𝙃5𝙉1 𝙈𝙀𝙂𝘼-𝙏𝙃𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿

𝘞𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 20 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 2 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘈𝘷𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘻𝘢.
𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘏5𝘕1 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺

2)

https://twitter.com/ejustin46/status/1635940174004723714?t=6DRAnTtlBifJRD3jr2USZw&s=19

3)

https://twitter.com/ejustin46/status/1649974276781481985?t=XLN4vCNv8aUFi9-lGTzKng&s=19

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Book excerpt 🧵on the Islamisation of the Javanese, the de-facto ruling race of Indonesia & nearly half its population. Over the 20thC Java went from a fundamentally pagan/Vedic society Muslim in name only, to an Islamic one now rapidly jetissoning its old culture & way of life.

Indonesia remains near-invisible globally as a country that's just competent enough to have stable government & avoid wars, but far too poor to project power/culture abroad. However, as E. Asian birthrates collapse & demand labour, this will change.
So its Islamisation matters.

Indonesia is of course, one the world's most artificial states. Even its national "Indonesian" language is the mothertongue of almost no-one, being a creole form of Malay, growing massively after promotion as a Lingua Franca under the Dutch. This unintentionally spread Islam:

Jagalchi Market in Busan, South Korea, is my favorite fish market in the world. Or I should say: SEAFOOD market, because every marine creature imaginable (and then some) can be found there. Featured prominently is this favorite Korean snack, called meongge:

Is it animal, mineral, vegetable, or alien organism? Well, despite the misnomer 'sea pineapple', it's very much a member of Kingdom Animalia. Also known as 'sea squirt', it's an ascidian tunicate and is a relative of the most ancient pre-vertebrates. Who knew.

Meongge is usually eaten raw with various soy- and vinegar-based sauces and some gochujang fermented red chili paste. If you try it, know that you are eating the tunic of a tunicate. 3/5

#longread Repeating an Old Post of three years ago with some edits for the Occasion

#FirstRevoltOfKCRAgainstChandrababu
#Mahanadu2000 #LetterByKCROpposingPowerTariffHike
@BRSparty @KTRBRS @BRSHarish

Thread 1/n

It was exactly 23 years ago that a frail, yet a strong leader K Chandrashekar Rao, who, over the years, proved himself to be a man of iron gut and steel resolve, broke ranks with the Telugu Desam Party. He put an end to his 18-year-long peregrination with the party, once and for all and fell out with the party.

This article assumes significance as today (April 27) is the formation day of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) at Jaladrusyam on the banks of Hussain Sagar in 2001.

This article is surely not going to dwell about the ideology with which the TRS is floated and how strong was the Telangana sentiment when the party was launched and how effectively Rao had made a fervent appeal to the people of Telangana to unite together to fight for a separate Statehood.

KCR, who was elected consecutively for a fourth term from Siddipet Assembly constituency in 1999, was denied a Cabinet berth. The reasons the TDP leaders attributed were that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had to accommodate former CBI Director K Vijayarama Rao, who belongs to Velama caste, in the Cabinet, for a variety of reasons. Vijayarama Rao emerged as a giant killer by defeating the Congress group leader in the Assembly and a four-time MLA from Khairatabad Assembly constituency, Mr P Janardhan Reddy, was one; and his being the CBI director until then was another.

By then, another leader from Velama community Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao, a trusted lieutenant of Naidu, was already a natural choice for being inducted into the Cabinet for obvious reasons.

For the uninitiated, Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao, along with P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, T Devender Goud, and A Madhava Reddy were the top four leaders who masterminded the palace coup to dethrone the Telugu Desam Patriarch N T Rama Rao.

Of course, Tammineni Sitaram, S V Subba Reddy, Bhuma Nagireddy, and for that matter, KCR, too had their share of contribution in handling the situation. However, Naidu did not induct KCR into the Cabinet immediately. He took almost a year to get into Naidu’s Cabinet as Transport Minister. When he was re-elected in 1999, he expected that he would be continued in the State Cabinet, which did not happen.

Love him or hate him, you cannot ignore him. That’s the invincibility KCR achieved in the post-NTR era of the TDP. But, his bonhomie with Naidu did not last long. That way, KCR was neither a diehard fan of Naidu nor was he servile to him. He was, of course, a great fan of NTR.

So, Chandrababu Naidu made him the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly which also was of a Cabinet rank. Annoyed by this, KCR remained reluctant for a long time, silently suffering the insult within himself in the prime of his political career. Unable to digest the fact that he was surely sidelined and his political stability, if not growth, was circumvented, KCR had begun dabbling with the idea of reviving the separate Telangana agitation. In fact, KCR had been mulling over this– why not agitate for a separate Telangana that was crushed by Indira Gandhi with an iron hand -- for long. Before it became public, KCR has begun parleys with ideologues and staunch votaries of separate statehood for Telangana.

