Miscellaneous Facebook posts & comments in April & May 2021

Last updated on 7th June 2021

When author of post or comment is not mentioned, it should be assumed that it is me (Ravi S. Iyer).

To save time, I am usually not providing my FB post links but only contents. I am also not hyperlinking links. So readers will have to copy-paste links from this post onto a browser link box and then browse to that link.

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Awesome to see UK democracy in action as it investigates via public hearings, the COVID response of UK government. Dominic Cummings testimony about plans and missteps in UK's response to COVID pandemic in early 2020, gives us one insider view of the matter. Note that some of his testimony has been disputed by UK government, and so some of Cummings account/ views may be wrong.

Cummings Covid criticism: Who’s telling the truth? - BBC Newsnight, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59EjBljaqc , 21 min. 25 secs., published by BBC News on 28th May 2021.

Dominic Cummings tells MPs Johnson ‘unfit’ to be PM , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36blF51LPRY , 10 min. 57 secs, published by Channel 4 News on 27th May 2021.

I watched the initial 50 odd minutes of this video which seems to have the whole testimony, and found it to be very interesting: Former government advisor Dominic Cummings testifies to joint parliamentary committee – watch live, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LFS3FaRs_s , 7 hr. 12 mins streamed live by Guardian News on 26th May 2021.

Please note that I am publicly neutral in UK politics.

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"Will Never Forget": US State Secretary On India's Help During Covid, https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/s-jaishankar-thanks-us-for-strong-support-at-indias-moment-of-great-difficulty-2451583, 29th May 2021.

Small extract from above article:

Mr Blinken said in the early days of COVID-19, India was there for the US, something which the country "will never forget".

"Now we want to make sure that we are there for and with India," he said.

--- end extract ---

So nice to see such words from USA Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. It is much appreciated by this resident and citizen of India.

The article states that India's foreign minister Jaishankar said, "I want to express our gratitude to the administration and US for strong support and solidarity at the moment of great difficulty for us." Well said by India's foreign minister! I fully support these words. USA is helping India in a big way in these difficult days for India, and that too is much appreciated by this resident and citizen of India.

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Thought-provoking article! The world needs to know the truth about China's Wuhan bioresearch labs. All their data must be shared with the world, given the horrific suffering the world is going through due to COVID-19.

The Covid origin mystery: Its ‘black box’ is in Wuhan lab and hospital data. But Beijing won’t allow access, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/the-covid-origin-mystery-its-black-box-is-in-wuhan-lab-and-hospital-data-but-beijing-wont-allow-access/

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Good to see USA stop funding of dangerous gain of function bioresearch in China.

Senate Cheers After Passing Rand Paul's Amendment Banning Gain-Of-Function Research In China, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BGC4ZLSHBo , 1 min. 38 secs, published by Forbes Breaking News on 26th May 2021.

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Some of the views espoused in this Indian media interview involving a Chinese whistle-blower bioresearcher, a Beijing political commentator and an Indian security analyst, and anchored by an Indian news media guy, are controversial. But given the torment that COVID-19 has caused and continues to cause in India, I felt it appropriate to share the video.

Chinese Whistleblower Faces Off With Beijing-Based Expert On Purported Wuhan Lab COVID leak, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yzgEU2L7AE , 21 min. 6 secs. published by Republic World on 24th May 2021.

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I salute the courage of USA Senator Rand Paul and his wife to continue to speak up for what they support and question those in authority on some matters.

I am publicly neutral in USA politics and so I have no comments on the Republican vs. Democrat aspect covered in the following video. But as a lover and open supporter of democracy, I fully support and admire Senator Rand Paul for speaking up for what he believes in.

While I am a resident and citizen of India, as a democracy-lover, I am doing my little bit for democracy as a social media writer by condemning the death threat sent to Rand Paul by mail. It was heart-wrenching to hear Kelly Paul speak about the hours of fear she went through before it was known that the white powder in the mail package was harmless.

My prayers to Almighty God to protect Senator Rand Paul and his family from attacks on them due to their openly espousing their conservative (Republican Party) values and beliefs, and questioning those in authority on some matters.

