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I am always amused by news like *”India-China hold high level talks over border issue. “*. Like what exactly happens in these “talks”? These countries have have been high level talking for the last 5 decades or so but I am yet to see anything that progressed beyond *high level talks*

You don’t realize it but mulching along with mowing a sloped backyard is a serious workout. On one hand I enjoyed it because good exercise, but on other hand I wish I was younger not to feel so sore lol.

I guess my next tv is the LG then – [Samsung admits defeat and reportedly inks deal for LG’s OLED TV panels – The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/16/23725160/samsung-lg-oled-tv-panels-deal-supply-report)

One of striking features of sports in America is the role of coach and the importance it gives to them along with players (sometimes even more than them) unlike other countries where players are the key and coaches though well known & respected are not above the player who plays the game. However at a lower level (kids sports), the role of coach is at best, functionary, and not really a coach. Be it swimming where the coaches 99% of the time just make you do drills over drills with no emphasis on stroke, breathing etc (heck coaches don’t even get into water!), or soccer whose primary duty on field is to avoid kids hurting each other rather than teaching kids about strategy, passings, assists etc or even volleyball where coaches take no serious effort to do 1:1 coaching. The “coach” is just an official and it would be nice if they just called them officials instead of “coach” cos coaching is the last thing they do.

And yet when it comes to group placements in any sport, the coaches yield an inordinate amount of power over your kid inspite of doing very little themselves. Its no wonder then that as long as you as a parent are willing to kiss their asses and be pally-pally with them, your kid is well taken care of. Its no wonder then we have a generation of helicopter parents who know more than the coach and will go out of way to push their kids, and i feel them now. At some level i feel like I have let down my own kid because I’ve always believed in staying out of it and let her shine through. But its now clear to me that it is actually working against her, and I need to butt in as parent even if I am not interested in doing this so that she gets a chance. Its wrong IMO to do this, but here we are. Because all we have are lousy officials carrying the “coach” moniker and thinking more of themselves than they really are.

How do you design a complete hell of a walking/biking trail? [This is how](https://www.reddit.com/r/nova/comments/13ifqjy/lovely_day_for_a_walk_along_the_new_66_trail/). The sad part about this is all this was a part of billions of dollars worth of road expansion and the communities successfully argued that the trail on other side of sound wall would increase crime and it was worth suffering the deafening noise instead.

My extended family whatsapp groups have blown up with messages around congress win in Karnataka and what it means for Hindus and Brahmins in the state. Disappointingly its a whole new slew of Muslim hate and how Karnataka is on path to be Islamified. Even non-issues like Burqa in schools are now things that Muslims are doing actively to take over Karnataka. Its just so disappointing. I am not giving Congress a clean chit here — their entire campaigning in state was around reservations for everyone and anyone (including paying hard cash monthly to people), and advancing casteist policies, but I am more disappointed for the family that they should know better.

Its week 3 of RTO and I have mostly been ambivalent towards it. On surface I don’t mind the idea of being at work a couple of times at work, but each time I’ve been here its been impossible fore me to stay more than a couple of hours before heading home because it just seems…. so… banal. One of the pre-pandemic things we used to have was assigned desks cubes; I so wish we had them again. Having your own space at work gives you a sense of belonging. I could store my work related chargers and cables right here, along with energy bars and snacks that I got from home – the convenience it provided was great, along with the sense of homeliness that every time I came to the building I did not have to go hunting for an ideal spot to sit in the “agile” workplace. The 6 times I’ve been here I have sat in 6 different locations because a) why not and b) the desks that I sat last time have been taken already.
If companies are serious about RTO, they need to start creating environments where employees want to feel like coming back without feeling like they are visiting a neighborhood park every day and go hunting for a brand new bench. People like familiarity, and people like seeing the same folks in their general area day in and out – thats how you spark conversations between random people and ideas flow. Companies (mine def should) consider going back to assigned seating to bring back that sense of togetherness. Otherwise I am just going to hotspot few hours a day each week & head back, and treat this exactly like what every one of us doing right now – a checklist item that needs checked off each at work, nothing more.

I sincerely experienced trauma of 2016 with tonight’s succession. To the point I can’t sleep now thinking about 2024.

On nice afternoons like today our neighbors like to get their music system out and grill. Luckily their music choices matches ours so we don’t mind the loud music – actually sounds like a fun block party going on plus good music what’s not to like? So I am also on deck enjoying their music!

If this is true it may finally be time for me to stop my upgrade every year habit. There is a price at which it is not worth it. [iPhone 15 Pro Rumored to See Huge Price Hike – MacRumors](https://www.macrumors.com/2023/05/14/price-hike-coming-to-iphone-15-pro/)