DirtyWaterHotDog
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User ID: 625
DirtyWaterHotDog
1d ago
I seriously doubt that the Indians struggling in math courses. Indians struggle at writing and capacity for self-actualization. But, 'math' ? That's like saying the Brazilians struggle at football.
Given the nature of affirmative action, Asians at UCs (Indians or East Asians) are already more qualified than their peer whites or POCs.
What informs your negative perception of Indians ?
DirtyWaterHotDog
1d ago
I wonder how much of this has to do with viewing the university as a monolith. I believe this may be a case of increased enrollment in 'underwater basket weaving' majors giving an impression that the rigor for STEM courses has gone down.
It has traditionally admitted kid from middle to upper middle class families that maybe weren't deeply thinkers
UCSD is a lot more reputed in my circles (Bio, CS, Engg). UCSD is known for being the most academically rigorous and nerdy among the tier 1 UCs (UCLA is smart party kids. Berkeley is smart hustlers, UCSD is nerds). By research output, UCSD is the world's 4th best university to study CS, above MIT or Stanford. It is top 10 in the world for bio-tech (Top 5 in the US).
UCSD is an elite school by every metric. Arguably better than most Ivy League schools at every field that will define the future (silicon, tech, biotech). Among international students, it's incredibly competitive to get into. In my university's graduating class, couple of students got into graduate programs there (my school needed at least top 1 percentile national scores to get in) and only the university gold/silver medalists got acceptance letters. Practically all of them had perfect quantitative scores on the GRE.
This contrast confuses me. How can a university become increasingly more selective and lower the bar at the same time ?
What programs have selective majors on our campus?
- Data Science
- Public Health
- Jacobs School of Engineering – Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
I think I found the answer. Certain majors are considered 'selective' and students are not allowed to switch into these majors later during their undergrad. It is no surprise that this covers all majors for which UCSD is considered an 'elite school'.
This model is similar to Europe, where getting into a top school is trivial, but a majority of students are weeded out through rigorous freshmen courses. It gives the impression of egalitarianism, while maintaining the high bar necessary to survive in difficult majors. There seems to be a class system emerging at these universities. The name of the university will mean little unless paired with the major that the student completed.
DirtyWaterHotDog
2d ago
In context of Pakistan, Lahore (their 2nd biggest city) is an afternoon stroll away from the Indian border. No mountains or jungles in sight.
DirtyWaterHotDog
2d ago
I'm Indian, so obviously biased. But, is there credible evidence that India funds terrorists within Pakistan ?
India's beef is with the Pakistani military, first and foremost. An unstable Pakistan is one that needs more military, and therefore such a state is of no benefit to India. India craves a quiet Pakistan. One that does its own thing and leaves India alone. The Pakistani army holds a uniquely self-destructive ideology. A hot border, self-destructiveness and nukes are a trifecta that India wants no part of.
I wish it was different. But, Asim Munir, Pakistan's new leader is a hard-line self-destructionist.
"I am going to use a crude analogy to explain the situation… India is a shining Mercedes coming on a highway like a Ferrari, but we are a dump truck full of gravel. If the truck hits the car, who will be the loser?"
-Field Marshall for life, Asim Munir.
Naqvi (Pakistan's interior minister) alleged that the attack was “carried out by Indian-backed elements and Afghan Taliban proxies” linked to the Pakistani Taliban
Looks like the attackers were armed by Afghanistan, but Pakistan wants to drag India in with it. After all, that's the only narrative that works to the army's benefit. The Pakistani Taliban (who took ownership) takes direct inspiration from the Afghan Taliban who were directly trained by Pakistani military (ISI specifically). Reminds me of Hillary's infamous banger : "You can't keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbors".
In the absence of evidence, I'm going to disregard Pakistani claims about 'India funded terrorists'.
A car bomb at a tourist attraction in Delhi killed 14 people yesterday
This one is more interesting. From the looks of it, a dozen or so attacks were planned and this was the only one that succeeded. Thankfully, most of the plans were intercepted early and the contraband was seized. India has the benefit of catching many of the culprits alive, so more evidence should come out with time.