Sen. Rand Paul, wife Kelley on death threat package sent to their home, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FCMeLoiBr4 , 7 min. 20 secs., published by Fox Business on 27th May 2021

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Good to see some light at the end of the horrible COVID 2nd wave tunnel that India, including Puttaparthi town, is going through now.

Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/PrakashJavadekarOfficial/posts/2634474100030943 "Daily New Cases falls below 2 Lakh mark after 40 Days, National daily positivity rate also goes below 10%(currently at 9.54%).

Nearly, 20 Cr. Vaccine Doses administered so far under the #LargestVaccineDrive.

Together, we shall overcome.

#IndiaFightsCorona" [post has some pics too]

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Good to see Dr. Fauci openly state this: 'Not convinced' COVID-19 developed naturally, need more open investigations: Dr Anthony Fauci, https://zeenews.india.com/world/not-convinced-covid-19-developed-naturally-need-more-open-investigations-dr-anthony-fauci-2363918.html .

I read somewhere else that even NIH director Francis Collins has a similar view stated publicly.

The origin of this horrible COVID virus (SARS-CoV-2) must be investigated transparently and fully. If some BSL-2 or even BSL-4 bio-research lab. in Wuhan, China was doing dangerous gain-of-function research that enhanced some viruses to make it more easily infect human beings, which could be the origin of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID virus), then the world should know.

BSL stands for Biosafety Level. BSL-2 is lower safety level than BSL-4. Wuhan has/had both BSL-2 and BSL-4 bio-research labs.

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Exchange between Sen. Dr. Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci (on SARS-CoV-2 virus origin and dangerous gain-of-function bio-research) in US Congress, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MndwrOzDvo , 7 min. 13 secs, published by C-SPAN on 11th May 2021.

...

I don't know what the exact truth is. But I sure support the right of Senator and Doctor (medical doctor) Rand Paul to question Dr. Fauci and others about dangerous gain-of-function bio-research that creates super-viruses and whether NIH of USA did fund Wuhan Institute of Virology and whether that funding went to gain-of-function bio-research work in Wuhan lab. I thank Dr. Rand Paul for his courage to raise such questions in public and to articulate his views on the matter related to this super-horrible COVID pandemic which is now tormenting my country, India, in a terrible way.

Rand Paul slams media for not asking Fauci the right questions, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHLPyu7wBb0 , 6 min. 50 secs., published by Fox News on 13th May 2021.

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My comment on video post showing funeral of COVID deceased persons in Puttaparthi municipality being done by Muslim youth group: https://www.facebook.com/lakshmipathi.gajula.5/posts/1090205204842859 [shares public post: https://www.facebook.com/shameer.ntr.4/posts/3018207355069834 ]

"Very noble service/seva!"

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Interesting views of Sadhguru Vasudev on China and India. I think the video is provocatively and inaccurately titled. Sadhguru does not say anything about Chinese people turning against their own government, as far as I can make out. He only says that as the Chinese people get more affluent it will be harder to use forceful ways on them - they will bite back if stick is used whereas when they were poor the stick could be used without (much) resistance.

I think the interview seems to have been done before COVID pandemic. But this clip has been published in Mar 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiKHliHP8tc, 7 min. 10 secs.

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In post about two brothers (rather young - 30s or 40s perhaps) dying of COVID in Puttaparthi within a short span: https://www.facebook.com/raja.chowdary.180/posts/1911367405679478 , I wrote: "Om Shanti!"

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Sadhguru's Message About Covid : Don't Get Angry,Don't Blame Anyone,Don't Panic, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhBA90Gfr5Y, 6 min. 19 secs, published on 18th May 2021

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This Famous Entrepreneur Started Software [Outsourced Product] Development (IT) in India in 1987! | TBCY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCCzNlz2_48, 26 mins, published on 7th May 2021

Very interesting interview where famous IT entrepreneur Jan Baan talks of his IT entrepreneurship days. In a part of the interview, Jan discusses the role of Indian IT professionals in success of his companies, including how he empowered the Indian employees of his companies to develop Intellectual Property (software product) solutions. Note that Baan company started using Indian IT professionals based in India for developing software products right from 1987, and was among the first, if not the first, IT company to do so.

