Onion prices in India are anticipated to decrease further due to the arrival of the new kharif crop. The government has been selling onions from its buffer stock at subsidized rates to combat recent price increases. Over 4,850 tonnes of onions have been transported via railway to major cities, including Delhi, to enhance supply and stabilize prices.

India's economic growth in the second half of this financial year will be driven by rural demand and government spending. The rural economy is gaining momentum. Consumer durables and non-durables are showing strong performance. The manufacturing sector is also exhibiting growth. However, there are signs of a slowdown in industrial growth.

Sales of personal luxury goods are projected to decline by 2% this year, marking the industry's weakest performance since the 2008-09 financial crisis. This downturn, attributed to price increases and economic uncertainty, has particularly impacted China, a key market for luxury brands. The shrinking customer base and shift towards higher price points have prompted concerns about the industry's recovery timeline.

Apparel exporter Gokaldas Exports posted an 18.77% rise in consolidated profit at Rs 28.16 crore for the quarter ended September 30, mainly led by exports. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 23.71 crore for the same quarter a year ago.

India's wholesale price index rose to 2.36 percent in October. Food prices increased, pushing retail inflation to a 14-month high. The Reserve Bank of India held its benchmark interest rate steady. The central bank maintained its inflation forecast for the fiscal year at 4.5 percent. Food price volatility remains a concern for inflation and economic stability.

India's smartphone market is expected to exit 2024 with a low single-digit annual growth, as Apple posted its largest-ever quarterly shipment in India with 4 million units in the third quarter (Q3), according to a new report.

iPhone shipments in the third quarter of 2024 crossed 4 million units for the first time, driven by steep discounts, multiple financing options, and a strong demand for premium handsets during the festive season, said research firm IDC in a report released Wednesday.

The size of the deal is estimated at over Rs 1,300 crore. With the transaction, both Bharti and DMPL will receive shares of ATFL as consideration and will become public shareholders of ATFL post the transaction. Additionally, ATFL (through DMFPL) will acquire an exclusive, perpetual license for the Del Monte brand in India.

The company reported a loss for the first half of its financial year and announced a 40 million pound ($51 million) cost savings programme, as new CEO Joshua Schulman laid out his turnaround plan.

Operating revenue remained largely unchanged at Rs 1,430 crore compared to Rs 1,426 crore in FY23. The company, which secured its maiden fundraise last year, saw a 40% surge in employee benefit expenses at Rs 71 crore, while finance costs rose nearly 50% to Rs 29.5 crore. Total expenses increased to Rs 1,460 crore from Rs 1,432 crore in FY23.

The festive season brought good news for the technology sector. Sales of tech products and durables saw a significant rise. Air conditioners, laptops and smartphones were popular choices among shoppers. This growth was fueled by new features, discounts and a preference for premium products. Interestingly, most of the sales happened before Diwali, indicating a change in consumer behavior.

Indian traders are worried about quick commerce platforms. CAIT says these platforms are using unfair practices to control the market. They are accused of hurting small businesses like Kirana stores. The traders want the government to take action. They want stricter rules for these platforms to protect small businesses.

In a blog post on Wednesday, the company said the new Amazon Haul storefront will mostly feature products that cost less than $10 and offer free delivery on orders over $25.

Driven by tier 2 and 3 cities, India's e-commerce sector registered a gross merchandise value (GMV) of approximately $14 billion (more than Rs 1.18 lakh crore) in this year's festive season, marking a 12 per cent growth over last year's festive period, a report said on Wednesday.

Texas indie-rock quartet Swimming With Bears reflects creativity and resilience on formidable anthem “Patient Disguise,” weaving pain and loneliness into an air of euphoria and vibrance.  Juxtaposing contrasting emotions with…

Swedish singer-songwriter Amelie Aldner shares a special moment with her new song, "Touch Me." This song feels like a warm hug on a cold night in Sweden. "Touch Me" gives…

Artist Suki Summer is making a splash with her bold new single, "Nothing At All." Blending the rough edge of 70s rock with the lively sounds of 80s synth music,…

Last Grasp's newest single, “Creature of Your Kind,” is the captivating music you’ve been waiting for. This Florida-based project, started by Matthew DeFeis in 2021, continues to explore and innovate…

Kendra Muecke from Kendra & the Bunnies is someone's muse. In her latest single, "Manic Pixie Nightmare," she takes a sledgehammer to a crazy pixie's dream girl. By refusing to…