In Indian media, the story is being sold as a case of Indian success (at stopping 90+% of the planned attacks) rather than one of Pakistani terror. My read is that India does not want another war at this moment. There are no major state elections coming, so increased nationalism at the expense of economy is worthless to Modi. Op Sindoor was forced on Modi because of the performative cruelty of the attackers. This attack's significance was more intellectual than emotional. The attackers were muslim doctors, a bad look for educated muslims. The attack took place outside Kashmir, violating a long held understanding between the Indian and Pakistani intelligence services of keeping the proxy war limited to Kashmir.
In Pakistan, Munir has been saber-rattling since the day of the ceasefire. His posturing has gotten more and more aggressive with every day. I'm worried that he thinks he has to force another war to flip the narrative around Op Sindhoor. Pakistani military has a history of aggressive leaders. But, Munir feels kooky in a way that's different from Musharraf or Bajwa. He has some of Zia's insanity, and that scares me.
I think this occasion will be a nothing burger. That being said, it indicates a steady increase in the likelihood of a hot war with Pakistan sometime in the next few years.
DirtyWaterHotDog
7d ago
It shows grace in victory. It's good enough.
In practice, his transition team is a good early tell.
Elana Leopold as executive director. It also includes co-chairs Maria Torres-Springer, the former first deputy mayor; Lina Khan, the former federal trade commission chair; the United Way’s president and CEO, Grace Bonilla; and the former deputy mayor for health and human services Melanie Hartzog
I recognize Maria Torres-Springer and Lina Khan, both appointees by moderate democrats. There is some reconciliation with moderates. So far, mt read is more Trump 1 than Trump 2.
I'm judging Zohran by the standards set for your bang average Democrat mayor. The republicans promised pogroms and govt. mandated namaaz 5 times a day. This ain't it.
Look, I am hoping to spend my life in NYC. I am optimistic because I have to be optimistic. I don't want to leave this place. Therefore, I want Zohran to be good. It is ass backwards. But, It keeps me going. For a moment, let me have this. Reality will hit me in the face soon enough.
My opinion of Zohran has improved over time. It went from negative to neutral.
For one, MAGA twitter and Cuomo's crash outs were embarrassing. It lowered my expectations for political candidates. Zohran seems tame in comparison. Next, he has moderated his positions. Admittedly, he started from a from an extreme place. But, Zohran has extended olive branches to the police & Jewish communities. Good enough. Shows humility and statesmanship.
I love NYC and hope to live here for the foreseeable future. So I'll choose optimism. But yeah, if Eric Adams was electable, I'd have liked to see him re-elected.
DirtyWaterHotDog
10d ago
I believe there is enough deterrence to be terrorist already. If anything, the spycraft aspect of it probably makes it more alluring for radicalized youths.
DirtyWaterHotDog
13d ago
I'd rather have FBI stop terrorists in secret instead of in the open.
Why reveal that you're actively introducing undercover FBI agents into chats and monitoring discord channels ? They'll move to other chat platforms and set up stricter trails for swearing fealty.
It's stupid.
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
Are there ascendant political figures to the left of Netanyahu for the country to unify around ? I know new leaders have emerged to the right of Netanyahu, but thought that political space to his left had being choked out after Oct 7th.
I guess there is Yair Lapid, but he struggled to stay in power in the calm before Oct 7. So, I don't have much hope for him.
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
Yeah, Austin is a shining example of how to deal with the problem well.
I expect not. It was easy to build for the longest time and then we artificially made it difficult. The current situation is the more anomalous one.
America has famously lagged behind other cities of the world in dense urbanism. So, we have a few decades of data from tall-dense cities to read into. NYC is the only exception in the US. and it is a good exception at that. Broadly, nothing catastrophic happened. Ofc, the assumption is that densification comes with an increase in aggregate local taxes and greater investment in public infrastructure (transit, services, etc).
I would like to hear the negative side-effects that you suspect more housing will bring.
