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Short story of the impact of pandemic on ordinary people who are not on Twitter. A few days back, Arjun (name changed) called my wife & asked to come & meet her. Arjun is someone I have known for ~ 2 decade. An owner driver, I have used him for my frequent travels..1/n
to Mumbai & nearby places. He is honest, hardworking guy who my family & I trust a lot. He has ferried my kids when they were as small as 5-10 yrs old to Mumbai to my sister's place all alone with no adults in tow. A devout God fearing man. Over the yrs, he got married..2/n
had two daughters & got himself a small place for his family. I had no travel last 15 months, so he would call once in a few months to ask if I had any travel planned. When he came to meet my wife 2 days ago, the most noticeable thing was how thin he looked. Asked him..3/n
if he was well and left him to talk to my wife. Turned out that he needed money. He was broke. Wanted a loan to replace the tyres of his car & get the annual RTO passing done. Said he wanted ₹25k which my wife immediately agreed to give. I just got talking while she...4/n
made the transfer to his account. Turned out he & his wife had been having only one meal a day, but ensuring the girls were fed. School was a problem - he could not afford 2 smart phones for both girls. He had already pawned the jewellery & used up his savings..5/n
He was however only 3 months behind on his car loan & the bank was being patient. I wondered why he needed ₹25k for tyres & 'passing'. Turned out he actually needed ₹40k but was embarrassed to ask. Apparently the RTO officials will not pass his car without a hefty...6/n
bribe. About ₹10k. Had to be done through an agent or they would fail the car on a minor pretext. Pandemic or not, India's rent seeking govt officials have not learnt any humanity. Anyways, I transferred an additional ₹15k from my account. Arjun burst out crying..7/n
I think he was just overwhelmed. He did not know where the remaining ₹15k would come from, so this was a relief. He kept promising to return the money and thanking us. My wife said he did not need to return the money, but could treat it as an advance for future journeys..8/n
Arjun is a proud man & we did not want to destroy what was left of his pride & self image by treating it as a loan. He said he was eternally grateful & would be available for any travel anytime. He did not need to say it, but I think it mattered for his pride & self-image..9/n
The worst thing that this pandemic has done is not just the financial destruction to ordinary lives, but it is breaking confident, proud men & women who never in their lives had to beg for financial help. People who had managed their finances sensibly upto now but ...10/n
found they were at the end of their tether. This damage is going to be long lasting & have more pernicious effect than the temporary disruption in our lives. All this makes me sad, upset & angry. As a human being & as a mental health professional. The sheer abdication by..11/n
our policy makers who seem more concerned about appearances & irrelevant stuff, than put in place a system which can support countless Arjuns in the country. It's people like Arjun who are at highest risk of suicide in coming mths/yrs.. END.

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Dr Soumitra Pathare সৌমিত্র சௌமித்ரா பாடாரே
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Wanna Learn String theory and M-theory for free? A Thread 👇
A gentle Introduction to String Theory by Nabil Iqbal (for beginners) https://youtu.be/OcTWkd3u4VI What is String Theory? By Ashoke Sen at International Centre for Theoretical Sciences https://youtu.be/X0Nt73xMR2U
Introduction to String Theory at the International School of Strings and Fundamental Physics, LMU, by Neil Lambert Part 1: https://youtu.be/RLvEK_6pzmw Part 2: https://youtu.be/BaHNGoQDVBQ Part 3: https://youtu.be/HdMpmCH9fSU
Massless fields in curved spacetime, point particle and Polyakov actions https://youtu.be/yAq_arZZlfk
Relativistic Strings, Equations of Motion, Constraints, Boundary conditions https://youtu.be/MjPDuyYst0w
Closed Strings, Mode expansion and quantization https://youtu.be/4I-lYuisY4s
Quantizing open strings, String spectrum, Critical dimension https://youtu.be/9fUuc3Tkbeo
Introduction to Quantum Gravity by Biancha Dittrich https://youtu.be/Kj677niBqCY
String theory as a theory of quantum gravity Part 1: https://youtu.be/nsbnobkvZtE Part 2: https://youtu.be/F97pdmpODYQ
Introduction to Superstrings, spacetime fermions and critical dimensions https://youtu.be/oNC5M32IglY
Some basic Superstring theories by John Schwarz at CalTech Lecture 1: https://youtu.be/Nl05PdQMZ4A Lecture 2: https://youtu.be/RtZsbN1Vg9Y
Physics of D-Branes at MCW by Hong Liu Part 1: https://youtu.be/iPWIqjYkVns Part 2: https://youtu.be/k6HCdJ9lKho Part 3: https://youtu.be/-mrxN8XcQOQ
Strong coupling dynamics of string theory (M-theory) by Edward Witten https://youtu.be/ts_hEyJ_0AU
Applications of String Theory by Steven Gubser at Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton Part 1: https://youtu.be/zh-OXUtp84s Part 2: https://youtu.be/5O6Kg9CXvUk Part 3: https://youtu.be/iqzTk4OwTds
https://www.icts.res.in String theory: a framework for quantum gravity and various applications - International Centre for Theoretical Sciences
String theory is primarily aimed at unifying quantum field theory and general relativity. Moreover, the invention of the notion of gauge/gravity duality has opened the door for a deep understanding of the relation between these two theories.
Ps: The Lecture series on string theory by Barton Zwiebach: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaNkJORnlhZlVh7rwdGCRypcFqgV9JWUY and Leonard Susskind at Stanford: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA2FDCCBC7956448F are absolute gem for a deeper understanding of String theory and M-theory.
Thank you so much for reading. I shall be adding more online resources, notes and videos of multiple disciplines of theoretical sciences in the threads. Keep learning.

