India going down the Dictaroship road fast...

[dudalb]

Modi is now trying to crack down on social media because of the criticism that he has mismanaged the Covid Crisis.
Once again:Put a religious fantatic in office (or someone who built his career pandering to religious fundematlists) in charge, bad things happen, guaranteed.

[catsmate]

This started years ago with the toxic mix of religious bigotry and nationalism.
Rather Trumpesque.

[Garrison]

Hard to keep people from turning on him when bodies are being burnt in car parks.

[dudalb]

And, surprise, seems as though the Russian Sputnik V vaccine which is what Modi chose to use is very unreliable;Brazil just banned it and few western coutnreis have approved it.
Guess playing up to his Authoratarian buddy Putin was more important to Modi then actually choosing a good vaccine.
I have a sick feeling it is too late. Of course we should try to help ..enlightened self interest:you know with these numbers the virus will mutate like crazy...but I don't know how the flood will be stemmed.
One fear: Modi will sabre rattle with Pakistan to divert attention. And by far the most likely scenario for a nuclear exchange is a Pakistan/India crisis going out of control.

[Belz...]

Russian tech unreliable? Shock!

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by Belz...

Russian tech unreliable? Shock!

My thought exactly.
Remember that super Russian Fighter a few years ago that Putin said was going to make all the fighters of the Western World obsolete?
Have not heard much about that recently.

[ponderingturtle]

Originally Posted by dudalb

My thought exactly.
Remember that super Russian Fighter a few years ago that Putin said was going to make all the fighters of the Western World obsolete?
Have not heard much about that recently.

Or the fancy robot that turned out to be a guy in a suit...

[catsmate]

Or the mechs, the intercontinental hypersonic cruise missiles, stealth plasma shields, the intercontinental torpedoes, the geophysical disrupter, the invisibility cloak, the technomagic EMP ray, the 'zombie gun', the red mercury grenade, the torsion field generator......

[gypsyjackson]

Wait, zombie gun?

[Susheel]

Originally Posted by dudalb

And, surprise, seems as though the Russian Sputnik V vaccine which is what Modi chose to use is very unreliable;Brazil just banned it and few western coutnreis have approved it.....

Actually India has two vaccines in play. The most common are the Covishield (based on the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine) and manufactured under license by the Serum Institute of India and the Covaxin (developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research and manufactured by Bharat Biotech under license). The Sputnik V has not been rolled out yet.

[Susheel]

The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India and the "capital" of what is essentially the cow-belt (the Indian version of the deep south bible belt) is a former temple priest and one of the poster kids of the BJP. No oxygen, no beds in hospitals, no ventilators...but his answer is to arrest anyone who asks for help over social media finding beds pr oxygen for their loved ones.
The central government has literally annexed the state of Delhi from the elected state legislature, with now the Governor's office literally being declared the government of Delhi.

[catsmate]

Originally Posted by gypsyjackson

Wait, zombie gun?

Yes, a "psychotronic mind control" device. Back in 2012, when he was really scared at the lack of actual Russian military capability, Putin and his cohorts (like Serdyukov) were spouting off about various imaginary weapons, and mentioned the supposed results of all the Russian/Soviet research into psychotronics (the real results being nothing but a few fiascos like "Kirlian auras").
The stories were fed, via the usual suspects, into the more credible and gullible elements of the press (e.g. the Fail) in order to bolster fear of Russian super-weapons and conceal the paper bear.

Forbes article.

[gypsyjackson]

Thanks - I wondered if it was something more interesting than that, but it seems like the gun would have (not really) turned you into a tabloid ‘mindless zombie’ rather than the ‘trying to eat brains zombie’. Or even a gun which fired zombies.

Back to India, and the Modi/BJP approach to Covid was detailed here: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020...icine-covid-19

Sadly we can see how effective the $300m a year ‘alternative’ medicine ministry has been in dealing with the situation.

[Captain_Swoop]

Originally Posted by dudalb

My thought exactly.
Remember that super Russian Fighter a few years ago that Putin said was going to make all the fighters of the Western World obsolete?
Have not heard much about that recently.

India are supposedly getting a load of them.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

India are supposedly getting a load of them.

Pakistan will be delighted.

I'm not familiar enough with Indian politics, but have Modi and the BJP used the consequences of their mismanagement of the Coronavirus pandemic to further demonise non-Hindus and the lower castes ?

