For an example of how "one political faction" can manufacture trends, check this out - https://twitter.com/Kirangandhi/status/1188354450458468352. They contact famous personalities (in this case athletes who had represented India at the Olympics), give them a text ("I thank @narendramodi for his initiative to honour and empower...") and ask them all to tweet it at the same time. Then they use their vast network of fake accounts to amplify it. Same thing yesterday, when they requested cricket players with large followings to implicitly criticise Greta Thunberg and Rihanna for "interfering" in India's affairs.
It's so easy to co-opt this too. One person got access to the shared google doc where they store the next tweets that need to be trending and changed it to something critical of Modi. It was promptly tweeted out regardless by government ministers who said "working for the middle class is low on the agenda of Modi Govt" and "Modi govt has not made inclusive development as the focal point".
Third rate Indian suppliers? I’m not sure if you’re implying that the price is low or the quality is poor. If it’s the latter, you don’t know much about Indian pharma companies. Btw, Indian pharma companies selling high quality anti retro viral drugs to African countries at low prices is why HIV is relatively under control right now.
Case in point, the fascists in India became very concerned about Trump being deplatformed. They decried it as a lack of tolerance, because they knew there’s no difference between what Trump does and what they do.
How racist do you have to be to equate people in Chinatown with the virus? At a time when there were less than 10 cases in the US, the risk of visiting Chinatown was minimal.
And it's curious that you focus on Chinatown in February instead of 300 days of minimising mask wearing and calling for LIBERATING states from coronavirus restrictions.
Yes, I was obviously being racist instead of talking about decreasing the amount of people going out to restaurants and other public places, which is the main focus of the current containment measures all around the Western world.
And if you think that one set of containment measures is better than another (masks vs shutting down travel vs closing down public places), then that's a separate discussion to OP's comment who clearly stated that one political party tried to contain it while the other one did not, which is complete tribal nonsense.
I think the 2020 experience has taught us a bit more about people. 9/11 was horrifying and traumatising, but perhaps less because of the death toll (3000) and more because you could see footage of those people dying, played over and over. Sure, 3000+ people died of Covid yesterday, but they all did it out of sight. So it’s possible for some people to dismiss it for any number of reasons - statistics aren’t accurate, those people had other underlying health issues, they would have died of the flu anyway. Most of all, we only see the statistic. We don’t have to actually watch someone die because the virus prevented them from breathing, far away from their family.
Speaking of which, this is also probably why the BLM movement gained widespread support. Statistics showing unequal policing have existed for a long time, but they are easy to ignore. Any person who watched the 8:46 video of a man being suffocated couldn’t ignore it.
We like to think we’re data driven, but we’re actually emotionally and visually driven. Statistics should convince people, but it doesn’t. A video of towers falling or a man being suffocated are much more likely to change people’s minds.
It seems to me, that the problem lies with understanding. You can watch 300 chart and do not understand anything, though, you understand watching people dying. It's not emoution or visual, it's understanding. People don't jump into a hole they know it can kill them, but they will walk into a mortal gas room without noticing, because they don't know it. So yes, there is a huge lack of education and relevant information in society
It is tempting to call this understanding because people switched their mind to the position that the data points to, but I doubt there is any real understanding going on. Their sense of reality was warped by things they saw on repeat in the media that disproportionally highlighted certain outlier examples. This is not an environment where solid understanding happens and good decisions get made. For some it will be a call to action to look at the real data. But I think most people will simply be emotionally manipulated by the cherry-picking and lies of omission. Such people are uneasy allies to reality. They are doing the right things for the wrong reasons. When underlying circumstances change their 'understanding' will fail to course correct and they will again need to be shown what to think. And the media coverage waning will directly correspond to their 'understanding' of the severity waning as well.
Here in Belgium tipping is not really conventional, except in higher echelons of society. Some people do give tips sometimes. Usually its preagreed to pool all the tips into one pot for the shift and then divided amongst the employees. (a girl from the middle east working in the kitchen of a bar here in Belgium told me thats how they do it)
> Usually its preagreed to pool all the tips into one pot for the shift and then divided amongst the employees
That, probably, is restaurant specific. Some places pool the tips and the kitchen staff is also part of the pot in other places the server gets to keep the tips.
The American model of tipping (like 20% essentially mandatory) really annoys me. I say that as a person who usually tips quite generously, but it's really not my business as a paying patron to be responsible for the staff salaries.
Raise the damn prices already and let a tip really be a tip.
What I really dislike about the American model of tipping is exactly that: it's basically mandatory. If you don't tip (or tip below the "socially acceptable" for a good service) you are the asshole. Not only that, it's deceiving, I had to always do mental arithmetic to figure out how much things really cost in the end, or be side-eyed by service people when I didn't know better.
And I'm not even including the perverse incentives of constant bajulation of the customer, the fake happiness and cheery attitude ground me quite a bit after the third or fourth restaurant...
I don't need that, I need a menu, someone who can see when I want to order, bring my food and drinks and let me be and enjoy my meal. The constant pestering by waiters if I wanted something else, if I was ready for this or that, it just made me feel like part of some machine to extract as much revenue as possible in the least time.
I ate in quite a few places in the US, from street food vendors to high-end restaurants and I have to say I barely enjoyed most of the experiences, it's just too much.
I don't tip more than a few dollars unless the server did something well or was especially nice. Seems like many servers these days just expect the 20% bonus just for taking an order and carrying food around, regardless of attitude
Culturally, tipping is supposed to be additional compensation for emotional labor.