UK rapper/songwriter/educator BREIS (pronounced breeze) returns with a new informative and enlightening single, "Gimme Dat" that breaks down the dynamics of the music industry. Backed by producer Soliheen's plucky synths…

London-based R&B and soul artist Kyrah Tay has released her debut single, "City Girl". Produced by Monterey J, known for his work with emerging urban and soul talents, the track…

Mr. Pigeons has again demonstrated his artistic evolution with his latest album, 'Ivory,' showcases underscored by themes of love, hope, and self-reflection. The album 'Ivory' navigates the complexities of vulnerability…

Singing River is back with an exciting new album, 'Talkin' Destination Blues,' released on November 8, 2024. The duo, Mikey James and Anthony Kuhn describe their music as a blend…

The Frst is back with a new song, "Love In 3D." This energetic track brings a magical feeling that fans of the music scene will love. It features well-known singers…

My ongoing Listening Diary of the newly released dozen Autechre live sets from 2023 and 2024 has passed the 2,000 words milestone, with no signs of slowing down, and thus far I’ve still only touched on half the latest AE_2022- recordings. Today I focused on the Melbourne date for the first time, with side trips […]

Today's cool hack of the day: faraday cages, leaky microwave ovens, and using AirPods Pro as hearing aids in a country where you aren't allowed to

[CW: strong, bleak/dark/violent humour, profanity] Frankie Boyle's American Autopsy was recorded shortly after the 2016 US election, and includes contributions from guests Sara Pascoe, Katherine Ryan, Michelle Wolf, Desiree Burch, and (unfortunately) Richard Osman. The show is based around three propositions concerning America, voted on by Americans in the audience. Link originally from a late 2016 post.

The key to taking effective action in a Trump world is to avoid perpetuating the autocrat's goals of fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation.

You can view the author talking about this article here (or watch the whole episode, the first hour and a half is very informative). You can also try your hand at a choose your own adventure style playing out of Trumps second term.

Content Warning: Incredibly ugly upcoming U.S. Politics. Stephen Miller and Donald Trump's public promise for a "bloody story" - plans for sweeping raids and mass deportations of 10 to 20 million people living in America are expected to start when Trump assumes office and begins on day one.

People living all across the United States, from farm camps in the backwaters of Florida to the ethnically diverse neighborhoods of major cities will likely be greviously impacted. Currently it is expected that the combined utilization of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), National Guard, local police, trained and armed civilians and possibly even the US Military will take part in the raids to capture legal and illegal immigrants. Sympathetic police departments will have their funding slashed if they don't participate in the raids. Surprisingly, some research suggests a majority of Americans support mass deportations and concentration camps, which was reflected in the election results. Whether the popular support continues after it begins depends on the effectiveness of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security's indoctrination and propaganda programs that they have already been preparing for this moment, as well as the mass media's whitewashing of the proceedings as an "affordable housing program," among other things. So the question is, what can we realistically expect? ICE's "Citizens Academy" program offers up some clues...

The academy trains civilians to operate multiple firearms, use lethal force, perform surveillance on immigrants, and conduct raids while also acting as a public relations initiative to try and sway public opinion about ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the HSI unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "We ran Border Patrol Citizen Academies back when I was an agent as well," Jenn Budd, former Senior Border Patrol Agent, whistleblower, and author of Against the Wall told Unicorn Riot. "The entire goal is to indoctrinate locals into why it's okay for us to violate people's rights." The training materials that show where to strike people with batons to subdue them are but the tip of the iceberg in terms of violence. While the ICE presentation on using force contains the "Monadnock Baton Chart" (presumably named after baton manufacturer Monadnock) showing the degrees of damage inflicted on a suspect based on where they're struck with a baton, the majority of this part of Citizens Academy training covers when to use deadly force.

