Riaz Shah

Disgruntled idealist, Skeptical jester, Rationalist

[Riaz Shah @riazji]

@theliverdoc Doing the lords work! The public owes you a lot for all the effort! Much appreciated.

[Kerala Tourism @KeralaTourism]

Love, harmony and hearts big enough for everyone. Welcome to God’s Own Country.

#LandOfHarmony #KeralaTourism

[Riaz Shah @riazji]

@RGVzoomin … a movement of DISRUPTION, leading to CONSTRUCTION …

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

Is there alternative physics?
Alternative biology?
Alternative mathematics?
Alternative civil engineering?
If no, then why alternative medicine?
Alternative medicine is financially draining, dangerous sham.

[Bob Golen @BobGolen]

In England "booster shot" is spelled "borchestershire shot".

[Riaz Shah @riazji]

@adityarao310 Ok, but I only had a salad. And you had caviar.

[Ambarish Satwik @AmbarishSatwik]

A tirade.

Against @Indian_Accent, Delhi’s much-lauded temple of gastronomy, where the well-heeled and the well-fed go to stroke their palates with innovation. A couple of days back, they were found peddling a culinary sleight of hand.

The offending dish, an offering on the tasting menu, promised morel, water chestnut, and asparagus, hidden beneath a ‘paper roast dosai’ (Exhibit A). One is always excited at the prospect of encountering a well-sourced morel, the truffle of the East—that decadent jewel from from the forests of J & K that costs more than an Indian family’s grocery bill for half a month. What arrived under the dosa cone, was not the morel, but a drab cluster of the most ordinary button mushrooms, the kind one might expect in a roadside stir-fry, the fungal equivalent of a counterfeit handbag. If you’re going to list morels on the menu, then there better be morels on the plate, not the fungal detritus scraped from the bottom of a vegetable box (Exhibit B).

This wasn’t an error. It was a deliberate act of chicanery. A calculated decision. Someone in the kitchen, or perhaps in the higher echelons of the restaurant, took it upon themselves to substitute the expensive morel with a far cheaper imposter, fully believing that these particular patrons, who probably didn’t look like the sort to have tasted morel before, wouldn’t know the difference.

When summoned, the chef performed the customary song-and-dance of apology, claiming he would ‘fix it in under two minutes.’ And he did. Miraculously. Brought in a new plate, flush with morels. Which begs the question—how is a fine dining restaurant able to replace a dish in less time than it takes me to open a bottle of cheap plonk? Pre-prepared, perhaps? If this kitchen is churning out dishes with all the haste of an airport lounge buffet, then what exactly are the patrons paying for? The pomp? The pretense?

At this price point, we are not paying for mere food, but for integrity, for the understanding that what is stated on the menu is what will arrive on the plate. When a fine dining restaurant offers morel and serves common mushrooms, they are engaging in outright theft.

Ordinarily, I’d let such an infraction slide. If it were some second-rate restaurant peddling Instagram-friendly fusion fare, I’d roll my eyes and quietly consign it to the bin of forgettable meals. But this is the restaurant that Condé Nast Traveller, in a flight of wild, hyperventilating praise, swears is the very best in all of India. It’s nestled comfortably on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list, ranked #26—an achievement it brandishes like a Michelin star. Time Magazine calls it one of the 'World's 100 Greatest Places'

The question that naturally arises from this regrettable sleight of hand is: who, precisely, stands to benefit from this deception? Who profits from swapping out the Rolls-Royce of fungi for the rusted banger of button mushrooms? Certainly not the kitchen staff, who, I imagine, are too busy executing their preordained choreography to engage in such duplicity. Nor, I suspect, the serving staff, who would have to nervously deliver these imposters to tables, hoping against hope that no discerning palate calls foul. The chefs? Perhaps, but not in any way that bolsters their culinary pride. They’re not stashing a wad of cash in their aprons or taking home the saved morels. My sense is that their hands are tied by those behind the curtain.

To call this ‘cheap and petty’ would be charitable.

