Notices by Nithin Coca నితిన్ (ncoca@social.coop)

This can't be real - the "contact" button on the webpage of a department at #Indonesia's best public #university merely leads you to their #Instagram page.

Allergies are costing #Japan $1.6 billion a day in lost productivity & 43% of the population now suffers from severe hay fever. The cause: mass planting of cedar & cypress decades ago.

In my latest for @bbcfuture, I explore efforts to replace plantations w/ biodiverse ecosystems www.bbc.com/future/article/20260515-the-1950s-blunder-which-causes-mass-hay-fever-in-japan

Twelve years ago, #Jakarta was crowned the most congested city in the world. Today, nearly 90% of the residents have access to mass transit.

I dive into this remarkable #urban turnaround and look at the political will, international investment & local execution that drove this progress. https://indevelopmentmag.com/jakarta-transit-transformation/ #Jakarta #Indonesia #Transit #masstransit #infrastructure

Ever wonder why wearing masks is so common in #Japan every spring? A post-WWII reforestation policy to plant just two types of fast-growing trees has triggered a mass-allergy crisis. My latest for @bbc looks at the roots of this 70-year-old blunder and the massive challenge of fixing it. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260515-the-1950s-blunder-which-causes-mass-hay-fever-in-japan

Rare that I get a chance to dig into a passion of mine - #urban transit development!

Read about my one-time home, #Jakarta & how its transformed from the world's most congested city to a model for the global south - but there's still a long way to go.

https://indevelopmentmag.com/jakarta-transit-transformation/

#Indonesia #southeastasia #SEAsia #transportation #transport #trains

Has no one noticed that clear parallels that #Hungary's election has with #Malaysia's #2018 one?

- Public outcry after massive corruption scandal.
- Overcoming blatant gerrymandering.
- Opposition led by former leader of ruling party (Mahathir & Anwar/Magyar)
- Euphoric public.

With a supermajority in Parliament, we won't see a backdoor agreement bring Fidesz back to power, but will be curious to see how Tisza rules. I worry Magyar will be like Mahathir in other ways - over-controlling and compromising.

@seanbala It must be - on that platform, there are something like 15 comments about this initiative and none that mention - hey, shouldn't it be available in the language spoken by 85% of the residents of this city?

The worrying thing is that the RSS and those on the right are most definitely communicating in local languages.

Found this cool-sounding initiative to make a major #Indian city more #representative, #safer, #livable, etc, through a public engagement platform.

But the manifesto, platform, social media, etc, are all just in one language - #English.

So...who does this really represent?

Someone I asked to do a call via #Jitsi liked it so much, they started using it instead of #zoom.

It is possible to reach some people!

Happy #Tibetan New Year - Losar Tashi Delek!

Despite it often falling on the same day as #Chinese, #Korean, and other lunar new years, it's actually a different calendar and not always aligned.

@ebooksyearn Besides Ghost, is there really any other alternative worth considering?

Another reason to not use #Google - they'll readily share your data with the government and give you minimal opportunities to respond. It's not worth it.

https://newrepublic.com/post/206088/homeland-security-67-year-old-us-citizen-criticized-email

#bigtech #degoogle #techgiants #Gmail

My opinion - Foreign media in countries like #Australia, where this piece ran, shouldn't publish #Chinese government op-eds unless #China's state media publishes foreign diplomat op-eds.

#Reciprocity is a basic tenet of #diplomacy and should be enforced in the #digital and #media spaces.

Had to correct my Malaysian #grab driver who thought that Bahubali was a #Tamil film.

Most likely, only the Tamil version was released in #Malaysia but its a #Telugu film. Can't let this misinformation stand.

@seanbala @greenpeace Credit is due, as they've updated the report and changed "Xizang" to "Tibet."

Hopefully it was just an oversight during translation and not an intentional attempt to erase Tibet in English.

Was wondering where the data for #Tibet was in this #China #power #climate update from Greenpeace East Asia

And then I realized to my shock and horror, that they were using the #CCP name, Xizang, in English. This is in line with the recent strong push by the Chinese government to eliminate the use of the term Tibet, in English.

A new, embarrassing low & I have to wonder what @greenpeace thinks of this.

https://www.greenpeace.org/eastasia/press/68510/chinas-power-sector-emissions-peak-within-reach-as-new-coal-power-approvals-decline-to-41-77-gw-in-q1-q3-2025-greenpeace-report/

@evan @Matt_Noyes Chat GPT itself is not a reliable source for data about their emissions. And it doesn't address the concerns about the broader footprint - "per request" is a tiny, tiny piece of the potential impact, and says nothing about broader environmental/social impacts.

I'm looking into another big tech company's data center footprint, and their self-reporting is full of errors and lies. Its not trustworthy at all.

@Matt_Noyes @evan what's the source for that data? There's not much trustworthy independent analysis as these companies aren't sharing data, and what it out there neglects other inputs with a potential climate impacts, such as construction, water usage, mining for minerals, or the energy used to produce semiconductor/chip or other hardware.

Had a chat with our local cafe owner, who, it turns out, regularly goes to #Indonesia to source coffee and loves it. She showed us the Luwak Coffee she has, but only offers to regular customers - not on the menu!

I've finally figured out the mystery of who in #Japan is drinking #KopiLuwak (it's the largest importer) old people at #Kissatens in out of the way cafes.

@baillehache_pascal It's best to avoid it - unless you can be sure of the sourcing, it is likely to come from caged Luwaks force-fed coffee and kept in horrible conditions.