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Dr. K.K. Aggarwal - Great man who served the public as a doctor even as he was suffering from COVID. The following tweet has a short 2 minute, 20 seconds video of Dr. Aggarwal (speaking in English and Hindi), while on Oxygen support for COVID pneumonia, encouraging fellow doctors to treat COVID patients even as the numbers of COVID patients are very many - https://twitter.com/hemantrajora_/status/1394540407061499906 , May 18th 2021.

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Good service - COVID telephone helpline to Doctors for Puttaparthi mandal persons.

Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/raja.chowdary.180/posts/1909467482536137

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Wonderful service! May God bless those who are providing this service!

Shared FB post: https://www.facebook.com/raja.chowdary.180/posts/1909445539204998 about free auto service for COVID positive patients to be taken to COVID care center in Puttaparthi.

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Heart-warming to see this help given to us Asian Indians by American (Red) Indians! Many Thanks to Navajo Nation!

[https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3122497464633476 ]

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Thought-provoking article though I do not know enough to agree/disagree with the main views of the article. It would be great to see a govt. of India response to this article, say by the Union Health ministry.

Vaccinate, at any cost: The first step to controlling the Covid surge is understanding where we went wrong, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/The-underage-optimist/the-mistakes-we-made-the-first-step-to-controlling-the-covid-surge-is-understanding-what-we-did-wrong/ , 7th May 2021.

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Lockdown In Karnataka For 2 Weeks From Monday As Daily Cases Near 50,000, https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/lockdown-in-karnataka-for-2-weeks-from-monday-announces-bs-yediyurappa-2437297

I think Karnataka govt. is doing the right thing at least as far as Bengaluru is concerned. The kind of COVID surge that Bengaluru is going through is very scary and has to be brought down somehow or the other.

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Around 3 min video with Telugu written messages.

[https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3121640591385830 shares video of Reliance Industries providing oxygen to Indian people.]

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In the current deluge of bad news about COVID in India, it is very encouraging to read about this good management of oxygen needs in Mumbai, my former home city. Kudos to BMC (Mumbai's municipal corporation) commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, PM Narendra Modi's administration which co-operated with Chahal, PM Narendra Modi for not allowing political differences to come in the way of supporting Mumbai & Maharashtra in this crisis as well as Reliance Industries' Jamnagar, Gujarat plant (and its bosses including billionaire Mukesh Ambani) which started supplying 125 metric tonnes of oxygen per day to Mumbai.

BMC chief: If someone laughs at us, how do I share Mumbai model https://indianexpress.com/article/india/coornavirus-bmc-chief-if-someone-laughs-at-us-how-do-i-share-mumbai-model-7305013/ 7th May 2021.

Mumbai's COVID curve is on the way down as of now. Unfortunately, Bengaluru (Bangalore) in Karnataka (which is not so far away from Puttaparthi and is well connected with Puttaparthi by road) is now the dominant COVID cases city in India. Let's hope Bangalore also learns from Mumbai municipal corporation's handling of oxygen needs during COVID surges/waves.

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I presume this is Bruges, Belgium which is a wonderful historic city which I had the pleasure visiting many years ago.

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3119796244903598 has pics of "PUBLIC WHEEL-CHAIR FRIENDLY PICNIC TABLES".

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I think the following short extract from the article, does shine a frank light into the lives of working wives who have to do astonishing balancing acts:

But the Shanghai woman, a white-collar employee at a financial data firm, said: “It turned out to be work tripled. The work in the office, the chores at home and the childcare work; I’ve been thinking about divorce all the time.”

--- end extract ---

Having been born (in 1962) & raised in urban educated middle-class India (Mumbai), I have watched and admired how many married working women in urban India have successfully balanced work, child care and home chores. I mean, they do an awesome balancing act, way beyond what many men (like me for sure) can do.

Note that almost all married women of earlier generation (my mother's generation) in my family, most of whom were settled in Mumbai, were not working (including my mother). There was a big change going from my mother's generation of married women to married women in my generation in my own family in Mumbai, as most of the latter were working. I think this reflects the change across generations in most of the educated middle class sector in Mumbai and surrounding areas (like Dombivli where I lived for some years) which are part of Mumbai metropolitan region.

