Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
Jun 9 5 tweets 2 min read
#NYC #trivia
When Manhattan was being built by Europeans, lime quarries were far up Hudson valley. They learned from the Lenape that in Manhattan, you don't need lime rock! You can make lime by just burning ____, residue from a (then) plentiful food source. What unusual source?
Some said sea shells. Manhattan didn't have any real beaches. What it did have was a wall of billions of oysters.And oyster shells are EXTREMELY dense in lime.

So it was oyster shells used to build a lot of Manhattan. Removing the wall that for millennia was a flood wall. Sigh. Image
I remember reading that if the Europeans had kept oyster harvesting at a sustainable level like the first nations did for millennia, that natural oyster wall would have kept Manhattan safe from the kinds of floods that hit us every year now cos of climate change.

Irony much?
But there is at least somewhat of a silver lining in this story. Ever wondered what NYC restaurants do with the millions of oyster shells piled up from the plentiful oyster happy hours?

Many are sorted and repurposed for the Billion Oyster Project.

goodmorningamerica.com/food/story/oys…
Plastic recycling is bullshit.

Oyster shell recycling is one of the coolest things I've ever heard of and seen. Hopefully the project restores oyster reefs to their pre European glory in our lifetimes. Would be very useful against rising sea levels.

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More from @gauravsabnis

Jun 11
Another relaxing Saturday at #OurWawar. Chess for dad, reading for mom, and our @k_rupal is burning the invasive Japanese barberries she's uprooted with a singular focus. #Catskills Image
For the past couple of months, @k_rupal has been the scourge of Japanese barberries which are an invasive species in the Catskills with an annoyingly resilient root system. Here she is, burning the roots and branches with great delight. #OurWawar Image
Mom took this video of me cooking chunks of chicken thigh and cod on the fire at #OurWawar.

Most of it is Marathi cos talking to mommy. I'm basically saying how all you do is toss the chunks in some spice, skewer them, and cook them for a few minutes.

Deliciousness manifests!
Read 4 tweets
Jun 11
Parents ask every time how come 30 Celsius in US feels so much hotter than 30 Celsius in India. It's a common query among Indians. I think it has to do with the UV being higher in the US because the air isn't as polluted, right?
Yes, but parents came from the hottest Indian May to what is shaping up to be the hottest American June. They say 30 in US feels like 40 in India, especially in the sun.

As @netshrink points out, more about the latitude than the pollution.

I have experienced 122F/50C in India, Abu Dhabi, and California, and somehow California felt the absolutely most unbearable of the 3.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 11
Dad: What's petrol price here?

Me: $5/gallon so ₹105/liter

Dad: Hmm, someone on Whatsapp was saying that even in US it is above ₹100

Me: Dad, you know what US poverty line is in rupees?

Dad: What?

Me: ₹22 lakh. That's the US poverty line.

Dad: 😳😳
Haha lot of bhakt stalkers randomly taking #FactCheckBait that wasn't even there.
₹22 lakh is US minimum wage for a family of 4. For a single person, it's still about ₹10 lakh.

Point is, ₹100/L in India is a WAYYYYY bigger hit on middle class families than in the US.
The average American drives about 40 miles or 65 km per day. Avg fuel econ is 25 mi/g so about 10 kmpl. So at the rate of $5/gn, that's $8/day. That's less than an hour's minimum wage in most states.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 11
Dude does not understand what "intervention" means. Islamic countries ain't intervening in anything. They're just expressing their displeasure in very strong terms to the spokesperson of India's ruling party enthusiastically calling their prophet a pedophile on national TV. 🤷🏽‍♂️ Image
Islamic rulers are saying to BJP - "Dudes, we could not care less if you exterminate your Muslims but trash talking The Prophet and all...I mean, we got our own orthodoxy to perpetuate, no?"

BJP - "Yup yup, our bad. From now on, only violence. No Quran bashing."
It is tragically hilarious or hilariously tragic how desi centrists are lecturing desi liberals about this Nupur Sharma situation.

What amazing leap of logic, na?

BJP woman calls prophet pedophile on TV show of another BJP woman & Arabs get offended.

What liberals did? 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️
Read 4 tweets
Jun 9
My dad has finally discovered the travel fanny pack and he's discovered it at a time when young youths are also wearing them cos apparently they are now retro cool like film cameras. Fashion cycles I tell you. 😂😂
I was chaperoning an undergrad class trip abroad a couple of years ago when I saw a few students walk into the bus with fanny packs. Seeing my raised eyebrows, a student read my mind and said "we are taking this back from the boomers who put peer pressure above convenience".
The best thing about having a student body made up of mostly urban or suburban jersey kids is that I hear of trends as they are gestating. This was in 2019, seeing undergrads proudly touristing with fanny packs.

By 2021, everyone was like "oh fanny packs are cool again"
Read 8 tweets
Jun 6
Yes yes, as lakhs of Hindus in June plan their August flights to US to start grad school or new jobs, with Ukraine situation making the polar route difficult, they are TOTALLY going to boycott middle eastern airlines to stan the sangh. 🤭🤭🤭
I mean why do will Indian Hindus still continue to overwhelmingly prefer middle eastern airlines with reasonable prices, layover airports with plenty of other desi people to help first timers, pretty good services when they can instead fly Air India? No sanghi will I'm sure. 😂
There are some WhatsApp and LinkedIn type sanghis actually genuinely earnestly arguing that this middle east v India war of press releases could be a great opportunity to revive Air India. Turning crisis into opportunity it seems. The level of delusion!
Read 15 tweets

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