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Learning Needs to Be Hard

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:00:00 +0530

I was watching a Neetcode video recently where he mentioned that people watch his content and then ask questions so basic that if they had just sat with the problem for ten minutes, they would have answered it themselves. And that hit me, because that’s not a Neetcode problem. That’s a learning problem. We’ve stopped struggling. We’ve started consuming.

Learning today has become entertainment. It’s completely driven by how easily you can sell something as “learning.” Online courses, tutorials, summaries, and now the LLM trend where you can spin up a NotebookLM for literally anything. All of it keeps the illusion of learning alive without any of the actual learning. Everything is optimized for ease. And ease is the enemy.

Bollywood needs a hard reset

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 15:39:28 +0530

So I watched or rather tried to watch this weeks movie releases. I had 2 options one was House full 5 and the other was a few weeks old but new to OTT bhul chuk maaf. Now I personally never found any housefull movie funny not even the first one. Except that one dialogue by Ritesh Deshmukh regarding “Biwi” and “Behen” in the first one I have mostly cringed. Pardon me if my sense of humour is not keeping up with the times but I grew up watching comedies of Priya Darshan and Akshay kumar. Raju hirani, and too some extent I find Rohit shetty older films also funny with Chennai Express being my favorite from his Filmography. So I would think of myself as someone who under stands what “Brain rot comedy” is in Hindi Cinema context. I don’t really understand why we have moved on to accept absolutely mediocre films with sub par production/acting/writing/production-design/music/dance in the name of “oH bUt iTs tImE pASS dON’t tHinK tOO mUch” . If i pay money for something I am liable for getting what is expected in return. Let me draw a parallel. If you go to a restaurant to have creamy shahi paneer and the waiter serves you the Now known to everyone “Analogue” Paneer. Which we all know is not real paneer and also bad for your health but it tastes almost like an original paneer. Would you accept my argument “But bro itne paise mai aisa hi paneer milega restaurant ko bhi toh paisa banane hai”. Won’t you feel cheated that in the name of paneer garbage was fed to you? ( a seemingly paneer looking garbage but still gargbage)

Copyright: right to intellectual property or Tool for Extortation?

Mon, 26 May 2025 15:56:18 +0530

In Indian Twitter (currently known as X) lingo, any kind of verbal skirmish is termed as e-lafda (fight). The latest one is between YouTuber Mohan Mangal and ANI over the use of copyrighted clips. Mohak claims that he has used 5-10 seconds of clips in a few of his recent videos from ANI coverage regarding recent events such as Operation Sindoor in his videos covering the same, and ANI has applied a copyright strike on his YouTube channel because of this. His claim is that when he contacted ANI for the reason and the removal of the copyright strike, he was informed that it would only happen if he pays somewhere in the range of 40-50 lakhs + GST to ANI for the use of those clips in his videos (they claim they have applied for 8 copyright strikes, so there are more to come). Failure to do so will result in getting 3 strikes (2 of which he has received already) that will lead to an automatic channel deletion as per YouTube policy.

The Jitter Bug - How a Little Randomness Makes Your Recommendations Smarter (and More Fun!)

Sun, 25 May 2025 19:02:40 +0530

The Tyranny of the Top Rank

Ever feel like your favorite music app is playing DJ Déjà Vu, stuck on an endless loop of your top-played genres or artists you already know and love? Or, if you’re an artist, have you wondered how your fresh, amazing track can cut through the noise and find new ears? This isn’t just a feeling; it’s a common challenge in any system that ranks and recommends items – whether it’s songs, movies, products, or even internal company resources.