Vineeth Valsan

An Engineer, biased towards space instrumentation and optics along with a tinge of Electronics.

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

@KPVishnuVardha1 @theliverdoc @krishashok Lovely :)

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

@vijeshetty Haha

[Curiosity @CuriosityonX]

BREAKING🚨: Earth just entered intense weather cycle and could be the strongest ever recorded

The 2026 El Niño is shaping up to be the deadliest since 1877 — the year famines killed more than 50 million.

Forecasters are tracking ocean temperature spikes of 2 to 3 degrees Celsius. That's not a minor uptick. That's the signature of a once-in-150-years event.

Per LiveScience: a "Super" El Niño is now the most likely outcome by year's end. The human cost could be staggering.

[Nirupama Menon Rao 🇮🇳 @NMenonRao]

Why does so much Indian TV news sound permanently out of breath/breathless? Every debate feels like a national emergency, every headline like a battlefield dispatch. Anchors speak in rising crescendos, panels shout over one another, graphics often flash like alarm systems. The Iran war for instance is depicted on screen framed in flames and “mahayudh” screaming all over it. We are unique in this pitch of constant crescendo.

It is not merely a broadcasting style. It reflects something deeper about us.

Our television news evolved in the age of ratings wars, political spectacle and 24/7 competition for attention. Calmness came to be mistaken for dullness. Excitement became a business model.

Nationalism, grievance, triumphalism, insecurity, outrage, aspiration, wounded pride, civilisational assertion, all coexist simultaneously. The result is a media register that sounds permanently adrenalised.

But older Indian broadcasting was very different. Listen to archival Doordarshan clips from the 1970s or 80s. The tone was measured, restrained, even austere. News was delivered as information, not performance.

Television producers have learned that perpetual urgency creates emotional addiction. If everything is historic, explosive, shocking, decisive, existential, viewers remain physiologically engaged. The problem, of course, is exhaustion. Nations cannot permanently exist at emotional fever pitch without consequences for public discourse.

Today we often sound perpetually excited, perpetually mobilised, perpetually “on”. Perhaps television has become the mirror of a society itself in emotional overdrive: restless, aspirational, anxious, performative, seeking validation every minute.

The irony is that true authority rarely needs to shout. Confidence usually speaks in a quieter voice. So the raised pitch is not just acoustics. Today the country is increasingly performing itself to itself.

And yes, I know I am about to be eaten alive for saying this, on Indian television and social media alike. That is perfectly fine. But perhaps it is time we introspected a little on what we have become, and why we now seem unable simply to speak to one another in a normal tone.

Much of our television news increasingly resembles coloratura without pause: high-pitched, breathless, emotionally over-ornamented, forever climbing toward some impossible crescendo. Every night, the nation seems to be singing at full volume.

But societies cannot live permanently at operatic pitch. At some point, we must learn again the power of modulation, silence, restraint, and calm.

[Curiosity @CuriosityonX]

There's a planet out there with no land. None.

Just water — deeper than anything on Earth — wrapping the entire world from pole to pole.

It's bigger than ours. It's real.

And it has a name: TOI-1452 b.

[K P Vishnu Vardhan @KPVishnuVardha1]

Normal petrol is not available at Bangalore petrol stations this morning .. had to go for premium petrol after traversing through 5 petrol pumps on th way to office , the petrol price will be hiked today it seems and hence normal petrol was not being sold to public ...

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

The only point: Keep the weapons flowing.
War must continue, no matter the cost.
UN is just a clown!

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would be surprised how much of diplomacy is water glasses. Too close and it feels informal. Too far and it feels like a tribunal. I have a chart.

We had a very good month.

Since January, Oman has been mediating indirect talks between the United States and Iran on Iran's nuclear program. The talks were held in Muscat and in Geneva. The Americans would sit in one room. The Iranians would sit in another room. I would walk between them. My Fitbit says I averaged fourteen thousand steps on negotiation days. The hallway between the two rooms at the Royal Opera House conference center is forty-seven meters. I walked it two hundred and twelve times in February. This is good for my cardiovascular health. It was less good for my knees. Both are in the service of peace.

By mid-February, we had something.

