Whom Do We Trust

I came across this: APNews being the trusted source of news for half the world. 

And there is Truth Social which also is read and trusted by half of America, the Republicans. Truth Social is Trump's own Twitter like platform.

Are APNews and Truth Social at the same level and alike then? Imagine if the CEO of AP News and Trump were both invited to be felicitated for adhering to the highest standards of truth! 

I am reminded of a comedy scene in a Tamil movie where a beggar, waiting for some money from a vegetable shop owner, finds himself standing next to a police constable who has come to the shop for hafta ("wet his beak" in Mafia terms) - both of them being shooed away by the shop keeper who is busy attending to his paying customers!

Having half the world read your news or listen to you is hardly a great thing. Truth Social does that too. I wish APNews would try to differentiate itself from Truth social.

Trump's Election Interference

I can think anything that may not be true. And I can say untruths because I have a right to freedom of speech.

Based on that thought and words of mine I can allege anything. And incite others with my words to take any action, even illegal ones.

If people claim what I said was wrong and that my actions of incitement to violence was wrong, I can claim that I acted on advice of my counsel.

I do not recognise the concept of right or wrong. A man's purpose is to win. Losing is not an option.

I am not accountable for any words or actions of mine. I will continue to fight until I get what I want.

Math Puzzle - Instagram Series

The question was shared on Instagram by the handle @maths.puzzles__. The puzzle states, "Only 2% of students solved this question. 5+3+2= 151022, 9+2+4= 183652, 8+6+3= 482466, 5+4+5= 202541 Then 7+2+5 =?"

Guess The Direction Of The Train

This photo was taken in a train sleeper compartment in the morning. The train was going from Moradabad to Lucknow. Was the train moving to the left or to the right? Explain.

Map showing Moradabad and Lucknow (both circled in red pen). Regular Map pointing North

Beautiful Thought and Beautiful Emotion

I was thinking of the difference between a beautiful emotion and a beautiful thought.

This is a Beautiful jathi someone choreographed. Look how it is.

Now this is an Excel sheet i choreographed.

See how beautiful it is.

What is the learning here? 

An emotion is exceptional if it moves your heart. 

A thought is exceptional if it serves a purpose, solves a problem. The sheet above may be an Excel jathi but not a useful one.

An expression of emotion can be beautiful. A thought is never beautiful. That's not the purpose of a thought.

If a thought seems beautiful, it was actually an emotion.

A person strong in emotions can create beauty and elegance. A person strong in thought cannot.

Interesting Attachments -2

 

Lovely voice and pretty.

Satellites in the sky. Photos of Earth. Climate change 

Additional reading 

• https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2022/12/interesting-attachments.html
  

Evaluating A Dance

• https://www.facebook.com/reel/569972608529840?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
• https://m.facebook.com/reel/884798165938044/

These are videos of classical dances. Both are youngsters, informally dressed. 

And I watched each video twice: once with audio on and once without audio. 

I think this is essential. 

We should evaluate a singer without looking at what she is wearing, what she is emoting, how she looks etc. This is in stark contrast to the opinion espoused by the author here. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/19/fashion-fabrics-and-fishtails-why-we-need-to-talk-about-what-female-classical-performers-wear#comment-155980075

In the same way while evaluating a dance as shown in the videos at the top, it is essential that the person be wearing ordinary dress and that we switch off the audio and experience the dance. So our response is only for the quality of the dance. And not distorted by a good audio or by good dress or good stage effects.

Look at these two dances with and without audio and see how they are.

• https://www.facebook.com/saregama/videos/126100323764637/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
• https://www.facebook.com/saregama/videos/3369958223244788/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
  

Solving Wordle

 

The 2nd word choice is interesting. The last letter after N can be Y, K, D, T, O (RHYNO). So I chose DORKY.

The solution might have K at the end. Possible words are BREAK, BLEAK, FREAK, WREAK. So I chose FRILL.

This again is another nice one.

L, P, H are letters that can follow the starting S. Hence ALEPH. Sure enough it was solved in 3 attempts!

The most interesting step in this was the 4th. At the end of the 3rd step I had E yellow in 2 steps. I didn't know whether the solution had two Es or one. The 4th guess made the solution within grasp.

Additional reading

• https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2022/12/my-personal-worldle-copy.html
  
• https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2023/01/wordle-and-dumb-charades.html
  
• Wordle starting word: https://www.makeuseof.com/best-wordle-starter-words/. TRAIN, CLOSE use all the top 10 letters. SALET is best according to MIT: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/14/this-is-the-best-wordle-starting-word-according-to-mit-researchers.html
• https://vbala99.blogspot.com/2022/03/tough-interesting-wordle.html
  
• NY Times wordle bot: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/upshot/wordle-wordlebot-new.html

Adani - Dubious Or No?

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/28/gautam-adani-india-hindenburg-research-crash/ 
• Hindenburg's Nate Anderson and Gautam Adani's group of companies
• https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/the-man-behind-a-50-billion-selloff-11675016022102.html
  
• In London Times
  
• https://www.outlookindia.com/business/who-is-chang-chung-ling-the-chinese-link-featured-in-hindenburg-adani-crossfire--news-258079: Interesting
• https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/20/india-adani-coal-mine-kete-hasdeo-arand-forest-displaced-villages?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other: Doesn't sound good
  
• https://www.outlookindia.com/business/adani-group-shares-crash-after-credit-suisse-assigns-zero-lending-value-to-its-bonds-report--news-258611: The rout continues
  
• How Gautam Adani Made (and Could Lose) a $147 Billion Fortune
  
• India Today: Adani Enterprises case reaches Supreme Court, plea seeks action against Hindenburg Research founder.: Oh my. I wonder if Supreme Court will favor Adani and whether a subsequent verdict by an international arbiter or court will overturn it. Pretty embarrassing for India should this happen. And if the original report written by the short seller had its facts accurate then the question that arises is: what were Indian stock regulators (say SEBI) doing and how did they miss catching the issue?
  
• https://www.livemint.com/money/personal-finance/quant-mutual-fund-exits-adani-group-stocks-say-sources-11675418286737.html: Quant exits Adani stocks 
  
• Live Law - Indian Legal News: Adani-Hindenburg Issue : PIL In Supreme Court Seeks To Declare 'Short Selling' As Offence Of Fraud, Probe ....
  
• Gautam Adani’s Rise Was Intertwined With India’s. Now It’s Unraveling.
  
• Moneycontrol: Aswath Damodaran dissects Adani crisis: What's the fair value of this 'competent' infra play?.
  
• Swarajya: Why The Adani Endgame May Not Be The Disaster His Enemies Wish For.
  
• What should you think about Aswath Damodaran’s view on Adani Enterprises?: Very nice
  
• https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/corporate/story/gautam-adanis-little-known-unlisted-company-a-hidden-gem-with-351-subsidiaries-369995-2023-02-13
  
• Related party transactions
  

Man Is Defined By Questions

I used to think that man is defined by what he has understood in life, by what answers he has arrived at to questions.

Today I realised something else. That man is defined more by the questions that drive him than by the answers he has arrived at.

The answers decide what he does transactionally. The questions he has decide what he ponders about and spends his quest on.

Does every man spend time thinking about questions other than whether his car will start in the morning and whether it's ok to add eggs in tomato fry? I don't know. This post is about those that do.