual information. Color isn’t experienced visually — it’s understood contextually. And that understanding is what enables independence.

It is really life changing ..and seen it how it plays out in real life: imagine a blind professional walking into a meeting. The glasses quietly say, “Conference room. Five people seated. Raj is on your left. Screen at the front.” They can locate an empty chair, find the coffee table, glance toward whoever is speaking, and even follow a PowerPoint as key visuals are described. Later, they can “look” at a photo relatives sent and hear: “Two children on a beach at sunset, both smiling,” or watch a movie with rich audio description — much like the audio-described tracks already available in many films — and fully participate in the shared experience. It’s not about seeing in the traditional sense; it’s about accessing the same visual context the rest of us take for granted, without needing a personal assistant at their side.

[Manish_P]

^ A lot of progress has been made on enabling the deaf to 'hear'

If/When the scientists invent a device which can enable the blind to see, it will, in my opinion, be the greatest scientific invention of all time.

[sanjaykumar]

Describing a scene is hardly vision. No more than describing the taste of sidamo coffee is tasting.

The blind will definitely see. But it will take neural implants connected to optical sensors. The optic radiation may be bypassed by cortical implantation. It will mean an integrative processor to simulate that input.

[Tanaji]

I was about to say the same thing. A genuinely blind man will be told that this is a colour, but won’t understand what it is or differentiate between yellow and red (without putting it in sun)

This is not to take away anything from the utility of said devices though.

[Amber G.]

His company, Meta, supported him, and he demonstrated the Meta AI glasses to Narendra Modi. The glasses use AI vision to describe surroundings — including identifying colors, but *much* more — effectively acting as real-time visual assistance.

I’ve seen firsthand how transformative this kind of device can be for blind individuals.

Same Meta glasses are used in this story

[VinodTK]

An inside look at Pickaway County's Arsenal-1 |
Interview with Anduril founder Palmer Luckey

Tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey says the factory is moving from concept to production at a pace rarely seen in defense manufacturing.

Wish the people @ HAL, RM and related folks think and execute like Palmer Luckey
amazing person and a wonderful interview.

[drnayar]

India, Russia film cooperation.

Poster of Russian movie "Persimmon of My Love". It is the first major Russian feature film entirely shot in India. Set to premiere across Russia on April 1, blends Bollywood song and dance with Russian humour and brotherly drama.

https://x.com/sidhant/status/2038295030126051547

[arshyam]

Folks in Delhi, there is an interesting cultural festival organized by nationalist minded folks (primarily Sangam Talks, Garuda publications and Infinity Foundation). It's happening this weekend (April 3-5) at the India Habitat Centre. Entry/registration is free (only food needs to be paid for) and there are some good events and speaker panels coming up. They have arranged some book stalls as well for nationalist literature.

Yesterday there were some good talks by Rajiv Malhotra, Sanjeev Sanyal, J Sai Deepak, Amish Tripathi, Sankrant Sanu, etc.

See https://www.indraprasthafestival.com/

The Delhi NCT govt is one of the sponsors of the event (just mentioning this to show that institutional support is slowly building up at multiple levels - Delhi minister Kapil Mishra opened the event). From our part, we should attend these events where possible to keep the momentum going.

Please share this on X with your contacts to reach more folks.

[A_Gupta]

This is from "The Daily Mirror". A bit puzzling.

[uddu]

After 20 Years, This Scientist Proved Birds Can Talk and Use Grammar
For over two decades, Professor Toshitaka Suzuki dedicated his life to studying the Japanese tit, a small songbird native to Japan’s forests. Through years of careful observation and experiments, he discovered something incredible: these birds use grammar-like rules and combine sounds to form meaning, much like how humans use language.

In this video, we explore how his groundbreaking research challenges what we thought we knew about animal communication, and what it might mean for the way we understand intelligence in the natural world.

[S_Madhukar]

I was about to say the same thing. A genuinely blind man will be told that this is a colour, but won’t understand what it is or differentiate between yellow and red (without putting it in sun)

This is not to take away anything from the utility of said devices though.