It is sad to read that the Shanghai lady regretted having a kid. But perhaps she is just being frank and one has to respect her views.

I should also say that I think urban life in Shanghai would not be very different from urban life in Mumbai, when it comes to pressures of such balancing acts that working married women have to do. Perhaps even in Shanghai in 1960s most married women were not working (like in Mumbai then).

Number of unhappy wives in China more than doubled since 2012, https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3132019/number-unhappy-wives-china-more-doubled-2012 , 4th May 2021.

...

I must add that special appreciation has to be given to those Indian married and working women who besides childcare and home care, also have to care for in-laws. Not all are able to do it and so it is not uncommon to have some strain between married working women and their in-laws in urban Indian context.

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Great to see this continuing help from USA to India in her time of need.

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3119544311595458

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On https://www.facebook.com/raja.chowdary.180/posts/1897356040413948 which provided COVID case stats for Puttaparthi, I wrote: "Thanks for your regular reporting of such important data."

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I am pleasantly surprised, rather astonished, by how these Madras High Court judges have hammered the Election Commission of India (ECI) for this 2nd wave of COVID pandemic (I think ECI are at least partly the cause as election campaigns resulted in almost total, if not total, violation of COVID protocols by large numbers of people). Election Commission responsible for spreading Covid-19, should probably be booked for murder: Madras HC , https://indianexpress.com/article/india/eci-responsible-for-spreading-covid-19-says-madras-hc-7289824/ , 26th April 2021.

Of course, I think the 'murder charge' may be going too far. But then these are the Hon'ble Madras High Court judges' views and I am just an ordinary citizen without any legal background.

A small extract from the article: 'Criticising the ECI for not stopping political parties from violating the Covid protocols, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said, “You (ECI) are the only institution responsible for the situation that we are in today.”'

...

After Court's "Booked For Murder" Remark, Election Commission Pushes Back, https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/election-commission-asks-madras-high-court-to-stop-media-from-reporting-on-court-oral-observations-says-tarnished-image-2425016, 30th April 2021

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My comment on the post shared below:

Thank you so much. Your help in India's time of need will be remembered.

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3116744141875475 shares US Embassy India post on COVID relief shipments from USA to India.

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I am glad to see Hon'ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy garu, openly make these statements, as they are the reality on the ground. In Puttaparthi outside ashram town, right now only 2nd dose vaccinations is being given at Sachivalayams (municipal ward level govt. offices) where residents are expected to go to, to get vaccinated. 1st dose vaccination persons (typically those in age group of 45 to 60) are NOT being vaccinated and told that they have to wait till 2nd dose vaccination persons have got vaccinated (of which there is still a significant backlog in some municipal wards at least, if not in all wards).

As it is there is a lot of crowd at the Sachivalayams in outside ashram Puttaparthi town on the day vaccine stock arrives there (perhaps once or twice a week). Last time the vaccine stock came for these sachivalayams seems to be on 27th April with no vaccine stock arriving on 28th and 29th April.

So I was wondering how the crowd picture will be from 1st May at these sachivalayams as age group 18 to 45 was (still is?) supposed to be added to those eligible to be vaccinated there.

This article gives CM Jagan Mohan Reddy garu's views which bring a lot of honesty and clarity on the matter, IMHO.

CM Jagan says vaccination for those above 18 yrs can start only from September, https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/cm-jagan-says-vaccination-those-above-18-yrs-can-start-only-september-148047, 29th April 2021

As per the article, AP CM has said that "COVID-19 vaccination for people between 18 and 45 years is expected to start only in September, once the vaccination for people above 45 years is completed".

CM said that 39 crore vaccine doses are needed to vaccinate those above 45 years of age. That demand may be met only by Aug. or Sept. and vaccination for those in age group 18 to 45 will be done after that.

I think the reality on the ground in many parts of Andhra Pradesh and India (including outside ashram Puttaparthi town) is, to use words of one medical staff, "Janaba ekkuva, vaccine takkuva" - "Many people, less vaccines". Perhaps it is more of "Very many people, very less vaccines".