What could happen to the people swept up? The program is generally portrayed as mass deportations, but already it has become clear that many countries (even Mexico) are expected not to welcome the tidal wave of migrants. Instead, the prison-industrial complex which is being flooded with investment money is gearing up to build large scale prisons and camps to house them. Many of these migrants can be expected to be kept there for years on end, with the Supreme Court supporting indefinite detetion of immigrants, an affirmation of long standing U.S. policy. Slavery in America is still legal in the prison system (even California voter's just reaffirmed) and many companies could stand to make a lot of money off of the cheap workforce. The prior Trump administration focused on breaking families up, but this time they promise to include everyone in the family, no matter the immigration status, even denaturalization of American citizens. How will it be payed for? The operation is projected to cost upwards of $300 billion or much more and this has frequently been cited as a major reason that the invisioned plans will falter. If Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) plans for freeing up $2 trillion of the yearly federal budget succeeds, there appears to be plenty of money to reallocate. Even without these slush funds, Trump has already declared that the operation has "no price tag." Some recent and historical parallels In China, many Uyghurs have been put into forced labor prison camps for decades now, and the Xinjiang region has long been at the technological vanguard of state of the art large scale surveillance and population control research and development. American and Western tech companies can take what they have learned in Xinjiang and finally bring it home for wide spread use domestically. During the Holocaust, many "good Germans" helped to report their neighbors, and already Americans are arguing whether it is ethical to call in ICE on theirs. America has a long history of anti-immigrant campaigns and attacking ethnic communities, including Operation Wetback in 1953-54, the Japanese Internment Camps during WWII and tracing back to events like the Trail of Tears and traditional American slavery, to name a few. Hoping for the best While the years of preparation for Project 2025, combined with the GOP's complete control of all of the branches of the federal government suggests things are going to be harder to stop. It is good to remember that for all intents and purposes this will be an unimaginable kakistocracy and the revolving door of grifters is likely to spin even faster than it did during the first Trump administration. Major logistical questions remain - how fast can they actually scale up, for example, or deal with the massively inflated costs, bribes and outright theft chipping away at the budget. The chaos caused by replacing 50,000 federal employees with largely incompetent hacks while gutting government agencies left and right alone will likely slow down any plans significantly due to the complex and tightly coupled systems that make up the US government. Fortunately the ACLU and many other organizations and Democratic state governments vow to legally fight back against the upcoming operations. And lastly, it is likely that there will be large scale public action. Whether it is in the form of protests, strikes or imaginative work arounds for whatever crackdowns that are coming, there many Americans who will push back.

My great-aunt went on to earn her master's degree at Smith College School for Social Work, and then settled in a teaching position in the newly formed Richmond Professional Institute at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. That's where she briefly mentioned meeting "Anne, a newcomer from Ohio" in 1929. The two would be together for the rest of their lives. from Odd Birds by Shane Mitchell [The Bitter Southerner]

Koala intruder in bedroom startles couple getting home from work. Something soft and cuddly on a bed can be a welcome sight if that something is inanimate, like a pillow — but in the early hours of Wednesday morning an Adelaide couple were forced to contend with a friendly, if unexpected, intruder.

Today, we’ll hear about some interspecies sonic landscapes in the form of music that's designed to be interrupted. Then, is ‘cancel culture’ a kind of modern moral panic? It’s a new episode of Book It.

Oblique Strategies [Max for Live] (subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas) is...

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Escuche el programa de este miércoles 13 de noviembre. La Luciérnaga, un espacio de humor y opinión de Caracol Radio que desde hace 31 años acompaña a sus oyentes en su regreso casa.

I know this topic is going to be coming up more and more, but I haven't found much information on my own. Are there reputable companies that help US citizens in all aspects of becoming expats in Europe?

From the initial research we've done, the road to becoming an expat is long and difficult. There are so many things to consider, from the types of Visas necessary to the logistics of the actual move, and all the bureaucracy in the middle. Certainly, there must be companies whose specialty is guiding Americans through it all. I'm guessing we will see a lot of scammy ones pop up, too.

Please let us know if anyone here has found and used such a (reputable) service!

A couple of weeks ago, my old colleague (lets call her M) passed away tragically, and turns out all signs point to spousal abuse and eventual tragedy. We weren't super close, but I was her first manager, and over the years, we ended up working together a lot, with her even managing me at times. She was a pretty big deal in our company eventually. I know that some of my other current and ex colleagues knew her. They may not know about the situation, I am conflicted about letting people know and also pushing for our company to address it. Some details inside

My company was pretty small, 200 people, which was as close as you could get to a company with people distributed across the country. We got bought by a huge company and M left a year or two into the acquisition. My company is still a formal entity in the new large company. Many but not all of these people live in the same area that M resided. Circumstances of the situation, which are rich attractive white people means that this is already BIG NEWS (like local tv, and local paper) in the city but outside city have not likely reached.