Iran agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium. Not reduced stockpiling. Zero. They agreed to down-blend existing stockpiles to the lowest possible level. They agreed to convert them into irreversible fuel. They agreed to full IAEA verification with potential US inspector access. They agreed, in the Foreign Minister's phrase, to "never, ever" possess nuclear material for a bomb. I have worked in diplomacy for seven years. I have never seen a country agree to this many things this quickly. I made a spreadsheet of the concessions. It had fourteen rows. I color-coded it. Green for confirmed. Yellow for pending. By February 21 the spreadsheet was entirely green. I printed it. It is on my desk in Muscat. It is still green.

That phrase took eleven days. "Never, ever." The Iranians initially offered "not seek to." The Americans wanted "will not under any circumstances." We landed on "never, ever" at 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in Muscat. I typed the final version myself. I used Times New Roman because Geneva prefers it. The document was fourteen pages. I was proud of every comma.

Here is what they said, in the order they said it.

February 24: "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity." — The Foreign Minister, private briefing to Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. I prepared the slide deck. Slide 14 was the implementation timeline. Slide 15 was the signing ceremony logistics. I had reserved the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XX. It seats four hundred. We discussed pen brands for the signing. The Iranians preferred Montblanc. The Americans had no preference. I ordered twelve Montblanc Meisterstucks at six hundred and thirty dollars each. They arrive on Tuesday.

February 27, 8:30 AM EST: "The deal is within our reach." — The Foreign Minister, CBS Face the Nation. He sat across from Margaret Brennan. He said broad political terms could be agreed "tomorrow" with ninety days for technical implementation in Vienna. He said, and I wrote this line for the briefing card he carried in his breast pocket: "If we just allow diplomacy the space it needs." He praised the American envoys by name. Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner. He said both had been constructive.

I watched from the Four Seasons Georgetown. The minibar had cashews. I ate the cashews. They were nineteen dollars. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten. But it was a good morning and we were within our reach.

February 27, 2:00 PM EST: Meeting with Vice President Vance, Washington. The Foreign Minister presented our progress. Zero stockpiling. Full verification. Irreversible conversion. "Never, ever." The Vice President used the word "encouraging." His aide took notes on an iPad. The aide did not make eye contact for the last nine minutes of the meeting. I noticed this. Noticing things is the only part of my job that is not water glasses.

February 27, 4:00 PM EST: "Not happy with the pace." — President Trump, to reporters.

Not happy with the pace.

We had achieved zero stockpiling. Full IAEA verification. Irreversible fuel conversion. Inspector access. And the phrase "never, ever," which took eleven days and cost me two hundred and twelve trips down a forty-seven-meter hallway.

Every American president since Carter has failed to get Iran to agree to this. Forty-five years.

Not happy with the pace.

February 27, 9:47 PM EST: The Foreign Minister's flight departs Dulles for Muscat. I am in the seat behind him. He is reviewing Slide 14 on his laptop. The implementation timeline. Vienna technical sessions. The signing ceremony. The pens.

I fall asleep over the Atlantic. I dream about water glasses.

February 28, 6:00 AM GST: I wake up to push notifications.

February 28: "The United States has begun major combat operations in Iran." — President Trump.

Operation Epic Fury. Coordinated airstrikes. The United States and Israel. Tehran. Isfahan. Qom. Karaj. Kermanshah. Nuclear facilities. IRGC bases. Sites near the Supreme Leader's office. Israel called their half Operation Roaring Lion. Someone in both governments spent time choosing these names. Epic Fury. Roaring Lion. I spent eleven days on "never, ever." They spent it on branding. The President said Iran had "rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons production."

Rejected.

Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling. Iran had agreed to full verification. Iran had agreed to "never, ever." Iran had agreed to everything in a fourteen-page document that I typed in Times New Roman.

The President said they rejected it.

I do not know which document the President was reading. I know which one I typed.

February 28, 18:45 UTC: Iran internet connectivity: four percent. — NetBlocks, confirmed by Cloudflare. Ninety-six percent of a country went dark. You cannot negotiate with a country at four percent connectivity. You cannot negotiate with a country that is being struck. You cannot negotiate. This is not a political opinion. This is a logistics assessment.

February 28: The governor of Minab reported forty girls killed at an elementary school.

I do not have logistics for that. There is no slide for that. The water glass chart does not cover that.

February 28: Lockheed Martin: up. Northrop Grumman: up. RTX: up. Dow futures: down six hundred and twenty-two points. Gold: five thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars. An analyst at AInvest published a note titled "Iran Strikes: Tactical Plays." The note recommended positions in oil, defense stocks, and gold.