IMO, The american youth starting to adopt a nihilistic lying flat mindset, and the lack of affordable housing (esp. in urban areas) has played a role in making it worse. However, building more housing alone is not going to solve this multifaceted problem. So, if the YIMBYs win, there will be more housing and nihilism will continue (if slightly slowed down). In 50 years, some may see that the nihilism and YIMBY movement coincided with each other and wrongly draw a causal link.
Building more housing is like fixing the Ozone layer. When you do it right, nothing happens. Life goes on, and people don't appreciate it because the negative thing never happened. Classic preparedness paradox.
To be clear,
build more housing != build more ugly housing.
This is a 5+1, and this is a 5+1. This is one of the reasons I am strongly against "affordable housing". Build more market rate housing, so the buyer can impose their aesthetic preferences onto the developer.
build more housing = building more housing in urban areas with a huge shortages.
Supply-demand is alright in most of the US. Mostly limited to Boston, NYC, DC, Miami, Austin, Phoenix, LA, SD, SF, Portland, Seattle problem.
build more housing != fit a studio into what used to be 4 bed, so we can all live in kowloon walled city.
build more housing != sprawl out more
More housing means more vertical expansion and more infills.
build more housing = build better transit.
That means safer transit too. (this is a huge issue between YIMBYs and Leftists. YIMBYs are generally pro-police and hard on crime)
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
If they execute on the plans, LA will be in the midst of America's biggest transit boom. I would wait a few years to find out if the up-zoning led to a loss in quality of life. Often, new infrastructure feels like a net negative until the whole plan gets executed. Many of China's once-ghost cities and trains-to-nowhere are a good example.
the shopping centers nearby are so crowded
Isn't that good for local business ?
Lights back up
That's just LA.
Also, the rent on these places wasn't any lower and rent has continued to rise precipitously in the area.
Wouldn't it have risen even faster if the apartments had not been built ?
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
I saw the Mr Hyde version about a year ago, where it was just a nonstop, Tourette’s, yelling swear words, almost incomprehensible what was going on.
I'm surprised that Thiel claims to have just found this out. It was practically an open secret that bill gates was an excitable genius with a short temper.
But he is not talking about Microsoft, but about the stuff which Gates does with his ill-gotten money
From all anecdotes that I hear, he became a lot less 'nonstop' post-microsoft. He was an angry/passionate dude in the 90s and early 2000s. Calmed down after.
s
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
Sadly, I don't. I did not read western news back then :(
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
Frankly, I was indeed worried that the bar was that low.
Reviewing the job profile, these qualification demands are more rigorous than I gave them credit for. I said a lot of things today, and I have been corrected on a good few. I am glad that happened. Turns out that US is a liberal first world nation, and standards are standards. I am satisfied.
Do you think 'randos' and 'bottom-feeder men with anger problems looking to get the high of having power over someone else' can qualify for a secret clearance?
Not anymore
NYPD's 26 weeks in their police academy, but plenty for their specialised role.
It's 6 months in the academy and then ~2 years in probation.
where the law is lagging popular opinion
If the law is wrong, why are they not changing regulations etc.?
That's the point the top comment is making. If popular opinion is in line with Trump, then the votes should bestow enough power onto the Republicans to formally change the regulations. That's the whole point of a democracy.
Instead, Republicans have slim filibuster-able majority in the House and the Senate. The House can user the nuclear option, eliminate the filibuster and pass whatever law they want to pass. If a sufficiently large majority agree with you, then win 59% senate seats and pass what you want.
The fact that Trump isn't doing that, shows that the popular opinion may not be fully onboard with this style of aggressive ICE deportation.
Given that 7 Republican house members explicitly oppose this style of ICE raids for non-violent illegals, I'd argue Trump is operating below simple majority on this issue.
it's a shame that our politicians have fully embraced the heat-over-light dynamics of the culture war, to the point where they really are teetering on the brink of starting a civil war
Trump brought this on himself.