I guess the glasses will make a blind person a walking talking LLM that fits perfectly with the current AI discourse in SV

[uddu]

https://x.com/the_fauxy/status/2042547797539590390
@the_fauxy
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗪𝗚𝟮𝗦𝗟𝗚𝗕𝗧𝗤𝗤𝗜𝗔+, 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘀 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗞𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹

[ricky_v]

was recently walking through a locality in the hitec area of hyderabad and saw shop names popping up in bengali. Farther on it was bengali primarily along with english and very little telugu.
Thought it a bit weird, maybe the bengali community was established in that area for some time and perhaps the shops displayed names catering to local clientele, though i have never encountered this phenomenon in any other city.
Still ahead were some forex / travel agencies that were openly advertising sales in Taka and dollar.
Now my question is:

1) is it common in bengali families to keep a part of their wealth in taka? so that they may pay indian agencies in taka for some myriad reason for travel inside and outside india?
2) i come from a city where there is a mini-pakistan, i am certain that such exists in all cities, but no mini-bangladeshs.
Are our civic planners actively planning for mini-bangladesh in every city in addition to the existing mini-pakistans? seems progressive.

At least make it a bit clandestine, display boards in oordo ffs

[Manish_Sharma]

https://x.com/ByRakeshSimha/status/2045 ... 65229?s=20

This is freaky. My father had a PhD from Humboldt University, Berlin. He was a hard core communist who wanted India to break up and balkanise. He woke up daily hoping for a Marxist Revolution that would take over India and eradicate all the capitalists while he was the largest landowner in our village. Hated Dalits. Hated Brahmins. Worked his Dalit orderlies like slaves and insulted their jati. Would delay salaries to servants and drivers and laugh at them when they would beg for their rightful dues. Hated Africans and dark skinned Indians while having almost black skin himself. Cursed Narendra Modi daily, saying Modi will never become PM. Changed that tune in 2014 to "Modi will never get reelected." Hated RSS, saying it was the backdoor for Brahmins to grab power. Tried to brainwash me into Marxism by forcing me to read books on Lenin. When he died, only 4 people attended his cremation - 2 RSS volunteers, my uncle who's an RSS worker, and my brother. (I was in NZ under a 3 year lockdown so couldn't attend.) Some days when I look at my life, I think it is a miracle that I'm not an urban naxal, Maoist, low IQ liberal or a drug addict. Ask any Malayali or Bengali who had communist parents and they will have a similar narrative.

[Manish_Sharma]

https://x.com/san_x_m/status/2046797943873900621?s=20

His name is Raju Narayana Swamy.

In 1991 he secured AIR 1 in UPSC. The best rank in the country that year.

He had a computer science degree from IIT Madras. MIT offered him a scholarship. He turned it down. He said the poorest Indians had paid for his IIT education through their taxes. He owed them something back.

So he joined IAS.

His first posting: a real estate developer wanted to fill a paddy field. Sixty poor families said they would flood. He refused permission. He was transferred.

He exposed illegal land deals by the children of Kerala’s Public Works Minister. The minister resigned. He was transferred.

He uncovered corruption at the Coconut Development Board. Officers were suspended. He was transferred.

He fought corruption in civil supplies. He was removed before he could finish.

32 transfers in 34 years.

He once wrote formally asking why he was being paid a salary for work that was never assigned to him.

In 2025 the Supreme Court dismissed his plea for promotion to Chief Secretary. Despite AIR 1. Despite 30 years of service.

He also wrote 34 books. Won the Sahitya Akademi Award. Holds a PhD in law.

MIT offered him America. He chose the people.

India’s system sent him one message for 34 years.

Honesty will cost you everything.

He paid it every time.

Follow for real stories India never makes headlines about.