The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten was nineteen dollars. The most expensive pen I have ever ordered was six hundred and thirty dollars. The math suggests I have been working in the wrong industry. Defense stocks do not require water glasses. Defense stocks do not require eleven days. Defense stocks require one morning.

February 28: Israel closed its airspace and its schools. Iran launched retaliatory missiles toward US bases in the Gulf. The Supreme Leader promised a "crushing response." Israel's defense minister declared a permanent state of emergency. Everyone is using words I recognize in an order I do not. I recognize "permanent." I recognize "emergency." I do not recognize them next to each other. In diplomacy, nothing is permanent and everything is an emergency. In war it is the reverse.

February 28: The Foreign Minister has not made a public statement.

The briefing card is still in his breast pocket. It still says "within our reach."

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

Nailed it!

[Norway Chess @NorwayChess]

OH MY GOD 😳🤯😲

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

And 6!

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

When 4 is not just a number :)

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

@deepakurup And half that number of tabs in the browser 😁

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

Very nice gesture from Azzu Sultan. What a way to promote inclusivity!

[The Hindu @the_hindu]

On the busy streets of #Bengaluru, Azzu Sultan, an autorickshaw driver and content creator known as ‘Auto Kannadiga’, stands out with a unique mission. Azzu teaches basic #Kannada phrases through a laminated placard stuck inside his auto, to help his passengers navigate the city, @yemen_syed writes.

https://t.co/f7fg4jdS9v

[Mehedi Hasan @mhasan137]

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the famous paper by S.N. Bose (pronounced natively as "Bosh") that was kindly translated by Einstein for the submission.

He laid the groundwork for quantum statistical mechanics in just four pages.

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

Reduce the pollutants in the environment, just like we did in the elections. Happy world environment day! #CleanAir #CleanPolitics #WorldEnvironmentDay‌

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

And, in classics!

[ChessBase India @ChessbaseIndia]

BREAKING NEWS: Praggnanandhaa defeats Magnus Carlsen for the first time in Classical Chess!

Pragg took down the World no.1 with the White pieces in the 3rd round of Norway Chess 2024. It was a fantastic game by Pragg - he got an advantage out of the opening, and converted in superb fashion!

With this win, Pragg now takes sole lead with 5.5/9 points in the event. What a flawless win!

Photos: Stev Bonhage/Norway Chess
#chess #chessbaseindia #praggnanandhaa #magnuscarlsen #norwaychess

[Learn With NASA @LearnWithNASA]

This Sunday is #WorldQuantumDay, a celebration aimed at promoting the understanding of quantum science & technology! ✨

Learn about the basics of quantum and how @NASA plans to use this technology to communicate in space through our Quantum 101 Comic.

https://t.co/hn3Vb3A4e6

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

The paper discusses the possible designs of National Large Optical-IR Telescope (#NLOT) that can be fabricated within the limits of the #ITOFF of @IIABengaluru

[Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy @AstrophyJournal]

Published:
Optical design studies for national large optical-IR telescope

Authors: VARUN PADIKAL et al.
🔗 https://t.co/Uz2M6ru7Hr

@IAScBng @SpringerAstro @asipoec @ChristBangalore @IIABengaluru @fiddlingstars @gcanupama @troych75 @RamSaga46072798

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

@asipoec @RRI_Bangalore @IIABengaluru @IIST_Trivandrum @dorje1974 Anand MV of @JNPlanetarium shared insights on bridging professional astronomers with the public. Presented @JNPlanetarium's initiatives to popularize astronomy and infuse scientific vigor!

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

Excited to kick off Young Astronomers Meet 2024 # YAM at @ChristBangalore . Inaugurated by Prof. @fiddlingstars of @IIABengaluru this 4-day Young Astronomers Meet brings together PhD scholars for engaging discussions and knowledge exchange. Let the cosmic conversations begin!

[Vineeth Valsan @vvineethv]

@asipoec @RRI_Bangalore @IIABengaluru @IIST_Trivandrum Delighted to host @dorje1974 belonging to a unique group for whom "Tamaso Mā Jyotirgamaya" does not hold good for the better. His inspirational and motivational insights on #Hanle Dark Sky Reserve #HDSR are truly exceptional.