There's a million ways he could've implemented the ICE program, and he chose one with the greatest optics of cruelty. Masked and armed bouncers dragging people away at gunpoint has horrible optics. There are documented cases of people being deported to random nations, a few people have been disappeared (from public tracking, limiting a family's visibility into where a loved one is) and there's a general allergy to due process. Horrible optics.
"Cruelty is the point". I didn't believe it during Trump 1. For Trump 2, I believe it.
Here are the 'job requirements' for a deportation officer. Literally randos. (I retract my statement, I was wrong here)
U.S. citizenshipHave a valid driver's licenseBe eligible to carry a firearm
There is reason that police & military training take time. Using a gun for law enforcement is a heavy responsibility. ICE is picking untrained civilians, giving them guns and asking them to go be bounty hunters.
Democrats are justified in believing that this will select for bottom-feeder men with anger problems looking to get the high of having power over someone else. Given that most illegal immigrants are brown, I can see why democrats would believe that the average ICE agent is a raging racist too.
If Democrats believe what they claim to believe, then their actions are in line with those values. ICE agents look like an angry paramilitary that a dictator would deploy against his populace. People believe what they see. Democrats are cherry picking, but the cherry picked images are still real images.
Democratic response as what it is - basically outright treason against the U.S. federal gov
It may be treason. It may not. An accusation must be validated by a supposedly neutral arbiter. In your characterization, when the state oversteps its powers to oppose the federal govt, it is treason.
Now, both parties have operated in a maximally oppositional manner since Obama was elected. The adversarial nature has only gotten further amplified with every subsequent President. Given the way laws are written, both parties fight it out in the massive grey area between words. States vs Federal tussles are the most common form of inter-party warfare. This is business as usual. The system leaves it to Courts to decide what the bounds of this grey area are.
As with all accusations in the US, until the supreme courts weighs in, it isn't formally treason. Given that no one have been convicted of Treason since WW2, I think you're being hyperbolic.
I hope that we can right this ship because man, I do not want to have to fight in a civil war I have to say. Having studied history, it's a lot more horrible than you might think.
I'm confused. Trump is consistently the first one to raise the temperature and to lower the bar for acceptable discourse. I don't want to sound like a kid. But, he started it. Only now, the democrats are responding.
Trump is the President and central figure to America's current polarization. If there is a civil war, it will be because of him. As the one in power, the onus is on Trump to reduce the temperature.
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
The backlash being faced by Klien, Derek, Yglesias and Buttigieg is baffling. Everything they've said has been polite, non-accusatory and measured. Yet, they're being treated like Nazis by left social-media.
I don't have a read on how radicalized the younger democrats are. But, looking at reddit, bluesky or the youtube ...... they're being dogpiled.
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
I'm speaking of young men aged 18-35. My opinions are colored by personal anecdotes from deep-blue cities.
I haven't met a non-communist straight man who has 'volunteered for the democrats' or 'worked on the campaign'. On the other hand, I know multiple women and LGBT men who have done so. I am the eldest of a family of male cousins. The college aged (18-25) cousins only express positive emotions about democrats when around women their age (reasons obvious).
I could be in an echo chamber. But, it sure feels like the truth.
You are also aware that local Democratic committees are composed of 1 man and 1 woman per precinct by rule?
I was not aware of this. Good rule. I went back and looked at the numbers. Now seems as good as time as any to be a young man in democratic party. A healthy number (~50%) of the young democratic leaders (major mayors, house reps, senators) are under 45 men. Try as I may, the real numbers don't match my intuitions.
I still have my suspicions. But, I stand corrected.
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
Democrats don't want you dead, because the democrats asking for your head don't have any understanding of violence.
I live in the bluest of blue America, and I've heard a few people express glee at the idea of Trump's death. It comes from the oddest of places. The nicest boomer white ladies, the tiniest granola girlies, men so feminine they couldn't hurt a bee. (Literally. I recently happened to be a +1 for a friends event where they tried to resuscitate a bee. Safe to say, I held my tongue the entire afternoon. Wonderful people and not an ounce of violence in their body). Look at Jay Jones, he's the lowest testosterone black man I've seen in my life. What a woman dressed as a man would look like.