I'm not sure why exactly I have the urge or the urge not to pass on the information. My non-urge is if you didn't interact with this person on a daily basis after you left, your life would be same if you didn't hear it. On the other hand, if you do find out and nobody told you would feel out of the loop and a weird sensation fo not knowing. Also there's something about me maybe processing this grief. But rather not put it on others. It feels like gossip almost too?

Categories of colleagues:

- Set of ex colleagues i talk to almost daily on slack: where I found the information, we are processing it daily
- ex/current Colleague/friends who I talk to monthly (On text/chat): im thinking about texting and telling them about if they've heard
-Current colleagues i dont talk to but are all part of the same organization: I'd like to ask leadership to make a statement, or something acknowledging it. This situation is traumitizing to me and i cannot fathom how it would make the women in my organization or those who work with them closely feel

In advance of Black Friday, looking for e-drums that fit particular criteria...

I'm looking for a set of e-drums that I can basically learn to play on. My criteria:

- mesh heads
- Can connect to a computer for recording (I want to accompany myself on guitar and bass, eventually)
- Inexpensive (<$1000)
- Most importantly, has some kind of learning mode! My favorite kind of drumming-but-not-really in the past was playing Rock Band. So any kind of mode where I can play along with patterns or more would be great. Not expecting anything that will make me amazing, just something to make practice more interesting, really.

Any suggestions?

So I was watching a movie that's close to 40 years old that featured not only the "I'm too old for this shit!" line but also the trope where there's a cop announcing he's due to retire in a few days who more or less immediately gets killed. What is the earliest appearance of this trope? (This will by its nature be a spoilery thread. Since I'm looking for examples that are 40+ years old, I don't think that should be an issue for most people, but if you're some kind of anti-spoiler monastic even on movies old nearly enough to retire from the police force themselves, feel free to opt out.)

The movie I was watching was To Live and Die in LA, by the way.

I'm fully expecting someone who frequents those movie trope pages to have a handy link for this, but I'm also figuring some example by example sorting may be in order.

I figure there were probably antecedents to this trope, like maybe WWII movies where a guy's stint is up the next day, then he gets killed by a sniper or what have you. I'm interested to hear about those too, but I'd also like to know where it started with cop movies, what some classic examples are (Lethal Weapon springs to mind), and even if it's appeared much since it's 1980's heyday.

I really like the Fossil Asher leather briefcase but $395 is out of my price range. Can MeFites recommend a similar brown leather briefcase that is under $250? I would like to buy from a company that pays workers fairly and has safe working conditions. Leather alternatives are fine. (Unfortunately, MeFi favorite Tom Bihn is a little too casual for my work environment(s).)

Like many people here in the United States, my spouse and I are not happy about the recent election here. But we did not get here without precedent; for example, the Nixon administration and Spiro Agnew specifically were very aggressive in demonizing the press as political enemies for reporting on the corruption rampant within that administration. What are some good videos we can watch with other (sympathetic) family members to help them understand the historical underpinnings of our current situation? Some examples of the sort of thing I am talking about below the fold:

Stanley Karnow's Vietnam: A Television History

BBC's Oppenheimer

American Experience's series on LBJ

So 20th century (and earlier, especially slavery/slavers' rebellion related) US history with a political bent, even if politics isn't the main thrust. As always, thanks in advance.

My desktop computer accesses the internet via cable connection. Years ago, my son connected a router to my desktop computer so that I could use my laptop via the router. My laptop will no longer connect to the internet via the router. The router seems to have died from old age (everything is blinking and it looks okay ... it's like the lights are on but nobody's home), and so I've decided to disconnect it, but I don't know what steps I need to take to do so.


I clicked around on my laptop and encountered a diagram that shows the laptop is active, and the diagram has an arrow that points to a router icon and shows that the router is active, and there is an arrow that points to a globe icon and shows that the worldwide web is NOT active.

I assume that I should assume that the router has died, and so I want to disconnect the router to get it out of the way. How do I do this?

Is it a matter of just unplugging the router and all of the connections? If I do this, will my desktop that is connected to the internet via cable still be able to access the internet without the router, or do I need to somehow tell my desktop that the router is gone and that it needs to start using the cable, instead, now?

I'm usually quite successful finding answers via YouTube tutorials, but I have had not luck with this so far.