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by gypsyjackson

Thanks - I wondered if it was something more interesting than that, but it seems like the gun would have (not really) turned you into a tabloid ‘mindless zombie’ rather than the ‘trying to eat brains zombie’. Or even a gun which fired zombies.

Back to India, and the Modi/BJP approach to Covid was detailed here: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020...icine-covid-19

Sadly we can see how effective the $300m a year ‘alternative’ medicine ministry has been in dealing with the situation.

Given the basic facts of India, A huge population packed together (China has much better population dispersion) and,(I hope this is taken in the right way) realy terrible public sanitation (often on a mideval level) I think any Indian Government would have had huge problems coping with this. With an inept corrupt government led by a relgious fanatic,catastrophe was always in the cards.
MY worry is that Modi will try to turn ot a classic tactic to distract attention from a domestic crisis, and begin sabre rattling at Pakistan. SInce both countries have nuclear arsenels, that has got to make you nervous.

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

India are supposedly getting a load of them.

Good news for the Pakistani Air Force.

[KDLarsen]

Originally Posted by dudalb

Given the basic facts of India, A huge population packed together (China has much better population dispersion) and,(I hope this is taken in the right way) realy terrible public sanitation (often on a mideval level) I think any Indian Government would have had huge problems coping with this. With an inept corrupt government led by a relgious fanatic,catastrophe was always in the cards.
MY worry is that Modi will try to turn ot a classic tactic to distract attention from a domestic crisis, and begin sabre rattling at Pakistan. SInce both countries have nuclear arsenels, that has got to make you nervous.

They managed to drive it down quite well over the winter, which was why Modi allowed election rallies and Hindu festivals (The Kumb Mehla surely must have been a massive superspreader event) to take place.

[The Atheist]

Very good piece on Modi, India and Covid here: https://www.theguardian.com/news/202...id-catastrophe

[Susheel]

Originally Posted by KDLarsen

They managed to drive it down quite well over the winter, which was why Modi allowed election rallies and Hindu festivals (The Kumb Mehla surely must have been a massive superspreader event) to take place.

No...the COVUD numbers were on the uptick even before the Kumbh Mela event. Most state governments hid or did not publish COVID data which allowed the BJP to target non-BJP states still publishing data as being incompetent. News of the actual situation in the BJP states had already begun trickling out before the Kumbh event, but the government chose to ignore it.

The government was warned that organizing the event might worsen the situation. But then, the government decided to go with superstition (the Ganga will cure everything) and instilling a false sense of confidence among the sheep. With the elections some states occurring in tandem, they did not want to publicize their incompetence in handling the pandemic.

[Orphia Nay]

Originally Posted by dudalb

MY worry is that Modi will try to turn ot a classic tactic to distract attention from a domestic crisis, and begin sabre rattling at Pakistan. SInce both countries have nuclear arsenels, that has got to make you nervous.

I'm more worried about Pakistan's COVID crisis than Modi potentially starting war.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56888541

[Susheel]

Was scheduled for my first shot today...booked through the government portal. Arrived at the hospital this morning and was told that they had no vaccine in stock.

[The Atheist]

Originally Posted by Orphia Nay

I'm more worried about Pakistan's COVID crisis than Modi potentially starting war.

Jury's out on Pakistan, but they had enough scope in their system to offer aid to India, although that might have been Imran Khan just trolling.

Their 7-day average is only marginally higher than a month ago, and has dropped in the past week, so it doesn't look too bad, but how reliable their numbers are we have no idea.

[angrysoba]

Originally Posted by Susheel

Was scheduled for my first shot today...booked through the government portal. Arrived at the hospital this morning and was told that they had no vaccine in stock.

Sorry to hear that. Do you know if it was to be the Covishield vaccine or Covaxin?

[Susheel]

Originally Posted by angrysoba

Sorry to hear that. Do you know if it was to be the Covishield vaccine or Covaxin?

That choice is given depending on what stock is available. I heard that a large batch of the Sputnik V vaccine just landed a couple of days ago.
Incidentally, registrations for the 18-45 began on May 1. However, no stock available.

[Susheel]

Meanwhile...
FB_IMG_1619931518883.jpg

[Orphia Nay]

Originally Posted by Susheel

Meanwhile...
Attachment 44620

I do worry how the world will supply India with enough oxygen containers.

[The Atheist]

Originally Posted by Susheel

Meanwhile...
Attachment 44620

Holy crap, that's unbelievable.

[catsmate]

Originally Posted by Susheel

Meanwhile...
Attachment 44620

????
Transmutation?

[Susheel]

Yeah...but then our Prime Minster wanted to research generating Oxygen from wind turbines.