My point is, they shout about killing Trump because they are unable to imagine the act of killing, punching or drawing blood. Even when they express this emotion, it's usually with a glint of mischief rather than anger. They're not just angry at him. They are also indulging the kid inside of them that never got to say the word 'fuck'. It's no surprise that many of the left-wing terrorists have grown up in dysfunctional conservative families or are gamers. These communities have a clearer relationship with violence as children, having coopted vanilla progressivism at a later age.
They are angry at Trump. But not in a "bullied kids shoots up a school" way. But in a, "I cry in every therapy session" way.
I like to believe I am well adjusted. But, I had my fair share of fighting violent bullies in school. Once in a while you push someone too hard and they fall on their head or you misplace a punch and you see a man in true pain. In a "my actions could have caused real harm and I'm lucky I missed" sort of way. Life flashes in front of your face. It snaps you out of anger, and leaves you with a pit in your stomach. The slightest glimpse into real violence leaves a lasting negative taste in one's mouth (unless you're a psychopath). That's why well adjusted men don't make violent threats easily. The mental return damage of living with hurting someone is not worth it. It isn't a good feeling.
You need not be worried about the ones making threats. Not this group. Now, if demographics with a relationship with violence start saying the same things.......then, call in the national guard.
The democrats lost young men when they stopped staffing young men. The democratic party is split between the faces (who're men) and the staffers (no straight men). The party, from 2nd in command to bottom, is run by women and feminine (I don't mean this as an insult) men. The party talks to men as the 'other' because they are the 'other'.
It's clear that the democratic party would rather see Newsom and Buttigieg fall into a ditch once an electable woman shows up. Unfortunately for them, they can't get a woman elected, so the 2 of them are tolerated. A conventional straight man is only welcomed into the democratic fold if they are muslim or black (and usually communist + nepo baby to boot). Zohran and Hasan being the canonical examples.
In 2022-23, the tech industry cleared itself of the woke scolds. People were fired, replaced and sidelined. Companies rebranded, some quietly some loudly. There has been no such reckoning within the democratic party. We might be seeing the first signs of it, with Bari Weiss taking over CBS. But for the most part, the internal rhetoric of the democratic party is stuck in the last decade. The only outreach they're capable of doing is to the left of them. And that's why the AOC/DSA wing is ascendant.
Today, I can see that milquetoast commentators such as Ezra Klien and Derek Thompson sustain an uncomfortable alliance with the democratic party. I can't imagine how the average young man (who is definitely to the right of them, more patriarchal and more traditionally masculine) could feel welcome in the same democratic party.
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
That's the plan! Been alternating between weightlifting and swimming. I'll report back end in December.
DirtyWaterHotDog
1mo ago
This is year I get fit. (he said for the 5th time.)
No but really. I look great at 185lb and look fat at 200lb. The 15lb makes all the difference.
I've started doing cardio again. I'm cautiously optimistic. (What is this, wellness wednesday?)
(My Rothfuss-esque pathological need to reveal my inner monologue in brackets is unbecoming of a middle aged man. But, such is life)
Ah, that makes more sense. I am a 30 something Indian engineer in the US. So..... guilty as charged.
America's missing STEM kids is an incentive problem. Most STEM grads make average salaries, have a demanding job and are considered uncool. CS was the exception, but CS new grads have been in dire straits since 2023. Why would American kids pursue STEM degrees ?
Contemporary US is a nation of lawyers, salesmen and MBAs. America's smartest grow up admiring one of these 3. Ofc they don't want to be engineers. If they are nerdy and smart, they become doctors instead. More reliable money and higher status.
Even among tech billionaires, there is a reason why many are STEM program drop outs. It says : "Gaining expertise in this difficult subject is meaningless. I must transform into a salesman, make money and then I'll hire all the experts".
In the US, the Senate is about 50% Lawyers and the house is about 33% lawyers. In contrast, the Senate has 1 engineer and the house has 9. Now see China. 13/24 Politburo members are have engineering degrees and only 2/24 are lawyers. Tells you what the culture and people think is prestigious.
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