If you work a job where you you're expected to put on a smile and maybe banter with the customer, even though your dog just died this morning, you might qualify for a tip. If your job allows you to frown occasionally, you don't.
Why do you think video media networks get cult-like following over radio or print (in that order).
Radio and video you can elicit emotion. Video, more-so. Ever listen to Tucker Carlson? His voice is almost hypnotic and he feels like a friend, one I'd love to punch, esp. for making me think that.
Limbaugh? His voice probably makes some people trust him, or build a rapport with him.
It's all about psychology, just an observation I've had recently. I find if you try to listen to news without 'clinging to personalities' and 'personal biases' (not an easy task), you can get more 'facts', than 'opinion'. Sticking to print media from trusted publications is another way, but then - 'trusted by who' leftists, rightists, centrists?
I'd love to see a media network that's all round table discussions - but you've got like TYT vs FOX vs CNN vs MSNBC hosts on each round-table. At least you get ALL view points, opposed to one.
So, sarcastic idea here, though I could see it happen in this crazy world: people changing their mind about the pandemic after watching a new, daily blockbuster reality show that follows a family who attracted the virus, and seeing them go through the agony of some of their family members not surviving. Why watch actors somewhere else instead. I don't expect to see this on ABC or NBC, but some of the B-list cable channels would certainly jump on the chance to buy the rights on this one.
If you watch the full video, it's clear that he wasn't suffocated by the police but was experiencing a drug overdose. Doesnt mean the police did the right thing, but he was resisting arrest.
Yes, the worst hit areas (Northern Italy, Belgium, Czech Republic) usually get to doubling the usual death rate. So, there is still room to grow. US is much larger and more diverse though so you would have to have a massive surge in all states at once
This is such weird regulation. Rather than set rules for a level playing field it seeks to dictate outcomes. Telling payment providers that they can’t exceed 30% of total payments is as absurd as telling Apple or Samsung to not exceed 30% of the smartphone market.
They’re supposed to stop selling or rate limiting when they’re reaching their cap?
I’d love to get the input of the blind devotees of the supposedly pro business Prime Minister of India. There’s no shortage of you lot on HN. Could you please explain how making an app stop working in the best interests of Indian consumers?
But please don’t try “The central bank is independent” as an explanation. No one believes that, least of all you.
Bruh did you miss the part where OP said “developing world”? They’re talking about projects in India, where the grid looks very different from the US grid.
I’ve had this question for a long while but no one to ask it to. You might have the expertise required to answer it.
When I see new solar projects that have tendered absurdly low prices, are the bidders bidding with today’s solar prices or are they betting that solar prices will fall further, allowing them to eventually make a profit? For example Adani solar won a contract to supply energy at INR 3 or $0.05 per kwh. Is that the price of building and operating a solar in 2022 or is it the price that the winning bidder hopes it’ll be in 2024 when they’re building the second and third phases of their contract?
Your question goes to the core of what we do. Cost of solar on today's price is already really low and the calculation is being done on prices today. Keep in mind per kW yield of solar in India is very different from in the US or further north.
For example, at a cost of 30,000 INR/kW ($405), and a bid price of INR 3, assuming yield of 4.25 kWHr/day per kilowatt, we are looking at an IRR of 10.5% over 20 years. Now add long-term debt to the mix and we are upwards of 12%. Solar doesn't have any moving parts and this assumes operations and maintenance at 15%. If the cost squeezes further by 2024 - the IRR is even more attractive.
Goldman, Walburg, Pension funds, etc are deploying billions in solar for this reason - IRR upwards of 10% over 20-25 years with low risk. That's why we started this business too :)
Yeah it’s a great business to be in. As long as the climate doesn’t change, you’ll be pumping out electricity from a plant at an unbeatable price - since there’s no input apart from maintenance costs. How long do solar panels last before you need to replace them though?
Since you’re so on well informed about this here’s another question. I notice that battery prices are roughly halving every 3 years. At what point does it become cheaper to attach batteries to Indian solar plants than it is to operate coal powered plants?
- How long do solar panels last before you need to replace them though?
A lot of them offer warranties for 20-25 years. Most tier 1 panels are expected to last 25-30 years.
- I notice that battery prices are roughly halving every 3 years. At what point does it become cheaper to attach batteries to Indian solar plants than it is to operate coal powered plants?
At a grid level this is a complex question that I'm not completely qualified to answer because it goes into the larger question of energy mix and energy security. At a factory or building level, we are not that far - we're already offering monthly packages (in terms of cost) which amounts to 10-15c/unit of a blended rate (solar + battery). The min it breaches 8c/kWHr blended rate, this can become more permanent. I'm speculating but some of what I've seen in Li-ion and ESS flow costs we may be two years or less out.
The point the others are making isn’t about your standard of living, but your compensation.
If you hadn’t been tied to a single employer, maybe you would have gotten a job with an employer who paid more. You would have been able to reach your savings goal without living so frugally. Your employer at the time was comfortable paying you a relatively small amount because you couldn’t go anywhere else.
They’re not asking immigrants to live more lavishly. They’re asking for immigrants to be paid more so there’s less downward pressure on wages.
It's so easy to co-opt this too. One person got access to the shared google doc where they store the next tweets that need to be trending and changed it to something critical of Modi. It was promptly tweeted out regardless by government ministers who said "working for the middle class is low on the agenda of Modi Govt" and "Modi govt has not made inclusive development as the focal point".
(https://twitter.com/free_thinker/status/1095571793233043456?...)