I am really happy to see AP CM lay these number-facts on the ground publicly. Once we know reality on the ground, we can better fight this horrible pandemic, IMHO. Many thanks to AP CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy garu for these honest and clear statements about reality on the ground about COVID vaccinations.

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Thank you so much Russia, a time-tested friend of India. We will remember your help to us in our time of need.

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3116104551939434 shares Russian Embassy in India post on humanitarian aid (COVID aid) to India.

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Great to see India's time-tested friend, Russia, extending this help to India in our time of need. Much appreciated, at least by this resident and citizen of India, and will not be forgotten.

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3115733331976556 shares Russian Embassy in India post about "Vladimir #Putin had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister of India Narendra #Modi.

Vladimir Putin supported Narendra Modi during this difficult period of combatting the spread of the #coronavirus and informed him of the decision to send emergency humanitarian aid to India. ..."

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That's good to see. India does need all the help in this crisis, that it can get from friendly countries.

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3114152245467998 shares US Embassy India's post having messages from USA President Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris and Surgeon-General Vivek Murthy on COVID help to India.

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On FB video post: https://www.facebook.com/krishnappa.mummaneni/posts/1162904567514621 having remarks of Puttaparthi municipality area medical officer, I commented: "I am told that only 2nd dose vaccine is being given in Puttaparthi Sachivalayams now. So there seems to be some disconnect between Dr. Naik's words and reality on the ground."

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Watch jury's verdict at Derek Chauvin's trial, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZqvslc_ZMc, 10 min. 6 secs, published by CNN on 21st April 2021.

Former police officer Chauvin was found guilty of the unintentional murder of George Floyd (Chauvin was a police officer then and acted in that capacity in this matter). Chauvin and his lawyer may choose to appeal and so that process will take its time. But the trial court has judged him guilty.

I think the bystanders who captured video evidence (and perhaps picture evidence too) of the tragic death of George Floyd, contributed significantly to the trial court judging Chauvin guilty.

My view on this matter is that police (and others in the criminal justice system including criminal lawyers and judges) are not above the law. If they do something illegal they should face legal consequences like any other citizen of a democracy.

Police and criminal lawyers and judges in democracies (including India, of course) should not arrogantly think that they are above the law, and indulge in criminal acts or promote/encourage criminal acts. If they do so, they should be brought to justice. Otherwise there is a danger of these law enforcement and justice people themselves becoming a threat to well being of ordinary citizens of a democracy whose legal rights their professions are supposed to protect!

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Take Me Home, Country Roads - The Petersens (LIVE), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qap9Qm-Q894, 3 min. 2 secs, published May 2020.

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On https://www.facebook.com/rahulgandhi/posts/1254523798315339 of India's opposition leader Shri Rahul Gandhi mentioning that he has tested positive for COVID and has mild symptoms, I wrote: "Prayers to God for your and Dr. Manmohan Singh sir's speedy recovery!"

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One of the dialogues that struck me was about the civil war being a stampede that had to run its course, even as the stampede crushes some. The survivors are those that can ride the stampede.

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Around 2 min. video showing work of municipal and police officers in spreading awareness about mask wearing and social distancing in Puttaparthi. Good work by these municipal and police officers!

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3108005706082652 shares an FB video post.

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[In Telugu] Dr. Gopal Reddy of Puttaparthi starts speaking around 15 seconds into the around 3 minute video. He shares his frank views and advice on the current situation wrt COVID pandemic and what precautions Puttaparthi residents should take.

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3106617386221484 shares an FB video post.

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Hmm. I did not know this. Looked up the net to check and it seems to be largely true as per: How Many Eggs Are Women Born With? And Other Questions About Egg Supply, https://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health/how-many-eggs-does-a-woman-have .

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[In Telugu] 5 min. 39 secs. having advice from public health officials and police DSP garu in Puttaparthi about taking precautions against COVID.

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3106044376278785 shares an FB video post.

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Audio is the great tribute of the Beatles to the sun, video is great pics of sunrise mainly, lyrics of the song, and, towards the end, some additional views of the video author: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc1ta1UMGeo, 3 min. 10 secs.