[ricky_v]

^ has to be said, human society is built on team work, especially if one is looking to be engaged in a public service field, and not on individualistic talent or merit. Look at the babus who were GOATed or even those that reached the highest position possible in the ias stream - the principal secretary to the pm. The current one pk mishra, 2nd charge shaktikanta das, the former feted governor of rbi, the previous nripendra mishra who was with the pm since the start of his term and would have had not an inconsiderate measure of involvement in framing and execution, i do not believe that they were upsc toppers. Looking back at some who stand out, P C Mahalanobis, changing stream, K Subramanyam, JS, Doval do not really believe that they were toppers either, did not check though.

The fault herein is twofold, primarily of the DoPT, yes, they should have realised that the talents would have been suited in a technical / training / technical directorate area, the goi has no shortage of such positions. Fault probably also lies with the individual, do not know the entire details of the case, but he should have pushed for such a "technical posting". Realising strengths and weaknesses is a mandate of all individuals. I had a friend once, school topper and brilliant student, who was insistent on doing a MBA in sales or marketing, one of the 2, but he had literal 0 aptitude in dealing with people, leave alone efficiently, and was not "sharp enough on his feet" or blessed with a silvered tongue.

In corporate as well, not many class toppers make the most moolah or advance through the ranks fast enough, it is the one who can function the most optimally in society who is rewarded. Why would this case make a headline as is averred in the negative, such are a dime a dozen

[Tanaji]

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/respect ... y-11429439

This is a very sad case. The girl has been failed by everyone and especially her parents. What were they doing for 31 weeks and only now woken up? On top of that we have a judiciary trying to virtue signal over “right to womens body” when abortion is already a right up to 24 weeks and no one is arguing against that.

IT is possible the person in question may have been in an affair (it is still r@pe) and this was discovered late. Or it could be a family member. Regardless, why wait till 31 weeks?

[uddu]

Genius 10 Year Old's Research Shocks Scientists Around the World

[Manish_Sharma]

https://x.com/thekaipullai/status/20501 ... 09841?s=20

Unilever partnered with Kwality in India to Launch Kwality Walls Ice cream in 1995.

Amul launched their own Ice Cream line in 1996.

Amul, true its nature of putting quality first used Milk Fat in their Ice creams. Milk Fat is expensive, gives higher quality but reduces margins. But Amul didn't care.

Unilever in true British tradition, put profits over people's welfare, gave two hoots about the health of Indians and prioritized shareholder wealth over product quality.

They thought they could get away selling low quality ice cream at higher prices to uneducated natives and laugh all the way to the bank, like their predecessors East India company did for 150 years.

Unfortunately for them, things changed in 2011, when people finally understood the difference between Ice Cream and Frozen Desert. They realized one was bad, and the other was good.

And Kwality walls fell on the bad side of the equation.

Their sales fell off a cliff.

They tried legal challenges, aggressive marketing campaigns, hiring extensive manpower, hired celebrities, increased retailer margins, doled out incentives, gave away free stuff like Freezers and kept throwing money at the problem.

They tried everything. But they still couldn't defeat Amul in the field.

Finally Unilever realized they couldn't carry Kwality walls and decided to throw in the towel. They spun off their Ice cream division as a separate company.

And now in a final twist, the same Kwality Walls who once tried to convince Indians that their Vegetable fat filled Frozen Dessert was actually Ice cream and good for them, have now converted to milk fat-based Ice cream themselves.

They are now advertising Goodness of Milk and all. The exact same thing they have denied for 30 years.

Meanwhile, Amul keeps going from strength to strength.

When your competitor decides to emulate you, that is the final concession that you have won.

This whole episode also reinforces the age-old adage that a quality product always wins.

Kwality Walls had higher budgets, their salespeople were paid more, they gave freezers out like candy, their margins were higher, incentives were better, packaging was more expensive, the number of people on the street selling walls were larger than the army of a small nation, the marketing budget was higher than turnovers of many companies, they hired celebrities, did all sorts of new age marketing and followed all the marketing principles laid out by all the marketing gurus in the world.

But they had a bad product.

All Amul had was a good product.

Amul won.

Kwality walls lost.

Good Product always wins in the end.