How can I redirect a task at work that I do not possess the skills to complete and cannot learn how to do in a timely manner? Sometimes I know it immediately, and sometimes it takes me a bit to find out. I usually say, "Hey, I don't think I'm going to be able to address this in a timely manner because it's not part of my wheelhouse. Could we delegate it to someone else on the team?" when I am working with a manager. Is this the right route?

Example scenario: I have been asked to address accessibility issues on a marketing website. This task requires an understanding of accessibility requirements, code overrides, and the website host (Framer) in general. I've already gotten two tasks totally wrong because despite my best efforts to learn as I go, I'm a visual designer, not a front-end developer!

I initially asked a developer colleague I don't know very well for guidance, but today I admitted to him that I am out of my depth and asked if he could please address the failed tickets instead of me so they're done correctly. I cannot tell if this is diva behavior. Is it okay to essentially say "I'm not the right person to do this," when asked to do something? Should I be trying harder?

I slept poorly last night because I hate inefficiency but dislike being viewed as incompetent even more.

My family and I are greatly interested in events featuring people who were directly involved with the Civil Rights movement, specifically the fight against segregation and racism. I am keenly aware that time is limited for hearing them speak in person, and I want my kids to be able to meet them and hear their stories.

To give you an idea of the sorts of things I mean: over the past year, we have been able to book a tour of Selma with Joanne Bland (which was an incredibly wonderful experience!), and attend a panel discussion with Bernard Lafayette and other Freedom Riders.

Aside from repeatedly doing internet searches for names of people we would be interested in seeing, is there a way for us to keep track of upcoming events along these lines that we might be interested in? We're willing to travel, so we're looking for more than local options. And if you happen to know of upcoming events along these lines, please share!

Thanks in advance for any ideas you may have.

I am considering getting a new car. My current car predates all the sort of smart screen tech and, because of the principle of the thing, I am concerned about privacy issues in the event that I get a more recent vehicle.

I'm in the early stages of consideration and never was much of a car fanatic, so I'm curious if anyone could point me to some online resources to help me consider my options in the event that I have to go that route? I frankly would not want one of the big touch screens in my car even apart from privacy, just because they seem like a huge distraction, but if the only models in my price range have screens, I want to clamp down on them as much as possible.


I may not actually get a car with smart tech; I am mainly just hoping to gain more information to help make my decisions here.

So, in a recent question, someone used ChatGPT to identify someone's 'remember this book' and I thought 'huh, I wonder if ChatGPT can identify my so-far-unsolved remember this book?' So I threw in the text from my previous Ask and ChatGPT came up with a plausible sounding response -- "The Road to Rio: A Journey Across the Americas" by Australian journalist and author, John A. Lee -- but now I can't find any evidence that that person or that book exists. Is it a hallucination or can you help me find it?

Here's the full text of the ChatGPT response:

It sounds like you're recalling "The Road to Rio: A Journey Across the Americas" by Australian journalist and author, John A. Lee. The book is a travelogue that covers Lee's hitchhiking journey across both North and South America, in the post-World War II era. While the exact dates are not always clear, the references to events like the opening of the Alaska Highway strongly suggest a timeframe that fits the 1940s, with a focus on the era immediately following the war. The connection to Prince George, British Columbia, in the narrative also helps to date the book as being closely tied to the time when the Alaska Highway was opened, which makes sense given the events you've described.

As for the mention of a dog and the author's travels through various parts of the Americas, including the Darien Gap and eventually reaching Brazil, this sounds like it aligns with the broader scope of Lee's journey and the adventures he experienced during his time on the road.

This book, while not as widely known today, was quite popular when it was first published and is still cherished by those interested in mid-20th-century travel writing, particularly for its unique perspective from an Australian author exploring the Americas. Your memory of finding it at the University and its plain orange binding might indicate it was a reprint or an edition from the 1950s or 60s. Does this sound like the book you're thinking of?

When I asked it where I could find the book, it told me that it might have been wrong and just gave me general ideas for searching. I tried WorldCat and couldn't find it. Can you? Or is ChatGPT wrong?

I'm looking for recommendations for picture books (think ages 3-6) that include (but do not have to be about) interracial friendships. I am NOT looking for mixed-race families, there are tons of those. It's fine if that's also present but it's not the specific thing I need.

">Max and Kate would be a perfect example of what I'm looking for.

Can you suggest holiday dinner dishes that would satisfy a group of three that includes a pescetarian, a traditionalist, and a pre-diabetic? Bonus points for an entree, recipe, and being easy to cook (especially if it can be prepared ahead).