Kunal

dilettante, geek, cyclist and mountain lover

[Kunal @kthakar]

I subscribe to more podcasts than I have time to listen. I need AI to filter out bad episodes and only recommend parts of the good ones

[Kunal @kthakar]

The @DarioAmodei interview on dwarkesh’s podcast was really painful to hear. Dwarkesh refuses to move on or try to understand Dario’s argument.

[Kunal @kthakar]

@saranormous It’ll work for simple stuff, but not for mission critical production work. Frameworks and libraries provide a lot more value than just easy to use abstractions. They are battle tested, work across a range of configurations and ofcourse security.

[Kunal @kthakar]

Watching election markets on prediction markets is the best way to track elections. Prediction markets for everything! This should be the new normal.

[Kunal @kthakar]

I can't believe how hard it is to get a basic price feed (delayed or end of day prices) for the US equities market in the US. This shouldn't cost $2000/mo folks. Dealing with US equities feels so ridiculous after spending time in crypto land.

[signüll @signulll]

did the administration think of the downstream effects of $100k h1b fee?

let’s maybe try mapping it out, shall we?

the h1b tightening (or even just the perception that h1b is a dead end) potentially nukes the intl student pipeline. right now intl tuition is a subsidy engine. full freight chinese & indian students bankroll the entire higher ed budget model. if job prospects vanish, that revenue collapses.

if this happens universities cut research budgets, hire fewer postdocs, labs shrink. the us’s comparative advantage in STEM production erodes. rankings slip because rankings are basically a weighted combo of research output, funding, & prestige. that then feeds back into fewer elite applicants, further decline.

then companies that depended on the churn of cheap phd labor for innovation (esp semiconductors, biotech, ai labs) lose a critical feedstock. the us historically imported brains as a growth hack.. killing h1b is essentially self sabotage.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

Indian Exclusion Act

[Nick Mark MD @nickmmark]

This will be absolutely devastating in the medical field.

~30% residents are international medical graduates & ~10k of 43k residency spots are filled by docs with H1-B visas.

Previously the h-1B fee was <$5,000.

No hospital will pay a $100k fee for a $55k resident salary.

[Abby Martin @AbbyMartin]

Israel bombs a hospital to kill journalists, then bombs the rescue team retrieving their bodies. How many war crimes is that?

[Fascinating @fasc1nate]

He's not wrong

[Kunal @kthakar]

The app can be found on https://t.co/vlT5MzVUoX
Please take it for a spin and let me know your feedback.

[Kunal @kthakar]

I am not a fan of retirement calculators because the model they use seem very simplistic and does not account for the inherent complexity of estimating a future where there is lot of uncertainty. So I made a free app that leans into the uncertainty

[Kunal @kthakar]

The app uses the technique of monte carlo simulations to lean into the messiness that is the future. It assumes that market returns and inflation are variable every year (you can specify a mean and standard deviation) and tries to account for a taxes, post-retirement incomes, etc

[Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart]

10-year just keeps surging

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

Andrew Chen, co-founder of one of my favorite denim brands, 3sixteen, breaks down how the tariffs affect his company

IG 3sixteen

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

The only three things Dems need to move to the center on are:

1. DEI (it failed, time to go back to just not being racist)

2. Policing (it reduces crime by a lot, just go back to reasonable police reform)

3. Asylum (yes, illegally crossing the border to request asylum is bad)

[Isaac Saul @Ike_Saul]

Balaji, this is embarrassing dude. They didn't "dig up" some old posts. The posts were from as recently as December. And they weren't subtle.

“Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool." — July

"You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity... Normalize Indian hate." — September

“99% of Indian H1Bs will be replaced by slightly smarter LLMs, they’re going back don’t worry guys" — December

"I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth." — June

Why the hell would anyone spend their time defending this? He isn't 16. He's 25. And he was granted extraordinary access to the U.S. govt with the power to make fundamental changes to where my tax dollars are spent.

You guys promised the best and the brightest. This kid is a cowardly racist who was posting his true feelings behind a pseudonymous account. This is so embarrassing to try to justify/defend. Just say "we fucked up" and let him go.

[Sheel Mohnot @pitdesi]

It is kind of funny that Vivek tweeted "American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence" and had to get out of @DOGE

Marko tweeted “Normalize Indian hate” "I was racist before it was cool" "Wipe Israel and Gaza" and is now a hero to @DOGE

[Sidharth @Cloudwatch199]

This is the oldest, deadliest playbook in history.

Hitler didn’t start with concentration camps—he started by making hatred socially acceptable. First, Jews were ridiculed in propaganda, portrayed as economic leeches, job stealers, and foreign infiltrators. Society laughed along. Then came discrimination—laws stripping them of opportunities, exclusion from public life, and relentless demonization. Once they were sufficiently dehumanized, the violence began, and the world looked the other way.

Now, look at what’s happening today. Anti-Indian hate is being normalized right before our eyes. For years, certain factions have pushed the narrative that Indian immigrants—especially H-1B visa holders—are stealing American jobs, lowering wages, and ruining the economy. It started as online trolling, but now it’s , media narratives, and real-world consequences. Indian professionals have been harassed, their contributions ignored, and their presence increasingly resented.

And now, when an Indian man is publicly humiliated and mocked on camera and when this govenrmnent STAFFER is openly calling to "normalize Indian hate"( Literally few weeks ago) , instead of condemning it, the Vice President of the United States defends the perpetrator. JD Vance dismisses calls for accountability, saying it was just “stupid social media activity” that shouldn’t “ruin a kid’s life.” No apology. No consequences. Just a green light for more hate.

This is exactly how dehumanization works. First, Indians are reduced to a stereotype. Then, their struggles are mocked. Then, policies are shaped against them. Then, the hate spills into the real world. We’ve seen this cycle before—against Jews, against immigrants, who were scapegoated until it was too late to stop the consequences.

And I’m sorry, but as much as I think the Republican Party is doing a good job and I support President Trump, this absolutely needs to be called out. Supporting a party does not mean ignoring hypocrisy or excusing dangerous rhetoric. If we don’t hold our own accountable, who will?

Vance isn’t just excusing racism , he’s legitimizing it. And if people don’t wake up now, they’ll realize too late where this road leads.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

The tariffs on Canada and Mexico feel like they're causing a bit of a vibe shift