Vikram Baheti

Hillbilly - lost in city...

[Michelle Maxwell ™ @MichelleMaxwell]

The neighbors call the cops on my dad every six months. They think he’s running a fighting ring or flipping pets for profit. For years, I wasn't sure they were wrong.

My father, Frank, is a man of few words and even fewer friends. He lives on a fixed income in a small, weathered house just outside of town. He’s 68, walks with a limp he got in ’71, and spends most of his day in his garage.

But his most controversial habit involves the local animal shelter.

Like clockwork, Dad brings home a dog. Not the cute puppies everyone wants. He picks the "unadoptables." The three-legged pit bulls, the senior labs with gray muzzles, the curs that cower in the corner. For six months, that dog lives like royalty. I’d visit and see Dad hand-feeding them steak scraps, walking them for hours, talking to them in a soft voice he never used with me.

Then, six months later? Gone.

The dog vanishes. No photos, no collar left behind. Just an empty bowl and Dad driving his rusted pickup truck to the shelter to get another one.

"Where’s Barnaby?" I asked last Sunday. Barnaby was a one-eyed Golden Retriever mix he’d had since spring. That dog worshipped the ground Dad walked on.

"Moved on," Dad grunted, staring at his coffee.

"Moved on? Did you sell him, Dad? The neighbors are talking. They say you’re sick."

"Let them talk."

I couldn't take it anymore. I loved Barnaby. The thought of my father selling that sweet soul to some stranger for a few hundred bucks made my stomach turn. So, when I saw him load a bag of high-grade kibble and a new leash into his truck the next morning, I followed him.

I expected him to drive to a breeder or a shady parking lot exchange. Instead, he drove two towns over to a drab apartment complex near the VA hospital.

He pulled up to a ground-floor unit. I watched from my car, phone ready to record evidence, as he knocked on the door.

A young man answered. He couldn't have been older than 25, but he looked 50. He was missing his right arm, and the way he stood—tense, scanning the perimeter—screamed PTSD. I recognized that look. I’d seen it in Dad’s old photos.

Dad didn't say a word. He just whistled.

From the passenger seat of Dad’s truck, a dog jumped out. It wasn't Barnaby. It was "Duke," a German Shepherd he’d had last year. Duke looked incredible. Focused. Calm. He trotted right up to the young man and sat by his left leg, leaning his weight against the boy’s thigh.

The young man crumpled. He fell to his knees, burying his face in Duke’s fur, sobbing. Duke didn't flinch. He just held his ground, anchoring the boy to reality.

Dad handed the young man a thick envelope. Not money—paperwork. Vaccination records. Training logs.

I got out of my car. "Dad?"

He jumped, looking more terrified than I’d ever seen him. He walked me away from the boy, lowering his voice.

"You weren't supposed to see this."

"You trained him," I realized. "You didn't get rid of them. You trained them."

Dad sighed, lighting a cigarette with shaking hands. "A fully trained PTSD service dog costs anywhere from fifteen to thirty thousand dollars. The insurance doesn't cover it. The VA has a waiting list a mile long. These boys... they come home, and they can't sleep, they can't go to the grocery store, they can't breathe."

He looked back at the young man, who was now smiling through tears, throwing a ball for Duke with his left hand.

"I can't give them money," Dad said, his voice cracking. "I don't have any. But I know dogs. And I have time."

"But why the secrecy? Why every six months?"

"Because that’s how long it takes to turn a scared shelter dog into a soldier’s lifeline," he said. "Basic obedience, task training, desensitization. I take the broken dogs nobody wants, and I turn them into the partners these kids need."

"And Barnaby?" I asked, my throat tight.

"Delivered him yesterday to a female marine in Ohio. She hadn't left her house in two years. She went to the park this morning."
🐾 on my ❤️ Please share if this moved you.

[Vikram Baheti @vikram_baheti]

@systemdesignone Playbook

[Neo Kim @systemdesignone]

System Design Playbook:

Giveaway Alert!!

• System design fundamentals.
• Condensed notes to read before the system design interview.
• Must know concepts from real-world software engineering case studies.

(24 hours only!)

To get it:

1. Like, Retweet & Follow @systemdesignone
2. Reply "Playbook"

Then I'll DM you the details.

[Vikram Baheti @vikram_baheti]

@NVIDIAGeForce GForce Day!

[Vikram Baheti @vikram_baheti]

@Ashafind Send

[Vikram Baheti @vikram_baheti]

@madrasmail True..

[Shobana Ravi, Author. @ShobanaRaviNews]

My respects to you Roya Heshmati! God give you more strength to stand up for the cause!

Afshine Emrani's post on X
'An Iranian woman Roya Heshmati was lashed 74 times for refusing to wear the hijab.

When she went to receive her punishment, she refused to wear a hijab and was threatened with 74 more lashes. She still refused.