BTW two parts of my name refer to the Sun 😀 - Ravi means sun and my middle name, which is my father's name, is Suryanarayanan which is a Sanskrit name of the sun god, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suryanarayana .

...

Paul Simon and George Harrison singing live: Here comes the sun, followed by Homeward bound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEgBMTMUanU, 6 min. 38 secs.

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The Beatles - Help! , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q_ZzBGPdqE , 2 min. 19 secs.

Song lyrics: https://genius.com/The-beatles-help-lyrics

A part of the lyrics that appealed to me when I first heard the song perhaps in 1980s, and which continues to appeal to me, even today, and I think with added appeal as I am much older now 🙂:

When I was younger so much younger than today

I never needed anybody's help in any way

But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured

Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down

And I do appreciate you being 'round

Help me get my feet back on the ground

Won't you please, please help me?

--- end extract from song lyrics ----

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The Chicks - Ready To Run (Live from MMXVI Tour), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHgRBd3z0Qw, 4 min. 32 secs.

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Yet another highly fictionalized (TV) movie: Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp TV 1955-1961 colorized, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6n0al2otzw, 1 hr. 20 mins.

Wiki page of Wyatt Earp which seems to be more factual: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyatt_Earp .

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Wiki page on Custer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer which seems to be more factual.

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John Wayne The Lawless Nineties 1936, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HpXKsykwXY, 57 min. 16 secs.

Movie wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lawless_Nineties

The movie is set in the 1890s period when Wyoming, then a territory, was voting on whether to become a state of the USA or not. I think the movie is "highly fictionalized" as I could not find any significant reference to such violence at that time, in my quick Internet searches. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wyoming#Territory_and_statehood gives a very short statement about Wyoming becoming a state, and makes no reference to any violence at that time.

So I think the movie seems to "highly" exaggerate any violence that would have been there during this vote.

But I found the movie to still be of some interest as it shows some aspects of life in areas where banditry is powerful with law and order being rather weak, and how heroes are needed to bring in good change from banditry to law and order.

At around 17:50 in the video, we have Plummers, chairman of the law and order committee (who is actually the ring-leader of the bandits) meeting newcomer Major Carter (from Virginia) who has bought the local newspaper and is planning to print an issue with an editorial strongly supporting statehood for Wyoming as a way of coming out of the grip of outlaws and crooked politicians.

This 1936 movie then shows what is so common in many parts of the world even today in 2021: the threat to the media person from goons about publishing things that they don't want to be published!

I have given below the exchange (based on auto generated transcript shown in youtube):

Major Carter: I was about to start my editorial.

Plummers: That's just exactly what I came to discuss. I thought it my duty as a friend to point out to you that certain factions might resent .. to pronounce stand on your part.

Carter: I thank you for your solicitude sir. But I don't intend to be intimidated by the lawless faction of this community.

Plummers: They're a very powerful faction major and a ruthless one.

Carter: In that type lies the power of the press. We can dethrone kings and make history.

Plummers: You know major, the last editor was standing right there when they shot him. Good day sir.

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Major Carter does not get intimidated by this "friendly advice"! He publishes a page with bold type (also see attached pic):

CROCKET CITY BLADE

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ELECTION JULY 8TH.

A VOTE AGAINST ADMISSION

IS A VOTE FOR OUTLAWS AND CROOKED POLITICIANS

PROTECT WYOMING

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In response, Plummers orders his deputy to get rid of the major. His deputy tells two henchmen to do the job. They put up a mock fight between themselves just outside the newspaper office. When Major Carter intervenes to stop the fight (which he thinks is real), one of the henchmen shoots him dead.

As the movie is "highly fictionalized", the major's young daughter and their help, do not return to Virginia but continue the major's newspaper work. I think that is really stretching the imagination. But then this is an old movie which sometimes needs such stretching of the imagination.

The later trial concludes that the major's death was regrettable but that it was an accident and the killer is set free. John Wayne tells the daughter that the trial was a farce.

Eventually though, the bad guys are foiled by the government agents (led by John Wayne) who lead the good citizenry on election day to break through the barricades of the bad guys, with gun fights (across towns in Wyoming as per the movie story), to exercise their vote. Thus they defeat the bad guys' plan to restrict voting to only/mainly their supporters, and the vote results are in favour of Wyoming becoming a state.

