Author: KnowledgeHippo

As Narendra Modi swept to victory in the 2014 elections, he said that “acche din aane waale hain” — good times are coming.Now that Mr Modi is preparing to secure another term as prime minister in elections starting on April 19, India’s stock market has tripled in value since he first took office. India’s economy is almost double what it was.Stocks have risen so much because the number of Indians with enough wealth and an appetite for investment risk has soared — to nearly 5 percent of the population from just 2 percent.But the economic gains have been largely uneven.…

Hidden Chinese accounts masquerading online as American supporters of former President Donald J. Trump, promoting conspiracy theories, stoking domestic rifts and attacking President Biden ahead of the November election, according to researchers and administration officials.The accounts signal a possible tactical shift in how Beijing aims to influence American politics, with a greater willingness to target specific candidates and parties, including Mr. Biden.In a wake of Russia’s influence campaign ahead of the 2016 election, China appears to be trying to exploit party divisions to undermine the policies of the Biden administration, despite recent efforts by the two countries to cool their…

How do champion skaters achieve their amazing jumps and spins? Brain science reveals clues.With Pam BellukPam Belluck is a neuroscience journalist and figure skating enthusiast.March 27, 2024The recent World Figure Skating Championships had exciting results, including a 19-year-old American landing a quad axel and a 40-year-old pairs athlete becoming the oldest woman to win a world figure skating championship. As a neuroscience journalist, I wondered how the brain works when skaters jump, spin and move across the ice at lightning speed. Here’s what the scientists found:When most of us step onto an ice rink, the sensation of sliding starts a…

It started as ideas, good and bad, often do: in a bar.My soccer team—a group of mostly middle-aged dads in suburban New Jersey—was enjoying its weekly pint after the game when we started talking about how much fun it would be to play against a similar team in Mexico City, where several of the players I raised us. The idea gradually gained momentum until suddenly, one day last December, we were buying plane tickets.But let me back up: A few years ago, I moved to Madison, NJ, after decades in New York. I didn’t know anyone there outside of my…

When Christopher Lockyear, the secretary-general of the aid group Doctors Without Borders, visited the Gaza Strip for five days this month, he noted the miles of trucks waiting to deliver aid to the devastated enclave despite growing international pressure to increase shipments.On Thursday, the International Court of Justice in The Hague responded to the ongoing problems by ordering Israel to ensure the “provision of unimpeded assistance” to Gaza, using some of its strongest language. Israel has rejected accusations that it is responsible for aid delays, and did so again last week.”It’s not just the number of trucks coming to the…

Instagram video via mandvandheyd.Gayle Julian, an education professor at Olympic College in Washington State, begins many of her classes with what she calls “A Minute With Dan,” in which her students watch and discuss the concepts in some of Mr. Wuori’s videos. .His posts, he said, help prospective teachers, many of whom are young adults without children of their own, generally understand the difficulties that can arise when growing up without consistent, positive interactions with adults at home.”What we’re learning about is early childhood trauma, stress and anxiety,” Ms Julian said. “It’s important to know what’s in a child’s development…

Julian Phethean’s first canvas in London was a shed in his backyard, where he covered the walls with bold spray lettering. When he took his art to the city streets in the 1980s, it was largely unwelcome — and he was even arrested a few times.”We had no place to practice,” he said. “It was just considered vandalism.”These days, the canvases come to Mr. Phethean, better known as the muralist Mr. Cenz. Recent facades he’s shared with his large following include an abstract mural at a Tesla showroom and a portrait of Biggie Smalls, sponsored by Pepsi Max.“I never would…

Daniel C. Lynch, a computer network engineer whose reports on networking equipment helped accelerate the commercialization of the Internet in the 1980s and ’90s, died Saturday at his home in St. Helena, California. He was 82 years old.His death was confirmed by his daughter Julie Lynch-Sasson, who said he had been suffering from kidney failure.In the mid-1980s, when the Internet was still the domain of academia and government, Mr. Lynch was a computer facilities manager who played a key role in the early years of data networking. Although the Internet was very small and limited to non-commercial use, Mr. Lynch…

On August 21, 2017, Kiki Smith’s teenage sons giddily prepared to watch the partial solar eclipse in Rochester, N.Y. As Mrs. Smith listened to their chatter, she felt left out.”I felt very alone,” she said. Mrs. Smith was diagnosed with the degenerative condition as a child and lost the last of her sight in 2011. The local buzz around the eclipse and national media attention unexpectedly struck a nerve.The eclipse “was about experiencing a historic moment in the community, and I wasn’t a part of it,” he said.Ms Smith, 52, who works for a community development organization in Rochester, is…

Boeing has faced intense scrutiny and pressure since a panel exploded on a 737 Max 9 shortly after takeoff on an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5. The episode raised new questions about the quality of the planes the company produces several years after two Max 8 planes crashed, killing nearly 350 people.Interviews with more than two dozen current and former employees reveal lingering concerns about quality, particularly as pressure mounted to keep production at the company’s factories.Now, Boeing faces a huge challenge as it seeks to make changes that improve the quality of its products and regain credibility with…