Here is her full testimony:

“This morning, I contacted my lawyer about the execution of the sentences, and together we went to the courthouse of District 7. However, we were turned away at the entrance gate, and I removed my hijab as we went to the execution branch.

"Put on your scarf to avoid trouble," The official in the branch said, but I replied, "I came for this whipping, I won't put it on." They called somewhere, and the officer in charge of the execution came upstairs, saying, "Put on your hijab and follow me." I said, "I won't put it on." He said, "Then what will you do? I'll whip you in a way that you'll know where you are, and I'll open a new file for you, another seventy-four lashes for you to be our guest again."

I still didn't put it on. We went downstairs, and a few other guys were brought for drinking alcohol.
"Won't you put it on?" The man in charge repeated with authority.I didn't.

Two veiled women came and veiled me repeatedly, but each time I took the scarf back off. From behind, they handcuffed me and put the scarf on me and I unveiled myself several times.

We went down to the basement; there was a room at the end with an iron bed. It had iron handcuffs and ankle cuffs on both sides of the bed, attached by an iron structure resembling an easel a little closer to this side. It was a medieval torture room. The judge asked, "Lady, are you okay? Do you have any problems?" As if I didn't exist, I didn't answer. He said, "Lady, I'm with you," but I didn't respond.

The man in charge of the execution said, "Bring your coat." I hung my coat and scarf on the iron structure of the torture chamber. He said, "Put on your scarf." I replied, "I won't. Place your Quran under your armpit, and then strike." The woman came and said, "Please, don't be stubborn," and pulled the scarf over my head.

The judge said, "Don't hit too hard." The man began to hit my shoulders, back, buttocks, and calves with determination. I lost count of the lashes and whispered: In the name of woman, in the name of life:

The garment of bondage has been torn.
The black night of our captivity shall become dawn, all the fresh wounds are healed, all the shackles are turned into axes.

It finished, and we went outside. I didn't let them think that I suffered from the pain. We went upstairs in front of the judge. I uncovered my head at the door. The woman said, "Please, put it on." I didn't put it on, and she pulled the scarf over my head again in the judge's room. He said, "We are not happy with this matter ourselves, but it's a sentence, and it must be executed."

I didn't respond.
He said, "If you want to live differently, you can be outside the country."
I said, "This country is for everyone."
He said, "Yes, but you must respect the law."

I said, "Let the law do its job; we will continue our resistance." We came out of the room, and I threw my scarf back off.'

#iranrevolution
@AfshineEmrani

[Rapid @Rapid_API]

A summary of the different API types 👇

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

Men defining what a woman is, what women should and shouldn’t fear, what women should and shouldn’t say, what rights women should be fine with giving up and, of course, what constitutes ‘real’ misogyny: get a bloody mirror. That’s real misogyny, looking right back at you.

[Bilgin Ibryam @bibryam]

An amazing collection event-driven architecture visuals
https://t.co/MkFMvWuzmP by @boyney123 👏

[Sanjeev Sanyal @sanjeevsanyal]

The origins of the international NGO......

[Vikram Baheti @vikram_baheti]

My personal favorites are JAM, UPI, CoWIN and FastTags.. #DigitalRevolution

[Amitabh Kant @amitabhk87]

Made a presentation at #G20 on India’s digital public infrastructure & how an open,inclusive,interoperable model is accessible to all. It has ensured billions of Indians benefit through digital inclusion. Delighted that India’s tech pole vaulting was highly praised & appreciated

[Amrullah Saleh @AmrullahSaleh2]

will hv to print their own worthless currency again triggering an immediate inflation. The donor community isn't using its leverage over the Talibs due to geopolitical schemes & designs. They are therefore a participant in enforcement of gender aparthied & repression which is 🧵

[Andrew Gazdecki @agazdecki]

Pick a customer you'd love to serve and understand, solve one of their problems and build your startup around that. It ain't that complicated.

[Nitin Gadkari @nitin_gadkari]

Sparkling success for India!

Congratulations to our Olympic medallist @mirabai_chanu for bringing home silver medal in women's 49kg at the Weightlifting #WorldChampionships with a total weight of 200kg.
You make us proud! 🇮🇳

[Gabbar @GabbbarSingh]

Indian service industry ensures you have 1.5 days of holiday for Diwali and 10 days of nothing to do in December :)

[The Paperclip @Paperclip_In]

One of the many moving pictures from the Bangladesh Liberation War that quietly recounts the tale of bravery and suffering is this one - a mother with a gun watching over her kids. But, what happened to the women after the war? Read on. A Thread 1/3

[Forbes @Forbes]

After Months Of Anti-Government Protests Iran Abolishes Morality Police And Mulls Changes To Mandatory Hijab Law https://t.co/nX3khuOsxR

[ANI @ANI]

Happened to me in another country too but at that time I couldn't do anything to call Police. In India, action being taken very quickly. I've been in Mumbai for over 3 weeks, planning to stay longer: S Korean YouTuber Hyojeong Park, who was harassed in Mumbai while live streaming