The first act of dissidence by KCR surfaced in May 2000. KCR, in his capacity of Deputy Speaker, dashed off a missive to his party supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu spurning the State Government’s decision on electricity reforms and steep hike in power tariff. He expressed his serious displeasure over the decision and he strongly criticized the Government in his letter.

The timing of the letter was so perfect that it synced with the Telugu Desam’s Mahanadu, the annual jamboree held at Vijayawada for three days on May 27, 28 and 29, in 2000.

2/n
Mr Dasu Kesava Rao, who was then the Deputy Chief of Bureau of The Hindu, Hyderabad, specially asked me to go over to Vijayawada from Guntur to assist him in covering the Mahanadu (he knows I was covering the TDP in Hyderabad for several years before I joined The Hindu and moved to Guntur), while Vijayawada reporters, Mr Venkateswara Rao and Mr Ramana Rao, were tasked with covering the main sessions and resolutions. The first day was marked by bonhomie among the leaders and cadre; introduction of resolutions by different party functionaries, with long intermittent interventions by Naidu during the speeches of other leaders that became a habit for the TDP activists by then. Sycophantic gristmills ran over time to wax eloquent on Naidu’s leadership. A prominent leader from Mahbubnagar district, who was engaged in a casual conversation with me behind the main dais, was uncontrollably heaping encomiums on the TDP boss. “Who else would have so much of a patience to sit for several hours continuously without taking a break even to relieve himself, and sit straight up, except Naidu?” he said demonstrating his ‘more-loyal-than-the-king’ attitude. I was infuriated only because of the heights of fawning. Initially I smiled, but the obsequiousness was going through the skies. I smirked and jibed saying: “Sir, if I am blessed with all the fortunes that Mr Naidu had been bestowed with, if a rope party is literally elbowing out people to make way for me, and if I am the cynosure of all eyes for obvious reasons, even I would muster so much of patience for more than 20 hours. It’s the question of positioning of a man. Would you have listened to NTR in September 1995 like this?” He was taken aback by my trenchant attack, even though I said it sardonically. Mr Ashok Gajapathi Raju came there like a rescuer without knowing what was transpiring there and this Telangana leader took leave of me smiling wryly. Mr Raju found me with an unlit cigarette between my fingers and asked: “Burning problems?” meaning if I were looking for a light. He was spot on. Good man. He instantly lent me his lighter.

3/n

The letter of KCR reached Naidu on the second day of the three-day plenum of the party in Year 2000. The day was all too important in the Mahanadu, for it is the birth anniversary of the party founder N T Rama Rao. Leader after leader would have spoken about the circumstances leading to NTR floating the party and how he had “emancipated” the people of Andhra Pradesh from the clutches of the Congress, conveniently and deliberately ignoring what happened during August 1995. But, all this cosmetic activity was left to the second rung of leaders and the top leadership went into a huddle and listeners at the meetings grew restive with ennui because of the rhetoric. They too began discussing KCR’s letter in groups. Detractors or silent dissidents of Naidu within the party lost no time in spreading the news and also content of KCR’s letter among the rank and file that gathered there. Everybody began discussing the letter in a hushed tone. Some of them were candid in agreeing to the views aired by the Deputy Speaker, some tried to be explicit, albeit on the sly. As KCR had gone hammer and tongs against Chandrababu Naidu, the letter caused ripples. No leader of KCR’s stature ever questioned Naidu’s unchallenged leadership in the party until then since Naidu usurped power from NTR in August 1995. As if to synchronize with the mood at the mega event of the party, the sky was overcast and it rained cats and dogs washing away the pandals towards the end of the day at the event. Mr Kesava Rao is such a wonderful reporter, he captures the mood and highlights the essence of any event in the first three to four paragraphs of a news report in a brilliant manner. His outstanding presentation skills are admired by many journalists and also readers. He summed up the whole thing – the sky was overcast shattering the proceedings of the meet and the mood was overcast by the explosive letter by KCR -- in about 400 words. It was published on the page 1 of the next day’s newspaper. Mr Kesava Rao asked me to write the political story on KCR’s letter, which I did. The next day was a gloomy day and there was poor turnout of party workers too at the Mahanadu, and several ministers left for Hyderabad in the morning itself. Mr. Naidu too cut short his customary long public speech and left for Hyderabad in the afternoon. As I was walking in to the venue in the morning of the last day, Mr Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Mr Vidyadhara Rao, who were confabulating on something, at a corner where the temporary office of the Chief Minister was set up, beckoned and specifically told me: “More than the letter of Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, the mood analysis by Mr Dasu Kesava Rao, published on the front page of The Hindu, and your political analysis, published in all-India pages inside, hit us hard. Delhi is enquiring the details with curiosity.” Incidentally, the TDP was an important partner of the Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance Government at that time. Ever since, KCR kept on stoking rebellion and condemned the servitude of some of his colleagues towards the party leadership, especially Chandrababu Naidu. His anger simmered like a magma and erupted like a volcano on April 27, 2001. He resigned for the posts of Deputy Speaker, MLA of Siddipet and also from the primary membership of the TDP and announced the launch of the TRS on the most eventful day. Pic1: KCR’s maiden speech while launching the TRS at Jaladrusyam on April 27, 2001 Pic 2: I was briefing the view of a TDP leader, who I spoke to, on KCR’s letter to Mr Kesava Rao.

𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙃5𝙉1 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙚 2.3.4.4𝙗 𝙞𝙣 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝘾𝙞𝙩𝙮


"Zoonotic infections are not limited to rural environments and commercial poultry operations but extends into the heart of our urban centers" biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

2) Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses of clade 2.3.4.4b arrived in North America in late 2021/early 2022 and have since spread widely, infecting both wild and domestic birds.

3) Surveillance was conducted in New York City from January 2022 to November 2023 to detect H5N1 viruses in urban wild birds. 1927 samples were collected from 895 birds representing 80 species.

A thread on medicalisation of grief.

1. In last six months. Five of my friends lost a parent. It can get overwhelming. Being a local to their parent's city i was involved in the process medically / supportingly / logistically.
Here are some observations about wrong use of antidepressant medications for the grieving.

2. Many left behind a spouse. Completely heartbroken and distraught due to the loss.

Unfortunately, their well wishing family physicians advised antidepressant prescription.

I have a serious disagreement with this. Hence the thread.

3. After such a profound loss. Death of a spouse of 40 years or more. A huge void is left in life. Sadness and grief is intense and in indian culture it is expressed by copious crying, re telling of last illness / last moments with every visitor.

March 29, 1897
The Saint Paul globe - Minnesota

MACEDONIA MAY WITNESS A MANY HARD FOUGHT BATTLE - IF GREEK AND TURK MEET

Salonica, with a population of about 125k, of whom some 84k are Jews of the Spanish emigration. Of these Jews about 9k are Muslims by profession.

1/6

The Southern part of Macedonia is an important town of Vodena to Monastir, or Bitolla, the HQ of the Third Turkish army corps. The country is inhabited by a Greek-speaking population and contains important towns, such as Verria, Servia, and Tchatista on the road to Epirus.

2/6

To the west of the Monastir-Perlipe-Velessa road, though Bulgarian in great part, has a large and unruly Albanian Gheg population, who perpetrate atrocities on the Christian inhabitants and rob their fields and flocks, much after the manner of the Kurds with the Armenians.

3/6

@ray_omollo What the hell happens to sane guys, after they join Govt & rub shoulders with politricians
Is ochestrating a tangible Disaster Risk Mgmt, end product, or an investment in reducing disaster risk in order to limit the cost of disasters when they occur ? @Jasiri_9line

https://twitter.com/ray_omollo/status/1783462427109085420

From a DRM perspective, your job as CS @InteriorKE is simply-:
Priority 1: Understand disaster risk.
a) Improve public awareness of, & engagement on, disaster risks impacts
b) Identify, address data, information & resource gaps.

@InteriorKE c) Address technical barriers to data, information sharing & availability.
d) Integrate plausible future scenarios into planning
e) Develop cohesive disaster risk information access, communication capabilities to deliver actionable disaster risk data & information.

𝙏𝙤𝙥 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙮 👍
"𝘾𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚-𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝘼𝙍𝙎-𝘾𝙤𝙑-2 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙠𝙚"

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 @Rafa_Sanjuan_ 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴.
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 @siamosolocani

(credit : Proteopedia) academic.oup.com/ve/advance-art…

2) In this study, they experimentally evolved the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by passaging a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) bearing the spike in 4 different human cell lines expressing different levels of host entry factors like ACE2 and TMPRSS2.

3) After 20 passages, they identified 16 spike mutations that were fixed across the cell lines. Some of these mutations like H655Y and Q493R have also emerged in globally circulating variants.

I'm (a little) surprised at people who want to take issue with me and who insist that Americans, as a nation, really suffered through Afghanistan and Iraq, when the criticism I'm making is that we offloaded all that onto volunteers and then ignored them (and the wars). /1

I mean, normally, that might seem like a left-wing criticism, no? But I don't think it's either left/right, but just *true* in an empirical sense. A tiny fraction of the country serves in the military. We have not been a country "at war" in any meaningful sense since Vietnam. /2

People also seem to have forgotten the scale of the butcher's bill in Vietnam. Not only was no one drafted, but *20 years* of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan produced fewer than half as many casualties as Vietnam generated in *1968 alone*./3

Cold Shower Every Morning Will Change Your Life Forever:

Here Are The 9 Reasons Why You Should Take A Cold Shower Everyday...

1.

2.