2b & n2b

Dolce far Niente

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@PadmanabhanNsr @SamDalrymple123 @DalrympleWill He wasn't a freedom fighter. But he still is a well loved poet.

Not bringing his remains back allows his poetry to stand-
"Kitna hai bad naseeb Zafar, kabr ke liye,
Do ghaz zameen bhi na mili ku-e-yaar me"

[Carl @HistoryBoomer]

It’s cool that Salman Rushdie has outlived 2 Ayatollahs.

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

Anjaam-e-soz-e-ishq muqaddar pe daal kar,
Jaan-e-muraad aaj bhi daftar gaye the hum
Abbas Qamar

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@ggreenwald Hahaha! That's a naive attitude. Ask Neville Chamberlain how appeasing dictators by refusing to help allies works out.

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@OurFavOnlineDoc Actually, not doing any work, getting credit for someone else's roar, waking up only for food and sex.. these all seem to qualify Lion for the kingship. You might be an expert on Panthera species, but you have to observe royals more.

[The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee]

Historians Believe Isaac Declined All Father-Son Camping Trip Invitations After 'The Incident' https://t.co/sOhftmAU6P

[Sabine Hossenfelder @skdh]

I don't know why so many Americans have this idea that Germans all feel guilty about WWII. I don't know anyone my generation or even my parents' generation who feels this way. I think this is a story that Americans are telling themselves.

What is true is that at least the Germans I know feel a responsibility to make sure what happened in Nazi Germany doesn't happen again, not here, and not anywhere else. I certainly do.

This is why we are scared by what we see happening in the United States. The concentration of power, the streamlining of opinions, the normalization of evil, and the populism to excuse it. These are all warning signs we were taught to recognize.

Americans have this idea that the Holocaust happened in Germany because something is especially wrong with Germans. We're just somehow especially evil. This is why the bad guys in Hollywood movies are always Germans. This is why they make jokes about our supposedly military sounding language.

I strongly disagree. What happened in Germany could have happened anywhere. It's just that Hitler was the first to exploit this weakness. He was a master of mass manipulation (probably strongly influenced by Le Bon's "The Crowd" -- worth a read if you don't know it).

Now we have new masters of mass manipulation. And of course Germans worry about it.

Don't confuse what we feel is our responsibility with guilt.

Yes, ugh, "responsibility". That sounds terribly German, doesn't it. I'm sure you read this wiz a Schermen eksent.

No, I'm not proud to be German. Why would I? I didn't do anything for it, I just happen to have been born to two Germans. But I am glad I am German because all things considered it's a good country.

But if it was possible to just identify as Earthling and not belong to any country, that's what I'd want to be.

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@vinayvasan Wow! The number is impressive even without all those factorials!

[Gurwinder @G_S_Bhogal]

17. Grey Rock Method:
Reacting emotionally to trolls and other toxic people only gives them what they want — your time & energy — which encourages further trolling & abuse. If you want to stop receiving provocations, stop being provoked.

[Gurwinder @G_S_Bhogal]

15. Backwards Law:
The more you pursue happiness, the less likely you are to obtain it, because the focus on acquiring it only reinforces the fact that you don’t have it. Ironically, happiness comes easiest to those who don’t worry about it.

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@saurabhladdha The same way Modiji won on Development mandate last few times, he lost because of that comment this time. Not bank in India, no.

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@saurabhladdha Depends on the definition of correct. There was a lot of dog whistling done against minority community. Happy to know that Indian people won't stand for that.

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@gauravsabnis Good point. I'm convinced. Where do I give up the kid I already have? 🤣😂

[Ganesh Balakrishnan @ganeshb78]

He comes in at 6 or 7. And apparently since 2019, he averages 44.84, which is probably more than a lot of top order batsmen. Not counting his bowling and fielding exploits, of course. All-rounder GOAT, anyone? @imjadeja

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@peaches07 Loved the last part. People with pets...

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

Unholy horrifying piece of crap!

[The Kaipullai @thekaipullai]

I will never forget the famous reddit post on rabies. Read it. And never fucking take Rabies lightly again.

You go camping and While taking a nap, a tiny bat bites You and gives you a tiny scrape that goes completely.

Rabies does not travel in your blood. In fact, a blood test won't even tell you if you've got it. (Antibody tests may be done, but are useless if you've ever been vaccinated)

The bomb has been lit, and your nervous system is the wick. The rabies will multiply along your nervous system, doing virtually no damage, and completely undetectable. You literally have NO symptoms.

It may be four days, it may be a year, but the camping trip is most likely long forgotten. Then one day your back starts to ache... Or maybe you get a slight headache?

At this point, you're already dead. There is no cure

There's no treatment. It has a 100% kill rate.

Absorb that. Not a single other virus on the planet has a 100% kill rate. Only rabies. And once you're symptomatic, it's over. You're dead.

So what does that look like?

Your headache turns into a fever, and a general feeling of being unwell. You're fidgety. Uncomfortable. And scared. As the virus that has taken its time getting into your brain finds a vast network of nerve endings, it begins to rapidly reproduce, starting at the base of your brain... Where your "pons" is located. This is the part of the brain that controls communication between the rest of the brain and body, as well as sleep cycles.

Next you become anxious. You still think you have only a mild fever, but suddenly you find yourself becoming scared, even horrified, and it doesn't occur to you that you don't know why. This is because the rabies is chewing up your amygdala.

As your cerebellum becomes hot with the virus, you begin to lose muscle coordination, and balance. You think maybe it's a good idea to go to the doctor now, but assuming a doctor is smart enough to even run the tests necessary in the few days you have left on the planet, odds are they'll only be able to tell your loved ones what you died of later

You're twitchy, shaking, and scared. You have the normal fear of not knowing what's going on, but with the virus really fucking the amygdala this is amplified a hundred fold. It's around this time the hydrophobia starts

You're horribly thirsty, you just want water. But you can't drink. Every time you do, your throat clamps shut and you vomit. This has become a legitimate, active fear of water. You're thirsty, but looking at a glass of water begins to make you gag, and shy back in fear. The contradiction is hard for your hot brain to see at this point. By now, the doctors will have to put you on IVs to keep you hydrated, but even that's futile. You were dead the second you had a headache

You begin hearing things, or not hearing at all as your thalamus goes. You taste sounds, you see smells, everything starts feeling like the most horrifying acid trip anyone has ever been on. With your hippocampus long under attack, you're having trouble remembering things, especially family

You're alone, hallucinating, thirsty, confused, and absolutely, undeniably terrified. Everything scares the literal shit out of you at this point. These strange people in lab coats. These strange people standing around your bed crying, who keep trying to get you "drink something" and crying. And it's only been about a week since that little headache that you've completely forgotten. Time means nothing to you anymore. Funny enough, you now know how the bat felt when he bit you

Eventually, you slip into the "dumb rabies" phase. Your brain has started the process of shutting down. Too much of it has been turned to liquid virus. Your face droops. You drool. You're all but unaware of what's around you. A sudden noise or light might startle you, but for the most part, it's all you can do to just stare at the ground. You haven't really slept for about 72 hours

Then you die. Always, you die

And there's nothing anyone can do

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@ganeshb78 Facepalm all the way!

[SirKazam {blu tik} @SirKazamJeevi]

Wknd 🧵- Journalistic(sic) Gems

20 of my favorite moments from Indian TV news, that symbolize why we are where we are.

Big thanks to my friend Ravi for the curation!

1/20
Let’s start with something soothing, with who else but Arnab

[2b & n2b @bihagbhatt]

@Kavity85 I was hoping to find the best of all unreliable narrators, Humbert Humbert here.