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sunny

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Tyler Treat

fin

This piece by @doctorow is well worth the read given the coming policy attacks aimed at weakening current United States antitrust laws precisely at a time e when we have more and more industries dominated by fewer, and ever larger, companies.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/28/dubious-quant-residue/#incinerators-r-us

Pluralistic: 28 Jun 2021 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow pluralistic.net

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This piece by @doctorow is well worth the read given the coming policy attacks aimed at weakening current United States antitrust laws precisely at a time e when we have more and more industries dominated by fewer, and ever larger, companies.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/28/dubious-quant-residue/#incinerators-r-us

Hey @StateDept, would it kill you to implement a callback feature for the passport hotline? Think of the lost GDP!!

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Charlie O'Donnell

Hey @StateDept, would it kill you to implement a callback feature for the passport hotline? Think of the lost GDP!!

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So I was talking with my mom about #DefundThePolice. And she asked me a question: how could what happened to Rayshard Brooks happen, at this moment, in this uprising? How could police keep...doing this? So this is what I said.
My mom is not steeped in these issues (I mean, she is more now, because, like, she has to be mother to yrs truly). So this thread isn't intended for folks who are already right there with us. I'm hoping this will be useful for folks who are wondering, and who share her questions.
Killings--murders--have continued, and will continue, because the police lack all accountability. It's not just qualified immunity, which protects them from being found liable for things that would bankrupt/jail the rest of us. It's the money. Follow the money.
Derek Chauvin, the cop who murdered George Floyd, could *still get his million dollar pension* even if he is getting those checks while serving a sentence for homicide. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/12/us/chauvin-minneapolis-police-pension-invs/index.html
Police pensions are...generous. Many are raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, even if they've been dismissed for the kind of misconduct that would throw you or me into a cell. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/california-today-police-firefighter-pay.html
So you can't get sued, you won't lose your $ no matter what you do, and, what's more, you're living in a culture where morality is upside down, bullies rule, and everyone is trained to be both extremely violent and extremely terrified all the time. https://medium.com/@OfcrACab/confessions-of-a-former-bastard-cop-bb14d17bc759
A lot of this has been said in a lot of places by a lot of people BUT what one years less about is that this insulation from consequences isn't just toxic on a macro (murder) level, but toxic every damn day. Let's talk about overtime.
As a public defender, whenever I got a case that was just especially, stupidly made-up (think someone arrested for dealing drugs who was at home with no drugs, money, scales, paraphernalia, or baggies on them) the first thing I checked was the cop's schedule.
Inevitably--seriously, ask, like, any defense attorney about this--when you got a really stupid arrest, it would be within an hour or so of the end of the cop's scheduled shift. Shift ends at 6pm? This really bad arrest would be at, like, 5:30.
Why? Well, because processing an arrest takes time, but it's also really easy. So you can make time-and-a-half for sitting in the precinct typing up some papers and waiting to talk to a DA. This REALLY adds up.
Let's not forget that the end-of-shift arrest isn't just an inconvenience--arrests cost people jobs, homes, family unity, sometimes unraveling entire lives. Some of these cops are making close to half a million dollars a year on the backs of the poor and innocent.
So when we look at police budgets that are bloated like this...it's not just military equipment and chemical weapons. It's public officials lining their pockets with taxpayer money by doing terrible things to the people they're supposed to protect.
And uhhh it's a lot--A LOT--of the taxpayers' money.
So when you hear "defund the police" and you get worried about a world where there's no one protecting the public, please remember that EVERY MODEL for doing this envisions a world where someone is on the other end of the phone when you call 911.
*it's just not someone stealing your money by enacting both violence and dishonesty against you and yours.
Also @Twitter...you should verify me. I've been working in this stuff for over 10 years, I'm the Exec Director of an access to justice project, I'm a criminal defense lawyer, and my work is super relevant at present. So consider this my first #verifiedrequest

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Emily Galvin-Almanza

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