[Clark Report @CClarkReport]

Caitlin Clark just record the first 30 point + 12 assist game in WNBA history

[Dr.B.Karthik Navayan @Navayan]

He too is an atheist like us.... But from a different caste.

[Owais Tohid @OwaisTohid]

Jehanara Nabi, a Pakistani swimmer, participated in #Paris2024. She might not have won a medal, but she has broken many barriers in Pakistan’s conservative society for women participating in such sports. Proud of Jehanara who has a bright future.

[Riaz Shah @riazji]

@SarahTheHaider This is just the French being French. It’s such a non-issue

[Riaz Shah @riazji]

@indiainpixels As per the chart you shared, Sikkim is at 8700 usd. That’s not a long way from 10k

[Stacy Cay @stacycay]

The country of Colombia picked the funniest possible time to do this

[LindyMan @PaulSkallas]

Duolingo is not a business. It is an absurdist art project. An app for learning languages that no one actually learns a language from.

Like a restaurant full of people waiting for their food that never comes

[The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe ⚛️ @SkepticsGuide]

Bob’s curse is broken! We saw the eclipse!

[Adrian Dittmann @AdrianDittmann]

In Terminator 3, when Skynet was activated, one of the lab personnel stated:

"Skynet is operating at 60 teraflops"

Which is approximately the power of two GTX 3090s

[Robert Sterling @RobertMSterling]

There’s something deeply unsettling about SBF’s parents. Frightening, even.

You get the feeling that, as cliched as it might be, these are people who hold themselves as members of a higher caste, to whom the rules and mores governing the proletariat simply do not apply. People who earnestly believe that their academic credentials convey intellectual power, which implies moral superiority, which endows cultural authority and which should translate to political privilege.

People like this view themselves as transcendent figures. They are the cognitive Brahmins of the world, whose machinations are beyond the comprehension of those of us outside the cognitive elite. The rest of us are simply the untouchables on the sides of the roads winding toward their ivory towers. We are not to question their ends, nor the means by which they pursue them.

It’s why Sam’s mother writes at length about his adoption of utilitarianism as something that should be a mitigating factor in his sentence, rather than exploring whether it played a role in her son’s felonious behavior. It’s why she alludes to young Sam’s consumption of literature from “well-known academic philosopher” Derik Parfit but doesn’t speak of the harm adult Sam did to his victims.

Reading the letter, it becomes apparent that Sam deserves credit for adopting a vegan diet that spares the lives of animals, but Sam does not bear guilt—or need to atone—for ruining the lives of actual humans. Because the humans he harmed simply aren’t as worthy as the likes of the Bankmans, the Frieds, or the guests attending their academic dinner parties.

The more I see of these people, the less I believe that SBF was simply a hapless nerd who got caught up in poor business decisions and the more I view him as a lifelong sociopath, raised from birth to believe that high SAT scores and prestigious diplomas grant immunity from consequences in life. And the angrier I become. This is why people say they would rather be governed by random people in the phonebook than by members of Ivy League faculties.

25 years in prison isn’t enough for this guy.

[Saib Bilaval @SaibBilaval]

Third anniversary of my favourite Star Wars episode of all time - The Battle of Baghpat. The Force is strong within the locality:

[Riaz Shah @riazji]

@Indian_Bronson Not even a year later, Alan Keyes daughter comes out as a lesbian. Well if that ain’t karma…

And later when Obama wins the presidency, Alan Keyes becomes a birther. Well well well

[Gabbar @GabbbarSingh]

Your idea of luxury is not the same as your parents’ idea of luxury. A lot of kids when they start earning well, tend to impose their own ideas, on their parents. Who out of courtesy bear with it, and don’t complain.

They don’t like a secluded Five star hotel, they like a place where they can access a bustling market after just stepping out. That’s how they did tourism all their lives. They have been value conscious all their lives. Sure, you can afford a Rs 600 ka Masala Dosa on the in-house restaurant menu, but they can never appreciate the taste after knowing the price.

Unclench your butt, you don’t have to prove a point, let them live, just be a facilitator. :)