[catsmate]

Originally Posted by Susheel

Yeah...but then our Prime Minster wanted to research generating Oxygen from wind turbines.

That's vastly more practical than transmutation of nitrogen. Use turbines to run chillers and compressors for air and fractionally distill the liquid air as usual.

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by catsmate

????
Transmutation?

Alchemy lives!

[Susheel]

Results of the Assembly elections have been mixed...BJP still retains its hold in Assam but loses 3 seats in the state assembly; Assam has been the petri dish for testing out some of the BJP's more regressive (bordering on fascist) policies.
Massive lead for the Communists in Kerala, with BJP losing the single-seat they had; The local Congress party that more or less served as the BJP B-Team was also miserably trounced. Their strategy was to try and outdo the BJP's attempts to portray themselves as the saviours of Hinduism.
They expected a runaway win in the state of Pondicherry, but are currently in second place, gaining 5 seats though;
West Bengal was a huge blow....buoyed up by some high-profile recruits and floor-crossing from the incumbent party, they were expecting to form the government. However, the TMC managed to retain the absolute majority with the BJP managing to gain a significant number of seats.
Tamil Nadu, the BJP puppet government by the regional AIADMK lost 57 seats and gave DMK the majority. BJP however managed to gain 3 seats bringing there total to 4/234.
Hopefully, this will be the beginning of the end for BJP. However, the clarion call of "Hindu khatre mein hai" (Hindus are in danger) is too much of a dog whistle for many to ignore.

[Lukraak_Sisser]

Originally Posted by catsmate

????
Transmutation?

It would only need a single proton and neutron capture. How hard can that be?

[Susheel]

Originally Posted by Lukraak_Sisser

It would only need a single proton and neutron capture. How hard can that be?

I guess there must be a particle accelerator and a collider lying around.

[catsmate]

Originally Posted by Lukraak_Sisser

It would only need a single proton and neutron capture. How hard can that be?

Originally Posted by Susheel

I guess there must be a particle accelerator and a collider lying around.

One of my SOs works extensively with Farnsworth Fusors and a couple of years ago one of her graduate students wanted to make plutonium with them, alas not enough neutrons....

On a serious note, liquification and distillation of air really needs large plants for economies of scale.

[angrysoba]

Originally Posted by Susheel

Meanwhile...
Attachment 44620

From Twitter:

Nitrogen and Oxygen respond: "NO"

[Orphia Nay]

Originally Posted by Susheel

Results of the Assembly elections have been mixed...BJP still retains its hold in Assam but loses 3 seats in the state assembly; Assam has been the petri dish for testing out some of the BJP's more regressive (bordering on fascist) policies.
Massive lead for the Communists in Kerala, with BJP losing the single-seat they had; The local Congress party that more or less served as the BJP B-Team was also miserably trounced. Their strategy was to try and outdo the BJP's attempts to portray themselves as the saviours of Hinduism.
They expected a runaway win in the state of Pondicherry, but are currently in second place, gaining 5 seats though;
West Bengal was a huge blow....buoyed up by some high-profile recruits and floor-crossing from the incumbent party, they were expecting to form the government. However, the TMC managed to retain the absolute majority with the BJP managing to gain a significant number of seats.
Tamil Nadu, the BJP puppet government by the regional AIADMK lost 57 seats and gave DMK the majority. BJP however managed to gain 3 seats bringing there total to 4/234.
Hopefully, this will be the beginning of the end for BJP. However, the clarion call of "Hindu khatre mein hai" (Hindus are in danger) is too much of a dog whistle for many to ignore.

I'm optimistic that as India modernises quickly, it will outgrow its jingoistic and partisan tendencies.

Thanks for that update.

[Susheel]

Originally Posted by Orphia Nay

I'm optimistic that as India modernizes quickly, it will outgrow its jingoistic and partisan tendencies.

Thanks for that update.

A major vote bank for Modi is the urban elite particularly from the tech and financial sectors. Most of them are upper caste Indians who constantly live in this weird fantasy where they are victims of the "reservation policies" (affirmative action policies) ensuring equitable access to education for the lower caste, marginalized and underserved communities in India.
The director of one of India's leading, state run tech universities, IIT-Kharagpur- is a major proponent of the "all science began in India" and "we new of gene editing, aerospace engineering even in ancient times," myths.

[Susheel]

Also I don't think modernization has anything to do with reactionary bigotry. In fact, it seems to become more entrenched as a result of "modernization".