Notices by Shriram Krishnamurthi (shriramk@mastodon.social), page 4

1/ Over the weekend there was a block party a short distance from my place for a lady who turned 90. That's notable enough, but in her case it's special because she's a Holocaust survivor. I chatted with her today and looked up some things. Remarkable story! Buckle in: ↵

One of the best airport announcements I've heard in a long time, at IAD airport today: "To passengers coming from Richmond at gate A2, if you left behind your … *doesn't manage to completely suppress chuckle* … wheelchair, please return to the gate."

@GreenSkyOverMe At least once every four years, that should be easy?

It was π-day, so I participated in a Pie-Your-Professor to raise funds for charity. Before-and-after. I'm next to the legendary, brilliant Thomas Goodwillie [Calculus of Functors, etc.].

(Non-Americans must rue that April has only 30 days, so their approximation is much worse.)

In the new BLR int'l terminal (of whose "bamboo" vibe I've seen little). I notice that I go "to" many places, but when it's BLR, I unconsciously say I'm going "back". So: I'm back! Though when my FA asked if I was back *home*, I smiled and said it's complicated. (-: #India24

2/ She does a good job of telling the long and unsuccessful history of facial recognition (I didn't realize Woody Bledsoe, who I always associated with theorem provers, was a pioneer), and how the availability of data and ML changed that. ↵

1/ For some years now, @kashhill has been a leading journalist on privacy and technology. Here she mainly tells the human story behind the facial recognition company Clearview (whom she brought to national attention). But there's much more to the book. ↵
#BookReview

4/ She points out that faces and other biometrics are essentially immutable and indelible, thus deserving greater protection. And she presents the many, many ways in which their traceability can be problematic. ↵

3/ She describes US state and national attempts to legislate on this matter, with rare successes but mostly failure, depicting the corporate, governmental, and non-profit methods of working and blocking. But the tech is so democratized, legislation seems to be the main hope. ↵

Them: What's your name?
Me: Shri.
Them: Oh, okay.

3/ But the book also highlights Nixon and Kissinger's absolute loathing for India and Indians. They speak of the country and people with bile, hatred, contempt, and deep prejudice, and have little more feeling for the Bengalis. Thus, these are cheap lives easily ignored. ↵

2/ The book is a chilling account of the US partnership with Pakistan's military leadership. The author's argument is that the US was so focused on "opening China", which was facilitated by Pakistan, that it was willing to overlook what he and others deem a genocide. ↵

7/ A remarkable set of characters makes appearances: Haig, Bush père, Sydney Schanberg (of later Killing Fields fame), Ted Kennedy, McCain père, and almost as comic relief, Chuck Yeager of all people (who may be the only one who gets some deserved comeuppance). ↵

6/ The shocking refugee crises this created hardly registered, either. The US public was well aware of it by reporters and the Democratic senate. But this not only didn't affect Nixon, it had no effect either on Kissinger—famously, himself a refugee from a genocidal regime. ↵

5/ Nixon and Kissinger weren't unaware of the cable; they ignored it, mocked it, and spited its author. They were openly contemptuous of the suffering, and generated remarkable pretzel logic. And anyway, they just needed things to stay intact until the big China visit. ↵

4/ Not all Americans, though. The US consulate in Dhaka was well aware of what was going on from the very beginning. And in a remarkable move, they took advantage of the newly-created "Dissent Channel" to protest US policy, led by Consul General Archer Blood. ↵

8/ What is not lost—indeed, drives—Bass is that Kissinger and Blood were the same age, but while Kissinger floated through untouched, Blood paid for his bravery with his career, as so often happens to people of conscience. This book is his memorial. ↵

10/ For this, we can thank Nixon for his recordings in the White House. These provide the records for Bass to lay out in their own words what would otherwise be a literally unbelievable tale of mendacity and terribleness. ↵

9/ The book is a bit long, and can feel repetitive. The general contours, after all, are established early. Its motive force is the quote after quote from Nixon and Kissinger—often the latter in supplication to the former—that expresses their utter hatred and inhumanity . ↵

12/ When you have democratic US supporting dictator-led Pakistan suppressing a popular vote (in East Pakistan) and opposing democratic India which gets support of Communist Russia while opposing Communist China while Islamic countries are banding together… ↵