Even if such movies are "highly fictionalized", they convey what seems to be the truth about establishment of democracy and rule of law in many parts of the USA as late as the late 1800s. And that truth seems to be that there was lot of violence involved - gun wielding good guys had to defeat gun wielding bad guys - in establishing democracy and rule of law in these states & territories.

[Associated post https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3103746956508527 has a pic.]

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What can I say? This is the downside of easy availability of guns. The son goes into his father's house with a gun in his pocket and which gun outline the father notices. The father does not want his son to be having a gun while at his home, which I think is fair. But then we have this shootout between them outside the father's home! That's when I find it quite horrifying. And why was the father pointing a gun at his son, once the son was out of the father's home? Was that the reason the son decided to fire at his father?

Father and son shootout captured on video | FOX 5 News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnjJ4ouaW68, 1 min. 39 secs, published on 25th March 2021.

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The horrors of modern day ballistic missile attacks: Never-before-seen video of the attack on Al Asad Airbase, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGP7hZQuTL0, 13 min. 37 secs, published by 60 Minutes on 1st March 2021.

It was fortunate that the situation did not worsen as that would have led to more tit-for-tat ballistic missile and other attacks between Iran and USA.

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Some truth in that, methinks!

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3102407173309172 shares post with Plato quote "No one is more hated than the one who speaks the truth."

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Warning! Disturbing video! Readers who don't want to read/view unpleasant stuff should skip reading the rest of this post.

Mauritania: Slavery's last stronghold, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yQlOPD8mNo, around 23 mins., published by CNN in 2012 and so an around nine year old video.

I saw most of it in my first viewing and was very disturbed. I plan to watch it again, this time in full.

While very disturbing, the video is a great teacher about the reality of slavery in history, as we see its remnants right in our early 21st century times.

Poverty with lack of job-worthy skills is the great problem of our times in many developing nations including many parts of rural India. To be clear, as far as I know there is no slavery now in India of the sort that is shown in the CNN video. However, there is a lot of chronic poverty combined with unemployment which makes the affected people utterly dependent on those who pay them money.

For sure, significant number of people in rural Anantapur district, including rural areas of Puttaparthi mandal (mandal is somewhat like county in USA; so Puttaparthi mandal is a larger area and different from Puttaparthi town), suffer from this horrible problem of poverty combined with lack of job-worthy skills.

Education that imparts job-worthy skills (not just useless-from-job-perspective paper diplomas & degrees) along with an environment that provides job openings for such people, seems to me to be the main way to solve this horrific problem of chronic and terrible poverty.

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In Forbes latest list of billionaires, largest number of billionaires are from USA, followed by China and then by India - https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/india-has-worlds-3rd-highest-no-of-billionaires-mukesh-ambani-dethrones-jack-ma-in-asia-forbes-6739061.html, 7th April 2021.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon tops the list worldwide with estimated net worth of 177 billion USD.

Mukesh Ambani with an estimated net worth of 84 billion USD is the richest man in Asia, nudging out Jack Ma of China.

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I find this live video to be fascinating - Watch LIVE: Derek Chauvin Trial for George Floyd Death - Day 7 | ABC News Live Coverage| ABC News, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyCk_aCyC_Q

Hats off to Minneapolis city of Minnesota state of USA that they are providing such live video of this case which is being followed by many across the world.

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As a former teacher of software development, both in Indian software industry and then in Indian academia, I agree. Teaching forces you to improve your learning to higher levels than needed to just accomplish some tasks. Further, student questions can show areas where the teacher does not know enough and needs to learn more to be able to answer the student (happened to me, at least a few times).

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3099411606942062 shares a post with quote: "While we teach, we learn".

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Straight talking wisdom from Ernest Hemingway through his famous book!

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/3098974586985764 shares a post with quote: “Now is no time to think of what you do not have.

Think of what you can do with that there is”

― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

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Egypt releases drone footage of freed Ever Given, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_v8JlVM4iU, 49 secs, published by Reuters. The ship's side has 'EVERGREEN' written on it and not 'Ever Given'!

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